Pokhara

We have returned from spending the final week of our break in beautiful Pokhara. We stayed in a hotel managed by a friend from KISC and her Nepali husband where we were looked after very well. The hotel has, like many buildings in Nepal, a flat roof that is used as a sitting area. The views from there were amazing, each morning we woke to panoramic views of the snow covered Himalayan Mountains backed by clear blue skies. Fantastic. Having spent the previous two weeks visiting temples and stupas and battling with the traffic in Kathmandu, Pokhora was a welcome break.

We are back at work now and very busy in our respective roles. It is beginning to dawn on us how short our stay is here and we are very keen to accomplish as much as we can between now and Christmas. I am working with the Primary staff to review and update the curriculum. In many ways it is very different from anything I have done before as we can effectively design our own curriculum as we are not directly linked with any particular country being an International school. I am also holding the fort as the Primary head teacher is away at the moment so that is keeping me busy too. My Nepali school work has had to be put on hold as the local schools are still on holiday but I am hoping to catch up with them again soon. Next week I am going to do some training with a large group of Nepali teachers who are giving up a day’s holiday to improve their lesson planning and teaching methodology, it’s great to work with teachers who want to improve and develop their skills. Colin is training staff at KISC in using Powerpoint and Excel and this is being very well received and is having a positive impact on lessons. He is also working with a number of schools in trying to maximise their use of what are often very old and poorly maintained computers. When we were in Ethiopia Colin produced a maintenance manual for looking after the computers in the college and he is adapting it for the Nepali IT teachers here. We have a very good Nepali colleague who we are hoping will translate the manual into Nepali so it can be used more easily. Colin is also starting to teach this term. Next week, however, he is back in Pokhara as the secondary children have an Activity Week and somehow he has been volunteered to go and help!

The general unrest, load shedding and unpredictability of everyday life is still proving challenging to us but we feel more at home now and are keeping fairly well. Spending time looking around Kathmandu has given us more of an idea of where we are living and where things are. The climate is really pleasant, warm and sunny though it will become very cold at night soon. A BMS action team of four girls taking a gap year has arrived now, they are living with us in the hostel, now making nine of us, and they are working in KISC and also in Nepali schools. They are here until March.

Thank you for all the packages and emails that make such a difference to our lives here.