Annapurna Sunrise in Pokhara
It took me many years of waiting and travelling across half the globe to get there but now I finally am where I belong: in the Seventies. Last Sunday in Nepal we celebrated new years, so now I am living in 2070, I bet it will take a while before you can say the same:)
Now, what is happening in the future? Forget about all your silly theories that climate change will have flooded half the earth, or that aliens will come and destroy/enlighten us: life in the seventies is very similar to 2013, though it is much closer to nature than in 2013. And it is a little more chaotic and unpredictable, which I enjoy.
Let's start with the week I spent in Pokhara, the last week of '69: simply put, I was sick all week. Change of environment, change of climate and change of food (no Dal-Bhat every day) apparently does me no good. The only day I was able to move without wanting to vomit we went on a walk to the sunrise point about two hours away from the city, and there you could finally see the snowy mountains without them being covered in a misty haze. We were supposed to meet a friend up there and stay at his place, but due to chaotic circumstances (turned out he didn't live on top of the hill but an hour away from the sunrise point in the middle of the jungle) we found ourselves stuck on this sunrise point with no money or place to sleep. What to do? Que garnee? Sleep under the stars, of course. We managed to somehow borrow two blankets from a restaurant (though they might have been the blankets of one of the owners sons) and made ourselves comfortable on the top of the hill: some chocolate, a nice candle, and a reasonably good night's sleep at the top of the hill (except George kept on stealing my blanket) . And the next morning we had an amazing sunrise which made it all worth it: the sun rising above the Annapurna hills.
It took me many years of waiting and travelling across half the globe to get there but now I finally am where I belong: in the Seventies. Last Sunday in Nepal we celebrated new years, so now I am living in 2070, I bet it will take a while before you can say the same:)
Now, what is happening in the future? Forget about all your silly theories that climate change will have flooded half the earth, or that aliens will come and destroy/enlighten us: life in the seventies is very similar to 2013, though it is much closer to nature than in 2013. And it is a little more chaotic and unpredictable, which I enjoy.
Let's start with the week I spent in Pokhara, the last week of '69: simply put, I was sick all week. Change of environment, change of climate and change of food (no Dal-Bhat every day) apparently does me no good. The only day I was able to move without wanting to vomit we went on a walk to the sunrise point about two hours away from the city, and there you could finally see the snowy mountains without them being covered in a misty haze. We were supposed to meet a friend up there and stay at his place, but due to chaotic circumstances (turned out he didn't live on top of the hill but an hour away from the sunrise point in the middle of the jungle) we found ourselves stuck on this sunrise point with no money or place to sleep. What to do? Que garnee? Sleep under the stars, of course. We managed to somehow borrow two blankets from a restaurant (though they might have been the blankets of one of the owners sons) and made ourselves comfortable on the top of the hill: some chocolate, a nice candle, and a reasonably good night's sleep at the top of the hill (except George kept on stealing my blanket) . And the next morning we had an amazing sunrise which made it all worth it: the sun rising above the Annapurna hills.
Dora and I enjoying the sunrise
After seeing the sunrise we went down again and I continued my routine of being sick all day (we couldn't stay at our guesthouse anymore because it was starting to slowly slide into the construction site below so we had to be evacuated)-kind of comfortable, lying on a mattress in a hippie bar with a fresh pack of ice on my head trying to break my fever, haha. It was almost enjoyable being sick in such a luxurious environment :). Nevertheless, I decided to return home early because I felt that the mountain air in Chisopani would do me good-and as soon as I returned home, I was better:) I guess I was just homesick.
After seeing the sunrise we went down again and I continued my routine of being sick all day (we couldn't stay at our guesthouse anymore because it was starting to slowly slide into the construction site below so we had to be evacuated)-kind of comfortable, lying on a mattress in a hippie bar with a fresh pack of ice on my head trying to break my fever, haha. It was almost enjoyable being sick in such a luxurious environment :). Nevertheless, I decided to return home early because I felt that the mountain air in Chisopani would do me good-and as soon as I returned home, I was better:) I guess I was just homesick.
