It’s amazing how adaptable we are as humans. I’ve been here in Gaunshahar for two weeks and have completely settled into the routine of daily life. So much so that taking another cold shower, complete with washing my hair, seemed normal to me.

The day starts around sunrise, usually sometime after 5:00 am. The house comes awake as people slowly get up; some are early risers, others sleep almost until breakfast time. Sleeping late actually requires a lot of determination because the noise of human activity gets louder as more move about, both inside and outside of the house. Outside, the locals are tending to animals, Inside Kalpana is in the kitchen preparing the morning Dahl Bhat, the constant stream of morning visitors to the toilet has started, and chatter about this or that echoes as people emerge from their rooms. My sleep pattern here can be described as “sporadic”. During the night I seem to wake up every few hours. So depending on the frequency and duration of those episodes I will typically start moving in the morning anywhere between 6-7 am.

My bedroom set up. I got the mosquito net yesterday and it has been wonderful- my own personal tent. There are two other beds in the room with me.

First on my agenda is an hour or so of morning stretching/yoga, something I have been doing regularly for nearly three years. It is especially important here as my bed is essentially a wooden platform with a thin foam layer (I cannot call it a mattress), topped off by my sleeping bag. The stretching helps loosen up stiff joints! Due to space constraints, I usually do most of the stretching in my bed but thankfully there is some limited floor space for a few simple standing stretches, too. After completing the normal morning toiletries: clean face, brush teeth, kind of comb hair (it is in a clip all the time), dress, I organize my breakfast. The apples and bananas that I have stocked up on from shopping trips to Besishahar are my daily morning meal, one of each with peanut butter. I skip the morning Dahl Bhat which is usually ready some time between 8:00-8:30 am. By this time most everyone is up.

The toilet, but not shower. It is right outside our bedroom, which is to the right.

At the start of the day, we already know our daily assignments as it was settled the night before. The team is split into two groups, those that work in the morning and those that work in the afternoon. The expectation is a commitment to a half day’s work, for five days a week. Occasionally, based on the needs of the project people work more and we take turns when those instances arise.

The first task of the day, which occurs right after breakfast, requires two people, and involves a 45 minute walk to a nearby village to pick up and escort four young children (ages 3-6) who attend the school. The village is very small, about five houses, and very poor These children are some of the beneficiaries of Shamser’s vision. They could not afford a private education, but with free admission to his school, can learn English and other subjects which are not available in the local public school. The kids are cute and happily walk back and forth every day to attend.

The shower. The outside sink is for laundry. This is just down the hill from the house.

At 9:00 the morning shift sets off for the ten minute walk down the hill to the school- everything here is either up or down a hill. Even though school does not start until ten many students show up between 9:00-9:15 to run around and play on the playground. Shamser started the school four years ago and it currently consists of grades K-4 so there are a lot of small children running around in the morning. I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the projects at the moment is building the fifth grade classroom.

The morning assembly. The background buildings are part of the school. Buildings are built on old rice terraces no longer in use.

The morning assembly, which starts around 9:45 am, consists of signing, dancing, and general physical exercises. The children also sing the Nepali national anthem which is really adorable to watch. The classes start at 10 am. Each class is 40 minutes and there is a break after two classes. Depending on which teachers have shown up for the day, the volunteers are dispersed, usually in teams of two, to various classrooms. In the mountains school attendance, for both teachers and students, is changeable based on family constraints or other life requirements, although the students are more variable. The school has a small room called the “Library”, which is kind of a general purpose room for art, reading, and other creative projects. The students are sent there in small teams of seven as a rewards for good behavior. Volunteers also staff that room.

Lunch is around 1:00 pm. The morning shift of volunteers returns up the hill to the house where they have the rest of the afternoon free. Bimala, Shamser’s sister-in-law, who lives in the adjacent house, prepares lunch for everyone. After eating, the afternoon shift reports to the school, usually before 1:30 pm. The afternoon mirrors the morning until school ends at 4 pm. At the end of the day, two people are tasked to walk the children back to the nearby village and the rest return to the house to relax before dinner. Kalpana cooks Dahl Bhat for dinner every night except Friday, when we have the pizza party. I usually restrict myself to a small portion of the Dahl Bhat at dinner. After dinner we have a planning session for the next day and also share how the day went for all. Usually we finish up around 9 pm and most of the time we all go to bed because by then it has been a full day.

Besides teaching there are always ongoing construction or expansion projects that require volunteer labor. In addition to the fifth grade classroom, a second toilet, a school kitchen, a computer room, and a garden are at different stages of development.

The upper school buildings.

There is a lot going on and I have done a variety of jobs in the short two weeks here. I have taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade, with more time spent with the third graders. We all have skill sets and I have to admit that I don’t think one of my strengths is teaching primary students – I am much more comfortable with high school and college ages. It is amazing to see the way some of my fellow volunteers can control, excite and teach the students. I have nothing but admiration for their creativity and energy!

Besides teaching, I have also shoveled sand and rocks to prep the materials for mixing the cement for the fifth grade classroom. But lately, with the arrival of some computers, I have focused on getting the computer room established. It’s pretty challenging as the donated laptops are a mixed bag of types, languages, and operating systems. The task is to establish a basic functional level with some common application software. The randomness of power availability also adds complexity to the task. The children are very excited about the possibility of working with computers and every day comes the question: “Computer lab ready yet?”. Hopefully some time next week introductory lessons can start. I would like to see that happen before my time here is up in nine days!