Teaching in Khumjung Village 12/02 - 10/03

My experience in Khumjung has been a real mix of emotions. Interesting, lonely, fun, boring, funny, difficult, COLD and so much more. I have been staying in a tourist lodge making my stay more comfortable than it would have been living in the school hostels, and I was especially lucky having such a wonderful host called Pen Futi, who was always there to cheer me up.. even if we could barely communicate. My lodge was comfortable; I had a soft bed, an indoor toilet (although no running water), and most importantly, a fire place in the dinning room. I have had all my meals excellently cooked by Pen Futi and it was quite luxurious being looked after. However, there were some interesting meals/drinks that I won't be rushing to have again anytime soon, mainly 'Chongul', a thick soup made up of yak cheese, rice beer, fried egg, beans, sugar, butter... Having said this, I also had some excellent dishes of Sherpa stew, Dahl baht and noodle soup. Of course, I can't ignore the tea; the favourite past-time of Sherpas is to drink copious amounts of very sweet tea, it was delicious and very warming and is something I am going to miss a lot!

During my time in Khumjung I was teaching in the village school, which was founded by Sir Edmund Hillary (the first man to summit Everest!). It's a reasonably well equipped school for the Himalayan villages, and one of only two secondary schools in the region. What I found the most interesting was that, unlike in the UK, there wasn't a specific age related to each class. In one class that I was teaching I had 12 year olds alongside 16 year olds. This didn't affect the teaching much, the children seemed to be approximately the same levels and it worked well. What did affect the teaching was the hugely relaxed take of the school, it was quite normal for teachers to take leave through the term leaving their classes unattended for several weeks at a time. Or for children to go back home for a few days and miss classes. Not to mention the numerous national holidays!

In order for the school to compete against some of the Kathmandu schools they have decided to turn to English medium teaching. This means that the majority of the subjects are taught in English. Of course this has been a big challenge for the school, where the teachers have the very difficult task of teaching in a foreign language. There English is passable in conversation, but having to teach a subject such as science in English is a whole different story. However, I was impressed with how well the students coped with this challenge, and seemed to understand most of the language. The children were very lovely and lively, and I enjoyed teaching there despite the lack of resources making it difficult to have varied lessons every day. The cold did add to the challenge, as there is no heating we were taking classes from 9.30 to 4pm in temperatures below zero. It gets very difficult to stay focused and write in that temperature. So when the sun was out you would see most classes been taken outside to make the most of the heat. What really impressed me the most was the school displays, each classroom would be full of wonderful displays, and they had a dedicated art gallery to show off pupils' arts to tourists as well as locals.

Class 7 working hard outside

 The teachers were very welcoming, as were the rest of the community, everybody would always insist on me staying for a cup of tea, and make their best effort to speak to me in English and make me feel at home. I had the opportunity to experience some of the local traditions. There was a week long ceremony (Puja - which is held when someone has passed away), this involved Bhudist lamas, lots of drumming, loud horns and praying; and on the final day, the whole village gathers at their house to receive a food package, tea or rice beer and money. As well as this I experienced Losar, which is the Sherpa new year, where Pen Futi had lots of people around to eat lots of food: traditional breads, biscuits, Dahl batt, homemade yogurt. Everyone was being force fed until you really really begged her not to feed you anymore. I later found out it wasn't just a Pen Futi thing but a Sherpa thing. Every time I went to someone's house, there was always a huge battle to not be given more food or tea. I also got to dress as a traditional Sherpa on two occasions, and would go to the Saturday market with Pen Futi in Namche to get our weekly groceries (5 hour round trip!!), I helped with the water hauling from time to time, and also tried to hand wash my clothes on rocks (this was particularly amusing as I'd never hand washed anything in my life, the locals were giggling whilst watching the only tourist trying and failing to do her washing, luckily, as they are all so kind, I got lots of help and managed to complete it eventually)

Sherpa Florrie with Class 1

Sherpa Florrie with Class 5

Returning from the Saturday market

On the last week before I head off on my trek, it snowed a huge amount lasting several days. The snow was so deep it was impossible to get to classes, so school was closed. This really showed how isolated the village is, there are no roads, so the only way to get supplies or water is by walking, and when the snow is deep it makes it impossible to get anything. When the water freezers the whole village runs out of water, and there was a real scarcity of water at the end of my stay, meaning that pupils who usually stayed at the school had to return to their homes in other villages and miss classes.

