Merry Christmas & Annual Day!

I hope all of you back at home at a very merry Christmas back in the states.  Things have been very busy over here, with new guests, annual day, and of course Secret Santa with the kids and staff.  We had such a wonderful time, and despite some moderate food poisoning I managed to have a wonderful Kopila Christmas.  The annual day celebration was a huge hit, with 3 very special guests; the district police chief (fully equipped with his team of 10 armed body guards), the provincial minister of education, and the national minister of education’s daughter.  Although, the program was a bit speech heavy for my liking, that is how things operate in Nepal, and there are specific people that are pretty much required to speak.  After the program I learned that while there were lots of speeches, that Maggie has cut it down from years past when the talks simply got out of hand.  That said, beyond the speeches we had a great deal of fun, which included a number of songs, dances, and a drama performed by the students.  As one final surprise for the kids the 4 fellows and Maggie performed.  We’d been practicing for about 20 minutes a night, for less than a week in order to get ready for our big routine, I actually think we might have spent more time picking out our coordinating outfits than was spent practicing.  Needless to say, we were all a bit antsy to see how the actual performance would go (in addition to our limited practice time, we had never practiced on the stage at the school).  Well when the time came, the five of us got up in front of 1000+ people, and they went WILD.  It was great fun, and all of the faculty, students, and families loved it.   Thankfully we have lots of video’s and pictures and you can check out the dance on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-TEPbdWTJc&list=UU89ivMYS33cB0vC09nO-Ewg&index=1 .  The fellows have been talking about it since we performed, and I really think that was one of our fondest memories.

Fellows Dance

Special Guests

Lets Get It Started!

In addition to annual day, we had a very fun Christmas Day with the kids finally got around to our Secret Santa at about 7pm on Christmas day.  The kids were adorable in their new pajama’s and thanks to our guest from Dubai, we had a boatload of new gifts for everyone.  There were new soccer balls, volleyballs, badminton racquets, you name it.  It had been quite some time since I was around kids on Christmas morning (to be honest, I think the last time was when I was a kid), and it was great.  So much fun seeing their smiling faces opening gifts.  Amazing how far 200 ruppees ($2 US) can go in bringing a smile to their faces.  I just think about all the money spent on Christmas’s when I was growing up, and I’m not sure I was ever as happy as some of the kids were opening their 80 cent necklace, or 60 cent gloves.

Well, things are starting to get back to normal around here.  Dan headed, back to Dubai, however, Brittany and Brianne are visiting from “She’s the First” and we’re having a nice time with them.   

Secret Santa

Additionally, we just bought 15 tickets to Shani Villages New Years Eve event, which should be a blast.  Maggie bought tickets for all of the uncles to join, and they can get wild so I’m really looking forward to a fun night.

I’ll be sure to write again soon but in the meantime Happy New Years! 

EPIC RUN!

So I know I have lots to update on, including Badminton Nationals, however, I thought I’d give a quick update on this mornings events! To give some background we had our first annual Kopila Cross Country Run as a part of our Extra-Curricular Championships yesterday morning.  For some great footage from the days events, see this link: www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XvX7uhQSup4 .  I didn’t realize until after that fact that Maggie was playing the roll of “new-caster” so my commentary is far worse than hers.  Well, in addition to the kids running they convinced Maggie to run with the girls and me to run with the Boys.  The race was just a touch over a mile and the boys winner was Sangeet finishing in 6:19 and me coming in at 6:30. 

