Warning: Graphic Language
We're dropping like flies. Lars and I didn't go to our projects today, and are alternating shifts in the bathroom. Lars is having stomach problems. Direct quote: "my lower intestine feels like it's about to burst". He's used the facilities about 10 times today.
My sickness yesterday gradually turned from a headache to explosive diarrhea. I must have ran to the bathroom 15 times yesterday. I was feeling better this morning and was planning on going to work. I tried to eliminate everything out of my system before we left, as I feared having diarrhea on the squatter at Koseli. There was a point in the morning where I considered making a plastic splash guard to protect my ankles from the inevitable wide radius explosions from my bowels. But right as we were walking to the bus stop, I could feel some aftershocks. A bus was stopping for us and I had to make a split second decision whether I could endure the 45 minute suspension-less bus ride to Koseli, only to have kids bang on my stomach while we "played" King Kong.
It was the right decision to stay at the house. I was awake for only about 5 hours yesterday, but I am still going in and out of sleep today to not disturb my stomach. When I wake up, it's game time. Just me and the bathroom, straight down to business. Luckily, I feel better than before: this morning I clocked in a solid 30 minutes on the toilet with a barf bag in front of me. I tried to "pull the trigger" on my gag reflex to see if I could get rid of anything, but it insisted on coming out the other end. I knew it would be an endurance match, so I brought our boombox in with me. That was also a good call, as the Nepali girls like to play "Umbrella" by Rhianna on repeat throughout the day.
Their obsession with Western culture is always bamboozling. And by obsession, I mean they can listen to that song for an hour straight. Update Lars' count to 11. I'm going to head to the store to grab some Febreze. I think we owe it to everyone.
-Mike
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
It's about 2pm here in Kathmandu. Three out of the four musketeers are at their projects, but I decided to stay at the house today as I fear I'm starting to get sick (I just woke up). This weekend all of the volunteers are going to Pokhara, so I'm hoping to flush this bug out of my system sooner rather than later. Wikipedia desribes it as the Tourist capital of Nepal, noted for its tranquil atmosphere and the beauty of the surrounding countryside. We've only been in Nepal for 5 days, and I feel like I've already learned so much.
About the House:
We are living in a house owned by Abroaderview and other similar volunteer organizations. In addition, there is another house about a 10 minute walk away owned by some other organizations. There are currently 6 Nepali girls, an American program director, and 12 volunteers from around the world between the two houses. The majority of the other volunteers are also American college students, however there are also some other older and younger volunteers as well. A hot topic back at home must be the state of our bathrooms. The house is in a very wealthy area of Kathmandu, and many Nepali politicians live in this area. That being said, the bathrooms are very nice, and there are plenty of water filters for our safety. The largest department store in the city is literally just around the corner, so we have access to any Nepali or Western (toilet paper) essentials.
About Koseli: http://nepalkoseli.blogspot.com/
Yesterday was when I started to feel ill. I went into the main office with my eyes on some Advil. As I waited for the miracle drug to kick in I got the chance to talk to Renu Bagari, the owner and founder of Koseli. Our informal interview ended up lasting over an hour. At some point later in the trip, I would like to have a more structured discussion and record it to show the world. I have been having a lot of journalism and "sharing this with the world" moments, possibly because Alan and I watched Blood Diamond on the plane right before we landed in Nepal. Highly recommended.
Renu worked as a General Manager at some company. She seemed to be on track for the "typical path" for many Americans: grow up, go to college, get a job, retire, purchase a yacht. But she kept telling me about personal satisfaction; money is nice, but what is the bigger picture? While working, she had always been donating whatever extra money she had earned to sponsor foreign kids. This was truly amazing, but she had bigger plans on her mind. With the little money that she hadn't donated from earlier in her life, she came to Nepal with essentially nothing. She had seen other similar schools, but the campus and buildings were as run down as the slums. Her vision was to make a clean, safe, and mature place for children to learn.
