Home at last.

Day 7: Prashant's House

Prior to leaving Nepal, we were treated to the best meal of our entire visit: a homemade feast cooked by Prashant's mom at his childhood home.  We got to meet some of Prashant's other family members who are doing some amazing nonprofit work in Nepal and also got a chance to stroll down memory lane through photos.

Breaking up the group at the airport was sad and truly marked the end of our trip.  4 of us have already completed the first leg of the trek back home and are now sitting in a restaurant in the Dubai airport.  If you love duty free shopping,  then this is the place to be.  The duty free store is more like a duty free mall here. There's even a Pinkberry!

The first thing we all enjoyed when we sat down - some ice cold water.

Day 7: Yaaaaaay!

Wow, a week has already gone by and it is time to part ways.  This has been such an incredible experience.  As we look back on our pictures from the last week it is hard to believe that we actually went to all of these places and had all of these experiences.

Before we head off to a home cooked meal by Prashant's mom, there are a number of people we want to thank. 

First, thank you to all the wonderful people at PLAN who we met and who are doing amazing things in this country.  Your work is inspiring and we look forward to seeing what you do next.  At the corporate level, our partners have been fantastic.  Althea did such an amazing job in organizing this trip and preparing us for it.  Lindsay, it has been such an awesome experience to get to know you and we loved hearing your stories of your previous work in Africa, about your sons, and about the work that you and your team at PLAN USA is doing to continue to create better opportunities around the world for needy children - especially with the empowerment of girls.  We have had a blast with you and the DC team looks forward to seeing you again soon.

Thank you to the Hobsons committee that picked us all.  We feel so fortunate to have been selected for this trip and hope that we have represented our entire company well.  We couldn't have asked for a better group.  We loved getting to know some of our global colleagues better and we will always share a special bond.

Prabin has made this trip what it is.  He has been with us around the clock, including when we decided to take our Everest plane ride last minute at 530 in the morning.  He has provided us with experiences (especially culinarily) that we would have otherwise not had, is a wealth of information, and has just been a ton of fun to hang out with.  We could not have asked for a better guide and we will miss you!

To all of the blog readers, thank you so much for following us on this journey.  We wish that we could have taken each of you with us, and knowing you were reading along made us feel like you were always there by our side.  We hope that you have been touched by the same things we have and have learned more about Nepal and its people alongside us.  We have more to share when we get back and hope that you will be there to listen, ask questions, and provide feedback.

Thank you to everyone at Hobsons worldwide who has donated time and money to our PLAN initiatives.  As you have seen, you are truly helping to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate.  This trip, this project, these school improvements would not exist without you.  

Finally, thank you to the people of Nepal.  Never before have we experienced a place with such hospitality and warmth.  Your kindness will never be forgotten and you will always hold a special place in our hearts.

A few candids from our experience:

The foot that we made! This has been hung in a local restaurant. Go Hobsons!

Lots of cotton candy

Matt's reinactment:)

This pole is said to be healing. Maybe their backs hurt?

The load shedding schedule at the hotel

Jordana at the knife store:)

Farewell dinner: live blog!

Group dance!

Since we have wifi at our farewell dinner, we have decided to live-blog our experience!

We are at a traditional Nepalese restaurant for a traditional Nepalese feast. We are front and center for live entertainment reflecting the Nepali culture.

We first were treated to rice wine and fried potatoes. Rice wine happens to be some strong stuff!

Our next course was everyone's favorite (especially Jordana's) momo's. yummmm...

The entertainment now is a peacock dance. Mr. Peacock is stopping by each table to collect money from the patrons.

 

Quote from Kyle: "I don't know what a peacock needs money for...I assume to line his nest?"

Trays are set for the main event!

Here it comes!

Here it is: rice, spinach, lentils, wild boar, chicken, and vegetables.

It's tradition to eat with your hands in Nepal

Annnnd done. Most are members of the clean plate club!

More entertainment. For some reason we keep hearing "Sherpa" in each song??

Final course: Yogurt (a Nepalese tradition)

Toast to our travel guide! Prabin has been with us night and day catering to our every need. Cheers!!

More rice wine!!

And we're off! Thank you Nepal!!

Day 6 Continued: A Day of the Sights

So, if you followed our last post, you know that we rose early this morning to catch a post dawn glimpse of Mount Everest and finally got to see the Himalayas.  It's amazing that we have been here almost a week and cloud cover, smog, and location have prevented us from seeing the mountains requiring us to hop a plane to do so.  Nepal seems synonymous with the Himalayas, but only about 17% of the country is in the mountain region.  The rest of the nation is in the "hilly region" (still 12000+ ft peaks, but the locals don't consider them mountains because the tops are green rather than snowy white) and the plains.  We've spent most of our trip in the hilly region.

