Nepal Part 2

The day after our trek, Mingmar invited us to his house to visit his family and have lunch, which we all quickly agreed to do. Renji came and met us at our hotel and walked us over to his neighbourhood, which was only about a 30 minute walk and got us away from most of the hustle and bustle of the city. Most people who live in the city live in apartments and the buildings are only about 3 or 4 stories high and each apartment takes up the entire floor. Mingmar and his family of 5 lived in a two bedroom apartment and his wife and daughter prepared a lovely feast of dal bhaat. All of Mingmar's children speak excellent English so we were able to have a lovely chat while we waited for our food. It is clear that Mingmar's accomplishments are a source of pride for his family and he has all of his Everest certificates and photos up around the living room. It once again reminded us how lucky we were to have someone with such experience as our guide. It was a very special afternoon and we were sad to leave and say good-bye to our Nepali friends. The only thing that made us feel better is that we know we will return to Nepal and see them again.

The next day, Scott and Rhonda were off to work which left Wes and I to explore the city on our own. We did some shopping, saw some sights and I got ready for my presentation out at SIRC.

 This photo was taken at Swayambhunath, also know as the monkey temple. I joked that I wanted to get my photo taken with these monks, so Wes told me to go stand beside them. I was actually quite mortified, but I "cozied" up to them and posed. Wes was trying to get these guys to smile by saying, "Everyone say cheese!" The guy to my right who was so serious , yet actually took out his phone and handed it to Wes so that he could also have a record of this strange tourist posing with them. It turned out these monks were visiting from Myanmar, so we were really all just tourists that day. I love that the cute old guy also had a smartphone and now also has a picture of me! Sometimes, we need to step out of our comfort zone and take a chance.

Next, it was time to board our ride (ambulance) out to Dhulikel to where SIRC is. We were all going to stay at the same hotel and drive back and forth for the workshops that were taking part over two days. We were there to do some work with a team from Switzerland and the workshops were being presented to mostly nursing students with some OT's and physios there as well. I was only going to be giving a short presentation, but I was still quite nervous! As much as everyone tried to reassure me, I still had the jitters.
The centre is a wonderful place with wide corridors, lots of outdoor space, and the sound of children laughing and enjoying time with their families. People who are brought to the centre are there for rehab and their family comes to stay with them and help with the process of rehabilitation and reintegration back to their villages. The work that is being done is quite extraordinary and it was such a pleasure to see the rewards of some of our work.

 My talk, of course went fine, and I was pleased to be able to contribute even just a little bit. I spoke about general teaching practices which may or may not have been applicable to the audience, but my friends reassured me that I did a good job. There was also a language delay with some of the audience which didn't really help with my jokes, or maybe it did!

SIRC entrance

This is me actually presenting!

After our day at SIRC, Wes and I once again had some time to explore and we decided to walk through the towns close to SIRC and our hotel.

We came upon a number of students of various ages on their way to school and many of them wanted to stop and chat while we were walking past. They wanted to practice their English so they were shouting, "Hello, how are you?" There are many private schools in Nepal and most of the students we saw were in uniform. We came upon a few groups on their way to school, so we asked to take some photos of the children of various ages.

Disney princess backpack!

We also took a walk to the Golden Buddha and to a hilltop temple where I came upon a woman with the most beautiful smile and she very kindly allowed me to take her picture.

This trip was so memorable in so many ways. It was wonderful for Scott and I to share these experiences and for him to bring me into his world just a little bit. We challenged ourselves physically and stretched ourselves to step out of our comfort zone. We met some wonderful people and had the opportunity to give back and be part of a world much larger than ours. I was able to teach a group about teaching and I so look forward to when we can go back and do more and see more. Thank you so much to Peter and Claire for finding a way to include me and give me a chance to be a part of the amazing work they are doing.
Namaste!
A few more random photos from various parts of our trip:

One of the many cows we saw in the city.

Political protest leading up to the election.

We called this guy the Nepali Ben Affleck. The best part was that he had never heard of Ben until we told him to look himup!

Buddhist nuns waiting to receive offerings.