I’ve tried to tie together a collection of thoughs into something structured, I hope it reads alright.

I like Kathmandu, I like Nepal, I like the challenge, I have the most fulfilled life I’ve ever had, but you know what, sometimes there are little things about living in a developing country that can just be annoying. I promise you this isn’t just going to be a blog of moaning, but since returning back to Nepal after a stint in the UK, some of the things that I just accepted first time round seem a little more, well annoying this time.

Instead of focusing on the minor inconveniences though, I think the bigger question is, why? Why are things grating so much more?

I think that the answer lies in a conversation I’ve recently had. My friend explained that people are in general either task or relationship orientated. I think I mainly fall in the task orientated category, but then I want to complete tasks for people; that’s in some ways my form of relationship. I think that partly the reason that I’m finding Nepal more trying this time is that it is more difficult to complete tasks here than I the West. All the systems and devices that we have built to allow us to complete tasks efficiently and easily are not necessarily here.

On the flip side though, I think maybe we try and complete too many tasks in the West and we run out of time for the more important things, for God and relationships. I guess like in every situation a balance needs to be found.

Real life

My understanding of life for the average Nepali is still limited, I fully appreciate that. The Nepalis that I spend time with are richer than the average and very much city dwellers. I have very little comprehension of what it’s like to live out in the far hills, independent, trusting in your family and the skills and traditions you have always known. I would love to know, I really would like to spend a significant amount of time away from Kathmandu, in a small village somewhere experiencing life as the locals do. It’s also my understanding that education is not necessarily the best in some areas, there may not be schools or if there are the teachers themselves may have little or no education.  I couldn’t promise to be the best teacher in the world, but I would freely offer all I have.

I have recently read this amazing book called Red Dawn Rising by a lady called Katrina Butterworth who is an English Doctor who has been living in Nepal for 17 years. She is also here with BMS (Baptist Missionary Society) and I teach both of her daughters. The book is about a couple who move to Patan, Kathmandu (where I live) and their struggles caught between the trials of poverty and a country in political turmoil. This book explains Nepal so much better than I ever could, I would encourage anyone who wants to know about this country and it’s people to read it.

http://www.operationagri.org.uk/oa/Red_Dawn_Rising.html

School

The Primary teaching is going quite well I think, I am certainly a lot more confident than I was. I stroll up and down the class and feel far more in control than before. Primary certainly seems like a good game and a game that suits me well. I hope that the children enjoy my lessons, but more importantly I hope they learn and I’m pretty sure they do.

Secondary teaching, I had no intention or thought of enjoying. I really couldn’t see how spending all day trying to get a bunch of teenagers to learn IT would be at all fun… but somehow, I’m really finding satisfaction in it. The secondary students have a greater capacity to listen and understand, they can offer more in discussions and produce more work. I have no doubt that they can bring more problems, but right now I’m honestly thinking that maybe secondary isn’t so bad.

I’m still helping out with the network support and have found myself trying to do too much work again and struggling once more with boundaries, why I haven’t learnt after the first time? The school is looking for a new network manager, could that be you, is God nudging you towards Nepal?

On Friday Afternoons I’ve been taking a group of seven students bowling as part of their chosen elective. To give you an idea of the mix in the secondary school, two of the kids are Korean, three are Nepali, one is Indian and one is Canadian; the only one who has English as their first language. Unfortunately I won’t be going next week as I have too much other work to do and I’m trying to reclaim my evenings from the pressure of lesson planning.

Website

So, it’s taken a long time and 3 attempts, 2 of which were using a system that I didn’t enjoy, to produce the new school website. To be honest with you, this is all I got, this is about the sum total of the skills I have in website production, I hope it will be beneficial to the school.

www.kisc.edu.np

Quiet Times

I’ve been learning loads and focusing more on God through a renewed and deeper quiet time. I’ve been throughly enjoying reading the Bible and maybe the accountability of reading the same passages as someone else is what I need to keep my focused.

Unfortunately, this is often the first thing that I let slip when I get too busy with work… This is a mistake, I know I should be grounding myself each day by spending spend time with the God who rules this world and loves me and you beyond imagination.

Good times

It’s kind of out with the old and in with the new, there a many new people and we’ve spend some good times fellowshipping and sharing together. This Friday just passed, me and my friends Emily and Jessie cooked dinner for 15, who came and ate on our roof by candle light. It was a great time just to share together and relax after a tough week at work.