After returning from the trip and eating breakfast, we were on the road for a day packed with sightseeing and shopping.  We popped some tags and now have $0 in our pockets.

We started sightseeing in old Kathmandu which houses the former palace of the king and was the site of one of the original 3 kingdoms of Nepal (you might remember that we visited one of the other former kingdoms yesterday).  For those of you who are Game of Thrones fans, the king's throne might not be as menacing as the Iron Throne, but it looks a ton more comfortable and we would love it to replace our office chairs.  Unfortunately, it is behind glass and declaring it through customs might prove difficult.  The area is also surrounded with amazing temples.  It seems like every corner we turn down in Kathmandu, we are smack in the middle of another ornate, old, beautiful temple with fascinating architecture. 

Old Kathmandu

One temple we visited was the "house of the living goddess." This is a temple devoted to the worship of the goddess of power, and a young girl is selected to actually embody this goddess and live in the temple until she reaches puberty.  The chosen girl needs to be from a specific ancient family in Kathmandu.  She then lives in the temple where she is looked after by the family at the temple and her parents can visit but not stay over.  She is homeschooled as she cannot leave the home and eats all meals except breakfast by herself.  Nepalese folks can visit her to get blessings,  but foreigners cannot although they may see her if she comes to her window. In those cases, she is not permitted to speak to the foreigners or smile so she can come across as looking quite sad even though she may be very happy.  Once she hits puberty, she leaves the temple to resume a normal life and a new goddess is chosen.  If you are interested in learning more about the practice and the life of a former goddess, check out the book titled "From Goddess to Mortal."

We were very lucky in that our guide was able to request that the living goddess come to the window during our visit and we were able to see her for a few seconds, although we were not permitted to take pictures.  This was really special and Prashant remarked how he had only seen her one other time in his life.

In walking through Old Kathmandu, we also passed through the market which is housed on the busiest street in the city.  We passed tons of stalls, many with copper pots and pans adorning the street.  We also passed through the glass bead market where married women purchase the beads that only they are permitted to wear and where beads are purchased for brides.  As you can imagine, the stalls were quite colorful.

Bead market

Our next stop was Swayanbhunath which is an ancient Buddhist stupa/temple that is over 2000 years old.  Tomorrow is Buddha's birthday, so there are beautiful multi-colored flags throughout the city and at the temples in particular.  It takes 400 steps to get to the temple, but luckily; we took a shortcut and didn't have to climb them all.  The temple has an amazing view of the valley and city below - which you would hope it would after 400 steps!  This temple is also known as the "monkey temple" because of the monkeys that live there and roam the grounds.  We were not disappointed and saw a handful of monkeys during our visit.

Our final stop was Patan, which is the final former kingdom of Nepal.  For whatever reason, wherever we go, we get to hang out with a group of excited school children.  Today was no exception and we took pictures and had high fives with a huge group of kids in Patan.  Kyle got them all to do the wave and our signature "Yaaaaaaay!" Which has become the phrase of our trip.  Jenny almost got swallowed whole by a group of kids who were so excited to take a picture with her.

In Patan, were able to visit the former palace, as well as a number of other temples including a beautiful, golden Buddhist temple which was the favorite of several members of our group.  This temple has special monks that oversee it, and much like the living goddess temple, it is an honor to be selected and a rotating position.  Two monks, one under age 12 and one adult are selected each month to run the temple.  During this month, they can only eat one meal a day and must wear the same set of robes the who.e time.  We actually saw the 2 monks playing a game in an area of the temple and they told us they had been there for 2 weeks.  Their formally white robes were already a light shade of brown.

After the temple, we went to a free trade marketplace where we learned about healing bowls and their powers for meditation, relaxation, and physical therapy.  We each felt the vibrations of the bowls after they we hit with mallets and even had the opportunity to stand in a large bowl, and/or place the bowl on our heads and backs.  There is definitely power in those vibrations and each of us felt a wave of relaxation after our healing treatments.  Sugath's eyes may have even rolled back in his head at one point.

Healing bowls

We bought a lot of great gifts at this and another free trade location, where the goods were handmade by local villagers and the profits are returned to them.  The best news is that many of us bought items to bring back to our offices where we will be auctioning off the goods for PLAN as part of International PLAN month.  So, for those of you who weren't able to join us, you will still be able to take a piece of Nepal home for yourself or as gifts for friends and family.  So, be on the lookout for more information as we return.

After an exhausting day, we are now on our way to our last dinner at a local, Nepalese restaurant.  It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day and that most of us will be heading to the airport.  We will make sure to have at least one last post for you before we go, though.

The quadruple power chug!

