Last day today and i'm ill!! Of all the times to get a bad tummy and my body chooses today!! Wouldn't miond but my family have planned a big fare well meal for me tonite so hope i'm up to it!
Only got 3 hrs sleep last night so tomorrows journey should be fun.....have be up, packed and ready for the off at 6am! Then collecting the peeps from the other project then to the airport - same journey back - Kathmandu to Deli then Deli to Heathrow then a long drive straight back to Manchester - I'm looking forward to coming home tho - as much as I'm going to miss my family and this amazing country i feel ready for my home comforts, family and friends......so hope you're all ready to receive me as warmly as Nepal did....You've a lot to live up to!
Really excited because I've bought all my family members individuals presents and cant wait to give them to them tonight. Also today is the 1 yr anniversary of when Prabha and Atma Ram first met and made the decision to get married so I've had a nice photo of them that i took printed and framed. Have also bought something for the 'bump' so despite my ill health tonight should be a good one.
Got loads more to tell you all than what i could fit on this blog and approx 900 photographs to bore you with....can't wait.
See you all very very soon :)
xxx
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Thursday, 11 March 2010
A few more -
This is the day i fell off the boulder backwards!!! That's the pole i had in my hands when i fell!
The boulder that Ceri (the girl in the red t shirt is sat on) is the one i fell off!
Me brick laying with Laxman (our 'late ee-skilled-e worker') - I'm about 30ft high here on the Bamboo scaffolding.
Some more boulder removing!
The biggest boulders ever known to man - (these are actually quite small in comparison to the ones before)
This is the day i fell off the boulder backwards!!! That's the pole i had in my hands when i fell!
The boulder that Ceri (the girl in the red t shirt is sat on) is the one i fell off!
Me brick laying with Laxman (our 'late ee-skilled-e worker') - I'm about 30ft high here on the Bamboo scaffolding.
Some more boulder removing!
The biggest boulders ever known to man - (these are actually quite small in comparison to the ones before)
6 budhas, 9 monkeys and a braclet
Work has been slow after our 'ee-skilled-e worker' quit so the past week has been spent removing boulders the size of houses and then smashing them. I haven't taken much part this week as my side is still sore after my fall a few weeks ago.........
I visited the hospital on Monday which was an interesting venture to say the least - I had an x-ray which confirmed that i hadn't broken any bones but they did say that i had torn muscle and internal bleeding which in Nepali translates to bruising (at least i hope it does anyway), wasn't very easy to understand what was going on if I'm honest but at least i got to keep the x-ray so i can show it to my doctor when i get back to the UK. I've been told to take rest though which has meant me sitting around the building site doing nothing :)
On Saturday we went to Kathmandu and really wanted to visit this one particular market - so we get the the hotel drop off our bags and get straight in a taxi to the market - we arrive and the Taxi driver says - ''yes this is New Road Market...'' only there was nothing there - when we asked where the market was he told us it closed for one day a week on Saturday!!!! We asked why then had he taken us there but he couldn't give an answer so we just ended up paying him to drive us back to the hotel again! Not a good start.
Had an excellent weekend though and managed to get some great presents including 6 Buddhas, 9 monkeys and a bracelet (which is a sentence i never imagines myself sayingIt was one of the volunteers - Yannicks Birthday so we went out into Kathmandu as a group - we had a really nice meal and we managed to arranged for a birthday cake to be made for Yannick and within 3 hrs it was ready to collect - pretty impressive! Someone from our community suggested a club for us to go to and it was really good - most of the places we have been to in Thamel have been very western and full of 'western travellers' but this place was really 'Local' and we parteeed with the Neplai's! The music wasn't exactly to my taste and the bouncers confiscated my Mentos, but other than that it was a good 'craic'.
Sunday i had the most fun i think i can ever remember having and i can't wait to show the pics and videos when i get back!! :)
The Leopard has been lurking again around our community and one day last week we heard that it had ventured into one of the houses in our village!! Apparently the family sacrificed one of their goats by throwing it to the leopard in order to save themselves! God only knows what my family would do in that situation as we don't have any goats! Its certainly put me off my nightly star gazing in the back garden though....
