Grade 11 students on a hike with their teacher, Sunil.
Taking a rest en route.
Arriving at a community lodge where we spent the night.
Sunrise at Dhandakarka
The following special story is a continuing travel journal from one of InterestEng.’s loved tutors who affectionately goes by the name, Kaz. While living in Spain, Kaz had been teaching children in the mountains of Nepal. But she left Skype for Nepal itself where she hiked high up into the mountains to reach the village of Nangi to work with the children she had been tutoring by Skype. Kaz kindly agreed to send us reports and photos along the way. You can read Part One HERE. And Part Two HERE.
TIME is flying here in Nangi and week two has brought some changes. I am now teaching grades seven and nine in addition to my other classes and so I’m getting to meet many more students. Classes are going well and the students are now less shy in front of me. I am mainly focusing on speaking activities and helping the students build their confidence when communicating in English.
A highlight from week two was an overnight school trip with the students from grade 11. We left school at midday on Friday and started trekking down into the valley below Nangi and up to the top of the hill opposite our village. We trekked for four hours to a place called Dhandakarka and spent the night there singing and dancing around a fire. Dhandakarka is a little higher than Nangi and felt quite cold so we were pleased to have a fire.
The following morning we set off at 7am and got to Poon Hill for a fantastic morning view of the big peaks.
The students wanted to go to a village called Ghorepani which is near Poon Hill for lunch so down we trekked and stopped at a hotel for a traditional dhal bhat feed.
Mahabir Pun hard at work in mountain villages to provide them with internet access. Photo courtesy Future Atlas.
Sunil and Kaz
Taking a rest in the shade.
After lunch we continued to a place called Mohare Danda, which sits at 3,300 metres above Nangi. This is where our internet signal comes from. From Mohare Danda you can see Pokhara. The signal from Pokhara goes to Mohare Danda then down to Nangi. After a tea stop there we continued down 1,000 metres arriving in Nangi as it got dark.
Everyone had an excellent time trekking, singing, and dancing along the route as well as in the lodge. A superb school trip and I was happy to have been invited and get to know the grade 11 students. —Kaz
[Photo below: Connecting for Skype class with teacher, Sandra, in America.]