Well, last evening while we were eating diner the uncles had a conversation, which somehow boiled down to them agreeing that they could beat me in a race.  The volunteers got word of this conversation a few minutes later, and the trash talking began by the fire.  Many of the Uncles have spent their lives up in the Mountains, and used to be in fantastic shape so I was really unsure of what to expect.  After a long discussion we agreed to meet up this morning for a 3.5 Kilometer run (2.2 miles).  In addition to the uncles and myself the race turned into a Staff & Volunteer challenge with Ben, Kelly, Safira, Maggie, and I running alongside Laxmi Uncle, Krishna Uncle, Gogan Uncle, Prithi Uncle, Shankar Uncle, Don Uncle, Amrika Auntie, Baju Auntie, Kasum Auntie, Basanti Auntie…Needless to say the stakes were pretty high.  We all agreed to meet up early this morning for a 7am start.  It was amazing to see the aunties and the uncles showing up in their sneakers at 6 and 6:30 this morning rearing to go…following some morning banter, Top Uncle went to the halfway point with about 15 kids in the car to make sure we all touched the same spot for the turnaround. A few minutes after the car left, the race was on.  We all gathered by the start line, and the kids gave us the starting countdown…From the onset the uncles took and early lead with Gogan Uncle (the biggest Trash talker of the bunch) racing out to the front.  I made the mistake of starting too fast in yesterday’s run with the kids and learned my mistake...turns out my new strategy paid off, and shortly into the race I started passing a number or the uncles who weren’t used to running any sort of distance.  In addition to myself, the volunteers were all cheering for our girls, seeing as the uncles refused to believe that a girl could beat them in a footrace.  Well, much to our delight we proved everyone wrong and Safira finished third and I won!  I won’t lie I had a bit of an advantage and run most mornings, so my time was 16:10 followed by Krishna uncle at 19:20 and Safira at 19:40!  The finish line was great, and all the kids were waiting by the gate cheering our arrival!  One of my favorite comments of the morning came from Daju who was one of the instigators of the race…He doesn’t speak English, however, when asked what happened he said “What do you expect, I’m 50 years old” in Nepali.  Turns out this run was an eye opener for many of the uncles, who now really want to get in shape and make this competitive run a more regular occurrence. Honestly, this has been one of the most enjoyable mornings to date, and the Aunties and Uncles are still talking about it!

Like I said, I have so much more to update on, and will do so within the next day or two!  Annual day is just around the corner and there is so much here to do in Surkhet!  Merry Almost Christmas to everyone at home, I miss you all. 

Sarah Kay, Haircuts, and more Sports!

Hello again! As you would expect, things continue to hum right along here in Nepal. The past few days have been a lot of fun, and as I mentioned in my last blog post we had a very special guest here! Sarah Kay is a wonderful and well respected spoken word poet from New York. Prior to her visit I really had no idea what spoken word poetry was, and had heard vaguely about a “Poetry Slam”, but didn’t' know too much about that either. Thanks to youtube, I knew Sarah was very talented, and boy was I right! She began her visit with a wonderful presentation of Hands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuAbGJBvIVY which you can see at the link I just provided, which comes from her appearance on HBO's “Def Poetry”. She also performed “the astronaught and the scuba diver” which you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iv2nZnZOrM. In addition to her introductory performances and talk, she also taught the 6, 7, and 8 classes about poetry, and specifically spoken word poetry. All of the volunteers were just as excited as the kids, and after going to my first class I decided to go back for a second visit. While I don't think I've found my calling as a spoken word poet, I have gained an appreciation and understanding for that art form. In addition to myself, the kids LOVED her class, and I learned a huge deal. In addition to the classes, Maggie led Sarah and the Kids on a hike up the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately, I got a pretty bad stomach bug, which prevented me from going. Looking back I'm pretty sure it was the Nepali, Kentucky Fried Chicken Maggie brought back from Kathmandu that did me in...No good. Chicken aside, Sarah's' visit was absolutely wonderful and we will miss her greatly.