Koseli was founded in April 2010. By luck of the draw, she met the future co-owner named Chrishna, who had similar intentions. With whatever donations their friends and family could provide, they were able to have a single classroom with a capacity of twenty students. A few months ago, they expanded to a larger location, employed a few more teachers, and are now able to educate 150 students. Renu closed the conversation with "only now have I found satisfaction", then I went out to go out and run around with the kids.
Koseli Daily Schedule, Sunday through Friday:
Now, its about 3pm; the other guys are still out. I don't feel so hot, especially after reliving those images again.
Back to bed,
Mike Jagger
About the House:
We are living in a house owned by Abroaderview and other similar volunteer organizations. In addition, there is another house about a 10 minute walk away owned by some other organizations. There are currently 6 Nepali girls, an American program director, and 12 volunteers from around the world between the two houses. The majority of the other volunteers are also American college students, however there are also some other older and younger volunteers as well. A hot topic back at home must be the state of our bathrooms. The house is in a very wealthy area of Kathmandu, and many Nepali politicians live in this area. That being said, the bathrooms are very nice, and there are plenty of water filters for our safety. The largest department store in the city is literally just around the corner, so we have access to any Nepali or Western (toilet paper) essentials.
About Koseli: http://nepalkoseli.blogspot.com/
Yesterday was when I started to feel ill. I went into the main office with my eyes on some Advil. As I waited for the miracle drug to kick in I got the chance to talk to Renu Bagari, the owner and founder of Koseli. Our informal interview ended up lasting over an hour. At some point later in the trip, I would like to have a more structured discussion and record it to show the world. I have been having a lot of journalism and "sharing this with the world" moments, possibly because Alan and I watched Blood Diamond on the plane right before we landed in Nepal. Highly recommended.
Renu worked as a General Manager at some company. She seemed to be on track for the "typical path" for many Americans: grow up, go to college, get a job, retire, purchase a yacht. But she kept telling me about personal satisfaction; money is nice, but what is the bigger picture? While working, she had always been donating whatever extra money she had earned to sponsor foreign kids. This was truly amazing, but she had bigger plans on her mind. With the little money that she hadn't donated from earlier in her life, she came to Nepal with essentially nothing. She had seen other similar schools, but the campus and buildings were as run down as the slums. Her vision was to make a clean, safe, and mature place for children to learn.
Koseli was founded in April 2010. By luck of the draw, she met the future co-owner named Chrishna, who had similar intentions. With whatever donations their friends and family could provide, they were able to have a single classroom with a capacity of twenty students. A few months ago, they expanded to a larger location, employed a few more teachers, and are now able to educate 150 students. Renu closed the conversation with "only now have I found satisfaction", then I went out to go out and run around with the kids.
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| These kids are probably already better than me. All those years of rec soccer for nothin'. |
Koseli Daily Schedule, Sunday through Friday:
- 8:30 AM: Kids arrive at Koseli, and complete their morning hygiene routine. This consists of bathing, changing into uniforms, brushing teeth, etc. Some of them walk 4 or 5 kilometers to get to the school. Some students do not want to go to school, in which case the staff will attempt to go to their homes and bring them to school. Renu fears that if students cannot find motivation for school at this age, they will inevitably end up going down the "wrong road". She told me that she never wants to give up on a student, but when neither the guardian nor the child are receptive there is little she can do. She reminded me that there is an extensive wait list for Koseli, so some kids do end up being dismissed to make room for another child.
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| One of my students, Sajan, in uniform. |
- 9:30 AM: Assembly. The primary religion of this region is Hindu, but the staff and students are open to all views. Assembly is more about thanking the Goddess of Knowledge and exhibiting pride in Nepali culture.
- 10 AM: Homework time. The kids do not take their books home with them after the previous day, so their homework is done the following morning.
- 11 AM: Lunch time begins. The dining room is essentially a 15 x 15 foot room with some rugs on the floor for the kids to sit on. Lunch times are staggered by grade, and in the mean time kids have some extra time to wrap up their homework. If everything else is done, students are allowed to get goofy and play.