Weather Watch

It is monsoon and as you can imagine it rains a lot and it rains good, mainly at night. When it clouds over, the temperature really drops, it can be quite refreshing in many ways.

Bible Verse for the day

‘You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.’
Psalm 18:28-29.

Song of the day

God Bless
Simon

When I came back to England every told me that I looked way too skinny, I’ve just got back to Nepal and according to the Nepali staff I’m looking pretty Moto (fat). (Mum you must be happy, I’ve obviously piled on a few pounds.) It’s no surprise really, this last couple of weeks has involved meeting as many people as possible and where there’s people, there’s food! It has been so great to meet with everyone; I am really blessed to have such lovely friends, family and mentors.

A Blinkered View

Maybe God sent me to Kathmandu to learn more about him, to trust in him more and to be changed by him. Maybe I came back with different eyes, but wow, I don’t think that I had ever noticed how much some people are doing for God back home in Croydon and the surrounding areas. I was half expecting to come back all righteous having been involved with the Missionary Community and lively Churches in Nepal ready to dismiss the lowly efforts of Western Christians.  What a foolish notion! Having spent time with such awesome people in London, I now see the amazing things they are doing for and with God. It was my own blinkered naivety that I didn’t recognise this properly before. You people are an inspiration.

Has much changed?

One of the questions that people have been asking, is how do you find England after 6 months in Nepal? Does it seem different?  Well, to be honest the first thing that hit me was the cleanliness and orderliness of the streets. The roads are smooth and the cars quiet, the trees are trimmed and well cared for, the street lamps come on automatically, all the buildings have been built to regulations. In Kathmanndu, it’s the opposite, the roads are bumpy, the street lights are mainly non-existant, the trees grow as they wish, most vehicles would be embarrassed by an MOT, there’s hustle and bustle and noise and chaos.

Here’s a picture comparison including a photo I took only today.

The second thing that hit me was not the supermarket itself as is often the case for returning missionary folk, but the bananas. In Nepal a banana is a short, rounded, often blackened but deliciously tasty thing, in Sainsbury’s a banana is perfect in proportion, brilliant yellow and doesn’t seem to go off. I very much doubt the bananas I eat would even be sold back in the UK.

2 minor observations I know, but I think that 6 months isn’t that long a time to encounter severe reverse culture shock.

Commissioning

The first time I came out here, although I can credit only God for making this happen, it was my decision to leave work and embark on an adventure. This time around, I had asked the Church to pray about returning and they confirmed to me that Kathmandu was the place to be. As a result my Church had a little Commissioning Service where they ‘sent me out’, to be where God wants me to be. I cannot say enough how much I love my Church and all the people there. Young, old, somewhere in the middle, I love you all. I am very thankful for the support and encouragement and again really want to maintain communication with everyone. Holmesdale Baptist has been my family for many years now and it’s really thrilling to come back to find that there’s such a cohesive and tangible bond between people.

Back in KTM

The journey back to Kathmandu was marked by its uneventfulness, 22 hours door to door – ‘job done’ as they say. Now though, I’m back in town and I LOVE THIS CITY! It’s so good to be walking these familiar streets.

Since I’ve been back I’ve spent many hours neurotically sorting out my flat, including disposing of food dated back to 2005, I guess everyone keeps it for the next person moving in. Work is going to be super busy; I’m prepping some lessons and trying to make sense of the new server. The secondary kids are back next week and primary the one after that. Please pray that I can handle the workload and prioritise properly.

Apologies

This last 6 months to be honest my communication has been poor, in many ways I let ties and relationships go. It doesn’t have to be this way, there’s Skype (search for: speaktosimononskype), there’s email and now that I know people read this blog, I’ll be updating it more and more. In fact, I’ve just changed the design of it to highlight my seriousness! if you would like an email each time it’s updated, please enter your email address in the subscribe box on the right of this page. In fact, if you ever think, ‘oh how is Simon getting on?’, why not just email me? The Internet has never been so good here; I promise I will write back!

God Bless
Simon

And finally… it was great to see that Palace still have a team and a team that Chelsea could only put one goal past us!

So where, to start… School is finished, the last lesson of the term is taught, the children are on holiday, the oldest students have graduated, many staff have left and a 6 month era has come to an end. This has been literally a life changing 6 months for me, I came knowing no-one, with very little idea about the country or what I was stepping in to. I leave for the Summer break, with a whole new life established. God has provided me with new friends, a new flat, a new vocation, a new culture and in many ways a new me.

