It’s been a very long time since I have written a BLOG, which believe me is a positive rather than negative indication of how my life is going in Nepal. I started my placement in November 2010 and it’s already April 2012, so I have been living here now for 17 months with 9 months to go until my placement finishes in January 2013. With that in mind I am thinking about what my options are for the future and this is what its looking like; 1) Have a small break and start a new placement with VSO in Nepal, my current placements cannot be continued as the Governance Program I am part of has finished. 2) Return to Manchester and do a short term job with my previous organization, if they have anything. 3) Cruise round Asia on a motorbike for an unlimited period of time. 4) Something else! Either way I am pretty excited about all possibilities.
My decision to come to Nepal to volunteer is without doubt one of the best decisions I have made, I have learnt so much from this country and culture that will remain with me for the rest of my life, my life will never be he same again and I am a much better person for it. Also I have learnt new skills and a new language and I am about to embark on a 6 month long distance course on, ‘Understanding Gender in Society,’ which I think will be incredibly interesting considering the context of my setting.
The last couple of months have been good, I inherited a puppy dog called Ziggy (Stardust) from another volunteer who got Ziggy from the dog rescue centre in Kathmandu after there was some kind of viral outbreak. The volunteer has since returned to England, so now he is mine! He is totally cute and adorable and loved by all, when I leave I have already had offers of homes for him to go to which is reassuring. It was during my return trip from Kathmandu with Ziggy that I participated in my first triathlon. The triathlon was took place in beautiful surrounding of Lake Begnas near Pokhara, with a view of the mountains and trees. The first part of the triathlon was the 750 metre swim through Lake Begnas, it was really hard as I was only wearing my Marks and Spencer’s swimsuit my mum had sent, which was not sufficient to keep away the chills, I stepped out of the lake thinking how on earth can I continue with the rest of this triathlon, but I did, after all there was no way in hell I was giving up! So I continued my merry journey cycling on my friends oversized mountain bike for 20 km then just as the mid day sun hit its top temperature I started my 5 km run. The run was by far the easiest part as this is the part I had trained for and built up my stamina in, but the heat was intense. As I sprinted through the finish line my friends and Ziggy were there to greet me. My time was 2:42 which I thought was good and I came second out of the ladies and was presented with an engraved ghurka knife and a one way flight of my choice in Nepal, very nice.
My work is going well, but there have been no major achievements which is fine. It’s hard to describe what the working conditions are like here, but I can tell you that in one office we only just got a computer and printer which doesn’t always work if the voltage is low, it might give you an idea. In comparison to work load in the UK, it’s been around 50% of the work load there. This is due to many reasons; language difficulties, my program with VSO coming to and end and there fore no funding being available and also because my role is as an advisor in which I am supposed to be building the capacity of my work colleagues, which is like an add on to their role and work load. Accepting this is hard, but I have accepted it now and slowly work improves and gets more interesting as we work out how best to work with each other. On reflection I think work load expectations in the UK are too high and my friends often complain saying; ‘works been really stressful’.
Only 6 weeks to go and I will return to Europe for three weeks, I will spend a week in the UK then jet off to Spain for a Hula Hoop Gathering for the week then I will return to the UK for another week. I am really looking forward to seeing all my friends and family and having a bath at my mums house and glass of Oxford Landing Sauvignon Blanc.
See you all soon
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