Monday night i watched Prabha and Atma Rams wedding DVD - its 4 hrs long and we managed to get through 2 hrs before the power went off - it was tough going but really interesting as well - the family are hoping to show me the 2nd 2hrs at some point this week........
On Tuesday i went with my Amma (Mother) early morning into the forest to collect the food and bedding for the cow - basically this involved sweeping the forest floor (with brushes made on the spot from twigs) then collecting all the fallen leaves in baskets and carrying them back on our heads - i had an ace time and was amazing when we arrived in the forest as there were loads of of other woman from the community doing the same thing. Aside my Amma carrying twice the size of her own body in leaves on her head, the thing that impressed me most was the calls that the women use to identify each other in the forest - was so cool standing in the middle of them all calling to each other - got some photos but once again these rubbish computers won't let me upload - its looking like I'll have to upload the rest of my photos when i get back.....NEXT WEEK - ARRRGGHHH!
Kinda looking forward to coming home - it feels unbelievably strange though, the actually reality of rejoining the western world is quite scary. As I've already said, as much as i am missing everyone back home, i feel so settled and happy here and honestly could stay a lot longer.
I feel that there is soooooooooo much i haven't seen and i defiantly plan to return to Nepal as soon as i can and go exploring.
I am looking forward to my own bed without a doubt but even that cannot contend with living with the forest and mountains on my doorstep, going on morning adventures exploring the jungle, the weather, my friends, my Nepalese family and most of all the 'internal freedom' and elation i have felt since arriving here. The time seems to have passed so quickly yet at the same i feel i could have been here forever!
This is probably going to be my last entry before i return to the UK so for now.....
Feri Ba Tola (See you later)
xxxx
I visited the hospital on Monday which was an interesting venture to say the least - I had an x-ray which confirmed that i hadn't broken any bones but they did say that i had torn muscle and internal bleeding which in Nepali translates to bruising (at least i hope it does anyway), wasn't very easy to understand what was going on if I'm honest but at least i got to keep the x-ray so i can show it to my doctor when i get back to the UK. I've been told to take rest though which has meant me sitting around the building site doing nothing :)
On Saturday we went to Kathmandu and really wanted to visit this one particular market - so we get the the hotel drop off our bags and get straight in a taxi to the market - we arrive and the Taxi driver says - ''yes this is New Road Market...'' only there was nothing there - when we asked where the market was he told us it closed for one day a week on Saturday!!!! We asked why then had he taken us there but he couldn't give an answer so we just ended up paying him to drive us back to the hotel again! Not a good start.
Had an excellent weekend though and managed to get some great presents including 6 Buddhas, 9 monkeys and a bracelet (which is a sentence i never imagines myself sayingIt was one of the volunteers - Yannicks Birthday so we went out into Kathmandu as a group - we had a really nice meal and we managed to arranged for a birthday cake to be made for Yannick and within 3 hrs it was ready to collect - pretty impressive! Someone from our community suggested a club for us to go to and it was really good - most of the places we have been to in Thamel have been very western and full of 'western travellers' but this place was really 'Local' and we parteeed with the Neplai's! The music wasn't exactly to my taste and the bouncers confiscated my Mentos, but other than that it was a good 'craic'.
Sunday i had the most fun i think i can ever remember having and i can't wait to show the pics and videos when i get back!! :)
The Leopard has been lurking again around our community and one day last week we heard that it had ventured into one of the houses in our village!! Apparently the family sacrificed one of their goats by throwing it to the leopard in order to save themselves! God only knows what my family would do in that situation as we don't have any goats! Its certainly put me off my nightly star gazing in the back garden though....
Monday night i watched Prabha and Atma Rams wedding DVD - its 4 hrs long and we managed to get through 2 hrs before the power went off - it was tough going but really interesting as well - the family are hoping to show me the 2nd 2hrs at some point this week........