Dora at Freedom Cafe in Pokhara
Back 'home', we celebrated new years with the entire village, eating food and of course dancing into the night. It seems that here, there is always something to celebrate-we move from festival to festival and inbetween we try to give some classes. On Monday, half the children didn't show up for school because it was the first day of the new year. Who did show, however, were the new admission kids--sooo many! And they all were put either in the kindergarten class or in grade one (the Monkeys and the Hippos) which means that now there are 25 children in those two classes! This is about half the school and Dora is the main teacher so I decided to help her out. We moved to a different classroom (a lovely bamboo one-much better than the dark stone one they had before) and started planning 'Doraland'-a Montessori-like environment for the little ones so that they can also entertain themselves and we don't have to teach them all day, haha.
Enfin, the rest of the week we tried to have school but more holidays showed up: on Thursday there was a holiday, I think-in any case the village pig was being cut so all the village came to see and get some pork meat, because everybody had been waiting for ages to taste that pig's juicy meat.
Of course we also joined the festivities-where the meat goes, I go-I must be the worst vegetarian in the world:) so we had some Roxy, some pork (which was mostly just pure fat-like eating a labello stick.
Back 'home', we celebrated new years with the entire village, eating food and of course dancing into the night. It seems that here, there is always something to celebrate-we move from festival to festival and inbetween we try to give some classes. On Monday, half the children didn't show up for school because it was the first day of the new year. Who did show, however, were the new admission kids--sooo many! And they all were put either in the kindergarten class or in grade one (the Monkeys and the Hippos) which means that now there are 25 children in those two classes! This is about half the school and Dora is the main teacher so I decided to help her out. We moved to a different classroom (a lovely bamboo one-much better than the dark stone one they had before) and started planning 'Doraland'-a Montessori-like environment for the little ones so that they can also entertain themselves and we don't have to teach them all day, haha.
Enfin, the rest of the week we tried to have school but more holidays showed up: on Thursday there was a holiday, I think-in any case the village pig was being cut so all the village came to see and get some pork meat, because everybody had been waiting for ages to taste that pig's juicy meat.
Of course we also joined the festivities-where the meat goes, I go-I must be the worst vegetarian in the world:) so we had some Roxy, some pork (which was mostly just pure fat-like eating a labello stick.
The men dividing the pig up into equal pieces
Becky enjoying her piece of fat-she loves it
Friday I thought that there would be school, but it turned out to be another holiday, so only 4 kids showed up .We decided to take them and the 15 Sagarmatha kids who are staying with us on a little school trip to the festival in Tanahusur, a village 3 hours away from Maya school. So up and up the hill we went with our bunch of crazy children, taking breaks wherever there was a fruit tree, a swinging tree or a piece of shade.
Friday I thought that there would be school, but it turned out to be another holiday, so only 4 kids showed up .We decided to take them and the 15 Sagarmatha kids who are staying with us on a little school trip to the festival in Tanahusur, a village 3 hours away from Maya school. So up and up the hill we went with our bunch of crazy children, taking breaks wherever there was a fruit tree, a swinging tree or a piece of shade.
Parvati swinging on the improvised swing during one of our maaaany many breaks.
When we finally arrived at the festival-which in this case was very much like a nepali style fun fair (kermis) everybody was so exhausted that all we could do was to sit down and eat, which we did:) And after one hour it was threatening to rain (jej monsoon) so we had to take all our little chicks down again.
Pushbin and Parvati (behind him) in one of their many tickle fights-looove is in the air
Anyway, time to go, djam djam. I will try to write again next week when there will be normal school again, hopefully. Though when it's raining there is no bus going to Damauli- so we will see. Lots of love from chaotic Nepal.
Anyway, time to go, djam djam. I will try to write again next week when there will be normal school again, hopefully. Though when it's raining there is no bus going to Damauli- so we will see. Lots of love from chaotic Nepal.