Week One in London

Week One in England – Destination: Croxley Green, Hammersmith, Shoreditch, Wimbledon and Westminster.

My first week in London has been a whirlwind of activities.
I am so lucky to be living out in Croxley with Gill and Phil. A small town charm, houses everywhere until you walk 2 mins in a new direction and you hit fields of flowers and poppies. Local shops, cafés, banks, the yummiest smoothies, and underground stations all within 20mins walking distance.

I was greeted at the door by a flower; the amazing Daisy. From here it was a quick settle in and refresh and then off to lunch. Directions given to the both of us, (as we are both new to the area) “head down the hill into town”…. Easy enough, we started walking down the hill…through a small pathway, dodging draping spiky bushes, past houses and along a main road until we read a sign that said “town centre”….Navigation Pros! We pottered around a small town call Rickmansworth, settling in a cafe called Harris + Hoole (chain though not lacking in charm). I had probably one my top ten smoothies – raspberry and strawberry blended with freshly squeezed apple juice!
That afternoon I finally saw Gill and Phil after what felt like forever but had only been just over a year! Then off to the pub for dinner and ciders in the sunshine…..the sun doesn’t go to bed before 10pm!!!

Day two Daisy came to Hammersmith with me for my teaching agency, Vibe, induction and some girly shopping time. We nailed the underground system and had plenty of time to paroooose the infamous ‘Primark’. Anything clothes and accessory you can imagine and cheap as chips! Got some £1 flip flops! Also received free cider and drinks at the bar afterwards AND got offered guarantee work for a few weeks with an instant pay rise.

The weekend came and so did the Town fair on Croxley Green. Phil and I took a stroll down to the Green. Police road block and people everywhere….this must be good! We meandered along, curious to see what would happen. I don’t think either of us imagined a street parade led by the largest hound/scruff-ball dog I’ve ever seen. This was followed by many floats containing, dancers, heads on spikes and decorative Football World Cup floats that were very Brazilian!
After the street parade we walked to the fair….much larger than I thought it would be! There were cake stands galore (cupcake treats for me :)), all the local sports, dance, gymnastics, etc out to recruit, giant slide, spinning teacups, human foosball table, jumping castles, and my favourite … The crockery smashing tent! Did throw some wooden balls at plates and smasssshhhhhed them!!

Japan Japow Journey

The trip from India to Japan was not a smooth one.

As I arrived at my gate to KL I was greeted with no plane in the dock but frequent thanks for our patience and an unknown eta of our departure. I had several conversations with the people around me, one of which had had to postpone her departure by several days because she had food poisoning so strong. After about an hour and a half of waiting our plane arrived and we were hustled into our seats. Settled in, I was ready to start my long journey to Niseko – 3 flights, 1x 3.5 hr bus trip and over 10 hours of sitting in airports still to come. The trolley rolled through the aisle and the customary offer of chicken or fish was made. After almost 7 weeks of no meat and not thinking too much about the fact I asked for the chicken. A few bites into my meal was all I could stomach and then later a few bags of peanuts. It quickly became apparent that my short slip in my vegetarianism would prove to rear it’s ugly head and attttttaaaaacccckkkkk! I spent the next 24hrs in transit throwing my guts up and out of me in the least lady like fashion….charming! The next three weeks and two courses of antibiotics later I still couldn’t keep much in my system…nasty super bug just from a few bites of chicken!!!

But Japan had many things to distract me from my woes in health 🙂 …….