On Tuesday i went with my Amma (Mother) early morning into the forest to collect the food and bedding for the cow - basically this involved sweeping the forest floor (with brushes made on the spot from twigs) then collecting all the fallen leaves in baskets and carrying them back on our heads - i had an ace time and was amazing when we arrived in the forest as there were loads of of other woman from the community doing the same thing. Aside my Amma carrying twice the size of her own body in leaves on her head, the thing that impressed me most was the calls that the women use to identify each other in the forest - was so cool standing in the middle of them all calling to each other - got some photos but once again these rubbish computers won't let me upload - its looking like I'll have to upload the rest of my photos when i get back.....NEXT WEEK - ARRRGGHHH!
Kinda looking forward to coming home - it feels unbelievably strange though, the actually reality of rejoining the western world is quite scary. As I've already said, as much as i am missing everyone back home, i feel so settled and happy here and honestly could stay a lot longer.
I feel that there is soooooooooo much i haven't seen and i defiantly plan to return to Nepal as soon as i can and go exploring.
I am looking forward to my own bed without a doubt but even that cannot contend with living with the forest and mountains on my doorstep, going on morning adventures exploring the jungle, the weather, my friends, my Nepalese family and most of all the 'internal freedom' and elation i have felt since arriving here. The time seems to have passed so quickly yet at the same i feel i could have been here forever!
This is probably going to be my last entry before i return to the UK so for now.....
Feri Ba Tola (See you later)
xxxx
Thursday, 4 March 2010
ONly 2 weeks to go.................
Feels strange - kinds excited about coming home but at the same time the western world seems at little scary as i have really settled here - i'm happy with my family and have got used to the food (i actually love it - never eaten so much rice in my life (but i actually feel sad when we have roti sometimes instead of our Dal Bhat!), i love my village, enjoying work and getting on well with all the other volunteers......have been thinking alot though about chips and curry from me local chippy and also missing Weetos and Coco pops!! Also haven't tasted ice cream since i got here - bring on the Ben and Jerrys!
We're still well ahead of target at the school work site and have continued this week shifting massive boulders to make way for new steps to be built up to the entrance of the school - going to try to upload some pics of the school and the building site but having problems again today uploading. My ribs are still sore and if they are not better by Monday i think i'm going to take a trip to the hospital......eh is they x-ray me i get to keep the x-ray!!
So last weekend we went to Kathmandu on Friday night - the usual story...Meal somewhere then a few drinks then site seeing the next day. This week we went to a place called Bodnath - it has one of the largest Buddhist Stupas in the world - again i have photos to upload but it will have to wait for another day......
Sunday we returned to Lamatar (our community) for the Holi festival - we had planned to spend it on a p[lace called Pashupati but Platform2 requested we spend it with our host families - and i'm so glad that we came back because we had an awesome time. Basically Holi is a Nepalese Festival celebrating the end of winter and beginning of Spring, half the village were out having a massive water fight and covering each other in powder paint!!! The most fun i have had in years!!! I seriously had about 20 5ltr buckets of water tipped over me, i was also picked up by the local lads and carried to a stream and thrown in!! I had every colour on me - red,yellow,green,purple - you name it i was wearing it!! Desperate to upload the photo's - you'll laugh as most the ones of me look like i've been on a battle field in a major war as my face is just covered in red!! Again you'll have to wait for the pictures.
The Leopards have been knocking about again!! We have been going searching for them on our treks but to no avail - which is probably a good thing as don't really know what i would do if i saw one!!!! Can hear them at night tho! Also had a major thunder storm on Tuesday night, was so impressive - especially because we're in the valley so the thunder was echoing all around us!!
Anyways better run as the power is about to finish - sure i've loads more to tell but can't fit it all in - will try to upload some pics at the weekend.
xx
We're still well ahead of target at the school work site and have continued this week shifting massive boulders to make way for new steps to be built up to the entrance of the school - going to try to upload some pics of the school and the building site but having problems again today uploading. My ribs are still sore and if they are not better by Monday i think i'm going to take a trip to the hospital......eh is they x-ray me i get to keep the x-ray!!
