So, this is it, my new life in Sikles is in full swing.
I'm working Sunday to Friday (yes, 6 days a week) teaching English in the school, I teach 3 periods a day to Class 8, 9 and 10 (roughly the same as year 8-11 in the UK). I'm having loads of fun doing it but things are a lot different here. For a start it's wooden benches and a blackboard as resources, but that's no big deal, but the teachers teach so much text-book and lecture style here. Stuff that is so frowned upon in the UK is normal here. At the moment there is some need of change, this years SLC (School Leaver's Certificate, Nepali GCSE Equivelent) results were disappointing, so our first aim is to see how, by sharing ideas, and by setting up a UK School partnership (hopefully with the Gateway academy) to further share ideas we can improve this for the future. At the moment, we're looking into the causes for the decent in results.
The weather in Sikles is picking up a lot now, it was raining a lot when I arrived but it's so sunny today.
A few things from my life so far:
Nettle Fire:
“Rhodi” is a Gurung tradition which is essentially a way of making a house party sound like an important tradition, brilliant. I'm told contemporary Rhodi is quite different to traditional Rhodi. Traditional Rhodi still exists in some of the smaller villages, but hasn't for a long time in Sikles. Tanka and I are planning to visit one of the smaller villages to experience traditional Rhodi in the near future, but for now, here's what happens at a contemporary Rhodi:
Basically, it's a lot like a western house party. A largeish group of late teens to late twenties/early thirties friends gather in a house, drink tea, raksi (local alcoholic drink made from millet, it's cheap, strong, easy to drink and doesn't cause hangovers, perfect!), eat lots of food, talk a lot and play daft games. The one daft game which came up at my first Rhodi was a game called “nettle fire”.
Now, there is a massive disclaimer here before I explain this game:
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
I'll say again:
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
Did I mention that you should NOT TRY THIS AT HOME?
OK, good, so now you understand that you WILL NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, I will explain the game that you are NOT GOING TO TRY AT HOME:
“Nettle Fire” is a game in which you get large clumps of nettle fibre, which, for those of you who have never seen it, looks like cotton wool, you then set these clumps of fibre on fire, yes, that's right, ON FIRE, using the fire in the middle of all Gurung houses, used to cook etc, and then...
...and this is not a joke...
...throw it at your friends!
OK, so now you think I've gone insane and am making this game up, but trust me, I'm not, I had a nice uneven fringe for a few days from losing a clump of hair playing this insane game.
But who am I to question tradition hey? Haha, an elderly lady from the village came into the house after we'd been playing and pointed at my hair and asked “nettle fire?”, when the people with me said yes she laughed. It really is a Rhodi game played for generations, what can I say?
In honesty though, apart from singed hair it's a fairly safe game. Nettle fibre burns too quickly to set clothing alight or burn skin, and Gurung houses are coated in non-flamable clay, so there's no carpet to set alight like in a Western house. But seriously, promise me, you will not play this blooming stupid game in the UK. The context is sooooooooo different here in Nepal in a Gurung house. I take NO responsibility for anyone who injures themselves in a stupid attempt to re-create this game. We don't have the correct species of nettle in the UK to make nettle fibre, and our houses are far more flammable. You WILL burn the house down and you WILL end up dead or in hospital expecting permanent scars OK. Just covering my own back. You know how it is.
Weight loss:
When I arrived in Nepal I went to a shopping centre in Kathmandu to buy some new trousers. Now, I know I was a bit of a podger before I arrived, but when the guy asked me what size I was, I said 34”, he said “no, you're bigger than that” and gave me a 38”, cheeky *%£$er. Needless to say, after trying on a 38”, then a 36”, then a 34” he finally discovered I was right.
However, now, I need to go to Pokhara to buy new trousers, because my 4 pairs of 34” trousers are all A LOT too big for me. I'm pulling my belt so tight my jeans are all bunched up at the top and don't look so good, even if I push my stomach out as much as I can I still can't fill the waist of my trousers. Oh well, I'll try to find time to go sometime soon if I can. Still, on the bright side, everyone keeps telling me I look so much more healthy, and I feel it too. Still a little more to go before I'm completely satisfied with my weight loss, but hey, 6 weeks and I've already lost this much, that's impressive, and the only illness I've had is the common cold *touch wood*.
I think the hard thing will be keeping the weight down when I return to the UK, here the lifestyle makes it impossible to stay fat. Everyone is really healthy, and trust me, meal sizes are NOT small. Every day Choh (big brother's wife in Gurung) tries to make a scale model of the Annapurna Himal range on my plate, made entirely of boiled rice. Twice a day.
