School Trip

Because there are no street names and because we don't know the area, when touring the city as a group we need to stick together, and that is just plain excruciating. Some people love to shop, others just want to see the architectural wonders and others want to linger over coffee. Talk about herding cats! Our guides were too amenable and consequently we were nearly two hours late for the only appointment that the group had with five hundred kids at a school.

We were nearly at the school, after fighting through the traffic for an hour and a half (it was probably 10kms) when the bus discovered that it could not get through a narrow lane way. We had to get out and walk the last kilometer. As we all walked into the school courtyard we were greeted by a rousing cheer from all the children sitting there waiting patiently for us.

They presented a concert with much dancing, just like Bollywood and we presented them with a small gift for each child. We felt like undeserved celebrities. The children were gorgeous and we all ended up dancing with them, some better than others!

We joined the bus again for a nightmare trip to the other home stay. The road was even worse than to our house. It took nearly two hours to travel 10 kms. More sightseeing with the group tomorrow. I can hardly wait.

Chicldren at the Himalayan Academy line up to receive some small gifts from some of our volunteer colleagues. The exitement, especially with the smaller kids was palpable. On the right is Ratna our intrepid leader whose village we will be visiting later in the trip. To the extreme right of the pic is the headmaster of the school who also happened to be Ratna's headmaster when he was at school in Kathmandu.

All of the blue buildings belong to the school. When entering from the steep driveway, some of which can be seen on the right, you go from the filthy environment of the street, to an almost pristine environment where everything appears freshly painted with the grounds are spotless.

Brenda, the annointed one, taking in the atmoshere of the school welcome. More of the other old fogey volunteers can be seen in the background.

Kids mill around in the courtyard towered over by the tall classroom buildings.

 

One of the students perform a traditional dance accompanied by music played from a massive sound system. No, we are not in the future, the 2075 date is from the karthian calendar.

 

Students following in the footsteps of Tolstoy, Einstein, FW Taylor (no, me neither - apparently the father of modern business practice) and Freud.