Arrival into Nepal

Nameste from Nepal. 
I have finally arrived.  Thank you Chris and Peter for dropping me off at the airport.  I had a great day doing a quick tikki tour of Hong Kong in a few hours before having a late lunch and shower and my friends getting me back to the airport in time.   I had two gate changes and for those of you who know Hong Kong airport it can be rather a long walk.  Eventually we boarded and headed for Dhaka in Bungladesh.  We could not get out off the plane, so the people clean the plane around those of us that were flying on to Kathmandu.  It seemed to take for ever..  So many security guards, checking in flight luggage and people not once or twice but five times.  The remaining people then came on to the plane and again this took a long time.  May be I was tired but my patience was being tested.  I arrived in Nepal at 10.15pm on the 18 Jan.  Nepal is 5 hours behind Australia. 

Arriving into Nepal I became aware of the security surrounding the airport.  It virtually was non existent.  I filled out a very basic immigration paper (one 5A piece of paper).  To my surprise my Nepalese friends were waiting for me at immigration. I received the traditional Nepalise welcome where I was given a cream scarf by my friends. I felt very welcomed.  There was no need to fill out a customs declaration form as it was non existent.  An x-ray machine existed for the luggage check but that was all.  So easy...

I stayed in Kathmandu that evening with a friend of one of my friends who took me to a small villiage outside of Kathmandu the next morning.   I am staying with a lovely family.  I have a small but spacious room with shared toilet and bathroom facilities.  Thankfully I have been provided with bottled water, toilet paper(not used by Nepalise people).  I see the mountain range from my bedroom window.  The weather to date is much like a Christchurch or Canberra winter where the days are beautiful and the nights very cold.  There is no such thing as heating.  Electricity get turned off between the hours of 2 - 5pm and again for some time 5 - 10am in the morning.  This is somewhat challenging.  I get the feeling that it changes somewhat from day to day.  I have had the opportunity to walk around the village.  The streets are all dirt.  There seems to be very little bitumen streets in Nepal.  The roads are all narrow and it is interesting to watch the challenge it is for bus drivers, people and motor bikes that all want to access the road.  Very few people have cars.  (this is my observation).

I will try and get some photos put up but the internet here is just so slow it would take for ever...Briony I now know what you mean ...slow internet and I am sitting in a cafe...my cell phone does not work here.  Reception and modern technology are lacking in this country.  Education is important though they struggle with coming to grasp.  Parents feel it is important for their children to learn English to enable them to have a better opportunity of work prospects.  More so the sons.  Sons are very important.  They are the ones that will support the parents when they are older as there is an expectation that the girls will someday be married off.  The value of women is virtually non existant.  The discussions I have with the young girls at the home I am staying in ...is that it is a concern for them.  They want to improve their lives hence education for many women is important.

Tomorrow I will be teaching a local Nepalise School,  English Conversation and later in the afternoon I will be travelling back to Kathmandu to commence teaching at KISC.  So this afternoon during the power cut I will commence preparations for my class tomorrow.  I am teaching years 7 and 8.  Please pray that I will be able to connect with these young students.  Learning should be fun and this is going to be a challenge for me to provide something a little different from their traditional learning.

I seem to be adjusting well but do have difficulty with the poverty I am experiencing all around me.  This I am finding a challenge.  I will write again in the next few days.  Time is running short if I would like to add this too my blog.  I apologise in advance for my spelling mistakes. 
God Bless you all.