Well, I have officially been dominated by the mosquitoes. I tried to count the bites, but when I got to 50 on the lower part of my right leg (and this is only below my calf) I gave up and decided to take a picture instead because you cannot begin to imagine what it looks like. It seriously looks like I have some crazy skin disease! The kids today were all like "Oh no! What happened to your legs!" So when we went into the market I opted for my long pants so as not to frighten the townspeople haha. I think 5 "Maggies" (Me, Cristina, Lisa, Frank, and Hannah) walking around was enough of a spectacle. You would think we were naked the way everyone stares at us! Luckily Frank tracked down some calamine lotion for me at the pharmacy and I am currently at ease :) I have showered and lotioned myself thoroughly, and tomorrow I'm washing my clothes! Yay!
Speaking of clothes, today in the market I bought three different fabrics to take to the tailor to have two different shirts and a dress made! I'm SOOO sooo excited. They are absolutely beautiful and ridiculously inexpensive. All together it cost me 600 rupees which is the equivalent of about $8.
School also went well today! I taught Class 1 Health all by myself, and I actually got them to sit and behave....for the most part. I tried to go over how we wash our hands, but it's hard when half the class doesn't speak any English. And having them copy words or notes from the board is pointless because then they're definitely not learning at all. So I resorted to teaching them Right and Left and we did the Hokey Pokey for a little while to practice. I think it was actually really successfully. They were paying attention and participating and using the correct hands so that was really all I could ask for. We're now holding free tutoring after school for the children who have had no experience with English and reading or writing and are just so far behind. We started them today with basic phonetics for a few letters and will add a few more each time. They are very eager to learn, so now we are just keeping our fingers crossed that the next time we see them they will have retained something.
We also started practicing for our show! Yes! A SHOW! We were joking about calling it Off-Broadway....Really Far Off-Broadway. In 3 weeks the kids are putting on a show for their parents/guardians, and we have different fun things for each grade to do. For example, 4th Class will be putting on a puppet show of The Little Red Hen and will make all the scenery and the sock puppets and tell the story. We've put together 5th and 6th Class into one group, and they are dancing to Shining Star by Earth, Wind, and Fire! Cristina led their first dance class today and it went so well!!!!! They are all super excited and did an awesome job. We'll be working on it three times a week during their Specials period, and I already can't wait for the next class. This school is so great for the kids because they have never ever been taught what art is. No other school in Nepal teaches it, and they don't have the supplies or guidance to do it at home. It's really an awful shame because these kids are talented. You should see this one boy draw. He's seriously phenomenal. It's exciting when a kid takes pride in what he or she is doing, and there's so much of that going on here. It's magical really.
Oh and super huge wonderful amazing news update!!! KOPILA HAS PURCHASED A CAR!!! Ok well it's a very large jeep called a Scorpio that will fit many children (Even better!) Maggie went to Nepalgunj and Kathmandu yesterday to car shop and after a very long trip and some bumps along the way, she bought what is literally the very last car for sale in all of Nepal. Nepal is currently drawing up a new constitution and in the mean time all importing of luxury items (such as cars) has been halted. However the car will certainly not be a luxury for Kopila. (Oh and by the way Kopila means flower bud in English. Isn't that so nice?) If you visit Maggie's blog www.blinknow.org and search around last month's posts you will find one that shares all the wonderful reasons a car is so important to have here. She explains it better than I could ever hope to. So in 5 days there will be a car out front here! Very exciting.
Well it's time for bed. Another long but wonderful day at Kopila gone by. I can't believe I'm into my second week away from home. Tomorrow I'll tell about what satsung is and more about the kids themselves.
Goodnight my far away family and friends. I love you!
(and thank you Grandmom for your rain prayers! They are working :)
June 25, 2010 at 11:35 AM
You poor mosquito-bitten thing you!! I can't even imagine how bad they must be. Can't wait to see the clothes you're having made, that's so cool!
Like teaching health class? How long before you trade your nursing degree in for a teaching one? haha ok just finish getting yours and then i'll trade you.. .
June 25, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Kelly, you are a super terrific News Correspondent; thanks so much for all the writing you do for us. Love your Hokey Pokey tactic!!!