Poetry with Sarah Kay

Sangeet...the next Robert Frost

In other news, I received my first Nepali Haircut yesterday. After letting my beard and my hair grow for a little while, I decided to clean up my act a bit, so yesterday I rode a bike into town in order to get my hair cut. At first I was a bit worried about what they would be giving me. As you can tell by a lot of my pictures, most Nepali people don't fashion their hair quite like I do, and I had my doubts. Well, much to my surprise they did a wonderful job, and it was actually one of the most pleasant haircut/shave experiences I've ever had. Due to the fact that we're in Nepal, they did nothing with clippers, rather, they used scissors for the entire thing. I think this was actually a great change, seeing as I've never been a fan of “buzzed hair” and I don't like when they take the buzzer to the side of my head. After the hair cut, the barber gave me a wonderful shave and face wash. I'm not sure exactly what he used following the soap, but he put on a second round of lather which felt amazing, and my face felt so clean afterward. To wrap up an extremely nice barber experience, he closed with a couple minute head massage. Being used to DC hair cut prices, I was shocked when the total came to, 80 ruppees...90 CENTS! In addition to the haircut I recently got a new suit made, which I picked up yesterday as well. The tailor (Ramesh) was fantastic, and the suit turned out really really nice. Between the fabric and the tailor it came to about 45 dollars US, and fits better than several of my suits in the states, which costs about 20 times as much. Well, per the request of Tope, I wore my new suit to school yesterday, and when combined with the new haircut/shave the kids were blown away. Many of them thought a new volunteer arrived, and were shocked to find out it was me. A few of the girls came up to me, and mentioned how handsome I was and wondered “why I was hiding my handsomeness beneath hair” . Turns out facial hair is not a very Nepali practice, and they're very partial to a freshly shaved John!

Unrelated...but Christmas Tree Decoration!

To close out, the sports are still going great and the current standings go: 31 pts Sky house, 28 pts Moon house, 27 points Sun house, and 27 points Star house. The kids are doing great, and I”ve been ultra impressed by the girls ability to pick up volleyball. At the beginning of the week it was a disaster, but has come a very long way. Kelly and I have been coaching each team and it can get pretty heated, but we are having a wonderful time. Unfortunately, there are still tears, and we're still working with many children on how to be graceful in both victory and defeat.

Hope all is well...I might not write for a little while, as I'll be leaving at 7am on Sunday morning for the National Badminton Tournament! Wish us luck.

JC

Catching back up!

Hi Again!

Wow, its been a crazy few weeks here and I apologize for the delay between now and Thanksgiving. The past two weeks have been tiring, but a lot of fun. We had a volunteer here from the UK teaching the girls dance which was an absolute blast...While my dance did not improve too much, the kids did a wonderful job learning new routines in preparation for annual day. I'm cease to be amazed by these kids ability to learn and catch on. In just a couple short days, the kids were able to do several new routines which really blew me away. While Sirjana has left us for the UK once again, the children continue to practice to perfection, and I'm really looking forward to their routines on Christmas Day!

