Japanese Group Arrives, Sirubari, Lamjun

What a jam packed day.

I woke up fairly early and started packing my stuff up, preparing to move rooms. When the Japanese group arrives I'll be sleeping in the master room, with who will be a mystery until bed time. I'm learning to just trust that everything will work itself out in the end, a good mentality to have I think!

Bed and I went to school breifly before walking down to Bhotewodar to meet up with the group. While we waited for the bus to arrive Bed did some shopping, bought some food for the Buffalos, we looked at some scarves in a fabric shop. I still don't really know how transactions work here. There seems to be a lot of chatting before making a purchase.. The fabric shop was pretty interesting though! There were bolts of fabrics lining the walls and mostly women would come in and feel the different ones and barter about prices (I assume). There were also gorgeous scarves that I would love to own. But of course I didn't think to bring much cash because I thought we'd be quick. I forgot about how unreliable the timing of buses is here in Nepal :p

When the group finally arrived there was much excitement in the town. They arrived about the same time that the nearby school was finished and there were children crowding around staring, for once not at me! Well, not as much. The group was very receptive to it and are super friendly with everyone. Their leader speaks Japanese, Nepali, and English! And English very well, it will be nice to spend some time talking with him. Especially since he's going to school for the same thing I did.

Instead of walking back to Sirubari we hired a Jeep. The group has lots of luggage! The ride was intense. The roads are bad enough to walk and the Jeep had a very hard time in some areas even with 4x4.. It was very sketchy. One mistake and game over. The drops are so sheer in some areas that the jeep could fall a very long way. The driver has a helper who gets out occasionally to direct tell him how far he has to the edge of the cliff.. I am not eager to do that ride ever again.. Not to mention how dusty it was! Luckily I had a scarf that I used to cover my mouth and nose with to keep the worst of it out. But I guess overall it was a good experience to have! In the cab of the jeep we squished 7 people and sitting in the bed, on top of the luggage, were 9 people. I sat inside next to Satya but could hear those in the back laughing and screaming! A new experience for them. For me, I think I prefer the walk ;)

The group is made of 9 Japanese students and 3 Nepali's including Satya! Which means that there will be 16 people sleeping here tonight. It'll be crowded, glad I have the privilege of sleeping in the bigger room! Turns out I'll be sharing the room with Bed and Sudarsan, the Volunteer Coordinator who arranged my placement here. Yogendra, the other Nepali guide will sleep outside the room while Satya, Bobita, and Grandma will share the TV room. The 9 Japanese will share the two rooms that previously Satya and I each had to ourselves. Not a bad deal for me at least!

When we finally made it to the house the Japanese group went to the cistern to wash their hair and faces. Satya and I went with them and she showed them how to do things properly. No soap anywhere near the water storage and nothing goes in that might be soapy. I left before they finished and went back to the house, I had the intention of writing a bit but instead went to see the sunset! Sudarsan showed me a secret spot, one that I think I'll be back to. It's up past the cistern a bit and has a clear view of the valley below. Very pretty and peaceful! We sat for a bit and chatted before heading down to the school where we could hear the Japanese group talking. I showed them around a bit, they're very excited to see the school tomorrow!

With so many people we ate dinner outside and I think they were a bit surprised at first to see me eating with my hands, but I'm proud of my accomplishments ;)

Immediately after dinner Bed, Sudarsan, Yogendra and myself went up to our bedroom to play cards and share some wine. It was a very nice feeling to be included with that! I guess I fit in decently or something ;) Both Sudarsan and Yogendra are funny guys and speak English quite well. It was a treat to be teased and to be able to understand the jokes being said. I think it'll be a great few days!

Oh, and at some point we finalized my plans for my remaining time in Nepal. I'm going to skip Chitwan and stay in Sirubari until the 14th. Then I'll go to Kathmandu and stay at Sudarsan's house until I leave for Singapore. While in Kathmandu I'll help him with some photo and logo editing and try to help him start building a website for his Eco tourism company. Something that I'm very interested in! I would love to get a group together from home to come to Nepal one day. It would be similar to what the Japanese group is doing, seeing the major sites over just less than 2 weeks (or longer if possible). I'd get to see the places I missed and reconnect with my new family! I will have to look into making that possible. I'm not sad at all that I'm missing seeing Pokhara and Chitwan because there is so much to do here at the school before I leave. More now because the Japanese group brought a laptop with them and I want to help my teacher friend learn the great operating system that is Windows 8.. Too bad it couldn't have been Windows 10, but I know that they are incredibly excited to have the laptop at the school!! It'll be a great learning tool for the students if I can share some of my knowledge with Ganesh before I leave. Internet searching, video calling, Microsoft Office, that kind of thing. He's smart so I know that he'll make the best use of it :)Read more