Chitwan Pictures

Chitwan

So this last weekend 5 friends and I decided to go down to Chitwan National Park and ride some elephants. It is about a 4-6 hour bus ride (depending on the roads). The bus we rode down on I think was made in the height of the ‘60’s and the Beatles took on their Magical Mystery Tour. It had green and orange lights running down the middle with green, orange and gold plastic designs along the luggage rack. Every time I stood up I would hit my head on one of the lights. And of course the seats were not that comfortable.

When we got to Chitwan we met up with one of our other friends that had been in Kathmandu with us and had just finished his teaching program he was doing. We stayed at the Eden Jungle Resort. It was really nice; the rooms were like little duplex bungalows with a nice pouch out front. The landscape was beautiful, with palm trees and great flowers. Like its name suggests it was like a little jungle.

The whole trip was a package, so we had a schedule already planned for us. The First day we got there our guide took us on a tour and gave us a little history lesson on Chitwan. Which I must say is very rural, the houses are separated by large rice patty fields and most of the houses are made of mud and have straw roofs. The whole area is fenced off with an eclectic fence, to keep out wild animals (elephants, rhinoceros, and tigers). We went for a walk around the village and down by the river. As we were walking our guide pointed out to us that just on the other side of the river was a rino. It was hard to believe that this was an animal I had seen before but this time we had no bars between us, and all he really had to do was run across the river to get us. It was amazing. After stopping to take pictures and about the time the rhino made it half way across the river we moved on to the end of our walk, just in time to watch the sunset across the river, BEAUTIFUL! After the sunset we went back to the resort and had dinner. After dinner we had a cultural dance performance. It reminded me of a luau in Hawaii.

The next day we started at 7:30 with breakfast and then took a truck ride to the elephant safari loading platforms. The elephants wear a “saddle” that holds four people at a time. It’s kind of like a box made out of wood with no top and only 2x2’s framing the sides. So you sit with your legs on either side of a corner. We had to climb up a large platform that the elephant backs up to and then climb on. You have a driver that sits just behind the elephants head. I must say, it is kind of scary and it take some time being that high off the ground and not having any control of where you are going. I think the worst part was when you were walking down hills. But the whole experience was amazing. We crossed rivers, charged through large bushes. We did see a rhino that was just standing around eating. I felt a little better seeing from the top of an elephant then when I was standing on the ground. We also saw some white spotted deer. The whole trip lasted an hour and a half.

After we got off the elephants we walked a little ways to the river and got a chance to bathe with the elephants. Pretty much we got on the back of an elephant (bareback) and he then began to spray us with water from his trunk. The water was so cold. After about 5 good sprays he thought it would be a good idea to lie down in the river, causing us to fall off his back. It was so bad the first time I had to do it twice. The first time I was in front, the second time I was in the back, and in case you were wondering the front of an elephant is much more comfortable then the back.

After the bathing we went back to our room and changed into dry clothes and had lunch. Shortly after lunch we all loaded into the back of a truck and drove a ways up river and waiting for us were canoes. These canoes were carved out of the trunk of a tree, so they were one single piece of wood. I was sitting in the front of the boat aside from one of our guides Laxman. He loves birds and because I was the only one he was able to talk to he told me all about the birds we saw. It was great talking to him, he spoke quite good English and he loved talking about the birds. The ride itself was very nice and calm; we just had one man in the back with a stick that he was using to push us down the river.

When we got out of the canoes we got back into the truck and it drove us to a spot right across the river from where we would be entering the jungle for our jungle walk. First we had to cross a bridge that was made of large branches and 50 gallon sandbags to walk across. On the border of the jungle we had a safety briefing. If you see a Rhino climb a tree, If you see and sloth bear run, if you see a tiger run for your life, but don’t turn your back to it. Just a little ways into the walk we found some monkeys, we could only see a couple of them, but we know there was more because we kept getting half eaten fruit dropped on us. The walk lasted about an hour. We did see large herds of deer, and we did see a buck that was hiding in the trees. The closest we got to any tigers was some paw print in the mud from a male tiger.

The jungle walk ended at the elephant breeding center. Where they had a 4 month old baby elephant, and a set of 4 year old twins. This is the first set of twins at this center and only the 5^th set reported in the world. They were so cute. After that we went back to the resort for dinner and sleep.

The next morning we started at 630 for tea and then bird watching. Because I had talked to Laxman the day before I was on top of this. They do have some ducks called “love ducks” they are always found in pairs and if one of them dies then the other will kill itself. They are beautiful. When they are on the ground they look tan, but when they take flight their wings are white and only the tips are tan. After the bird watching we went back and had breakfast and then went and caught the bus to come back to Pokhara.

All in all it was a great weekend. But it was really nice to get back to the kids.

On a side note

Today is Thanksgiving I didn’t think I was going to have such a hard being away from home today (I has saving all my homesickness for Christmas) But I have had kind of a hard time today. I did get to Skype with my Mom and Dad, Sarah and Amber this morning and that was great. Then this afternoon I stayed back at the orphanage to help get dinner ready while Tor and Tasha went with the Didis to get the kids from school. When they kids came home they all came up to me and told me Happy Thanksgiving. By about the third child I was hold back the tears, it was so sweet.

I just want everyone to know how thankful I am for all of you and I love you all very much!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AMERICA!

Funny Friday

So much has been going on sense I wrote last. But here are just some of the highlights

Every other Friday the kids have what is called "Funny Friday". It is a chance for them to put together are program of dance, singing and plays that they perform for everyone. This last Friday was one of those Fridays. Along with all the performances the kids were also given prizes for their good grades or for improving their grades. So it was a big deal.

