(this is an email from earlier that i have copied in for those that didn't get it)
Namaste!
Ok, it's been a long long time since I wrote because I am slightly rubbishat emailing and kept trying to reply individually. I have started a blognow: www.miguelinnepal.blogspot.com, which is unsurprisingly almost empty,but the plan is to update this from emails i send to people, and you cancheck this at will. But here is revision note summary for all those ofyou doing exams...
-1. invigilated over school exams managing to thwart the attempts of Arunthe 'master-cheater' in his maths exam. 2. subsequently had almost 4weeks holiday due to the crazy headmaster changing his mind several times,so do not worry about me being overworked. 3. in this holiday went tolovely lake city nestled in mountains called pokhara where bravely swam inlake later being told that evil leeches can swim up your nose and come outa month later. But this is only for buffalo I hear now, so thats ok. 4. Went trekking for 10 days, up to 3800m, where i proved relatively immuneto altitude sickness that struck down companions. i imagine i was a yakin a previous life. Fantastic himalayan scenery, dry wild west type aridparts, then green gorges all steamy and a hot spring. 5.a) Oh! And we metMaoists! in the middle of pouring rain in a rhodedendrom forest 3000m up,when I have neverbeen so tired (5.b)we had gained 1600m altitude in 4hoursish, because we walkedstupidly fast, with 12kg backpack, and almostcollapsed with fatigue infront of herd of scary black goats with red eyes,but was saved when I found an old cadbury?s bar in my bag which gave theenergy to carry on), 5c) Oh, and the maoists. My 6ft4 trekking buddyFin said he didn't believe they were maoists, asked them to prove it,eventually guy reached into his bag and pulled out a?.not a gun, butmaoist propaganda full of pictures of happy maoist ladies making guns. Wepaid up afterbargaining.
6.Limped for about a week after trekking. In Pokhara ran out of money dueto bank complications and lived off coconut biscuits and spent nepali newyear in hotel room cos couldn?t afford to go out, but had a v good book sowas ok. 7. On way back bus took 11 bumpy hours, rather than 5, and when meand Israeli friend smadar nipped to toilet it drove off, and we had tochase it (while limping). 8. Was roped into (oh, unintentional pun)bungy jumping by Smadar, 160m in a beautiful gorge with river rapidsbelow, 2nd highest in world. Was surprisingly brave, though had mild fearthat my injured leg would fall off when I reached the bottom, but itdidn?t. Incredibly fun, if scary. 9. This was followed by a far scarierprospect, an all night trance party that night, full of Israelis. Did Ilearn to trance dance? No,because we got too drunk and ended up staring atstars (it was outside) and at crazyJapanese trance boy who must have(along with most of the others who were st! ill dancing at 11am the nextday) had three shredded wheat or something else. 9b) Alarge number ofpeople seemed to be able to fire juggle, which I thought was kindof funny,because I always saw it as quite an unusual alternative kind of hobby,butin this sort of alternative company its almost looked a bit conformist.9c)Bus journey: bumpy to a degree that would be unthinkable in Old Brittania,it resembleda crappy rollercoaster ride more, and I discovered my secretsuperpower: yes, I am,'impervious-to-coach-travel-sickness-boy'. Managedto read a hundred pages of novel despite night before without flinching.
[these revision notes aren?t very good, getting too detailed, and not verystructured. Will try new format.]
Chitwan national Park: Saw elephant breeding center, attacked by red ants,itchy legs, saw crocodile in river and I was in canoe! Rhinos, monkeys(yes, real rabid monkeys sophie), no tigers sadly. Also sawanthropological tribal dancing
Back to School: Now i teach older kids, classes 4,5a,5b,6a, 6b ,7 and 8,who are easier to control not as cute, though there is a nice element ofmutual respect going on. Bribery with games of Simon Says has given wayto bribery with stickers my mum kindly sent over. Initial attempts tomake everything a fun competition (as you may know, I like games) slowlybegan to turn the kids into sticker hungry competitive maniacs with shortattention spans, so now I ensure we have downtime and boring work too. Have got quite creative with lesson plans, borrowed a CD player forlistening excersie. 5b boys think norah jones sings too slow and has avoice like 'she has not eaten any food for long time', whatever thatmeans. Though they like her. Have started a popular little library withmy collection of english story books. Even had an exciting if traumaticposter making session (see blog for details). I have started taking 2 dayweekends (all the other volunteers get this,I think its fair). Had a sorethroat last week and couldn?t speak for 3 days, nor use chalk, which wasinteresting. Classes of 40 students avg now. Going to village schoolmaybe next week
.- As for Hindi Soap, which a number of you showed interest in, shockingly,the person we thought to be the son of the goodies who had been kidnappedand brought up by the evil lady with her evil theme tune (?Kumalika?),turned out ?shock horror- to be in fact one of her evil minionsmasquerading as the son who put in colour contact lenses to trick them! Evil lady has returned to India now and is cunningly causing havoc andmaking everyone hate each other, and its not so fun, I don?t like it whenthe baddies win
.- I have taught ?yeti? the dog to fetch a ball. My nepali is coming on.- Went to Buddhist monastery just now. Very peaceful and good. Monk toldme about karma and told me stop squashing mosquitos because they could bemy reincarnated mum. Also learnt that if you can be reincarnated as a?hungry ghost?, which sounds to me like it should be the mascot for acereal but in fact is not happy at all, but the realm just above hell.- Have paid homage several times to statues of the unfeasibly curvy andattractive Goddess of Education, Saraswati, for many of you withexams/dissertations/stuff (any requests, email me).-
Thankyou thankyou thankyou for wonderful emails and especially lettersand postcards, which I have stuck all over my wall, miss you all and wishyou were here, but don?t wish I was in England
.Lots of loveMichael
p.s. despite eating goats brains, I have yet to show signs of CJD.p.p.s. situation in Nepal is good, you should all come here on holiday,there is censorship etc, but no violence to tourists (or in streets, itsreally only in west part of country) and people here are so kind.
