It transpires that being a passenger on a bike is a terrifying experience when it involves mountain bends, dirt tracks and oncoming traffic on your side of the road.* it is also exhilarating and I look forward to the next time!

My third and final bubble for this entry has to be the children at school. I've been to three school so far, and learnt my first few useful phrases of Nepali so that the teachers can help me out! (Nepali ma tapaaii botaaii dinnus- can you please translate to Nepali. moy herna saksu- can I see? and so on)

The children in most of the schools are so keen to learn and so funny. The atmosphere is a lot more relaxed, despite the rote learning, standing when they speak, standing when the teacher enters the classroom... I was shocked to see the teacher clip pupils over the ear for not thinking, or grab their cheek and force them to look at their work, but they thought nothing of it and 20 second later were grinning again! The children's' English is impressive, although they and the teachers can read and write but not speak much- I have to keep rephrasing and speaking slowly (a challenge for me!!). The downside to rote learning is definitely the lack of genuine understanding. On Monday we are doing the story of Little Red Riding Hood, we'll see what they make of it!


*It took me 3 days, 3 days upon arriving in Kathmandu to work out which side they drive on. People tend to navigate by potholes and congestion-avoidance over any sort of lane etiquette.