Now you need to understand the kids come up with all the performances on their own, none of the adults help them.

First we had a dance number from six of thegirls. Punam, Aasta, Maiti, Om Kumari, Muna, and Sarmila they did a great job.

After the girls there was musical number by Ajabira and Sunil with Budesh playing the Madal (a double headed Nepali drum)

This program was not just for our orphanage the kids from Onni (the sister orphanage) also

came over to watch and

participate. The next dance was performed by a girl from Onni named Roshni.

Then we had a dance number by Sujata that was all dressed up in the traditional Nepali dress, and makeup. She did amazing.

Following the dance Bina read a poem that she had written, it was really nice. The kids here are so creative and smart.

I’m going to stop here a minute and explain. I keep using words like “Good”, “Great”, and “Amazing”. But they were more than that. I can’t express how truly amazing all of the kids did. That said I will continue with the program.

Next we had Ghanshyam do a television news program for us. Now this was done in Nepali so I didn’t understand a word he said but it must have been really funny because everyone was laughing, so in turn that made me laugh. Part because I didn’t know what was going on and part because it was funny.

Okay, after that was one of the greatest things I have ever seen. About 10 of the kids wrote and performed a play. It was the best thing ever. It also was in Nepali, but being a play and the great acting of the kids I understood. It was a story of a man (Madan) who left his wife (Menuka) and mother (Saraswoti) at home while he went away to work (I think, that is really the only part I didn’t know for sure. But he went far away.) While he was gone he got very sick and he told his friends to leave him behind. He was later found by a medicine man who took him to his house and helped him recover. Meanwhile his friends thinking he had died went to his house and told his mother and wife that he had died, causing his mother to than die of sadness. This in turn caused his wife to die of sadness. Leaving only the man’s sister alive and morning are three losses. Soon after the death of the wife the man returns to joyously be reunited with his family. When he found only his sister at home and shocked to see him, he becomes worried. When his sister tells him that they all thought him to be dead, he becomes so upset that he also dies in the end. He was then carried off stage by all of his friends.

And really how can you follow something like that. Well with five little kids singing “The Wheels on the Bus” of course. The five youngest kids Niruta, Monica, Sanil, Umesh, and Krishna, with their arms swinging and mixed up words. It was great.

After the kids Renuka sang a solo with her lovely voice, followed by Durga and his rockin dance moves. To finish the whole night off was a solo by Sabin who also did an outstanding job.

The whole night lasted about 3 hours and was full of so much talent, all the kids did a great job.

I will post more of the pictures later, the internet is slowing down.

Other things that happened I saw my first firefly!! Also I went to Chitwan and rode on an elephant. But I will have to write about that tomorrow, it is getting late.

Loves to all!!

My first week

I have now been in Pokhara for a week and I am loving every minute. The kids are so great. We get up every morning at 7:30 have breakfast at the house and leave for the orphanage at about 8:15. When we get there we help the kids brush their teeth and get ready for school. That is always a crazy time because you have to help the little kids get dressed and most of the time they are missing a sock or they can't find their belt so you have to go hunting for it. The girls need to have their hair braided and ribbons tied. This whole process take about 45 mins. When the bell rings we go down with them and help them get their school shoes on and they line up by the front gate. The walk to school takes about 15 mins. On the way the girls have been trying to teach me Nepali songs, I have some of it but it may take me the rest of my time to get it all right. After we drop them off we go back to the orphanage and help the house sisters clean and mop. This takes until 11. Then we have a little time to ourselves. Most of the time we go have a little lunch and sit by the lake. There are so many little cafes and restaurants, we go to a new one most of the time. We head back the orphanage at about 2 to help peel potatoes and cut veggies for dinner. At about 3 it is time to go pick the kids up from school. When they get back we help them change into their regular clothes and they have a little snack. Then they can play for about 30 mins. At about 5 it is time for them to do homework and reading. I have found that I am not very good at math, some of the kids are doing fractions and I have never been very good at them. One night I ended up asking one and then two other volunteers how to do it and none of us could remember how to do it. It looked something like this. [3 x 5 {3/4+5/8} 6 - 2+(3/8 x 6)] so I guess I need to practice my math skills a little. We usually leave during homework time (about 6:30) we have a 30 min walk and it gets dark. But after homework the kids have dinner after dinner some of the kids do more reading. Then they go to bed around 9 or 10.

I have been learning some of the stories about the kids and why they are in the orphanage, and I am amazed by how happy they are after everything they have been through. Two of the girls came from prison, because their parents had been arrested and they had nowhere else to go. One of the girls came because her stepmother killed her birth mother. One of the boys is there because the bus he and his parents were in drove off the road and landed in the river, before it landed his mother threw him out the window into the bushes. He was the only survivor of the crash. So many of them have scares from abuse or neglect. I don't ask them what happened or why they are there. Some will tell you their story and others just don't want to talk about it, and that is fine with me. I feel good knowing that me being there and talking to them or just holding their hand makes them smile.

The local kids around here are great too. When they see us walking down the street they stand on the side of the road yelling "hello! namaste! (Nepali for hello)" and they will yell it until we are half way down the street.

Thank you everyone for the e-mails and posts, it really means a lot to me. Keep them coming!

Love you all

Pictures

This is the guest house I was staying in in Kathmandu.

Just walking down the street you will find little temples are prayer places. I was told if people live far away from temples they will build there own close to there house.

This is a picture of Durbar square, from the top of a large temple.

The monkeys! from the monkey temple.

Me and a monkey