1) Niseko – Bottomless powder skiing and fresh laps all day with my brother. Even though we got old and didn’t ski full days everyday, we worked hard while we did ride. Took lunch and drink breaks and climbed some mountains to boot. I did ride with many others this trip but riding with Matty B was the best part 🙂 Sorry to all the strangers I picked up on chairlifts and along off piste runs, to the ski school fellows and friends of friends, you WERE great 😉
2) Meeting new people and rekindling long ago friendships …. The Kennys, the SAMs the Mels. I’ll start with Mel, we did or first season together in Perisher and had more skiing fun my first season in Japan in 2007/8 and only saw each other on occasion during Perisher seasons. It was so awesome to ski, drink, play and chat with this lovely lady again 🙂 Mel also brought the other kids into play on this trip. She had her flight delayed by weather and met the Sams having wheelchair races around the airport to waste time. A pair of 20 year old boys from Melbourne, full of life and big dreams. And lastly the Kennys; four guys aged 24-29 on a boys trip to ski, drink and party. With all kids combined or separate the weeks flew by with awesome memories.
3) Trips to Otaru for the Candle Festival with Mel. Our ride to the train station set the mood of the night when our taxi driver actually spoke English and was the cutest, funniest Japanese man 🙂 Mel and I visited the coastline and we’re impressed by the locals as they did a drive by, reverse, followed up with a burnout through the snow covered car park…..WHAT!!!
4) Onsens!
5) Après drinks watching the Winter Olympics with brother, Kennys, SAMs and Mel. Go Aussie!
6) The Fridge Bar had the most delicious Expresso Martinis in the Village….tried and tested!
7) Getting lost and finding our way through Shortcuts along unknown snow banks to find new bars
8) The Berg (our accommodations for the first three weeks) stomach stuffing breakfasts, no visitors policies that led to them stealing boots from our doors and writing notes directed towards us threatening expulsion from premises……yikes!
9) “Ice corner” to watch people slipping and bailing…. The ice didn’t take me here, but it did snag me at two other locations
10) Chicken Katsu!
11) House party lock-ins the led to pants off party – nothing sexual!
12) Dancing till the early hours of the morning to live DJs
13) My 26th Birthday – thanks for coming to celebrate Heath, Adam, Muff, Ali, Shauna, Matt and Matt. Thanks for my pizza, cake and my skis with bindings
14) And lastly and the least forgettable moment of my trip was having my heart broken and realising it was again the start of freedom that I hadn’t experienced in over seven years.

All in all I think this short 7 week adventure was a roller coaster I was sad to get off of and leave behind. But then I think about the snow around the world, and adventures with known and unknown people yet to be had. I can’t wait to see where my wild, crazy and wanderlust life will take me next.

Agra on to Tordi Garh

6am wake up, stuff the bags and breakfast of boiled eggs on toast into their respective pockets, to be out the door and on the bus by 7am. We had one small bus that took us too a big bus. This big bus took our group four hours towards the small rural, yet to blow up village – Tordi Garh. We had one tea break with masala and chippies….and a pee stop. We departed our bus to load onto jeeps parked on the side of the highway. 8 people to a jeep and we were off again…..so much travelling between destinations on this trip…..but we did have a Bollywood movie playing at the front of the jeep….I just chilled in the boot trying to see out the windows.

Along the drive we passed many many plots of roadside land, fillllled with huge chunks/slabs/boulders of stone…..where they were quarried from and how they were transported i wasn’t able to find out. People were cutting into the colourful stones and the statues, gazebo style huts, pieces of art were being displayed along the roadside and in small shops (buildings with a roller style door). If only I could get some of it home when I get my own house one day.

We were greeted at a 17th century palace belonging to the “royalty” of Tordi Garh. now that there is no such recognition of these people/family in an official capacity they do not hold title to the land, but the family still holds the same respect from the villagers. on arrival we were given a marigold lai and coco-cola, and given a short introduction to the history and met o e of the sons of the family. interesting that they still keep a section of the building just for them when they come back into the village from their home in Delhi.

We took a jeep safari tour of the local village, went out to a local farm and met the family and saw how they organised their many patches of crop. We found a 300 year old water reservoir built in stone that is 100metres deep….you could only see about 50metres worth and during monsoon probably only a out half at again, with the water lines to prove it. Next we were pumping along a sandy “road” heading to sand dunes. We trudged up the dunes and were rewarded with 180 degree views of the village and close up views of a 500 year old fort up on the hills behind us. Unfortunately we didn’t get up to see it close up. Tea and biscuits to wait for a sunset that never became visible and we were off again, running down the dunes only to come across a camel that was rigged to pull a wagon…..but see the picture to see what it LOOKED like!

For dinner it was buffet…..the only option and noooo options for me except plain rice, plain roti and fresh tomato. They ended up bringing out a small bowl of steamed veg, but not worth the 500rupee. Damn allergies!!! After dinner a local girl came in to do henna on anyone who wanted it. I got both my hands and forearms dolled up in a simple design (different for each arm), and spent the next hour drying I front of the fire. The superstition with henna when applied: when the dried bits drop off, the darker the henna….the more you are loved by your partner.

The middle of the night was amazinnnnng!! The biggest thunder storm that almost made me feel like I was back home for the summer storms. The loudest thunder claps right overhead and torrential downpour 🙂 they rolled through but came back strong again early morning. We were meant to go for a village walk but ended up eating copious amounts of toast and boiled eggs…was starving so made my belly happy. Three of our group had a sleepless night last night – fevers, double end action and a lot of vomiting. Poor Keiri among them said she’s never been that sick before. So they aren’t particularly looking forward to the 3 hr bus/jeep trip to get to Jaipur.
On the plus side I managed to save everyone 300 rupees from taking our jeep safari yesterday, because my itinerary stated it was included. That’s an extra meal that I can fit into my budget and may be the tipping point of having to take more cash out….going to be a tight race to the finish.