Trekking

I spent the first week of the holidays trekking out near Pokhara, from Jomsom, to Kagbeni and down to Tatopani. The scenery is just incredible in a way that photos can’t quite capture. The vistas changes from rock and desolation, to valleys of unbelievable foliage and life, all this with the mountains hiding behind clouds, just waiting to sneak out and crown the view.

Some people that we met on the trek had guides and porters, they were adorned in Gore-Tex and carried trekking poles – we on the other hand had sandals, shorts and enough Nepali to ask people which way to go. It was great to have the freedom to travel where, when and how you wanted.

We made a point of speaking to people along the way and sometimes we’d get invited in for a cup of tea, or we’d hand the camera over to the local kids and marvel at their enthusiasm as they took photos of their friends and family.

I’ve been in awe of God’s creation before, but quite simply it was a privilege to hike through this amazing landscape and soak up the beauty of His magnificent handiwork.

Travel

As many people know I missed my flight on Saturday, not the flight from Delhi as my Dad has been saying, but the flight to Delhi from Kathmandu. So why did I miss it, what exciting excuse can I offer, a strike blocking the roads, a missed alarm due to a lack of electricity? Actually I have no excuse, I foolishly thought that an hour would be plenty of time to check-in and board – turns out it wasn’t.

Let me assure you missing a flight in a developing country isn’t fun, after being passed from person to person, I had to take a taxi across the city to the airline offices, only to be told to come back on the Monday. Fortunately, God is awesome and on the Monday we managed to book a new flight for a relatively small charge and I even got a bit of business class over to Delhi. It took almost 24 hours door to door, but it’s worth it to come home and see everyone.

Transition

Home is where the heart is? Home is where your family live? Home is where you’re registered as living? Home is with people you know and love? Home is waiting in Heaven? Home is … I don’t know.

When I leave the city and come back to Kathmandu it feels like home. When I walk around the streets of South Norwood, it feels like home. Which is my home now? I figure that I have 2 homes now and that too is a great privilege.

It’s lovely to be back again, after 25 years of living in South Norwood, it’s familiarity is endearing. However, it now seems somewhat different. I’d never realised how neat, tidy and ordered everything is. Compared to the chaos and bustle of Kathmandu, it’s so sedate and sensible. We think that traffic is aggressive in London, there is no comparison to the ridiculousness of Nepal.

In a way, however, I’m glad that I’m only back for a couple of weeks, it would be too easy to get reattached to this life and surroundings, and would only make leaving more difficult again. There is so much here in the West, so much that I never realised and took for granted.

One last musing – possessions. What do they mean? We spend our lives acquiring stuff that we think that we need, then in my case I have 20kg of baggage allowance to take to another country – what is important to me, what should I take? What does one do with a lifetime full of stuff? Do I keep it for when I return, should I sell things, give them away, bless someone with them? I just inherited a flat full of stuff, but it’s only mine for a year, when I leave it goes to the next person. Something to ponder upon I guess.

And now?

I hope to see as many people as possible over the next 2 weeks, if you’re reading this and free, drop me a call or an email, trust me I want to see you.

God Bless you all
Simon

So I’ve not blogged for a while. I guess the reason is that up until this last week, I’ve been working ridiculous hours trying to look after a network, teach, make a website, help with sports clubs and anything else that I might have said Yes to over the last few months.

The reason I say trying to is, because to be honest, I’ve been struggling. I couldn’t see why I shouldn’t be able to run a network and learn to teach at the same time. Why shouldn’t I be able to do everything – do I not have these skills, or the capability to learn new ones? Aren’t I here to work, to make a difference? If I can help out, then surely that’s what God wants me to do.

It’s not until a friend of mine took me out for a beer and explained that what I was trying to do, wasn’t helpful for me or for anyone that I’ve since reassessed. He also gave me a book entitled Boundaries that’s been really helpful.

What I’ve discovered is that if I try and do everything at school, there is no time for left for anything else. I have been literally working from 7am to 6pm, then picking up work again at 8pm to try and get everything done.

I’ve had to learn to let go, had to learn that completing tasks and achieving man made goals isn’t everything there is in life. The school says your priorities should be God first, Family and relationships second, then KISC. Mine have been the complete opposite recently.