- 12 PM: Classes. All students (grades 1 through 7) learn the same five subjects: English, Nepali, Social Studies, Science, and Math. With the execption of Nepali class, courses are taught exclusively in English. Renu remarked that although it is harder to explain concepts in English than Nepali, the students will benefit in the long term to learn and think in English. However, if a student is really struggeling to understand a word or concept, the teachers will tell them the Nepali equivalent.
- 4:30 PM: Clean up/dress down, tea, and biscuits. Nepali tea is soooooooooo good. Usually Alan, the two other volunteers at Koseli, and I will stick around to try and get our hands on some. The kids go home after everyone has had their afternoon snack, which might be their last meal of the day. The kids come from many different slums in all directions, so the limited staff is only able to walk a few groups of students home.
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| Helping one of the kids traverse the muddy and unstable expedition back home. After all, it is monsoon season in Nepal. |
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| Many of the slums are located along a nearby river for easy access to water. These rivers also serve as a dump for many Nepali people and even tourists. |
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| For these kids, this is "home sweet home". |
Now, its about 3pm; the other guys are still out. I don't feel so hot, especially after reliving those images again.
Back to bed,
Mike Jagger
Monday, July 4, 2011
Independence Day
It's the morning of the 5th, about 7:30. For once, Kevin is the only one still asleep. Usually, the other three of us are up around 6, only to find that Kevin has already disappeared on his morning run. Alan wasn't feeling that well last night, and he slept like a rock after dinner. Catching up on some sleep probably wasn't a bad thing, and I think he's doing a bit better today. I was totally going to try and post my thoughts yesterday when I got back to the house, but I never got around to it. Here's what I remember:
We woke up on the fourth to the wonderful smell of French toast. Any smell other than Dahl Badt, the staple of the Nepali diet, is a wonderful smell. It consists of a plate full of white rice, with a few curried vegetables (cauliflower and potatoes usually) on the side, and a side of lentil soup which is to be poured on the rice. It is usually eaten at both of the main Nepali mealtimes, the 7AM breakfast and the 7PM dinner. Sometimes, it makes its way into the lunch menu as well. Kevin and I made some sandwiches for breakfast: cornflakes held together with nutella and honey book-ended by two pieces of French toast.
The four musketeers headed out at around 9. I brought the point-and-shoot today, which is indeed a lot more convenient than the Nikon D70. I guess mom and dad were right this time. We were accompanied by a Nepali girl living in the house and one of the ABV coordinators, as well as another volunteer who was about to experience her first day as well. Jen is 23 and has been volunteering at third world women's societies across the world since she got out of college. Very cool. What wasn't cool was the walk to find her program placement; our plan was to all escort her to her project, then to escort Kevin and Lars to theirs, and then to the kids center where Alan and I would be. We walked up the main road looking for Jen's placement for a bit before veering out of the city.
I was surprised by how far we had walked once I realized we were literally leaving the Kathmandu valley. After a few wrong turns, we eventually dropped Jen off at her placement. We decided to take a bus back to Helping Hands, where we would drop off Kevin and Lars. Kevin's height did not mix well with the buses of Kathmandu; he often found himself hitting his head on the roof or jamming his bug-bitten legs against the seat in front of him when the buses (very questionable suspension systems) hit bumps in the road. Breakfast is ready right now so I'm going to try and hurry this up.
Alan and I arrived at the Koseli kids center at about 2PM. After a quick meet and greet with the owners, we were guided around into each of the (six?) different classrooms, split up by grade level. When we opened the door to the open rooms, the children stopped what they were doing to stand up and sing to us in unison. The fully dressed kids remained standing until they were told to be seated by the owner. The kids refer to us as "Sir". Then, we got our assignments. I was put into a first grade class, and was given three kids who were struggling to individually look after and mentor. The owner spoke English well, and told me how as the level of trauma of an orphan increases, their level of performance decreases. The three first-graders I was assigned are ages 7, 8, and 15. We hadn't eaten all day, so we scarfed some thrilling Dahl Badt for lunch.