Khumjung school under the snow

 

Pen Futi clearing the way to the toilet

My friend, Sam

 



















I walked quite a bit on my days off to explore the area and enjoy the views. It really is a spectacular setting, especially having so many mountains (Ama Dablam, Khumbila, Thamserku) surround the small village. Of course I had some difficult moments where I felt incredibly lonely, and sometimes I was very bored but mostly I enjoyed my time in Khumjung. I had a lot of time to relax, read and appreciate the people and culture of the village, and even got the chance to go skiing.

Khumjung village in the snow

View of Ama Dablam and Thamserku from Khumjung

Kongde peak and a Stupa

 

View from my bedroom: Thamserku peak

Next step, off to Lukla to meet dad and begin the trek to Everest base camp...

The Adventure Begins..05/02-11/02

I arrived in Kathmandu on the 5th of feb at 4.30pm to a beautiful sunny day and a temperature of 9•C. After an hour of waiting in the hectic baggage claim area, finally the first bag from our plane arrived! A good half hour after that, a man came with a list, checked my luggage tag, and informed me that my bag had been taken off the plane in Muscat (Oman) along with 25 others.. A good 2 hours after landing I finally got out of the airport, where I found a man with a sign for Ms Florence. Exhausted, I headed straight to the hotel for a room service dinner and sleep. 

The following day, I went to Karnali Excursions to finalise my plans in Nepal. They were absolutely fantastic and I would recommend them to anybody that comes to Nepal. kindly, they then accompanied me to one of the charity's offices, which I thought were the organisation that had arranged my placements. As this was not the case, they were rather confused when a woman turned up to their offices and told them they were volunteering in one of their schools. At this point I was very nervous that I'd end up in Khumjung with no one to help me. Fortunately, John (the coordinator of my trip) got in touch with the details of the person I should contact from another organisation whom had sorted my placement. After a few phonecalls and emails, all was back on track, and Khumjung school were aware of my arrival on the 12th of Feb. Phewwww!

I spent the rest of the afternoon waiting to hear whether my luggage had arrived, by 6.30pm there was still no news so I decided to head over to Thamel to join Chulie and Maxine for drinks and dinner at their hotel. At 8.30pm I received a call informing me that my luggage had arrived in Kathmandu airport! Yey!

The next day, I went to collect my luggage and check into my new hotel in Thamel. I then went to meet the person who organised my school placement as well as the head teacher of the school, which was incredibly helpful as he was able to give me the details of my involvement in the school, and reassured me that the village was preparing for my arrival! I spent the rest of the day buying any missing gear that I needed and taking in the streets of Thamel!

Unfortunately I caught a bad cold so spent my last day in Kathmandu trying to recover before heading over to the Himalayas. I then went to town to take some cash out for my trip, of course none of the ATM machines worked for my cards so I ended up spending a good 2 hours looking for a bank that could help. Eventually I did manage to get a small amount of money out (using my credit card!!), then returned back to my hotel to get ready for my departure the next morning. 

I woke up at 4.45am to enjoy my last hot shower before heading over to the airport. The tiny domestic departure terminal had just opened when I got there so it was incredibly fast to check in and get through. By 7.00am my flight was called to board the plane. I sat down next to the emergency exit, and I was asked to not touch the door “in case it opens” - very reassuring! A few minutes later the ‘air hostess’ squeezed past the few chairs on the plane to give us all some cotton wool for our ears and a sweet. Eventually, the co-pilot arrived, jumped over a few seats to squeeze into his position in front of the plane and we were off! There I was, praying that the flight would be ok as we started down the runway, suddenly the pilot hit the brakes and returned to the parking bay to inform us that Lukla airport (the destination) was closed. We waited about half an hour for the airport to re-open, and then we were off again. The flight was spectacular, going over Kathmandu and mountain villages as well as flying past the Himalayas. To my relief, the landing was absolutely fine, despite being 'the most dangerous airport in the world'. Once I found my Sherpa and got my bag, we set off on our four-day trek up to Khumjung. By 11.00am, we'd already arrived at our first stop: Phakding, at 2650m above sea level. I had the rest of the day to relax, and meet a few hikers returning from Everest Base Camp. The evening was very cold, but we had a fire in the living room that was lovely and my sleeping bag was fantastic so I didn't suffer through the night either. 

The next day, we set off nice and early for Namche. We had another beautiful day in the Himalayas with some spectacular views. It was quite a steep day and we gained about 800m overall also getting my first glimpse of Everest as well. Approximately five and a half hours later I arrived in Namche, at 3440m. The village is amazing considering its location; it has shops, a post office and even a Bank with an ATM that worked!!! 

Wednesday was an acclimatisation day, as we'd gained a lot of height coming to Namche. I've been told that I need to 'climb high and sleep low' to avoid altitude sickness, so we went up to just above 3800m in the morning to get some views over the mountains, (including a very clear view of Everest) before coming back down to spend the day relaxing in Namche. 

