School is now on a 45-day break, so I’ve been fortunate enough to be travelling to other parts of Nepal for camps (as well as doing one in my own village). On days when I’m in my village, I try to be helping out and experiencing as much as possible. Here’s a typical school vacation day:
5am: Wake up and try to go back to sleep. I can’t though; the sun is shining in my eyes, and I am curious about what my rat friends were up to last night.
5:45: Finally convince myself to get out of bed. There is no cell service today, so I cannot check my messages. Instead I read for a few minutes
6: Time to meditate for a few minutes
6:30: Breakfast of milk tea, eggs, and beaten rice
7: Try to convince host mom to let me wash dishes
7:15: Admit defeat at convincing host mom to let me wash dishes (for some reason, they don’t want the neighbors to see me washing other people’s dishes)
7:30: Go for a quick jog
A rice field
8: Join a group of women who are planting rice- I dig up mud with my hands and put it on the sides of the fields to make walls so the water doesn’t flow out of each little field (each field is ~10′ x 10′).
Dal Bhat- the meal everyone eats twice a day
10:30: Time for dal bhat (rice with lentils), the big meal that is eaten twice a day
11: Camp for any student in grades 5-10. Today 30 students show up, and we play Capture the Flag, draw pictures of our bedrooms, and listen to some short debates.
1: I go to buy my favorite treat at the market (a fried donut made of coconut and rice flour) and talk to the villagers who are getting tea at the shop. On the way back, I also stop and talk to my friend who makes wood carvings. I love watching him work and learning about his trade.
My friend who hand carves wood statues
2: Time to myself in my room. I read a book or listen to music. Today I’m reading A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.
3: Snack time. Today me and my host sister eat chowmein together.
4: My favorite chore! I apply fresh cow dung to our floors to add another layer to them. Every time we sweep, a layer of dung comes off (our floors are mud/dung), so it’s important that this is done every other day. The only issue is that my hands smell really bad for forever, and I eat with my hands here.
5: Laundry at the public tap. While there, I see a friend who is cutting grass to bring to her water buffalo, and she invites me to tea when I’m finished.
6: Cutting grass with my friend. She carries the entire load of grass (50lbs) on her head. My favorite part is feeding it to the buffalo. Even though it’s pouring outside, I still like to hand feed them and pet them.
7: On my way back to my house, I see some elderly women making candle-like things (we don’t have a word for it, but it’s basically a long-lasting wick) out of cotton. I join them and try to help, but I end up just making a mess. When we finish, they have 20 perfect candles in their laps, but it just looks like snow has fallen around me. It’s really difficult! They take this massive ball of cotton and twirl it into perfect tiny little strands and then twist all those strands together to make a small rope. After a while, I give up and just enjoy hearing their stories. The road to my village was only built 6 years ago and cell service came 1 year ago, so there have been some major changes recently that they talk abut
7:45: Dinner with my host family. My host father eats first, and then my host mother, sister, and brother eat together.
8:15: Relaxing in my room. I usually read some more or talk on the phone if cell service is available.
9:30 Time for bed!
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Katie-do these people you talk about speak English reasonably well? Where did they learn English? Your day sounds so interesting