Child Minding Practices

There seems to be a huge gulf between the norms of childcare 'best practices' in Canada and Nepal. The Nepalese kids have far less 'stuff' than we do at home. If you stepped in to the ground floor of the house we live in, you wouldn't be able to tell a child lived here. There are no toys to be seen. The 5 yr old, Soobaum has a tin that is kept in the kitchen. It is similar to a coffee tin with a re-useable plastic lid. The metal along the edges is sharp. It's a cross between a junk drawer and a toy chest. These are the items they let him play with:

1 pointy geometric compass

1 protractor

1 toy dinosaur

2 well used erasers

2 plastic pop out medicine dispensers (pills still in them)

2 pencil sharpeners

1 clapper

2 dice

1 ping pong ball

1 bouncy ball

assorted plastic caps and pieces

Now look closely at the photo:

These children are wielding a rather large knife, trying to isolate the sweet pith out of a sugar cane. Children are capable and able to engage in far 'riskier' behaviour than our overly protected western offspring. They play anywhere- along the trails and near drop offs over creeks. Unfortunately I have seen far to many razor blades left to rust on the ground.

These behaviours make sense, when you also see rock masons chipping rocks without safety glasses and people riding motorbikes without helmets. The message appears to be “take care of yourself”. These proud people don't blame others, large corporations, or the government if they spill hot tea on themselves, or get in to a traffic accident. There seems to be an individual onus to fix any problem you might be in.

Tuesday, first day of school:

Heath went to check in with the monastery, and Raven and I walked to the school. We had been told to show up at 9am, but we didn't receive our breakfast dhal baat until 9am, (language barrier!) so we left the house about 9:15. We got to where we thought the school was in half an hour- but it wasn't a school! We turned tail, asked a bunch of people, walked along a secondary pathway and finally found Mt Everest English School. When we arrived at the office, a few minutes late, both the principal and the VP were still on holiday! The teachers didn't seem to be in a huge rush to get to their classes. The grade 10 teacher adopted us for the day. He didn't seem to have any lessons planned for the day. He talked, then I shared some of the history of Canada (Raven thought I was pretty smart- she didn't know I knew as much as I did :), information about our family, and a typical school day at home. The teacher led us all outside into the sun, with what intention I don't know, but the kids looked bored and nothing was really happening so I asked if I could introduced a couple word games. These kids speak English fairly well, but are reluctant to talk and ask questions. The first day ended up being a half day.

Wednesday, second day of school:

An omen of a great day? Aama was making raksi (rice wine/whiskey) in the big boiler on the stove. It is made in a smaller vessel inside the big vat over the fire, with water heating in the top portion of the copper vat. This morning when I came downstairs I was greeted with tea AND the invitation for a bath! A bucket of hot water! Yay! The first hot water 'bath' since arriving! The technique? Stand over the toilet hole in the bathroom in flip flops and pour lovely hot water over your body countless times! Soap up and repeat.

After dhal baat Raven and I met the other teachers in the principal's office. The principal still wasn't there, but today I was told he had had an operation on his face. (A tumour was removed).The teachers receive old school accounting style books and we were instructed to write our names and the hours we will be teaching. (9:45- 3:45). Raven was asked if she wanted to teach her own class, but she declined. We received a grade 9 class, and were given little to no instruction, so I did what I do best during a school day- wing it. Halfway through the day another teacher gave me a slip of paper and told me to show up at different classes each 40 minute instruction block, to teach English. Raven followed me, bringing her math and spelling with her, as she needs to keep up with her studies too. When lunch time arrived we were shown to the canteen. Veggie momos, instant noodles or samosas were the selection. We chose a plate of momos for 30 rupees. Chia (tea) was 15- and it was the creamiest, most delicious tea I have ever had. I think is was slightly spiced, even though Nepalese tea isn't like the spicy Indian Chai.

I think I may be the only person to gain weight in Nepal! We eat a huge plate of carbs for 9 am breakfast and 7pm dinner. White rice with potato and cauliflower curry is our typical dhal baat in Salleri. We are eating less protein than in Kathmandu. For lunch we 'eat out', either eat deep fried samosas or white bread with yak butter and honey, or white bread with garlic, tomatoes and onions. Sometimes I eat carrots dipped in my precious peanut butter stash. 'Sugar bombs' are another tasty snack. I have no idea what they are made of, but we find them at the samosas place, a little corner shack where the woman makes them on the floor, and deep fries them over a kerosene stove.