Day 6: Mountains Finally!!

We haven't been able to see any real mountains since we arrived (just big "hills"), so this morning we decided to take a mountain plane ride to Mt. Everest! The one-hour trip was well worth it for the breathtaking views!!

Boarding Buddha Air!

Big plane!

Our path

Mt. Everest (they let us take pictures out the front window of the plane!)

Day 5: Back to City Life

After a hearty breakfast, we were on our way back to Kathmandu.  The contrast between the tranquility of the Nepalese countryside and the chaos of the city couldn't be more drastic.

Our mountainside breakfast spot

About an hour outside of the city, we decided to make an unscheduled stop at Bhaktapur City, one of the 3 former kingdoms of Nepal which is extremely well-preserved.  The city had a number of beautiful temples and very intricate woodworked windows, including a peacock window which is the most famous in the city.

Bhaktapur City

New hats!

Three highlights from the stop:

1. We stopped by a rest house where elderly women were congregating and learned more about some of the ankle tattoos that they had.  Apparently, women with these tattoos were more sought after in marriage because suitors felt that if a woman could withstand the pain of the needles then they would be able to withstand any later pain in life.

2.  We walked past another temple/rest house that was being used as a classroom and were invited inside to meet the children.  The single room held 20 kids in grades 2-5.  The kids were able to practice their English on us by asking our names, where we were from, and singing songs in English that they have learned.  We've all been singing the words "Hello teacher.  How are you?" For the rest of the day.

3. As we were walking down the street, we noticed a mob of people starting to run up to a truck, placing buckets and oil canisters in a line.  We watched in awe for a couple of minutes as we learned that the trucks contained cleaner water than that in the city and that villagers would line up like this 5 times a week.  Wow, do we ever take water for granted.  I know that we made a conscientious effort to drink every last drop of every water bottle for the rest of the day.  I would encourage you all to think about this when you leave a half empty bottle in the trash, or if the water is running while you are brushing your teeth.  Our guide even mentioned that he shuts the water off in his shower when lathering and will only turn it back in when he is ready to rinse off.

After the Bhakatapur visit, we decided to have another adventurous lunch to eat like the locals.  Anthony Bourdain, eat your heart out - or should I say, eat your chicken bladder out.  Before I give you some of the menu highlights, which were surprisingly quite tasty, I am going to caution those that are eating while reading this that you might want to come back to the blog in a few minutes or scroll past the next few lines :).

Today we ate:

Chicken bladder

Fried goat lungs

Water buffalo tongue

Goat brains

Elise enjoying the delicacies...

We did also stuff our faces with momos - which are traditional and delicious Nepalese dumplings made with more commonly eaten fillings -chicken or buffalo.

Post lunch we headed back to the PLAN Nepal office for a de-briefing and to write letters that will be delivered to the schools that the students and teachers will all read as a group and will then respond to.  As a group, we are also planning to collectively share our pictures and then turn them into photo albums that we can send to the respective schools.  Knowing how excited they were when they saw the pictures on our cameras, we can only imagine the elation they will feel when they get a tangible book to always remember our visit by.  Don't worry Hobsons team, we are planning to create books for you all too.

 We reflected on our experience with the program staff and talked about what an inspiring and amazing site visit we had.  We also asked some questions of the team and learned a bit more about some of the challenges they face and the foci of their work.

Due to retention issues in upper level students who leave to work and a lack of access to school materials, they are currently focusing their efforts on early childhood education across the country and teacher quality/training to help set a strong foundation that will hopefully increase retention in upper grades over time.  There is also a newer focus in vocational education, particularly for adolescent girls being saved from trafficking.  One fascinating item we learned which continues to showcase student empowerment is that school teaching strategy is now focusing on students' strengths rather than areas of weakness to encourage attendance via a nurturing environment rather than one that embeds fear.  As well, students are involved in the school management committees that oversee the schools (similar to school boards in the US) and have a lot of say in the direction of the schools.  Youth committees will even establish school codes of conduct and reporting mechanisms for that, including appropriate behavior for teachers (I.e. tardiness).  Not only is this such an amazing opportunity for the students to shape their education, but it also provides them with some really wonderful skills in community organizing and program planning that can be utilized throughout life.  I know that in the US, we can certainly learn from the Nepalese in this regard.

Only until recently the Nepali government changed the graduation grade from 10-12, and students are still given a graduation exam at the end of year 10.  Right now 40% of students fail the exam and are held back.  If they only fail a couple of subjects, they can retake the exam in a year.  Those that fail tend to be from public schools, where education quality and teacher preparedness suffer.  Surprisingly enough, we learned that 75% of the government budget goes to education, most of which to teacher's salaries.  