So last weekend we went to Kathmandu on Friday night - the usual story...Meal somewhere then a few drinks then site seeing the next day. This week we went to a place called Bodnath - it has one of the largest Buddhist Stupas in the world - again i have photos to upload but it will have to wait for another day......
Sunday we returned to Lamatar (our community) for the Holi festival - we had planned to spend it on a p[lace called Pashupati but Platform2 requested we spend it with our host families - and i'm so glad that we came back because we had an awesome time. Basically Holi is a Nepalese Festival celebrating the end of winter and beginning of Spring, half the village were out having a massive water fight and covering each other in powder paint!!! The most fun i have had in years!!! I seriously had about 20 5ltr buckets of water tipped over me, i was also picked up by the local lads and carried to a stream and thrown in!! I had every colour on me - red,yellow,green,purple - you name it i was wearing it!! Desperate to upload the photo's - you'll laugh as most the ones of me look like i've been on a battle field in a major war as my face is just covered in red!! Again you'll have to wait for the pictures.
The Leopards have been knocking about again!! We have been going searching for them on our treks but to no avail - which is probably a good thing as don't really know what i would do if i saw one!!!! Can hear them at night tho! Also had a major thunder storm on Tuesday night, was so impressive - especially because we're in the valley so the thunder was echoing all around us!!
Anyways better run as the power is about to finish - sure i've loads more to tell but can't fit it all in - will try to upload some pics at the weekend.
xx
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Me Yannick and Miller (again at the top of the trek to KotDanda)
Sun rise at 'the top'
Me Colm adn Miller and our project supervisor Bal Krishna (again early morning walk to the summit lodge)
View from the four hr trek we went on Thursdayto KotDanda......
Early doors - me n Colm.
Milk coffee at the top of the 'trek' going to try to go every week day untill we leave - now my ribs are feeling better! Views amazing - 
Amos at the top.....
This is my only photo of everest (its the pointy one in the middle!)
Worshipping the 'guy' (cow)
On the mountain path - exhausted...................Thursday, 25 February 2010
I can't update any pics today because my camera has just run out of battery but will try to upload some at the weekend when i go to Kathmandu -
So i stuck with it and went Treking Weds, Thurs, Friday and Sunday - We went to Kathmandu on Saturday for our 'free time' booked into the hotel - went to check out getting a tattoo then had a delicious stone baked pizza - was really enjoying myself untill i got a call from our project supervisor telling us that we could not stay the night in Kathmandu as there had been strike called for the following day and it would be too dangerous for us - we were all absolutely gutted as our weekend had been taken away from us.
We got back to the community around 7pm and pretty much had to go straight to bed.......on the Sunday me n Colm got up at 6am and walked up to the summit lodge (going to try to upload some more pics so you can appreciate why we push ourself 45mins up such a steep incline at that time of the morning!!!) Anyways it was well worth it for the Cornflakes with Hot Milk (pure luxury!!), at about 11am we found out that the Strike has infact been arranged for the Monday (so we could of stayed in Kathmandu the night before - was not best pleased.....). We decided we'd head into Kathmandu for the afternoon and went and had lunch there (onion rings, chips, nachos etc - can't you tell how important food is becoming to me!!! I'm obsessed with Snickers too!!).
This week we've been continuing working hard at the school and i've been cracking on with breaking down the steps and removing giant boulders with a sledge hammer and 5ft crow bars!! Dangerous - literally as on Tuesday i fell backwards off one of the boulders with the crow bar in my hands and landed on a pick axe!!! Have really injured my ribs - in agony but still managed a 4 hr up hill trek today - it was excruciating but there was no way i was missing out! Besides it kills when i sit, stand or lie down so figured i may as well crack on and deal with the pain.......
Today has been tough as onbe of me best mates out here, Sean, was sent home. He got into trouble for rule breaking and the project van came this morning to collect him and take him to the airport for his flight to the UK. For any of you following this blog who are wanting to apply to Platform2 let it be a lesson that if you break the rules your ARE going home........
I'm absolutely crushed about the whole thing - just now wishing him a safe journey home and will introduce you to him when i get back as he's only in Wythenshawe......
