Top Ten Treasured Photographs

It’s hard to believe that by the end of this week I will have been in Nepal for over five months. My one semester commitment to Reach the World has ended when I sent it my last article at the beginning of December. I knew it would be impossible to summarize all of my experiences in a coherent way, so I decided to write my farewell to my RTW students with a top ten list of my most treasured photographs so far. I’m not done writing, but I thought the pictures and the comments were worth sharing. (Especially since I haven’t been very consistent in my postings lately.) Some of the pictures have already made an appearance here, but I think some are new.

As written for my Reach the World students…

 
1) Time to Fly: this picture was taken at an old stone temple that sits atop a hill on the edge of the Kathmandu Valley. From the temple you can watch the morning fog roll across the entire city and then dissolve like sugar in a cup of hot Nepali tea. Religion, in many different forms, is an essential part of Nepali culture. The way the birds are frozen in mid-air in the picture reminds me of the way that religion forces people to stop, to reflect on their lives, and to enjoy a moment of peace.

2) Camaraderie: the people whose outlines you see in this photo are my friends. I didn’t know any of them before coming to Nepal, and if I hadn’t accepted the opportunity to teach English here I probably would never have met them. Sharing this wonderful experience with such friendly, funny and generous people has made my time in Nepal even richer.

 

3) Dance Like No One’s Watching: I took this picture during a celebration at a local school. I’m not sure who started it, but soon a circle had formed and students where showing off their coolest moves. Teachers and students alike gathered around to cheer. This particular kid was pretty shy at first. He acted like he didn’t know what to do, until someone started playing music and he went crazy.  No matter where you are it’s important to embrace the current moment, be spontaneous, and have fun.

 

4) Untitled: I love this photo because when I saw it, I felt like I had walked into a postcard. I love travelling because this feeling happens to me all the time. When you are surrounded by things you know it is easy to ignore the beauty that exists all around. Arriving someplace new invites you to open your eyes and marvel at your surroundings. Even if it’s just a flower or a wall or the sky.
 

 

5) Tika: one of the hardest parts of leaving home is spending time away from friends and family that you love. But by investing in the community and building relationships with local people I have often found myself absorbed into a new kind of family. I can’t just say “mom” anymore because I have to specify if I am talking about my Nepali aama or my American mom. This picture was taken during Dashain and it will always remind me how graciously my host family accepted me as part of their family.

 

 

6) Desk at Dusk: when I return to America, I probably won’t miss the loadshedding schedule and the inconvenience of living without electricity for several hours each day. I hope that my experience will remind me not to take things like electricity and clean water, straight from the tap, for granted anymore. However, I also hope that I will never forget how simple it was to adjust to living without. I hope that I won’t become so easily frustrated my life it’s as convenient as I might have wanted. I hope that I will be patient and grateful.

 

7) Mero Bidhyaarthiharu (My Students): since I am teaching English in Nepal, my student are a huge part of my experience. I treasure their shouts of “good morning miss!” on my way to school, and I even smile at their snotty noses or dirt stained uniforms. I love them on the days they listen and I love them on the days when they spend the whole class misbehaving. I am almost positive they are teaching me more than I could ever teach them.

 

 

8) Strength: living in Nepal it is hard to look around without seeing someone carrying something with a strap around their forehead. I have seen women carrying bundles of hay or other crops larger than their bodies. I have watched men stride down the road with full entertainment center cabinets like it was nothing. I struggle to keep my jaw from dropping open when I pass someone with a basket full of bricks or cement, and I constantly wonder how their neck can support such a heavy load. Living in Nepal I am surrounded by examples of intense physical labor every day. I continue to be awed by the strength and perseverance each of these individuals display.

 

 

 

9) In the Kitchen: in all of my travels abroad I have learned how the process of preparing food can bring people together. You don’t have to speak the language, you don’t have to know the recipe. All you need is a willingness to get your hands dirty. The need to prepare, to eat, and to clean creates an international language that can be understood even when so much is lost in translation. And if you can master a dish or two, it will make for a delicious reminder of that particular place no matter where your further travels lead you.

 

10) Himalaya: a photographic summary of Nepal simply wouldn’t be complete without these resplendent mountains. They stand mighty bold like an impassable fortress, but then disappear behind the clouds like magicians. They are beautiful and imposing in a way that is difficult to express in words. I was never someone who was big on “nature,” but if you ever get the chance to visit this mountain range in person I urge you to take advantage of it.  

 

Spontaneous Holidays and Unexpected School Days

Perhaps one of the most challenging parts of teaching in Nepal is knowing whether or not the school will be open on a particular day. I have basically always taken it for granted that school would follow the calendar published months in advance, with an occasional but widely announced change due to a snow day or two. That is not how it happens here.

Don't assume that February and March will actually include that much school,
it's just too early to know about the unexpected stuff.

I live with another teacher from my school and the headmaster of another local school, so if anyone should be in the know about whether or not school is running, it’s me. But that hasn’t really been my experience. Here is a quick guide to determining whether or not school will be open based on my diligent observations and questioning in a desperate search for answers:

1. Be sure to say “see you tomorrow!” to everyone you encounter at school. Hopefully one of the dozens of students and teachers will pipe up if it has already been determined that school will be closed the following day.

2. Don’t count too strongly on strategy number one. It probably works 50% of the time.

3. Try to make friends with people who are well-connected to the grapevine. This provides access to rumors about upcoming bandhs or poorly publicized local holidays that are approaching. Any kind of a rumor, no matter how seemingly ridiculous, is enough to indicate that school may or may not be closed.

4. Don’t spend too much time asking people. When confronted directly with the question “Is there school tomorrow or not?” in English or in Nepali, most will say “there may be school tomorrow.” Which is a frustratingly vague answer.

5. Definitely don’t try to get an answer the night before. It’s too early. No one knows.

6. In the morning, check with your host family. Questions like “are you going to school today?” generally receive a more informative answer than “is there school today?” Even though it would seem like within three hours of school starting a decision would be clear. If you don’t get a clear answer, check back in 45 minutes; kind of like shaking a magic 8 ball until it gives you what you want.

7. If on the way to school you pass an entire soccer field full of students from grade three, don’t assume this means that school is closed. Simply make a note that class three will be smaller than usual.

8. When in doubt, take everything with you to school on the assumption that even though less than half of the staff have showed up the school will still run and you will suddenly be in charge of way more classes than normal. At least the student numbers will also be running below half so even when the headsir says “you take grades one AND two” the class size won’t be terribly overwhelming.

9. Even if school is running, don’t assume that it will be a full day. Assume that any adult approaching your classroom, at any time during the day, is coming to announce that everyone is leaving at 12:00 or 1:30 or right now. NOTE: DO NOT listen to older students who deliver the same message, always wait for a credible adult who you can identify if later asked “who told you to let all the grade ones go running out the gate?”

10. Laugh. Go with the flow. Bat away a single tear as the time you were going to use to teach that great new game with rhyming words is snatched out from under you. Enjoy the six kids who actually showed up – be sure you know their names and give them an extra star just for coming when no one else did. Sigh as you develop a deeper understanding of why teachers in Nepal are frustrated beyond belief and have no interest in lesson/unit planning. Why plan for a day that may or may not happen? Force a smile when you walk past the seven teachers enjoy their leisure period outside while you run between classes wondering how there can possibly be any spare adults on a day like today. Take the long way home when the day ends three hours early. Buy yourself a pack of oreos at the grocery store to remind yourself that somewhere in the world things are different. Then eat a huge plate of daal bhat to remind yourself that you’re in Nepal whether school runs today or not.