After lunch, we were thrown into the classrooms to finish up the day with the kids. Luckily, their level of English is better than my Nepali. Nevertheless, they were entertained by my attempts to say "My name is Mike" in their native tongue. The first few minutes were awkward, they just looked at me with wide eyes. I had no direction, and had no idea if they would understand if I spoke to them in English. It was definitely a feeling of independence, I was running the show and had no idea how to do it. But after a few minutes, I loosened up and realized I just needed to give them attention. I think most of them come from the same slums, so all of the kids get along together quite well. I rounded out the day playing with them, and pulled out my entertainment trump card of the day: a map of Kathmandu. For me, it was a lifeline. For the kids, it was mesmerizing.
First Impressions:
I was surprised by how organized Koseli was. I expected a bunch of kids to be divided into a few rooms with no sense of academic curriculum or rank. Apparently, they just expanded to a new location with more area outdoors for the kids to play. The kids have been disciplined very well, as I noticed when they first started singing to us. They are dressed in uniforms and each have their own workbooks which seem to be completed in an orderly fashion. They cannot wait to learn, I have never seen kids so excited to read. When there was a lull in conversation, they would go out of their way to ask me "Sir, how you say ______?" while pointing to words they were unsure about. It's going to be interesting working with the langauge barrier, but I know that the kids will be responsive to any sort of attention I give them. My first day was spent with more grunting and funny faces than speaking English.
Okay, I'm really hungry. The other boys have already eaten and Kevin is hopping in the shower. I should probably get ready, we've got a long day ahead of us. Today, the owner is planning on taking us to the slums where they grow up. I think I'm going to take the D70 and the point-and-shoot, today is going to bear some memorable images and I'm going to need every perspective I can get.
Cheers,
Mike
We woke up on the fourth to the wonderful smell of French toast. Any smell other than Dahl Badt, the staple of the Nepali diet, is a wonderful smell. It consists of a plate full of white rice, with a few curried vegetables (cauliflower and potatoes usually) on the side, and a side of lentil soup which is to be poured on the rice. It is usually eaten at both of the main Nepali mealtimes, the 7AM breakfast and the 7PM dinner. Sometimes, it makes its way into the lunch menu as well. Kevin and I made some sandwiches for breakfast: cornflakes held together with nutella and honey book-ended by two pieces of French toast.
The four musketeers headed out at around 9. I brought the point-and-shoot today, which is indeed a lot more convenient than the Nikon D70. I guess mom and dad were right this time. We were accompanied by a Nepali girl living in the house and one of the ABV coordinators, as well as another volunteer who was about to experience her first day as well. Jen is 23 and has been volunteering at third world women's societies across the world since she got out of college. Very cool. What wasn't cool was the walk to find her program placement; our plan was to all escort her to her project, then to escort Kevin and Lars to theirs, and then to the kids center where Alan and I would be. We walked up the main road looking for Jen's placement for a bit before veering out of the city.
 |
| Garbage and sewage is mercilessly dumped in the rivers which line the main roads of Kathmandu. |
I was surprised by how far we had walked once I realized we were literally leaving the Kathmandu valley. After a few wrong turns, we eventually dropped Jen off at her placement. We decided to take a bus back to Helping Hands, where we would drop off Kevin and Lars. Kevin's height did not mix well with the buses of Kathmandu; he often found himself hitting his head on the roof or jamming his bug-bitten legs against the seat in front of him when the buses (very questionable suspension systems) hit bumps in the road. Breakfast is ready right now so I'm going to try and hurry this up.