Some of the things I have learnt from the Boundaries book that I’ve been reading are:
• By saying Yes to so many things, you can’t be open to say Yes to the things that God wants you to say Yes to because you have no time left.
• By saying Yes, you can end up resenting doing what your doing and not do it for the right reasons.
• By saying Yes, you can be unfair to other people. It could be that someone else is better suited to a task and that by taking everything on yourself, you prevent others from fulfilling their God given purpose. It could also be that you are constantly covering for someone and that they never learn to accept responsibility for their actions.
• Life is all about relationships, with God and with others. If you are consumed with work and deeds, you cannot build quality relationships. People can almost get in the way of the tasks you need to complete.
• God has boundaries; he sets what is right and wrong. He says Yes and No.

Right now, life is back under control. I know I can’t do everything and I’m comfortable with that. I’m happy again and praise be to God, everything is suddenly clicking again.

Someone at church said it was nice to see my smiling again today. I don’t think I’d realised that I hadn’t been smiling, but it hadn’t been top of my list of things to do. I do know though, that my Spirit has felt rejuvenated and I feel much freer and happier than I have recently.

Next year a new network manager will be appointed and I’ll spend my time teaching ICT to the 10 different grades. It’s not fair on the students if my lessons are prepared grudgingly on a Sunday night, better that I can spend time learning and implementing new skills and techniques so that I can give them the best education that I can.

I thank God for the friends that I have here that have shown me in love my mistakes. I thank God that I can learn to say No, without guilt and to pray through my decisions.

There are 4 weeks to go in my current stint in Nepal and I’m looking forward to making the most of them.

I’ve been thinking a lot about rules recently, rules in the classroom, rules in the Nation and rules that we internalise and call morals.

Currently in Kathmandu there is a Maoist Bandh which has been in place for 4 days and will continue ‘indefinitely’, or until the current Prime Minisiter steps down – at least that’s my understanding of it.

Essentially hundreds of thousands of ‘Maoists’ mainly from surrounding villages have come to Kathmandu.  Their intention is to stop the city from functioning properly as a means of putting pressure on the Government. Vehicles are not allowed on the road, shops are not allowed to open except between 6-8 in the morning and evening and most businesses are not allowed to continue operating. There are large rallies being held in the centre of town, but even here away from the centre you can sometimes see a huge line of protesters walking up the road, often jumping and cheering.

Initially a Bundh, is a little akin to a holiday, even if it is enforced. Children can play games in the street without fear of getting run over and everyone can have a day off. After a while though it gets more difficult, food prices go up, people aren’t earning anywhere enough money and the disruption is not helpful.

So far the Bundh has been mainly peaceful. The Maoist leaders have insisted on this and the papers have reported mainly peaceful events. However, the question is what happens when people decide to break the Bandh, when they need to be open for business to survive?

How has this affected me?

Firstly in preparation for the Bundh, I bought a load of dried and tinned goods. These are expensive and although I complain that I have to buy them, I’m grateful I can, they would not be available to a Nepali on an average income.

Secondly, with school being closed, I’ve been doing a lot of work on the Network remotely – I’ve done some very geeky things that I’m quite pleased with, but would bore most people to tears if I tried to explain them. I’ve also got some good lessons planned ready for the resumption of school.

Thirdly – I’ve been running. Roads are great to run on when there are no cars. Infact yesterday, I played cricket and today I’ve got a game of football lined up.

Fourthly – I’ve been hiding. We’ve been informed that Maoists have been known to knock on doors and demand hospitality for the generation of their time in the city. So when our gate gets banged repeatedly and whistles can be heard outside we haven’t been opening it – this has very much annoyed the bin-man and the water delivery guy.

I don’t really know a huge amount about the politics of Nepal, but I do know that Bundhs and Political unrest are common. It seems there have been various Kings and Governments over the last 20 years or so. Check out some of the key dates.

One reason that I hear the Maoist movement is popular is because it goes against the Caste system which divides people almost along racial lines. In the Caste system, certain people types are not allowed to eat together, or prepare food for each other. Certain Castes are expected to be leaders and will have more access to good education whilst others will be expected to do the less popular jobs in society.

I’m left with a whole bunch of questions about rules, that maybe I’ll work the answers out to another time.

Who should decide the rules?

Is there a definitive right and wrong?

In the absence of rules from above, how do we set the rules within?

If rules are unfair is it ok to break them?

If no-one finds out are you still breaking a rule?

If a superhero can break all the rules and escape from all the punishments, should he abide by the rules? (I got this from a book I ready about philosophy in the Heroes TV show).

Will God intervene if we break too many rules?

If you are interested in the political situation in Nepal, NepalNews is a good place to keep updated along with BBC South Asia.

