Three Incredible Weeks at Guarishankar Boy's Home

I could not have imagined a better first placement.

An Australian volunteer, Felicia, and I went to a boys' orphanage in a small village called Mati near Charikot in the district of Dolakha. Since we were there during the Dashain Fesitval, the biggest festival in Nepal, the boys didn't have school for most of the three weeks. We taught a couple fun and optional classes each day in oral English, arts and crafts, and American/Australian culture. 

Since their school classes are taught mainly in English they already knew enough that we could focus on pronunciation. We taught the boys how to pronounce 'th' and 'sh' using tongue twisters we made up. We taught them the lyrics to Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet, I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys, Don't Matter by Akon, My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion and When September Ends by Green Day. We taught them the Hokey Pokey and the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Old MacDonald Had a Farm (Their favorite part was EE I EE I OH and their animal noises were extremely authentic). We taught them the Heel and Toe dance and the Cotton Eyed Joe dance and Red Rover. We taught them how to make friendship bracelets (they loved that) and contour drawing and oragami and how to make paper snowflakes. By the end the wall was covered in all kinds of art projects.

Although we taught them all that, I think we learned even more. We learned so many new Nepali words, half of which had to do with food (Nepali hanna mito cha, Nepali food is delicious and malai pugyo, I am full). The boys were overly helpful in teaching us words, occasionally we were a little overwhelmed. In one half hour sitting I wrote down over 300 vocabulary words that they were yelling out all at once. We learned how to eat properly with our hands and how to write our full names in Nepali. We learned how to bathe with just a bucket and a scoop and we learned all the words to Resham Firiri, a popular Nepali song. We learned the Nepali national flower (Rhodedendron), national animal (cow), geography, dances, movies, dress, and about the new government. We got Tikka multiple times (rice, milk, and red dye that sticks on the forhead) and walked barefoot over freshly sacrificed goats blood at temple. We had tongba, a strong fermented millet drink, and learned how to swing on a Dashain swing. It's a lot harder than it looks. 

The boys were so sweet. They were so excited to learn and so excited to share and more than anything they loved to sing and dance. 

The boys and the cooks and Uncle and Auntie and Sir were all so incredibly hospitable. They told us when we came that one of the Hindu stories is about a visitor that turns out to be a God in disguise, so you're supposed to treat all of your guests as if they were Gods. And they did. Three cooks grew all the vegetables and cooked all the meals for the whole orphanage, and every meal was delicious. For Breakfast and dinner we had a big pile of rice with two different vegetable curries that changed every meal, some sort of acchar (spicy pickle of tomato or vegetables) and a bowl of thick perfectly spiced dhal (lentil soup) We also got cucumber and fried egg sometimes. For tiffin (lunch) we had freshly baked chipatti bread or alo chips (fried potato slices) or sweet puffed rice. And we were served the most delicious tea three times a day. It was heavenly. 

The boys would also take us on exploring walks through the area, showing us all the different plants and views and animals. It was cloudy a lot of the time, but on the clear days the mountains were absolutely stunning. on the partially cloudy days the sunsets were the best I've ever seen. 

I also got extremely lucky in being placed with Felicia. We had only known each other a day or two when we decided to go, but we ended up getting along really well. We were endlessly entertained by comparing the slang words and accents of Australia and America. I, for the life of me, cannot say 'Oh' in an Australian accent and Felicia cannot pronounce 'R' because in Australia "We say 'R' silently, inside our mouths" We had some great adventures killing multitudes of spiders and flies and mosquitoes that found their way into our room. Although Felicia is terrified of and grossed out by all birds, she's very adept at killing bugs. She made my 19th birthday in Nepal totally sweet by buying me a huge pile of cookies from the local bakery and sticking a fat candle in the middle and having all the kids sing. She was great at helping to come up with ideas for classes, and great at teaching them with me. We worked really well together and were always on the same page. The placement would definitely not have been as great without her.  

Time has an entirely different consistency in this country. The past three weeks seemed to pass so quickly, but at the same time I feel like I'd been there for a year. Saying goodbye was so hard and I have a feeling I'll be pulled back there before my time in Nepal is finished.