My family were very sweet to me though and supportive as i was inconsolable - i'm becoming really close with both my brother and his wife and they have begged me not to get into trouble because they are scared i will be sent home!! We have talked alot about me returning to Nepal as often as possible and are adamant that me and my family can stay with them free of charge anytime we like - My brother has asked me to move out here for 12 months or more and stay with the family - i am now officially part of their family.
I forgot to mention actually that we were all given Nepali names by our family's the first week we arrived - mine is Rasmi (which means ray of light), after the first week though my name was extended and now i am Rasmi Rajcumari (Sarah) Kussi (Happy) Gimirie (my family surname).
I'm contemplating getting a tattoo of Sarah but in Nepalese script.......? Will feed back on that one.
So we're away to Kathmandu at the weekend and Sunday is a huge festival in Nepali which is a colours festival to celebrate the end of Winter - all the people trow water and paint at each other - should be interesting - going to but a disposable camera for it so won't be able to show you the pics till i get back but will update you all on how it goes.......
Signing off now as the powers about to go................ xx
So i stuck with it and went Treking Weds, Thurs, Friday and Sunday - We went to Kathmandu on Saturday for our 'free time' booked into the hotel - went to check out getting a tattoo then had a delicious stone baked pizza - was really enjoying myself untill i got a call from our project supervisor telling us that we could not stay the night in Kathmandu as there had been strike called for the following day and it would be too dangerous for us - we were all absolutely gutted as our weekend had been taken away from us.
We got back to the community around 7pm and pretty much had to go straight to bed.......on the Sunday me n Colm got up at 6am and walked up to the summit lodge (going to try to upload some more pics so you can appreciate why we push ourself 45mins up such a steep incline at that time of the morning!!!) Anyways it was well worth it for the Cornflakes with Hot Milk (pure luxury!!), at about 11am we found out that the Strike has infact been arranged for the Monday (so we could of stayed in Kathmandu the night before - was not best pleased.....). We decided we'd head into Kathmandu for the afternoon and went and had lunch there (onion rings, chips, nachos etc - can't you tell how important food is becoming to me!!! I'm obsessed with Snickers too!!).
This week we've been continuing working hard at the school and i've been cracking on with breaking down the steps and removing giant boulders with a sledge hammer and 5ft crow bars!! Dangerous - literally as on Tuesday i fell backwards off one of the boulders with the crow bar in my hands and landed on a pick axe!!! Have really injured my ribs - in agony but still managed a 4 hr up hill trek today - it was excruciating but there was no way i was missing out! Besides it kills when i sit, stand or lie down so figured i may as well crack on and deal with the pain.......
Today has been tough as onbe of me best mates out here, Sean, was sent home. He got into trouble for rule breaking and the project van came this morning to collect him and take him to the airport for his flight to the UK. For any of you following this blog who are wanting to apply to Platform2 let it be a lesson that if you break the rules your ARE going home........
I'm absolutely crushed about the whole thing - just now wishing him a safe journey home and will introduce you to him when i get back as he's only in Wythenshawe......
My family were very sweet to me though and supportive as i was inconsolable - i'm becoming really close with both my brother and his wife and they have begged me not to get into trouble because they are scared i will be sent home!! We have talked alot about me returning to Nepal as often as possible and are adamant that me and my family can stay with them free of charge anytime we like - My brother has asked me to move out here for 12 months or more and stay with the family - i am now officially part of their family.
I forgot to mention actually that we were all given Nepali names by our family's the first week we arrived - mine is Rasmi (which means ray of light), after the first week though my name was extended and now i am Rasmi Rajcumari (Sarah) Kussi (Happy) Gimirie (my family surname).
I'm contemplating getting a tattoo of Sarah but in Nepalese script.......? Will feed back on that one.
So we're away to Kathmandu at the weekend and Sunday is a huge festival in Nepali which is a colours festival to celebrate the end of Winter - all the people trow water and paint at each other - should be interesting - going to but a disposable camera for it so won't be able to show you the pics till i get back but will update you all on how it goes.......
Signing off now as the powers about to go................ xx
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