See you soon
Simon

So, Term is finished, it’s the Easter break and I’ve done as suggested and been away for a short holiday! Question is, should I feel bad about that, is someone that’s volunteering for 6 months and supported mainly by other people allowed a little holiday? My thinking, Yes, I’m feeling recharged and ready to go, I’ve had the opportunity to see more of Nepal, to see its beauty and to meet with its people.

Pokhara

Pokhara was an amazing restful week away from the business and noise of Kathmandu. It was also a trip marked by different modes of transportation and the different people’s along the way.

It began with a cab to the airport and a taxi driver who had been around the world with the Nepali army. He wasn’t in the Gurkha regiment, but yet served in Afghanistan and Lebanon. He’s now gone from jumping out of helicopters to driving a taxi, how common a story is this I wonder?

The plane, to Pokhara was by far the smallest plane , I’d ever travelled. It had seats for maybe 30, and was so low that the poor air stewardess had to crouch her way up and down the aisle as she delivered us our Sprite and peanuts.

Pokhara is on a lake, so the first day we took out a rowing boat, my friend helpfully decided to be the rudder while I did all the work and it took us a long time to get anywhere. On the other side we met some children who were trying to sell us some disgusting looking fish that would surely give you all sorts of illness. The second time across the lake, we had a guy to do the rowing and he dropped us at at the base of the hill at the top of which we found the Peace Pagoda (Stupor), it was by far and away the cleanest, best built and most impressive building that I’ve seen in Nepal.

Another time we rented push bikes and headed of round the lake, away from the tourist areas, into more ‘Nepal.’  As soon as you’re past the stretch of Hotels (mine was £2 a night) and restaurants, normal Nepali life continues, including farming and fishing.

God gave us legs and it’s good to use them. We hiked down from Serenkot where we saw the most incredible views. There was an abundance of locals to talk to on the way including this lady who let us watch the sunrise from her roof and made us some tea.

My favourite mode of transportation though was the Scooter. It’s amazing that you can rent one with no prior experience and no questions asked. It was awesome to learn on a road that A. wasn’t very busy, B. had amazing views and C. had buffalo providing an obstacle course.

I’ve even leant a few rules of the road:
1. Beep – when you’re passing someone, when you’re going round a corner, when you fancy it, when you want right of way, to check the horn is working …
2. Overtake on the right, unless undertaking on the left looks like a better option
3. At junctions, just go, unless you’re going to hit something, in which case slow down, beep and go

The scooter to us to a shack restaurant and it’s amazing what a little badly pronounced Nepali can do. I spoke to one of the child ‘waiters’ in his language and before you know it his brothers where joining us for lunch, his mum joined us once she’d finished cooking. After we had finished eating it was photos all around, all the kids wanted to take some and we were more than happy to oblige.

In the Pokhara airport before the plane home an Indian lady came and sat with us, presumably to practise her English. Little did we know however, that she was a distraction such that her family could take photos of the white guys while they weren’t looking. I soon got wind of the sneaky plan and started taking my own surreptitious photos.  They in turn, thought this was hilarious and soon everyone wanted photos of everyone.

An interesting consideration when you meeting and speaking with people in Nepal, is who are you representing? Are you representing just yourself, or perhaps your country (the first question everyone asks), or maybe you’re representing the West in general? All of which are probably relevant, but perhaps most importantly as a Christian and someone working for a Mission Organisation, to each person I meet I’m representing God in some way. If that’s true, how important it then is, to behave respectably and to try and be that little bit of salt and light in the world.

School

It’s week 2 of the holidays and I’m pretty much working each day to get prepped for the next term and to get a shift-on with the website. For those that are interested I’ll be teaching the following topics next term.

Years 1 and 2 – Combining Text and graphics, computerising class work  i.e. writing up and decorating poems and the differences between computers and manual systems
Years 3 and 4 – Using Desktop Publishing Software to create posters, cards and newsletters
Year 5 – Using Powerpoint to produce presentations
Year 6 – Using Scratch to learn basic programming techniques and produce animations and games
Year 11 – Finishing and presenting a business project. Using Flash to create animations, websites and potentially games

Orphanage

Yesterday evening I had the privilege of visiting an incredible Christian run orphanage. This included sharing in the worship time, eating dinner together and playing games. The orphanage is run by an amazing couple who raise their own 3 children alongside the 24 orphans that they look after. All the children are happy, respectful and well rounded, each has a bright future that would otherwise be unavailable to them. It’s quite simply incredible to see what God can do with people that are open to his guidance and vision.