The last stint of “Volunteering”

With rolling my ankle the last day in Pokhara was the most relaxing day – Kat and I found the hippiest of hippy hang outs with vegan food and hammocks where we had lunch and enjoyed readi g our books in the sun, and went back for dinner. Although it was right at the other end of town the walk was NOT comfortable but the food was delish and Kat didn’t have to eat Dhal Bhat AGAIN!!! I tried some falafels which were full of corriander, so the guys next to us from Israel and Germany enjoyed them. I also got some chocolate cakes to bring home to my Nepal family as a little treat as there is No cake in village – devastating! I bought a really cool hemp handbag and splashed out on a yak wool blanket for myself. Not sure how in going to travel India with everything I own and a sore ankle….maybe I need a porter to come with me……..
Saying goodbye to Kat was hard – we had undertaken all of our crazy adventures together, practically lived, breathed, ate and slept together for the three weeks. It was sad to jump of different buses and leaving my new Nepali sister.

Back to our little village I had to get off the main bus to get a taxi back to the village an hour away. Luckily Nick was coming back from Kathmandu too so I tracked him down in the city and taxied back with him. I didn’t share earlier but Nick and Lava had a large motorbike accident Christmas Eve with both of them in hospital, but Nick was sent to ICU with the biggest lump the size of a baseball coming off his temple stitches under the chin and holesssss in the knee and leg. Many factors involved but glad to see both ok now.
I’ve been trying to rest the ankle so Sanjiv the coordinator told me no more school. I was so excited because My Nepali sister Bec has 4 days winter vacation 🙂 We took a short walk to get more material – Aama is making me another set of pants, we played cards and made s’mores, she taught me how to make a yummy noodle and puff rice Nepali dish, we had fries for breakfast and painted our nails in the sun and made chow min. I also got washing done so all my clothes are clean and ready to pack up to leave. I really cruisy last few days of village life but as the family was my favourite part about the volunteering I was really stoked to be able to spend several days with just them.

Buha killed a chicken for a farewell dinner – my first bit of meat since getting to Nepal – but you literally could NOT have gotten any fresher!! I ate my last Dhal Bhat Nepali style – with my hands – I had to eat with my right and being left handed I thought it would end in disaster but I loved playing with my food, squishing it between my fingers and plopping it in my mouth. deri mitho cha – delicious!
I ended my last few hours with the family by having my last Masala tea with peanut butter crackers and playing cards before Bec gave me a small teddy. I got a ticka blessing, flowers and money for safe travels and then I jumped in the van to head to Kathmandu ready for my next instalment of adventure 🙂

Padamphokari

After returning from Lumbini we were welcomed home with Dal – yummy dinner which I have to say I missed being away – other places make the curry too spicy or trick me bringing dishes with coriander in them… Which left me with toast, eggs and bread while away.
At school the next day the school was celebrating 45 years of being open. Parents were invited to attend. There were lots of speeches and awards given out to high achieves, dancers and singers. We arrived for our normal day by 10 not knowing festivities would not start until 12-12:30-1 in Nepalese timing…..so we sat on a bench and pulled out the Australian animal card collection and it was a hit, group after group gathered around to look for 2 hours. Festivities finally began and we sat there for over 3 hours listening to Nepalese….. There were two short speeches by student in broken English which were interesting – one about child rights and how parents need to show more support to their children’s learning and another thanking everyone for coming. The dancing and singing were cool to watch, but all in all we were pretty clueless as to what was going on but at the same time it was just like awards ceremonies in school.

Life in a small village doesn’t really change too much day to day….we eat the same meals, drink tea (sometimes in different places), go between people and places we know…
It’s nice to have Kat here to share the quite with. Our bike rides to and from school are always filled with ooos and ahhs as we hit unexpectedly large rocks jarring ourselves, or loosing concentration and running ourselves off the road 🙂 always with a smile, laugh and quick comment.

School has been a non event while here….no not because I keep going away! It just seems like we are either not needed/wanted or they really lack the ability to organise and coordinate how to use us effectively. Nevertheless we don’t get up to much and feel like I am making slim to no change/help. Which is TRES frustrating as a teacher!