As you might expect, there is a lack of textbooks and class materials in Nepal. In speaking with the communications manager at the PLAN Nepal office, he mentioned that on a site visit last summer he had asked the kids if they had ever seen a microscope.  They answered "yes" and when he asked where, they said "in our textbook."  In fact, at our first school site where we are building a science lab, we asked what types of labs they will be doing.  Since they do not have electricity or microscopes, the only lab materials they can currently use are magnets.  As you can imagine, there is an extreme digital divide in Nepal like there is throughout the world.  If the schools were able to get electricity and cheap technology resources of computers and Internet connections, they would be able to teach so much more and provide access to reading materials to more students.  PLAN Nepal is hopeful that some corporate sponsorships may be available in the future to help in this regard.

Today was another unbelievable day and we can't believe our journey is almost over.  Tomorrow is our last full day and is packed with sightseeing as well as an extra special event that we planned last minute - so we hope that you will all check in tomorrow to find out where we are going next.

Day 4: Wow

You haven't lived until you've Gangam Styled in a remote village of Nepal.

If we thought yesterday was special, today can really only be summed up by one word: Wow!

Each of us will remember this trip for the rest of our lives, but today in particular can never be duplicated.

We started the day off climbing a "hill" to PLAN's district office where we learned more about the work that they are doing.  In addition to the school projects that Hobsons is sponsoring, we also learned about a new birthing center that is being built and a program called "Better Life Options" that provides a group setting for adolescent girls to learn and talk about reproductive health.  It has really been inspiring to see how empowered many of the women and young girls are in these rural villages.

Climbing the "hill"

The Plan district office staff

After the meeting, we headed down to the village's restaurant to sample some really authentic, local food.  We tried the staple of Nepalese cuisine - dal bhat.  The villagers were really impressed by us eating with our hands like the locals.  If you haven't eaten rice with your hands before, I highly recommend it the next time you are in a restaurant.

Lunch

Kyle's CocaCola power-chug

After lunch we headed to the second school that our donations are funding, which is a k-12 school (yesterday was k-8).  Similar to yesterday, we were greeted with a welcoming line that we walked through, and were adorned by garlands and tikkas.  However, THIS welcoming line had 500 students, parents, and administrators applauding us, all wanting to provide us individually with flowers, and playing music.  The line went all the way around the back of the school.  Covered in flowers and wide eyed at the end, all each of us could say was "wow" over and over again as waves of emotion just shook us.  If we felt like Super Bowl athletes yesterday, we felt like the President today.  Apparently, everyone had been standing in line for an hour so excited to meet us.  

Going through the line of students

We then met with the headmaster, teachers, parents, and construction supervisor to learn more about the school as the kids surrounded the building and squished up against the windows trying to get a peek of us.  We learned that the school houses 800 students with each classroom containing 80 students - talk about overcrowding in schools!  They cannot currently accommodate any more students and are having to teach some classes in a "rest house" - essentially a small open concrete room without chairs or supplies.  This is partially due to an earthquake damaging one of their structures last fall.  This is where Hobsons comes in.  Our donations are building a brand new structure that will house additional classrooms to open the school up to more students.  

The parents of this community were extremely supportive and the students so amazingly motivated.  We met one teenage boy who walks 3 hours EACH WAY to go to school everyday, along with a group of 15 other students from his village - and a number of other students do the same from similar villages.  The daily walk covers dangerous forest terrain that is inhabited by predators.  We all stood up and applauded this student's passion for education and it definitely made me feel a bit guilty about some of those 8 am classes that I decided not to get out of bed for in college.

We then sat in the center square surrounded by children for a 2 hour performance of singing and dancing that kids across the school had clearly been practicing for quite some time.  These kids were so excited to perform for us.  The entire experience was so beautiful, and even the heat couldn't distract our attention.  Some of the kids were really amazing dancers.  It was then our turn to dance, and we climbed on stage surrounded by hundreds of students and parents cheering us on.  Kyle's showcase of the famous American dance moves of "the sprinkler" and "the shopping cart" were particularly well received.

A performance by third grade students 

The audience

Afterwards, Sugath and Matthew helped out on the construction of the new building.  We then returned to thank the headmaster for a day that we will never forget and brought the huge pile of donations that were kindly provided by our colleagues back home, which left them overwhelmed with joy.  As we left, kids were following us down the road to wave goodbye.

The 8 of us might be a group of normal people back home, but today we were rock stars in the Sindhuli district of Nepal.

One thing we asked today is whether it would be possible to keep in touch with the kids via letters, which we may be able to organize via PLAN.  We think this would be a wonderful way to keep in touch with the town and to enable more staff at Hobsons to interact with the students.  We hope that you will be interested when we return.