Well hello all!
After getting settled in during my first week here, I think I am ready to get back on my blogging game! I promise I will do better than last time...or at least try too.
Anyways, here I am again, thousands of miles away from home set off on my very own adventure...of a gap year nature, of course. I am currently sitting in a internet cafe in Pokhara, Nepal! After what felt like an eternity of traveling, including 11 hour layover in Hong Kong, where I enjoyed some delicious food and stretched my legs a bit around the city, a night in Kathmandu, and a 7 hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara, I finally made it! I met up with my in country GVI staff, and here I am, in the middle of my second week volunteering in Nepal!
I am staying with a host family in Male Patan, an area of Pokhara just outside Lakeside(the touristy area, where all the trekkers relax after there hikes). My family is absolutely amazing, they make the best Dhal Bhat, the traditional Nepali dish, which I eat twice a day. It is rice, lentil curry, and some vegetables, usually nice and spicy! They love there chilis here. My day to schedule is as follows: Wake up and have a cup of tea around 6:30am, go to work at a street kids rehab center from 7-9:30 helping with english, and also teaching them how to play soccer! I come home for dhal bhat around 10am, then head off to a daycare center from 11-3, I act an as extra pair of hands, and also attempt to teach the kids english, however they are all very little, so it is really basic stuff. This week we are teaching them fruits, today we taught them how to say "apple" in english. They all pretty much got it which was nice. I then go into lakeside, use the internet or relax until 4:30 when I go to Conversation club. It is a club where we get local kids to come down and we lead discussions all in english. It is a lot of fun and I think we are going to have them make some cool dreamcatchers with the materials I brought soon! I then return home for Dhal Bhat around 6 or 6:30, falling asleep easily by around 8pm. Days are exhausting, but very rewarding!
The other volunteers with my organization that are here with me now are from all over the place! one from Germany, Switzerland, and Singapore! It is really cool being around such a diverse group.
Well I must run to Conversation club, don't forget to check my Flickr(http://www.flickr.com/photos/amoss-hawkinsphotos/) for picture updates on my trip. For a teaser, here is the view from my porch at my homestay.
After getting settled in during my first week here, I think I am ready to get back on my blogging game! I promise I will do better than last time...or at least try too.
Anyways, here I am again, thousands of miles away from home set off on my very own adventure...of a gap year nature, of course. I am currently sitting in a internet cafe in Pokhara, Nepal! After what felt like an eternity of traveling, including 11 hour layover in Hong Kong, where I enjoyed some delicious food and stretched my legs a bit around the city, a night in Kathmandu, and a 7 hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara, I finally made it! I met up with my in country GVI staff, and here I am, in the middle of my second week volunteering in Nepal!
I am staying with a host family in Male Patan, an area of Pokhara just outside Lakeside(the touristy area, where all the trekkers relax after there hikes). My family is absolutely amazing, they make the best Dhal Bhat, the traditional Nepali dish, which I eat twice a day. It is rice, lentil curry, and some vegetables, usually nice and spicy! They love there chilis here. My day to schedule is as follows: Wake up and have a cup of tea around 6:30am, go to work at a street kids rehab center from 7-9:30 helping with english, and also teaching them how to play soccer! I come home for dhal bhat around 10am, then head off to a daycare center from 11-3, I act an as extra pair of hands, and also attempt to teach the kids english, however they are all very little, so it is really basic stuff. This week we are teaching them fruits, today we taught them how to say "apple" in english. They all pretty much got it which was nice. I then go into lakeside, use the internet or relax until 4:30 when I go to Conversation club. It is a club where we get local kids to come down and we lead discussions all in english. It is a lot of fun and I think we are going to have them make some cool dreamcatchers with the materials I brought soon! I then return home for Dhal Bhat around 6 or 6:30, falling asleep easily by around 8pm. Days are exhausting, but very rewarding!
The other volunteers with my organization that are here with me now are from all over the place! one from Germany, Switzerland, and Singapore! It is really cool being around such a diverse group.
