what a crazy day.

as usual in Nepal,

anything can and will happen very unexpectedly.

so today I found out that I live 2 minutes

away from Kathmandu Vineyard,

which is a sister church to the one I go to Belfast!

so yay it was a Nepali service but really nice.

a lot of the songs were actually the Vineyard

english songs that have been translated and

the worship team were made up of street kids that

were rescued and now live in a home run by the church.

so that was pretty cool and they were asking if

anyone had this particular illness or health problem

to come up to be prayed for- and pretty much the whole

church went up to the front and cause the prayer

ministry team was so overwhelmed they called

us by name to go up and be part of the prayer team!

it was weird praying for Nepali people who

prolly had no clue what I was saying!

but oh well, God understands and that's all that matters (:

so we went on to Pashapati after,

which is this group of temples and this is where

the Hindus cremate their dead family members and

wash their ashes into the Bagmati river,

which as a result is terribly horribly dirty.

we arrived right at the time where this family just

laid their dead grandfather by the river

and started the ritual so we sat down and watched

for an hour or so, it was really sad seeing the family

say their last goodbyes and torch the body.

I've never been to a funeral before so I've

never really experienced firsthand just that emotion

and atmosphere of grief ):

it actually felt like i was intruding but it was just this

big open space next to the river and there were

random people just sitting about while the

family were mourning and it seemed like such a private moment.

it must be so hard to see the face you're so familiar

with being consumed by flames.

so yeah, weird long hot day.

i'm visiting a Newari village tomorrow,

which is apparently going to be really Nepal-like

cause everyone says Kathmandu is too westernised.

i'm trying to upload photos, we'll see how that goes!

i am forever grateful to the amazing+

incredibly generous friend that is Adam Milne!

because..

I AM WRITING THIS ON MY LAPTOP ((:

yes, he drove from Newry>> Belfast

to get dear old Nathan the clunky noisy unreliable computer

and gave it to Catherine who had to lug it all the way!

(catherine's from NI and will be working in the same school)

and then I had a fright cause it wouldn't work

with the wireless and had to bring it over

to the International school for the IT guys

to look over which took an hour and finally,

the glorious moment arrived where I could

finally finally get Internet in my room!!!

(:

oh how I took things for granted.

on the sick front: it's hard getting better with the terrible

polluted air over here, so i've been getting

worse and worse actually-

it got so bad on tuesday, i woke up with

burning eyes and just lots of heat

emanating from my body so I left work

after 2 periods and came home to sleep

but I couldn't cause I was coughing too much.

it's been a pattern lately with the night coughing,

it's annoying but it's easier to deal with than

the swollen gums in Week 1 so i'm not going to complain.

anyway going to see some sights this week with Catherine here

so I won't look so touristy- going to some place

where they cremate dead bodies (which is apparently

some great big tourist attraction- WHY?!)

and some temply places, which is pretty much

all of Nepal cause temples/worshippy places 

seem to be everywhere- and they all have intricate

woodwork and stuff like that which really remind

me of my parents.

also, this week I finally got my kurtasuruwal made,

my beautiful Nepali outfit that is so loose

it's like wearing pajamas all day

(which is my ultimate dream) so I'm very happy

and hoping to buy a few more to wear everyday!

expect more updates now!

(:

hello!

it's been a really busy week, time has just flown!

and it's been raining terribly this week,
im sitting in really wet muddy squelchy shoes
at the minute, which is kinda gross but i love
how its cool enough to wear a cardi!

so i taught 4 days at school today,
and i know i never want to be a proper teacher.
i like teaching, but never as a full time job!
it was a bit crazy last week but i think
i've got the hang of it now.
still though, its a very mentally taxing job
i come home at 5 everyday totally exhausted,
and im usually in bed by 8.30pm,
which i LOVE because this never happens in NI!
(:

anyway im still sick, coughing half my alveoli
away every night and i can't get to sleep
but its improving and i'm getting my voice back
so im hoping it'll be totally gone this week
cause i'm getting a roommate and i don't want
to be keeping someone else up all night
with the terrible coughing!