In addition to the dancing the extra-curricular championships started Sunday and are in full swing...This is largely the reason for the delay between posts. I've been waking up at 6 to get ready for the day, and heading over to school at 630. As a result of the courts being so heavily used at the moment, there is barely enough time in the day to squeeze everything in. The first kids on the court each day have been Abishek and Ubraj, who are both training for the Nepal National tournament (alongside Goma and Socializa). We've been practicing for about an hour each morning, and the boys are really starting to kill me! I actually got massacred by Ubraj this morning, and I'm delighted to see how far he has come. In just a couple short months, he's really progressed, and I look forward to seeing his performance in a couple of weeks. After practice, we've been having the younger division of the championship compete from 730am-9am. Thankfully, Abishek and Ubraj have been sticking around and helping me coach the younger kids, who haven't had the same amount of training. The first few days were a bit painful, as some of the youngest kids were still having difficulty figuring everything out, however, at the moment, we're halfway through day 4 of the tournament and the play have been absolutely outstanding. To make things more legitimate, we recently purchased new posts, a net, and chalk to ensure the court is regulation size. Thank you to all of those who donated, as it has been a fantastic upgrade to our previous playing surface. After the girls conclude their morning portion at 9am, I've been running home for a quick breakfast and then getting back to school by 930, which is the beginning of first period to teach computer. Beyond computer, I've actually been teaching second grade quite a bit lately because their teacher has been absent. One of my very best friends at home is a teacher, and until this experience I don't think I fully understood the challenges of teaching. Being prepared and energetic for 7 hours a day is BRUTAL, and I know I'm being cliched but our teachers (especially the good ones) deserve a great deal of credit and respect for all of the hard work it takes to run a effective classroom. As for my teaching experience, for the most part the kids are fantastic...there are a couple of the girls that can be pretty sassy, but those tend to be the girls that I live with so they just feel more comfortable around me and are more inclined to talk back. Beyond that, I've really enjoyed teaching and the opportunity it's given me to get to know more of the school children. After school I've been jumping right back into the tournament, for the older divisions...This portion runs from 330-545, and can be a headache and a half. In addition to coordinating the Badminton tournament, and working with Matt to make sure the Jr. Boys soccer games are running correctly, I'm also having to fend of 50 little kids who want nothing else but a racquet and shuttle cock. By the time afternoon sports ends I've been pretty tuckered, out but fulfilled. Its always fun to come back to the house and commiserate with the other fellows and swap stories from our days. This month has been crazy, and you can see the bags under everyone’s eyes come dinner time. Following dinner we've been doing our satsung, and then I've been tutoring the boys in math afterward from roughly 8-9 or 930. Two days ago, I was forced to dig into Geometry proofs for the first time in 11 years.... I feel like I've been rehashing the day to day a lot, in recent posts, and I think its largely my excuse for not updating the blog as much as I should!

Getting Serious

Reffing some Badminton!

Jr. Boys Football!

With regards to my well being, I actually had to deal with one of my more challenging experiences as a mentor and coach on Day 1 of the tournament. Two of my absolute favorite girls, Goma and Socializa (who coincidentally are the two training for nationals) matched up in the first game of the first day. Since none of you know either of these girls, I can tell you that they are incredible at everything they put their hands on. Goma lives in the house, and on top of being one of the best badminton players, she is a dynamite dancer, and without fail my first selection when we play frisbee for family game. Well, during day one, she had her first taste of defeat after a really hard fought match which was a very bitter pill to swallow. As a coach to both of these girls, it was brutal to see the disappointment in one one of their eyes, and I couldn't help but feel personally accountable. Of course one of the girls had to lose, but the reaction was difficult to stomach, and it took a few days for my all star Goma to fully get over her loss. When talking to her about what happened, I called upon one of my favorite references from Batman Begins...and I think she learned that sometimes we fall down, but the reason that we fall down is so that we can learn to pick ourselves back up! Thankfully, she's picked herself back up and had a dominating performance on the court yesterday.

Goma Back in Action!

In addition to sports, time just continues to fly over here. I can't believe that I've been here for nearly 3 months, and only have about 3 months left at Kopila Valley. I continue to grow and learn each and every time I interact with others, or step foot out of my room. Whether its engaging in spirited debates with the other fellows, or hearing more about the children's stories, I can't help but feel that I'm becoming a fuller person as a result of this experience. Just the other day, Maggie was telling me about the Prime Minsters daughter, and her thoughts on Kopila Valley. The daughter is a huge advocate of everything happening here, and believes strongly that the actions of one individual, can positively impact the entire country. There are over 350 people impacted directly by Maggie, and countless others who see indirect benefits from Maggie's involvement in the country. As my time here continues, I can't help but think how much of a difference “another Maggie” would make in the lives of 350 other individuals!

One one final note...we're happy to welcome Sarah Kay to Kopila Valley. She is an American poet. Known for her spoken word poetry, Sarah is the founder and co-director of Project V.O.I.C.E., a group dedicated to using spoken word as an inspirational tool. Over the next few days, she'll be working with our students, and fortunatley it sounds like I'll be able to sit in on a class too! See the attached link to hear Sarah's Ted talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html !

Happy Holidays to everyone at home...and to my friends in DC happy Santa Stumble weekend!

John