returning to Sankhu, girl-talk, timelessness, happiness, awesome chores, and photography.

As the light began to slant downwards Monday evening I walked up the hill to the PA Nepal home in Sankhu, loaded down by a huge backpack (mostly camera equipment), a smaller frontal backpack (my books and computer), and my travel-size guitar (Her name is Sangita, the Nepali word for Song). I was greeeted by many hugs and hellos, and offers to take my bags and get me tea, an incredibly satisfying feeling after so many days of moving place to place. I settled into a mattressless bed in the volunteer room, which i currently share with Danny & Kristel, a friendly dutch couple who commandeered the mattress from the bed I chose. When they immediately tried to replace it, I explained that they had also commandeered the bedbugs, and I was quite happy to pad the plywood with an extra blanket instead, so now we are all quite snug (although they occaisionally have some itches).
My last few days in Kathmandu were quite nice- I met some interesting Austrailians, who seem rampant in Nepal as it is their summer break, and had a lot of great conversations and delicious meals. I was a little too tied down to the internet, a consequence of just leaving home, and free wireless, which luckily Sankhu has already weaned me of. I was right to be worried about the loadsharing in the village, today's schedule has no power from 9-3 and 5-10, leaving precious little usable time in the afternoon for uploading photographs or charging cameras. Luckily, as i have the schedule i don't think it will be too much of an issue, i just have to catch the right couple of hours to charge electronics. I alreay suspect uploading will best be achieved in Kathmandu every other weekend, using faster wireless and my own computer, all much more efficient.
I am very content here- I already feel like months have passed, although the days certainly don't go slowly. One of the best discoveries since re-arriving is the increasingly close relationship I have with the older girls, whose more developed english makes it possible to have girltalk, tell jokes and stories, and generally have an awesome time. One of my favorite aspects of Nepali culture is the communal nature of activities- cooking or other chores are not done alone but in groups, meaning they are much more fun. Instead of the 'put your head down and push through it' attitude I seem to have in the US, washing clothes by hand in the stream, or cutting up apples for lunch is always accompanied by others, and usually conversation and laughter. I have also been doing more 'manly' chores around the house, like painting the window moulding brown in the new kitchen-in-progress, and attempting to build a stone wall with another volunteer, which was of course re-arranged by Sagar Mama (the 'king' of the home) later. He tried to tell me how to paint for awhile, assuming i didn't know how, but after he saw the progress instead switched to talking to me in rapid Nepali about how I need to learn Nepali (case-in-point, eh, Sagar?).
The Photography classes are progressing well- I have held two so far in the extra-activity time that is the last period of the PA-Nepal run Primary school named Junkiri. For both classes I had classes 4+5 together, roughly 12 students, something which i will change next week so none of them will have to share cameras. The real quandery is this: many of the older kids who are out of grade 5 and in the government school or college want to learn. I worried about this before I came, knowing all of the kids would want to participate, and that there was no way to do it for all of them. I am hoping that I can give a less intensive class to the older kids, minus and exchange, on saturdays and just let them get used to the cameras. Another issue is that the kids in the program want prints of all thier pictures (this woul cost a small fortune), and other kids want prints of themselves taken by the photography studets- a tricky business. I'm just trying to be very clear and hoping for the best. I actually haven't even introduced the 'exchange' part of the program yet, as the first two classes were taken up by explaining about cameras, how photography translates to "light drawing", the shift from metal to film to digital, and then finally all the basic functions of a camera. It is a challenge when the language barrier is so great, and especially when technology like this is so special to them- as soon as they get thier cameras all they want to do is run around and take pictures of things, which is totally valid, i'd do the same in thier place, but it makes it hard to show them more. I'm excited about these challenges though, and about figuring out the solutions. Every kid is incredibly enthusiastic and eager to learn, and that is the best situation for a teacher to be in.
Anyhow, there's always more to say, but i'll leave it at that for fear that I could lose internet at any moment. i hope you're all well, i miss home, but i'm so happy to be where i am!
namaste.