The family I live with:
There are 6 of us in this house, me, Tanka, Dhai (older brother in Nepali), Choh (older brother's wife in Gurung), Askah (Dhai and Choh's 3 year old daughter) and Kazaah (Dhai and Choh's 1 year old son).
Not only have they gone out of their way to accommodate me, they have also built a partition in the upstairs spair room so that me and Tanka have our own separate rooms. Amazing. My room here is great, it's quite small compared to many (as it's half of a normal spair room) but I have my own private balcony which is pretty big and I love it.
So, now is the start of the Dashain holiday, I'm staying in Sikles, I'll still be doing classes for Class 10 on the non- festival days, but it means I have a lot more free time for now. And I'll be doing lots of photography, partying and I've been told I have to wear traditional dress. Keep your eyes on the blog for the next couple of weeks, there should be some interesting photos.
Hope all is well and I'll aim for one post a week from here on OK. Sorry about the last few weeks.
Great to see you popping up on Flickr again, and it's been particularly interesting to read your blog.
ReplyDeleteKeep the posts coming!
Cheers Hywel. I've been without internet for a while, but trust me, this is the start of my blogging and returning to flickr days. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear yur having fun mr smith :) our geography class misses yu :( i got an a* (7 and a half out of 8) on biosphere test questions, and then on the volcanoes and plate techtonics, i got NOTHING, LOL! anyway hope yur enjoying it out there, :)
ReplyDeleteHey! Sounds like things are fun! Some cool experiences going on :]
ReplyDeleteYeh, we're missing you so bad :(
and i'm real nervous about the exam in June!!!
But i'm glad your enjoying yourself, :]
Nathan, how did you possibly get NOTHING? In the plate tectonics paper? Seriously! You aced techtonics when I tested you. Count yourself lucky I'm quater of the way round the world boy!
ReplyDeleteBut well done with the Biosphere stuff. I know you can do it Nathan! Just have to apply yourself!
Tyler, don't panic, you're a very clever girl, you'll ace it, I know you will. Just make sure you revise, don't stress out, because then you just make yourself ill and don't learn anything, my brother is the master of that, and do your best.
And I miss you guys too, but don't worry, me being away isn't the end of me, only the start of more exciting things. I'm talking to Mrs Bryant at the moment about things which you guys will love!
hehe :-) i thought i done alright, until he obviously said i got nothing :P oh i didnt tell yu!! i have black hair now :D still look like sonic though ;) hope yur new students are nice :)
ReplyDeletei'll try not to worry :(
ReplyDeletei can't help it..but lots of revising for me to do!! :] i hope i do well.
and when d'you reckon we'll next get to see you? :D
Hahaha, one day you'll get a decent haircut Nathan.
ReplyDeleteTyler: You'll be fine. And I don't know when you'll next get to see me, but you will see me again, don't worry. I don't know how long I'll be here. I'm currently going through the process of trying to get a longer Visa. We shall see.
LOl.. Hey mr smith.. good to hear about your experinces with people in nepal.. sounds really good good..
ReplyDeleteSir you said that geography isnt going to be strssing buh its getting really stressful and im gettin really scared about it...
im doin good in my tests that we have every week (A's)
but still its really scarey cuz were doin GCSE in june...plz cme back so we can all c u again.. or make our class a little video sayin hi.. and post it put on your blog plzzz...
:)
anywaiz hope u have a great time and dont forget us!!
Your mum and dad told me about your blog, and it's great to read of how you're getting on way out in Nepal. Look forward to reading your future posts!
ReplyDeleteOK, Tahrima, don't stress, you're really good at Geography, and you're going to do great, I promise.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry, I promise you guys will see me again. As for a video on the blog. OK, I'll put something together ASAP so you can all see me and some of my friends here. I don't have a video camera though, only the little webcam built into my laptop.
Lesley, good to hear from you. :)
sounds like ure havin fun out there lolz i told my m8 bout the nettle fire game n she sed she wanted 2 try it so had 2 try and discourage her from doin it lolz the video idea sounds good maybe we could do one and send it 2 u so ure new students could see us lolz :)
ReplyDeleteHey mate, glad your having a good time, nettle fire fights sound awesome, I'll have to catch you on skype sometime.
ReplyDeleteThe nettle fire fights do sound interesting, might give it a go.. lol Don't you find it sweet, all your ex-students leaving you little comments :) You must have been a great teacher, and to think I could have been in your form if only I was a bit younger haha
ReplyDeletexx