Life Here - An Overview

 For those I haven't been talking to over the phone, I figured I should give a short overview of what my life is really like here - where I am, who I live with, what my daily routine is.

To start, I'm living with a wonderful family made up of two older parents, their daughter-in-law, and her four year old daughter. They are completely hospitable and caring, and I enjoy having someone my age in the family and a young child to play with.

My House

My Room (Complete with a Bug Net, Thankfully)

My school is literally ten feet from my home. It is a fairly big school, with supposedly 900 students, though I've only ever counted around 500 students in the morning (maybe this is just grades 1-8). It is frustrating being at such a large school with such huge class sizes, but there are many benefits to the school as well. The teachers are kind and easy to work with - they are probably my favorite part of the school - and there are a variety of students and levels to work with. Each day, there are eight 40 minutes periods of class, in between which there is lots of sitting and sometimes drinking tea. I've been attending six of the eight periods and may do seven or eight in the coming weeks because there are so many classes I'd love to do.

After the school day is finished, I normally return home and sit outside the house with my family and others. My Ama brings me tea and a snack and I study Nepali while Sochina does her homework. Sometimes in the evenings we will go for walks - which I'll mention in another post - or I'll play "Ring Around the Rosy" and "London Bridges" with Sochina and her friends until I'm too tired to play any more. I've also started cooking with my Bauju, snapping long beans into bowls and mixing cooked spinach with spices.

Evening time comes with the electricity randomly coming off and on. After a big meal of dahl baht, tarkari (vegetables), and masu (meat), my Bauju and I often go upstairs to play cards or other games. We go to bed early (often around nine or ten o'clock) and if I'm lucky there will be a rain and thunder storm in the night to listen to. Life begins in the village around five o'clock, so I try to get up by six as well. Preparing teaching materials and plans can often take me two hours, but luckily the morning is long and relaxing.

As you can probably tell - I'm surrounded by many good things and have easily fallen into a comfortable routine here. My family, teachers, and students are already so important in my life - and I promise my Bauju everyday that when I return to the US I will not forget her, as she predicts. I know very well that that will not be the case.