Alan and I arrived at the Koseli kids center at about 2PM. After a quick meet and greet with the owners, we were guided around into each of the (six?) different classrooms, split up by grade level. When we opened the door to the open rooms, the children stopped what they were doing to stand up and sing to us in unison. The fully dressed kids remained standing until they were told to be seated by the owner. The kids refer to us as "Sir". Then, we got our assignments. I was put into a first grade class, and was given three kids who were struggling to individually look after and mentor. The owner spoke English well, and told me how as the level of trauma of an orphan increases, their level of performance decreases. The three first-graders I was assigned are ages 7, 8, and 15. We hadn't eaten all day, so we scarfed some thrilling Dahl Badt for lunch.
After lunch, we were thrown into the classrooms to finish up the day with the kids. Luckily, their level of English is better than my Nepali. Nevertheless, they were entertained by my attempts to say "My name is Mike" in their native tongue. The first few minutes were awkward, they just looked at me with wide eyes. I had no direction, and had no idea if they would understand if I spoke to them in English. It was definitely a feeling of independence, I was running the show and had no idea how to do it. But after a few minutes, I loosened up and realized I just needed to give them attention. I think most of them come from the same slums, so all of the kids get along together quite well. I rounded out the day playing with them, and pulled out my entertainment trump card of the day: a map of Kathmandu. For me, it was a lifeline. For the kids, it was mesmerizing.
 |
| After we get back to the house, I usually spend some time playing with Photoshop. |
First Impressions:
I was surprised by how organized Koseli was. I expected a bunch of kids to be divided into a few rooms with no sense of academic curriculum or rank. Apparently, they just expanded to a new location with more area outdoors for the kids to play. The kids have been disciplined very well, as I noticed when they first started singing to us. They are dressed in uniforms and each have their own workbooks which seem to be completed in an orderly fashion. They cannot wait to learn, I have never seen kids so excited to read. When there was a lull in conversation, they would go out of their way to ask me "Sir, how you say ______?" while pointing to words they were unsure about. It's going to be interesting working with the langauge barrier, but I know that the kids will be responsive to any sort of attention I give them. My first day was spent with more grunting and funny faces than speaking English.
Okay, I'm really hungry. The other boys have already eaten and Kevin is hopping in the shower. I should probably get ready, we've got a long day ahead of us. Today, the owner is planning on taking us to the slums where they grow up. I think I'm going to take the D70 and the point-and-shoot, today is going to bear some memorable images and I'm going to need every perspective I can get.
Cheers,
Mike
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Monkey Temple - Day 2 cont...
Here we are at 10:45 PM on Day 2 (but our first official full day in the city). Our hosts took us out for a brief orientation/tour of the Kathmandu and it started off with breakfast at a local favorite cafe in Thamel (a must visit tourist spot of Kathmandu). Afterwards, we headed to the "Monkey Temple" also known as Swayambhunath. After the strenuous and hot walk up the mountain, we were presented with some pretty amazing views and some pretty crazy encounters with the monkeys.
Our day of exploring couldn't have gone any better and we are all stoked to start our first day of our volunteer projects tomorrow morning. Keep checking in because starting tomorrow, we will really have our hands full.
-Alan and Mike
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| Lars having a sentimental moment with a monkey! |
Our day of exploring couldn't have gone any better and we are all stoked to start our first day of our volunteer projects tomorrow morning. Keep checking in because starting tomorrow, we will really have our hands full.
-Alan and Mike
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Day 2
It's about 8:00 AM here in Kathmandu and we are all pretty jet-lagged pretty bad. We've all been up since around 5:00 AM - Kevin and Mike went on a little run while Lars and I hung out at the house with everyone else was asleep.
For those of you that are interested in seeing more photos (higher quality and bigger resolution), we will be uploading them to a flickr that you can find here: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanyluan/).
Today will be the first official day of exploring and wandering Kathmandu. We will be starting the day off with breakfast at a local cafe down in Thamel with the amazingly awesome group of volunteers that we are housing with and then checking out the monkey temple!
-Alan
For those of you that are interested in seeing more photos (higher quality and bigger resolution), we will be uploading them to a flickr that you can find here: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanyluan/).
Today will be the first official day of exploring and wandering Kathmandu. We will be starting the day off with breakfast at a local cafe down in Thamel with the amazingly awesome group of volunteers that we are housing with and then checking out the monkey temple!