so yeah, i'm really enjoying it at the minute,
hoping that i find enough stuff to immerse myself
in so i won't be wasting any free time!

oh btw i was at a nepali church yesterday
and suddenly the pastor asked if i would
give my testimony to the whole congregation
about 5 minutes before the service, which
apparently happens quite often here, he
said that this may move on to giving a message (!!!!)

i will actually die of fright if that ever happens,
i'm not smart enough to give a message!

anyway yeah i hate introducing myself at new services
and i foresee a lot of this happening in the
next two months ):

and ooh btw i have something planned,
and if things work out i may be coming home!
(: (: (:

home home, not belfast home.
but yeah, im really excited, just looking at
air tickets now which are extortionate
but please please please God let me go home!

so yeah, exciting news but i don't wnt to
get my hopes up just in case tix are too expensive.
):

more news when something exciting happens!

I PASSED MY SECOND YEAR!!!


so hello,
i am now an official third year medic.

awesome (:

i was quite worried awhile there about having to fly back
but now everythings awesome and i am so excited
about the next two months! ((:

whee!

i'm sick.

my immune system has been battling a lot
since i arrived- the terrible polluted air,
kids coughing and sneezing in my face,
dirty little hands touching my face ):

so i have a sore throat and am developing a cough/flu
thing, which isn't pleasant but it's a lot
better than the swollen gums issue!

and i'm in mental agony over results,
which are supposed to be out TODAY
so i rushed home after work to an internet cafe
so look for my results and had that moment of anticipation
as the page loaded... but no it's not up ):

sigh, another 24 agonising hours to go!

IT RAINED :D

anyway the most surreal thing happened to me yesterday!
i was walking along to the hospital with my iPod on,
then i glanced behind to see if i could cross the road
and i saw something really tall and red
so i looked back, thinking it was a lorry..

and then i thought, hmm that's a bit weird
so i looked behind again,
and ..



A FLIPPIN ELEPHANT WAS STARING AT ME!
he was walking next to me on a small street
wearing a giant red coat thing,
and i swear i almost died.

and then the elephant just ambled on like
these things happen everyday!
i asked around and apparently hes from the zoo
and takes walks all the time.

that was weird.


yesterday was a weird day, went to hand
out balloons to children in the hospital
which was lovely and then i went to this
school that was in the slums-
and it's nothing like what was shown
in Slumdog Millionaire!
it was very rocky and dusty and quarry-like
(this is from my imagination,
i have no idea what a real quarry looks like!)

but yeah the school was just in shambles,
it was just a brick shed and there were about 20 kids
in that one room from ages 3-9 and
i dont think they've ever been to school before,
so these kids were running amok
going crazy and screaming and crying all the time.

it was seriously so overwhelming and
we brought out puzzles and building blocks
and stuff like that but they just went
crazy over them, everyone just dove in
and fought for every piece of puzzle-
it was just madness.

and because this was just a preliminary thing,
to see whether there was a chance to help out
in this school once a week-
in my head it was a firm no.

but i thought over it and realised,
nothing's going to be easy and i can't just
say no to helping out in a place where they so
obviously need help just cause i don't like it
and it's too uncomfortable right?

):

i don't know.

nepal has its days,
sometimes i love it (when i'm at good shepherd)
and sometimes i'm hoping that i fail my exams
so i get to fly back for my resits.

it's hard, but i know that if i at least
have helped make things better just in
one person's life- it's all worth it.
(:

alright, til tomorrow!

so.

i miss UK weather.
the only thing that bothers me is the weather,
and the monsoon is long overdue ):
please please please please rain soon,
because I don't know if i can stand the heat any longer!

yes, malaysia can be hotter and more humid
but there's airconditioning everywhere and
i don't have to walk all over the place, so
i dont notice the heat at all!
but here, oh my life.

anyway i was at school today to observe and play
with the 3yos again, which was lovely (:

so i'll be teaching chemistry and of all subjects,
disgusting annoying physics.
arrrrrrgh!
the only subject i hate more than maths is physics!

