Dharapani

This morning came wayyy too quick. Bed's alarm went off at 4am and I was out of bed by 4:30 am and we left at 5:00 am. I was trusted to lead the group on the walk down, and didn't carry anything, telling the group that if they needed help with their stuff to let me know and I'd help them. Turns out the offer wasn't needed! So it was easy for me ;) Thankfully because I feel like crap today. Definitely the worst of the cold that's going around hit me today.. Oh well, I've survived worse ;) The walk down was all together uneventful. We made it to Bhotewodar very quickly, only stopping once on the way down. The walk seems shorter in the dark somehow and I'm very happy I made all the correct turns haha.

Because we made it to the village much more quickly than anticipated we had time to kill and had tea and samosas while we waited for the groups bus to arrive. It was kind of neat to watch the town wake up, all the lights starting to go on and people starting their days. While we were waiting, the English teacher passed by the shop we were in on his way to school. He stopped and had a tea with us before continuing to Sirubari. I couldn't stop yawning the entire time we were waiting, thankfully the tea and samosas helped keep me awake! And warm, it was very cold when we stopped moving.

Bed and I said our goodbyes to the group and made our way back up to the village. It didn't take us very long, only about an hour and 15 minutes including a break partway. That's the same amount of time it took us to get down as a group! Must be getting into shape or something. By the time we got back home I was feeling much better, especially after a cold shower and some food. Refreshing. We even made it to school early! Apparently the reason our English teacher, Mahadev, was going up so early is because District exams are next week and the older students are spending extra time at school studying.

At school I spent the day getting the laptop set up, changing some basic settings, installing new programs and showing Ganesh some of the differences with Windows 8. I also showed a few of the teachers how to do video calling over Messenger. Previously they didn't have anything with a camera and microphone to do so! Because today was a half day I didn't finish everything and brought the laptop home with me so I can try to finish tomorrow. It's just slow going because of the dinosaur internet connections. I was called gentle today as well haha. In comparison to the Japanese group who are funny and energetic. I suppose gentle is a good term ;)

After school there was a celebration going on at another teacher's house that all the teachers went to. The celebration was in honour of this teacher's mother who had turned 84. Apparently that's a big accomplishment to celebrate! First Bobita and I stopped by the house to drop off bags and feed the animals. When we arrived we were given sel roti (the donut like bread) and cussar (the small sweet balls) in banana leaf bowls, topped off with curry. We used the roti to eat the curry and I gave my cussar to Bobita, I have to admit it's not my favourite, only because it's hard and my teeth are still bothering me from the work I had done in December.. Not good! But nothing I can do about it now. The set up of the celebration was the same as the previous ones I've been too with the four poles, a hanging cloth, and numerous offerings in leaf bowls. There was a preist who was talking, this time something about how their holy book needed to be changed to adapt to modern times because it previously referred to things flying in the sky as God's, which is not the case when it comes to airplanes. I thought that was interesting! Partway through the Preist talking one of the students came and got me telling me to eat. She brought me to the other side of the house where I ate Soo much food! I couldn't communicate that I was full to the man serving me, but that's okay it was delicious. There was (hot) rice pudding with fresh coconut mixed in yummy. As well as a curry and a pickled side that they make. I accidentally ate a full chile... That was hot. But thankfully I had lots of water! I went back to my spot to continue listening as best I could. At some point a group of ladies showed up and were chattering amongst themselves about me trying to encourage their children to say hello to me and asking the questions I've come to expect about my age, marital status, country, etc. Bed's neighbour was sitting next to me and told me they were calling me a very pretty lady. When the preist concluded his talking everyone who had been listening raised their hands a number of times and shouted yay. I've seen that before so I imagine that it must be a typical way of ending the talking and starting the mingling. As soon as the talking was finished the group of ladies that was talking to me swarmed me and started taking pictures. It was very overwhelming.. One woman was the same one who took a photo of me at the last celebration! She showed me the photo haha. Anyway, thankfully Bed rescued me from that. He wanted me to take a photo of him, Mahadev, and Ganesh presenting the 84 year old woman with a gift, a lovely scarf. Some of the photos turned out pretty nicely :) After taking the photo the men went off to eat. There was more confusion as someone tried to hand me a plate of food and I couldn't explain that I'd already eaten... Thankfully Bobita overheard the commotion and helped me out. We left shortly after because the animals needed taking care of. I was sad to go, I've started to really enjoy myself despite the language barrier! Which I might add is becoming less of an issue. Too bad I'm not staying long enough to truly be able to understand everything..

Back at home I spent some time relaxing, writing, and enjoying some quiet. We didn't eat dinner tonight because we ate at the party so late and instead just watched some Tv. The same show we've been watching most nights about the Hindu religion. It's funny and probably quite educational if I could understand more, but the acting is story enough! I'm sure that I'll sleep quite well tonight.Read more