Shamrock School

OK, so, some of you may have heard. You all know I've been living in Shamrock School for a while now, but I have recently, as of last week, accepted a job working as their new English Teacher as of January 2012.

I've been working over the last few days to over-haul the official Shamrock School website. So, for a little idea of what I'm getting myself into, head over to http://www.shamrock-school.com.

Also, I applogise to all that once again, I'm slacking at keeping this blog up-to-date. I've had a hectic couple of months with many stories to tell. I'll post them all up as soon as I can. Thanks to taking on a proper job in Shamrock, I have a little more stability in my life, and Internet in my bedroom, so the time will come over the next few days for a proper update.

Photos, Motorbikes, Bars and Tattoos.

So, as anyone who reads any of my blog or has me as a friend on Facebook will know, I have a motorbike and live in Pokhara now, which has lead to me regularly visiting the Coolest Bar in Pokhara, A.K.A. Bullet Basecamp, where I bought my bike from.

Hanging round in there I meet some amazing people, recently I met Sam and Ashlan, a Kiwi/Canadia couple currently traveling in Nepal. We somehow got onto a talk about Tattoos, which is when they showed me theirs, I asked them there and then if I could photograph them before they left Pokhara. They were very eager.

A few days later I met Ravi from pokharacity.com, we got talking about photography and he offered me the use of his studio- I knew strait away who I wanted to photograph.

I'm really pleased with the results and just wanted to share them with my blog readers.

So, here are Sam and Ashlan photographed by me at the pokharacity.com studio:

Asleep in Kathmandu

OK, so, I had to come to Kathmandu to meet with people from the university who got me my visa, and to meet with BK Shrestha from Global Action Nepal (GAN) as I will be doing some work with them on their teacher training programmes, all this neatly tied in with my friend Alina's birthday party.

I have some wheels at last!

This is a life defining moment for me! I finally parted with some cash in return for a pair of wheels. After teaching myself to ride on a friend's bike a while back I really wanted my own, so, at last I am now the proud owner of a Yamaha/Escorts RX100.



More info if you click through:

I think a fresh start is in order.

OK, so, I've been in Nepal about 10 months now and, well, my blog posting has been nothing short of shameful in frequency. It got to the point where I was so out of date with it that the idea of updating it became like clearing out that disorganised filing cabinet that you don't really want to get involved with because you know it's a mammoth task, but you know the longer you don't do it the worse it will be.

So, as I'm about to embark on a whole new phase in my life, I think now is time for a new phase in this blog- a phase where I actually update a lot more.

Good news has hit me, yesterday I was finally granted one year study visa to stay in Nepal working on a research project which looks at Teacher Training in government schools in Kaski and Gorkah districts. I'll post more info soon.

At the moment I'm just trying to get my new life settled, get moved into my new bedroom, buy myself some wheels and get a little settled. Loads more info on all of this soon. Watch this space... (and I promise to actually fill said space this time!)

Long overdue...

Sorry I've been excessively quiet lately, been so busy in life in General. But so much has gone on over the past few months.

OK, so, I'm going to make a series of short posts which just cover some of the bigger events that have happened since I last posted a looooooong time ago. Too much to put in one post really.

Firstly, I want to say I hope you all had an amazing Christmas, this was my first ever Christmas away from my family in the UK, so instead we had a Christmas party here in Sikles with my Nepali family.

It was great, had a lovely roast dinner. I cooked two chickens, 3KG of mash potato, some home made apple sauce (which was amazingly nice), a tin of Cranberry sauce, some lumpy gravy (because I'm not so good at making Gravy, but it tasted great anyway) and some peas. Everyone was intrigued by the idea of a meal which was neither spicy nor contained rice. But over all it went down very well.

Coming soon...

An epic update of the last few months where I've been far too busy to write blog posts.

For now, here's a picture of Kazaa and Askaa looking too cute for words at our family Christmas party.



(and for anyone who's wondering, that is a chicken's foot in Kazaa's mouth, left over from cooking Christmas Dinner).

What's New

OK, I'm really sorry I haven't updated in A LONG TIME.

I've been typing posts but not having access to the internet for long enough to post them.

This isn't a post about what I've been up to at all, but instead a post about what I'm about to be doing. This is all very exciting right now. I'll get round to posting what I have done ASAP in a separate post.

"Snap Snap"

Not so much an update this time, more just a few photos to show you a little of my living conditions here as a few people have asked me about this.

Over the Hill

OK, I have just had an amazing and very different week. Unexpected, varied, and I’m really struggling to put it in words but still do it justice.

OK, so last week Tanka suggested I take a couple of days off school and go with him to Tara Hilltop. I wasn’t totally comfortable with taking time off school but Tanka spoke to the head for me and all was well. So I did, and what unfolded was 5 of the most unexpected days possible. I’m still trying to get my head around it all a little bit.

Dashain and other things.

OK, so, I'm failing at this one post a week thing, maybe one a fortnight may be more reasonable. I don't know, I'll do my best anyway.

Right, so, first of all, what have I been up to over the last couple of weeks since my last post?

Well, internet is now working properly in Sikles Telecentre, which is great news for Sikles, we're now properly connected to the rest of the world. Yaaaaaaaay.

Sikles so far

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:

I'm still very much alive and having a great time.

OK, I know I haven't posted anything since arriving in Nepal, it's just been so busy and I've had such limited internet access since leaving Kathmandu, I had a great time in Kathmandu and Pokhara and am now enjoying life in Sikles.

So, to go from the beginning:

And so the journey begins

Well, I'm now sat here in Manchester Airport after a mad few days in the UK.

Firstly I want to say a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge thanks to all those who came to my little leaving BBQ on Saturday, I love you all. It was an amazing night and a perfect sendoff, I had so much fun.

Packing is all fun isn't it. Spent ages getting everything I need together, packed it, weighed it, and you guessed it, I was at 40KG, did I mention my limit was 20KG? So there was some fun this morning. But the biggest fun:

Tragic news

You may have had heard about the landslide which recently happended in the area near Sikles, where most of my time in Nepal will be spent, that has left five people missing, now pronounced dead; out of which three are from Sikles (of the same family).

It's the final countdown...

Well, this is it, I have now left Essex and moved back to North Wales for a couple of weeks of goodbyes and to get some packing done before I board that plane on the 17th of August.

Thank you so much to everyone at the Gateway Academy, you've all been amazing this last year, it's been a fantastic school to work in, and fear not, you haven't heard the last of me yet!

Ooo, setting up a blog.

OK, so I have now set up a blog ready to head out to Nepal.

There isn't likely to be any posts here until around august-ish, leading up to me going out there, but I wanted to get all this set up ready so I'm not rushing around trying to get this done with everything else I'll have to do then.

So, if you've found your way here and are very eager, you could pass the time until August by browsing though my photographic portfolio, making yourself a cup of tea, taking up a new hobby, setting up a business making novelty paper weights, writing a novel, going about your daily life, selling things you don't want, sorting out the recycling, or any number of activities available to you and we'll meet back here then.