-Alan
Arrival - Day 1
To whom it may concern,
To day we arrived in Kathmandu at 12:00 noon, after a nearly empty flight from Seoul. The flight in went from sunny rolling white clouds, and beneath lay the city of our arrival.
Rolling green hills spotted with small communities of red and brown homes growing in density as we reached deeper and deeper into the city. The buildings grew larger and the streets began to fill with people. as we landed at the airport, one of only 4 flights in that day, we spotted old abandoned planes and helicopters across the airstrip. we exchanged money and got through customs quick and easy. we meet our contacts and had a crowded taxi ride back to the house. here we got settled into our room and began getting the rundown on Nepal from both our hosts and other volunteers. We did a little bit of exploring at the supermarket across the street and found ourselves caught in on and off monsoon rains. For dinner we went over to the other volunteers home (a 7min muddy walk away). Where we found that our co-volunteers were very kind to make us dinner. we'er going to be soooooo tired, going to sleep now.
KEVIN
To day we arrived in Kathmandu at 12:00 noon, after a nearly empty flight from Seoul. The flight in went from sunny rolling white clouds, and beneath lay the city of our arrival.
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| Two photos, separated by about 5 seconds. |
Rolling green hills spotted with small communities of red and brown homes growing in density as we reached deeper and deeper into the city. The buildings grew larger and the streets began to fill with people. as we landed at the airport, one of only 4 flights in that day, we spotted old abandoned planes and helicopters across the airstrip. we exchanged money and got through customs quick and easy. we meet our contacts and had a crowded taxi ride back to the house. here we got settled into our room and began getting the rundown on Nepal from both our hosts and other volunteers. We did a little bit of exploring at the supermarket across the street and found ourselves caught in on and off monsoon rains. For dinner we went over to the other volunteers home (a 7min muddy walk away). Where we found that our co-volunteers were very kind to make us dinner. we'er going to be soooooo tired, going to sleep now.
KEVIN
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| Taxi ride from the airport |
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| Our first encounter with the monsoon |
Friday, July 1, 2011
Greetings from Seoul
It's July 2nd, 8:40 A.M. here in Seoul, South Korea. Kevin, Alan, and I have been in the airport for about three hours now, and have got about an hour to go before we take off for Kathmandu. Kevin's friend, Lars, just met up with us at the gate and will be with the three of us for the next month as well. He will be working with Kevin at the medical clinic in Kathmandu, but for now he is passed out across a few chairs as we eagerly wait for our third and final flight to Nepal.
Our first flight (two days ago!) went smoothly, and we were presented with some breathtaking views of Rainier:
We met up with Kevin's cousin, Jeff, and he treated us to our last meal in the United States:
Before we could say "cheeseburger", it was time to go through LAX security and board our 12-hour flight to Korea. As June 30th quickly turned into the early morning of July 2nd, we experienced an epic sunrise which lasted a few hours:
At this moment, Lars is awake and the four of us are discussing many important topics. Of particular importance is the source of a lingering foul odor; our suspicions point to Alan's soiled trousers. Additionally, we are debating over which movies we are going to watch on the flight, right now we are leaning towards a Sean Connery era James Bond film. That's all for now.
From Korea with Love,
Mike
Our first flight (two days ago!) went smoothly, and we were presented with some breathtaking views of Rainier:
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| Good thing we all had window seats. |
Before we could say "cheeseburger", it was time to go through LAX security and board our 12-hour flight to Korea. As June 30th quickly turned into the early morning of July 2nd, we experienced an epic sunrise which lasted a few hours:
At this moment, Lars is awake and the four of us are discussing many important topics. Of particular importance is the source of a lingering foul odor; our suspicions point to Alan's soiled trousers. Additionally, we are debating over which movies we are going to watch on the flight, right now we are leaning towards a Sean Connery era James Bond film. That's all for now.
From Korea with Love,
Mike
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