I went to a morning school session this morning – 15 local kids aged 3 -7 with little to no English – some of the older ones can ask name and where you are from. So I whipped out my nifty Australian animal cards and wowed the crowd again 🙂 tomorrow I’m taking it back to old faithful and hanging a pirate lesson ( story, comprehension, etc) then the pirate game…. watching kids pretend to scrub e deck, climb the rigs, salute the captain and whistle at the captains girlfriend! if we have time left in the hour session I might teach them how to draw Australian animals (with my awesome drawing skills……and my how to draw Aust. Animals book 😉 )

So I’ve made a big decision…..getting very little and feeling like I’m giving very little or needed in my placement I am taking a week off to head to Pokhara to undertake a short trek for a week. I will be heading back to Podamphokari for one more week to finish off my placement and then heading back to Kathmandu on the 10th of January for the start of my Nepal/India tour. It was hard to decide to leave my home stay but I think I will get more out of a trek at this stage then doing what I’m doing at the moment.

Christmas Day 2013

Today is Christmas morning and as imagined it couldn’t be more different – although school isn’t on today 🙂

Ama is teaching us how to make dal this Morning. This is the soup we eat every meal – lentils have lots more flavour than I thought….ill practice before I come home and see I’d I can make some dal bhat for you when I return 🙂
I am teaching little Bec how to knit – all we have are my circular needles and left over wool from my vest I was making but she’s a fast learning and picking it up veryyyyy fast. MJ another volunteer took Bec into town today and they came home with straight needles hoorah going to be so much easier!
We have bought matching necklaces for Kathleen, Bec and myself and will share tonight. The actual gift giving was probably the most awkward exchange EVER. I don’t think they are used to receiving gifts as they all just stood there. There defiantly wasn’t any mention of them the next day.

I am taking myself off with another volunteer today to buy material to make some pants – found out Ama is a Tailor and giving her a little of my business while I’m here….coming back with personalised tailored pants (Aladdin style) 🙂 pretty nice Christmas present to myself.

Just had a bus come past packed with people inside and on the roof – a slow drum was rather ominous with about 30 people following on motorbikes – we just found out someone didn’t have a very good Christmas morning as they had passed away.

We spent our Christmas mostly chilling out with the other volunteers. Had a walk to a few new places in the village. Still not much going on half hrs walk away 🙂 but we did do some trip planning and we (Hayley, Mark, Min, Kat and I) are going off to Chitwan national park to see elephant races and elephant soccer matches, then staying on to tour the national park. Then Kathleen and I are heading to Pokhara for a few days as they have street festivals for New Years.

For Christmas night our family had a small fire gathering with lots of potatoes, mandarins, they even killed a family chicken for the occasion! We sat around with beers and Brandy talking English and Nepalese. After Dal I whipped out a Christmas present from Louise and Mal….some delicious Sqiggles to share from New Zealand to Nepal…..a HIT!

Merry belated Christmas to everyone back home- I was thinking of you and the delicious roasts and feasts you were all indulging in with family and friends around – I missed it a lot – thank you everyone for my amazing gifts-mummy and daddy, Mal and Louise, Auntie Rob, nan and pop
Xxxx

First day on the “Job”

Today Kathleen and I got a little sleep in. At 0830 we were making our way outside for our morning dal bhat….again Rebecca smashed the kitchen with yumminess.
After the dishes ….. Bucket of water and a small scouring brush in the garden, it was time to head to school.
Sanjiv our village coordinator picked us up on his motorbike…..I’m sorry mum but no helmets in Chitwan…but we didn’t go more than 20 km speed wise I’d say. A short 5 min bike ride and we were shaking hands with the principal and meeting one of the schools English teachers….today we would be shadowing to see how it’s done here and to gauge what to expect in the classroom.
NOTHING close to what I’m used to doing! They read….read again….listen….write and answer questions on comprehension from text. Today we were I year 10 And 8. Their English was surprisingly very good. They could pronounce well and read well from the passages. We did a little correction of pronunciation and demonstrated a lot…..that was about it…..
I feel like standing and talking with them repeating what I say doesn’t go very far….but they say I’m helping so ill see what happens next time.
Saturday is the only day school free here, but this week our school is doing lots of free time extra activities because….the teachers need to mark exams finished last week….and parents day and the school anniversary is approaching.
SO … We have half day tomorrow then Saturday off…then the following 3 days over Christmas will be pretty much no teaching with all the activities in school happening. So I’m feeling a little useless here at the moment.
Therefore Kathleen and I are planning all of our adventures for while we are here. She leaves on the 7th of jan and I am leaving with Hayley to go back to Kathmandu on the 10th. Before we all leave we are planning…..Lumbini, birthplace of Buddha, Chitwan National Park and Pokhora for New Years.