The next day I set off for Khumjung, the village where I’ll be spending the next month teaching…

Lead up to the big tour

So... I haven't posted in a while and thought it was about time for me to update everyone on the lead up to my big tour.

 I have finally booked my ferry do St-Malo from Weymouth, and my flights back from Bayonne to London so it's official, I am cycling from England to the south of France. On the 23rd of August Ollie and I will be getting the ferry from Weymouth at 13.15 and arriving in St Malo at 20.40 where we will be camping the night before we commence the big cycle on Sunday the 24th of August.

My bike is almost fully kitted out now, with cleat pedals, new lights, panniers and pannier bags, Go-Pro holder and speedometer. We have just ordered our lightweight tent, and the last thing on our list to do is buy some maps...

There you are, a quick update on where we are at. I have included some photos of my newest addition to the bike, the panniers, and me trying it out on the street outside my new house =) I hope that you all enjoy following my adventure, I will make sure I post regularly from now until I (hopefully) return to the UK after a successful cycle to Bayonne.

The 3 peaks challenge

Completed the 3 peaks challenge with the amazing team of Mollie, Laura and Ollie. It was an incredible experience, and we are all very proud of our selves! We started on Saturday 7th of June at 5.02pm at the bottom of Ben Nevis. The weather was dreadful, which made the start of the climb one of the most difficult part of the whole challenge. The final push to the summit was done in very poor visibility, and parts were crossed through the snow. Finally, we made it to the summit where Mollie gave a rendition of 'Ben Nevis' (copyright Papa Allen). We eventually made it down at around 10.30pm, just before darkness, and set off to the next mountain. Ollie had the challenging drive of 5 hours and a half through the night to get us to Scafell pike in the lake district. We arrived in perfect time to start Scafell pike in the daylight, 4.20am. The weather had significantly improved making the climb to Scafells summit a lot more pleasant. We took it slow, and successfully summited as a team just before 7am. The way down was done in silence, all of us exhausted and looking forward to our nap. We arrived back at the car at 9.30am, and off we went to the next, and final, peak: Snowdon. We arrived just before 2.00pm, and were met by Mike and Liz Greenhill. Ollie, Mollie and I set off at 2.06pm, and rushed up the mountain in order to complete it in under 24 hours (and to catch Mollies train in birmingham). We managed to summit (on a beautifully clear day) in 1 hours and 45 minutes giving us an hour and 15 to get down. In a dramatic sprint finish, we made it back on Sunday 8th of June at 4.58pm, just 4 minutes to spare but under 24 hours non the less! Laura successfully climbed snowdon with both her parents and we all met up in Birmingham for a nice cup of tea and a hot panini =)

Here are a few photos of the event. Unfortunately there aren't very many as I was filming a lot of the time. However, I am just editing the video at the moment so I will share it as soon as possible for everyone to see.

 Left: On our way to Ben Nevis, YUCK.

Up: First sign of snow in Scotlands Highlands.

Down: Mollie and I feeling rather proud after summiting Ben Nevis.

  Left: View down from Ben Nevis.

Up: 3 Peaks team at the summit of Scafell. 

Down: SMILE!

Right: View on our way down from Scafell. 

 

Up: Mollie and I at the summit of the final mountain! HELL YEA.

Down: YOUPIEEEE we made it.

Overall, the challenge was a great success, and that was thanks to the fantastic team I went with. So I want to say a massive thanks to Mike, Liz, Laura, Mollie, and of course Ollie, for picking the short straw and being the driver.

Feeling nervous...

Only a few more days ago until the 3 peaks challenge. We are starting the climb at Ben Nevis at approximately 5pm on Saturday, and (hopefully) 24 hours later we will be down from Snowdon having completed all 3 peaks. Here's a sneak peak of Snowdon, which we climbed as training a couple of weekends back:

Lovely Lovely Tytherington

A few shots from our cycle (with our brand new bikes!) around Tytherington, Longleat, Shearwater and Nunney. 28 miles in 2 hours 30 mins, Av. speed 11.2 mph, max speed: 37.8 mph (it was very hilly!)

                   Our beautiful beautiful bikes

 

Lunch stop at the George =)

Arrival back at the lighthouse... wonderful wonderful day

Otford to Eynsford

Here are a few photos of my walk with the 3 peaks team in Kent. Only 30 mins away from Victoria and we were in the beautiful country side. Top-left shows Ollie reading the directions (written in 0.6point font), and top-right shows the Mollie and Laura training hard in hilly Kent.

Our first ascent =)

3 peaks team in the blue bell forest

BRIDGE!!!!

And a well deserved ice cream at the end of it.