By 6am, I hear the kids running around and screaming outside my room. Gosh, they are such early risers. I rolled around in my bed for about an hour before jumping into the shower and joining the kids by the balcony. The set routine for volunteers is to be out of the room by 7:30 in the mornings. We use this time to help those kids who didn't finish their home the night before. For those who have finished their homework, we try to encourage them to read books and play English related games. Sometimes they just run a muck. This morning, Bea did some reading with the kids. I played the super word race game with the other kids. Each player places their markers on 'start' (the kids didn't have markers, so they used bits of wood and broke them into pieces creating markers - they surely know how to improvise), each takes a turn by flipping a coin - heads = move 1 space, tails = move 2 spaces, when you land on a 'pit stop' , take a card from the pit stop (from the middle pile) and pronounce the word. If you pronounce the word correctly, you move forward 3 spaces, if you are wrong, you move back 3 spaces. First to finish - wins. The kids knew all the words and were all pronounced correctly - words such as farther, further, feather, police and please. I was extremely impressed by these 8/9/10 year olds playing the games - I just couldn't believe how good their English are. Some of the boys took my camera and started making videos and taking photos. I've noticed that these kids are super excited about the camera. They love playing back their little filming projects - and surprisingly, the filming is really good. I don't do much filming at all, so it's great that they are filming each other for me.
Some of the other kids played with the alphabet flash cards - learning the phonetics. It's nice to know that these kids are willing to learn, especially at that age - they're not all centred with just playing. I love the fact that they enjoy all these exercise that we are doing with them - many of them get quite competitive. They played the super word race several times, asking me to join in with them in every round.
It was my first breakfast with the kids - my first serving of dal bhat at the happy home. Kippolo the house mother is a wonderful cook. I was so fascinated by the amount of rice the kids could eat. Especially the little one - Aayuus. He eats more rice than I do. I sat and watched in fascination the way they ate dal bhat with their right hands and slurping every piece of rice from it. For breakfast, the kids also get served milk. They pour their milk over the rice and call it 'sweet rice'. It was the first time I've ever seen milk eaten with rice like that, very interesting. After breakfast, one by one cleaned their cups and plates and head upstairs to get ready for school. The kids also have a roster to clean the tables, their rooms, bathroom and the house. They learn responsibility at such a young age - very independent.
The kids start school at 10am, it is a short little stroll from the happy home to the local governmental school. We walked the kids to school at 9:45am dropping Aauyuss at the child care centre along the way. They all look so adorable in their white and blue school uniform, the girls are required to tie their hair in piggy tails with red ribbons tied at each ends - I found this extremely adorable.
After we drop the kids off at school, we have free time - 5 hours to spare. Bea took me a nice lakeside restaurant called 'Fewa Paradise Restaurant & Bar'. A delicious cold fresh mango juice always tastes better when there is fresh air and a gorgeous view. Cool, crisp morning air, lush greenery, a hint of mist over Lake Phewa, the mountain range partly hidden by clouds and the sun peeking through. Bea and I chilled out and admiring the view, getting to know one another and learning more about the orphanage.
For lunch, we dined at 'Once upon a time' - a laid back tourist restaurant. This place has a good combo of sauve European cafe vibe up front, and traditional Nepali out back. I ordered a beef burger served with coleslaw and chips. Bea had the burritos but it was served like a lasagne - despite the way it cooked - the burrito was super tasty. My burger was also very nice, however the patty wasn't like our usual Aussie patties. Nonetheless, I really had a great lunch. The restaurant offers excellent connection of free wifi. After our meals, Bea continued reading her book - Eat, Pray, Love - a book that I've been wanting to read and I concentrated on blogging. We chilled out for a while in this nice and peaceful restaurant before it was time to pick up the kids from school.
The kids are split up into two groups. One group finishes at 3pm and the other at 4pm. We are only responsible for picking up the first group - including our little one, Aayuus from the child care centre along the way. The kids gets undressed out of their school uniform and digs into lunch. It is either left over rice from breakfast, noodles or dry rice wheats mixed with dry noodles - it is an interesting but odd combination, however, it is quite a nice snack. We also get served with a snack - so chiya (tea) and the rice wheats and dry noodles.
The kids knows their daily routine, after lunch they head straight upstairs and start on their homework. They have English and Nepali homework. They're homework is purely copying from the textbook, word for word, picture for picture. I am unable to help them with the Nepali homework but the English homework - I can guide them. Nepali text is so beautiful. Every words ends with a line on top, without the line the word means nothing. When second group of kids arrived back and joins the first group of kids at their 'homework bay' which is the balcony area. They do their homework's on the ground as they do not have proper tables and chairs to sit on, unless they sit on the dining tables - which for some reason, they opt for the ground.
Some of the girls finished off their homework and proceeded to do their weekly washing. They all sit by the tap with tubs and soap and wash away. I have never seen 8/9 year olds do that EVER - these kids are surely great domesticated kids. They are always so smiley. I love that about them.
In Nepal, the locals have to fetch safe drinking water from nearby water taps. However, there is always a very long queue - waiting at least one hour to three hours. Jyoti (the oldest girl) asked me to go along with her as it was her turn to fetch the water. We left our water bottle in line and sat in the grass area and waited. A little while later, it started to rain heavily so we had to run back home. Luckily, they still had water from previous night's fetch therefore one bottle of water less was not a problem.
It is currently pre-monsoon period so it has slowly been raining once a day around 6pm. The weather is beautiful during the day, with the sun constantly shining over the lake and lightly kissing our skins. The air is so much thinner here in Pokhara - nothing like Bondalem, Bali. I was heading out to meet with Zoe for dinner before she departs from Pokhara and the girls were kind enough to lend me their pink umbrella. Kippolo and Santosh (the oldest boy) were in the kitchen preparing for dinner. Santosh is the older brother/father of the happy home. All the kids respect him and look up to him very much.
I met with Zoe at a Fewa Lake Restaurant by the lakeside. She also had a friend with her but he didn't speak any English. He is from China and also travelling solo. I found it quite hard to communicate with him as I speak Cantonese not that well and my Mandarin was no where near great either. I spent most of the time speaking to Zoe and if anything, she translated most of the things for him. There was live entertainment during dinner, traditional Nepali dancing - it was very interesting. I ordered for dinner spicy pork ribs served with these awesome tasting potatoes and bread - I enjoyed my scrumptious dish.
It's Zoe's last night in Pokhara, she's heading to Kathmandu tomorrow and spending her final days there before making her way home. It was so lovely to have met Zoe. She is such a happy and chirpy girl - very easy to get along with. We said goodbye to each other and will keep in contact via email. Facebook is banned in China, so there was no point in adding her.
It was a lonely stroll back home. At least the rain had stopped. When I arrived back, the kids were having their dinner. I went to my room and rested.
Before bedtime, the girls had requested that I take photos of them. They all put on their best outfits and started posing away. Little Aayuus joined in the fun. It was so cute seeing them all dressed up and striking adorable poses. I told them that I will print these photos out for them. We said good night and gave each other kisses and hugs and headed to bed. I love the fact that these kids are extremely affectionate. I have only known them for a two nights and I feel like I've known for a longer period. So far, I am really enjoying my stay at the orphanage.
Good night world.
XOXO
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