Our new digs

Chitwan is nothing like I could have imagined.
We are in a small village called Podompochari
We met Bouwa and Rebecca this afternoon. Bouwa our host father, is a math teacher at a local school. He is quiet and speaks a little English to keep a flow of conversation, but is ready to help with anything we need. Rebecca is a 15 year old wonder child….mature and well beyond the likes of any 15 year old I know….. Ooma is in Kathmandu….that’s our host mum…we will meet her tomorrow…so Rebecca does everything. She cooked us our first family dal bhat which I couldn’t have made even if I practiced for months. She still loves to have a gossip and chat with her girlfriends….but as for village life, there’s not really a lot for a young girl to do here.
Mark, Ming, and Hayley live a few mins walk away with our village coordinator and four other volunteers, so we will probably be spending a bit of time there…..they also have a western style toilet where the toilet paper flushes….unlike at our home with is squat and he have a small bag for our TP because it doesn’t flush!
After dinner Kathleen, Rebecca and I played cards for a while before bed, having a chat about ourselves.
All in all a good first Impression I hope.

Kathmandu to Chitlang

First day of orientation….breakfast followed by a short cultural information session. Woman are inferior and not allowed to smoke, drink, and we have to clean and Cook while the men Drink and play cards haha.
Afterwards we went for a joyride from our hotel. ( all 20 volunteers) in 2 buses for the beginning of an adventure that would be Overnight to a place called Chitlang…..
The crazy streets of Kathmandu I saw poverty and contentment if at all possible…..kids running around smiling and washing on the sides of streets……but then rubbish filling the waterways and sides of roads…dirty and rundown shacks.
The roads are chaotic but somehow they make it work….beeping to let others know they are overtaking or about to squish u between another bus ( almost saw 2 moped pancakes!). I was about half hr into our “1.15 min” trip when I realised I should be afraid for my life but ended up laughing instead. To get to our mystery village we had to climb a mountain In our very old, beaten up bus that probably wouldn’t even be street legal in Australia. On the climb we broke down a total of 10 times….at one stage rolling back far to close to a cliff for comfort….the girls on the bus I swear I’ve never seen people disembark so quickly! After that we rock propped the wheels for safety. If you think the NZ access roads are bad or 4wd tracks ….they ain’t seen anything on this Nepalese mountain!
On the 10th breakdown we were told it would be faster to walk. A 15 min trip uphill to the top of the mountain and then a quick slide into the village from there…..following the track with nothing but our 8 year old guide we finally arrived over 2 hrs later.
After lunch we had to do a short speech about ourselves then it was game time 🙂
A game called kill the evil……2 teams trying to get a blindfolded teammate to the other end….while blindfolded you hold a long stick that you have to hit a pot hanging on a pole…..I managed to get down the end and hit the pot winning myself a delicious scarf for my troubles 🙂
Then a very competitive game of Nepalese soccer….needless to say I was USELESS but having a blast while I was there, and we won 🙂
That night we had a giant smoking campfire and we played charades…..mine was.. legend of the fall…..fall was easy to act out but the rest of my attempts were fruitless…..we had about 15 local men and women come to sing and dance for us for about an hour we watched and joined in until there were all of us dancing around. Pretty cool to listen to them…starting with a sound and then rhyming it.
Our accommodations were nice but freeeeeeziing I shared a floor with 3 other girls ….hunkering down in my cocoon sleeping bag I was snug as a bug 🙂 there was a roof over our heads but holes all thought the walls and into the hut. So much better than tenting as I had a toilet in the room for my 2am wake up.
Dal bhat is the staple diet in Nepal…..rice and lentil soup…..cooked early in the morning it didn’t sit we’ll on the stomach but I made it out of bed and was ready for action.
A short hour ride in the back of a jeep ….. 10 per jeep, we trekked out to a large lake where we took a boat ride …. I had a dream about this boat ride the night before….. Narrow boats that were full of people and very prone to capsize! …..my dream came true…..except the capsizing part which was narrowly escaped…..across the lake we all went, at the other side we disembarked to climb another hill to a suspension bridge which was 300 metres long (apparently…..) it was a sight to see in the middle of rural Kathmandu, it was metal and modern looking more than any other structure I had seen up till that point. Jumping and bounding we went across, then back into the jeeps and back for lunch….
The back of the jeeps were dusty from the roads….being open we had everything coming in so my bandana saved my life this day! After lunch we had to take to our transport again to get up and over the mountain and back to our hostel in Thimal. The choices…..a nice mini buss or the back of a jeep again…..Kathleen and I braved being the 2 girls to take the jeep with the boys and it was a rocky, bumpy, entertaining, scary and painful ride back 🙂
Battered and aching with a smile on my face I made it back to see my girl Gracey waiting for me 🙂 🙂 🙂