A Typical School Day

Well I have finished my teaching for the day and as we still have power (a novel, brilliant event!) I thought I would write a quick post describing a typical school day.

5am Wake up and go for a 30 min walk. It is still quite unusual for Nepalese people to exercise, being chubby is considered beautiful and a sign of wealth. This attitude is slowly changing and in central Kathmandu and richer areas there are gyms and adverts for personal trainers. Balkumari has not seen this change yet, so the only time I can exercise is a morning walk with the junior maths teacher. Its actually quite nice to walk through the town watching everyone get up and go to the temples for their morning Pooja (prayer).

6am- 6:15am this is our allocated shower time. The water is pumped up to the roof when the electricity is running, we have to get in early otherwise the water is all used up by the boarders!

6:30- 7am Prayer and yoga time for the boarders. I often sit in on this, although i don't understand the prayers the Hindu hymns are really beautiful and its quite refreshing to do the yoga lessons

7-8: Study time for the boarders: I use this opportunity to finish off any last minute marking and lesson planning as well as helping the boarders with any homework trouble.

8-8:30 - get dressed in school clothes for the day. We are teaching wearing traditional Nepali tunics so i get changed out of my western clothes into the beautifully embroidered tunics. These are very comfortable, however I am still to find a way of arranging my scarf - it is considered immodest to be seen without it, but mine keeps falling off and getting in the way!

8:30 - Breakfast! My favourite meal of day :) Usually we have sweet tea, toast with mango jam and some form of curry or noodle.

9am - morning assembly. The children all stand in rows and do some exercises including standing to attention and about turning. The school song is sung and morning pooja done.

9:30-12:30 - Morning lessons. Each lesson is 40 mins long and there is a 5 minute break

12:30 - 1:15 - Lunch time.... Dal Baht (And I treat myself to a hob nob to satisfy my sugar craving)
1:15 - 4 pm - Afternoon lessons

4-7pm - Boarders study time. I use this time to volunteer at the Ashram which provides after school care and homework help to underprivileged children (usually from the Dalit, untouchable Caste - more on caste in later posts!)

7-8pm - More prayer and yoga, sometimes we do some dancing and singing.

8pm - Dinner - Dal Baht and curry. My favourite is potato curry and Aachar which is a spicy tomato pickle.

9:30pm - Bed...

In other news I am going to be a Nepali TV star! (Ok I will have a bit part in a soap opera) One of the ex-students has asked Sarah and I if we will take bit parts in a popular Nepali soap about college life (think Nepali Holyoaks). The program is broadcast on cable channels in 86 different countries. One of us will play a teacher and the other will play the part of a foreign student... very exciting.