Saturday 7 June 2014

Friday 6th June

Well a turning point day in many ways! I had to get back the the VIN office in Balaju in the valley and asked if the recess a bus I could catch so after breakfast Deepak was busy drawing a map on how I get to the office once I got off the bus when suddenly he shouted "here is the bus you must go now!" Well I said very hasty goodbyes grabbed my back pack and climbed onto the bus amid great smiles and laughter from the other passengers! It was a beautiful drive through a national forest with trees covering the very steep hills - they might be called mountains but to me mountains are what i have yet to see as in part of the Himalaya mountain peaks! We drove for about an hour through litter free country - what a pleasure! Until we reached Kathmandu - astonishingly the fare was 20 rupees (R2)! The bus stopped and everyone piled out. So there I wax with absolutely no idea of where to go! I could ask a taxi but normally if Jen and dis this, we would call someone at the officevtobyslkbtobthe driver to explain where we needed to gonand to agree on the fare! Jen has the phone so I stood there thinking well something will show me what to do..... I then showed a man the name of the VIN office which I dinesh hadcwritten in Nepalese and the man pointed down a road and said "there and right!!" So off I set and after some time I started feeling the place looked familiar, except previously we had approached it from the opposite direction. So I was very proud of myself once I finally arrived at the office. 

My plan was to find out if the materials on the teachers lists had been bought yet and if not to suggest I go along to help with the buying. Too late all had been bought but was not at the office so I was not able to see what it was. I was told that it had been bought at the Montessori shop- the thing is I do not recognize one of listed! 

Anyway the up shot of the day is that I am going with Om the VIN lady who did the shopping to take the materials to the schools tomorrow which will give me the opportunity to see the schools and in particular where the material will be kept. 

I had expressed my concern that if the teachers don't know how to use the material it either sits in the boxes or gets broken. It turns out that VIN was planning to run a two day workshop with the teachers this month. So I am going to combine with the guy who oversees all ten schools and hopefully talk about class room management and also setting up and introducing practical life areas. I gave Om a list of what each class would need to set up a practical life area so hopefully this is what the money that every one gave me will be used for. I will give VIN the dollars to deposit in their account, then VIN will pay for all the purchases - all very exciting! So watch this space. I am concerned though about where the activities will  be placed - I am hoping there will be enough money to get some kind of shelves organized?! The dollar certainly stretches a lot further here than at home so we'll see? 

So excellent progress. I am intending to allocate some of the money for a few items for the girls at the nunnery which I will take when I visit them. I want to have fun with them and play games like hopscotch, hoola hoops, skipping and ball games - wish I knew the township games to show them! 


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