and just looking through the syllabus to see what I have to teach
is bringing back memories of form5 lab classes
where pn. ang bang lee would try to shout her way
across all these cocky students who thought they
knew everything and thus spent the whole class time
talking and doing other homework.
(i caught up with my chickflick reading!)

but yeah another problem i've realised is..

i learnt all this in BM/Chinese
and now I have to teach in stupid English!
honestly, English is great but they have
such a wide vocab and there are so many different
confusing terms for everything ):

and because I'm teaching kids 9-15,
there's a wide range of things for me to relearn
and 15yo kids here learn physics that is taught in
AS Level in the UK, which makes things a lot harder
because I didn't take Physics for A Levels!
):

i just want to tell these kids that honestly,
knowing such things like electron valency and
u= v+at (is that right?!) is really not applicable
after they graduate and i forgot everything anyway!

but oh well, i think another science teacher is coming in soon
so maybe that'll be some help and i'll
just go on and take art lessons with the younger ones (:

yesterday i had the most interesting day.
i spent the whole day with these girls in a home
called the Princess Home, which is run by a church
who rescues girls that were forced into prostitution.
and these rescued girls run a business making beaded
jewellery to earn enough money for their future,
which is really amazing!

apparently there are loads and loads of things like that
in Nepal and it's really nice to see that
there are so many organisations doing so much here!

so i might be helping out there once a week.

and tomorrow i get to go to the pediatric ward
to hand out balloons to sick children!

pray for rain!

I AM GOING TO DIE OF HEAT!!!

it's reaching 40 degrees celsius here,
and i swear i will never ever ever
complain about lovely wonderful cold UK weather again!

so yeah yesterday was terrible because
there was a strike called, and that means every shop
has to close and no vehicles are allowed on the roads,
which was terrible because we walked 2-3 hours
under the stupid sun.

and i went to the Patan hospital yesterday,
where i will be volunteering once a week
in the pediatric ward, which will be really really nice (:

you know, for one of the worlds poorest countries,
the hospital is about as rundown as the Selayang one
in KL where I went for my JPA hospital attachment,
which is saying something about the condition
of Malaysian hospitals!

and then we walked a couple hours to this place called
Emmanuel Crafts, which is a beadmaking business
for single mothers/widows which was really nice
because all these women who had nothing just a couple
of years ago now can support their children thru med school!

and finally today, i went to visit Good Shepherd school
where I will be primarily working.
I had to take the bus there, and seriously-
this bus was terribly terribly jammed with people
and because they dont have proper bus stops,
people can just hail the bus anywhere by waving
and everyone just piles on, there's never too many people on the bus.

together with the constant honking,
it was seriously bleargh.
and then i started thinking:
'what on earth was going through my mind when
i wanted to work for 10 weeks in a place i've
never even been before?!!'

but thankfully, the school more than made up for it.

Good Shepherd School is a school for slum children,
and most of them are seriously seriously poor
but you wouldn't know it from seeing them
because they were so affectionate and lovely
and i had such an amazing time!

got to play with the 3 year old nursery kids for
the whole day and i really want to bring them all
back to the UK with me! (:

and i found out that i'll be teaching science-
which honestly, i dont remember anything of!
but i'm sure i'll figure something out.

but yeah, i'm really excited to be working there
because it's just such a lovely environment and
it was really refreshing to see all the teachers
have such a heart for children.

it really reminded me of my primary school days though,
when i walked into a class the kids all stood up
and greeted me, it was exactly what we would've done!

but yeah- things seem to be going well,
hopefully i'll be able to integrate more and
find my way around, because this place
is highly confusing- there are NO road names!

pray for my teeth because my gums got swollen when i
first got here and i thought it was because of the heat
but i think now it's more because my wisdom teeth
are growing out and painkillers don't work,
and you know how i hate going to see people
of the medical profession for health stuff so
i really hope i dont have to go see a dentist!

but yeah it's a lot to get used to,
for example water is not safe so it takes some getting used to,
having to boil water for dishes and use filter water
for teethbrushing, i've gotten so used to drinking
straight from the tap in the UK!

and people think i'm from India ):
that should give you an idea of how dark I am at the minute!

see you!