Heatlhwise

A few days of Westernish food has fixed my Delhi belly and my insides have returned to normal. I’m very much hoping it will stay this way.

Future

For anyone not in the loop, I’m returning to the UK in July for a few weeks and then coming back out here to KISC for another year to work as a teacher, (mainly primary, but some secondary) and in Network Support.

Hope you’re all doing amazingly.

God Bless
Simon

I’ve planned and taught a few lessons now; this is what I’ve learnt.

1. I am not the world’s best teacher! The pro’s make it look easy, there is still much to learn.
2. Planning takes a long time. Longer than the lessons themselves.
3. Kids leave your lessons knowing things that they didn’t when they walked in. Being the person that gave them this information or these skills, feels very good.

IT Man

The current network manager will be leaving very soon and consequently I’ve started to play a far more active role in the IT support. It feels natural to be back in the hubbub and business of a busy IT office. This kind of work is what I know best; something comes up, it gets sorted, you move on.
Truth is I’m a big IT geek and I like, IP Addresses and Wireless Access Points configurations, but more importantly I like people and I want people to have the IT resources that they need.

Zuala Cup

The school’s annual Basketball Tournament and fun day took place recently. It was a day of colour, movement and noise, eventually won by Black House. The Staff/Students game was incredibly close and finished 24-23 in favour of the old-timers.

I wanted to play, but not actually knowing the rules through a spanner in those works. I did have a little practise at half time though, but as high as I might be jumping in the photo, the ball dropped about 4 foot short.

Post Zuala Cup, we, as in the guest house hosted a bbq for 30 or so people. With homemade buff burgers, kebabs, salads and jelly and ice-cream there was food for all. The thinking is, we provided the first BBQ of the ‘Summer’ and now we can relax and enjoy everyone else’s!

Science Fair

This week was the school’s science fair, in which the Grades 6-8 (UK 7-9), tested interesting science theories and presented them to the parents, students and staff. There were volcanoes, shadow animals, water rockets, vegetable batteries and many more. The person that got my vote, was the young lady that produced 4 different, but delicious types of homemade lemonade and tested which age group preferred which recipe.

Rafting

A short while ago, 8 of us spent a weekend rafting along the Trusuli river. It was an incredible way to see the scenery of Nepal (when I had my glasses on), floating through the gorges and valleys. Much of the river you barely had to paddle on, but could relax and take in the sites. However, there were times when you had to paddle through the swirling rapids directed by a guide that was trying to get us as wet as possible. After a few hours we stopped at the river side camp site and I was fortunate enough to receive some one-on-one kayaking tuition.  Dinner around the camp fire followed and then in my case sleeping out on the sand under the stars.

The next day we continued down river before returning home in the minibus. My description however, makes it sound like a simple ride home, it was not. The road into Kathmandu is single lane and winds up and up some serious hills. At one point we saw people winching a bus back up the hillside that had fallen off and there were other accidents including an overturned truck that at times reduced our progress to a crawl.

‘They’ always say, when you go somewhere in Nepal, plan for an extra day – bring plenty of food, water and clothing. Now I realise why, if God hadn’t smiled his face on us we could have been sitting in the mini bus for a very long time.

Church

There’s a new pastor at the International Church, he seems nice, but I’ve been doing Sunday School for the last couple of weeks, so I’m yet to hear him in full flow. Sunday School is always fun, there are brilliant little kids (aged 4-6), for many though English is only their second, third or fourth language.

Yesterday I went to a Nepali church that’s very involved with people with disabilities and leprosy. The pastor himself was in a wheelchair and it was moving to see broken hands held high worshipping God. The only downside is that the building is very small, very hot and not entirely comfortable.

Experimental food week.

The theory is, that it’s cheaper to eat out at Nepali restaurants/cafes and street food, then to buy food from the store and cook it. Therefore, I’ve been testing this out and the theory has proved correct!
Unfortunately, my bowels have not been happy-chappies and there’s a lot of oil in some of the food which means my arteries probably haven’t been that ecstatic either.
Conclusion… a mix of home cooked and eating out is probably best.

And finally…

On Thursdays, I’ve been joining the Staff and Students for 11 a side football. I’m still as rubbish as ever, but it’s good to run up and down chasing the ball even if I lose it as soon as I get it.

Plus, I’ve had bacon and eggs, with Heinz beans and ketchup. God is good.

Simon