Blog for Thursday

Vi skiftes hver dag til at skrive en blog her fra platformen, og i dag er det saa min tur. Den er skrevet paa engelsk 🙂

Namaste!

Today it’s Thursday, and we’ve been here exactly three weeks. I think the general opinion in the group is that the time has just flown away – literally speaking! When I think back on all the things we’ve experienced, it seems like I’ve already been here at the platform for a few years: trekking in Kathmandu valley, sleeping in the slum, seeing various temples and places, learnt about social change and all that goes with it and having an amazing time getting to know each other and spending time together! I know a few of us have become very fund of Shishas and the cozy atmosphere here in Kathmandu, and I’m so happy that I’ve ended up in this group – we’re all amazing people, and I couldn’t have wished for anything better. Of course our fabulous facilitators have contributed a lot in making the last three weeks at the platform so good! I’m sad when I think about the fact we’ll be saying goodbye in a week. But the next step, India, is going to be an incredible experience, I know that, and I’ve started getting really excited about what to expect, how we’re going to live and so forth! It seems I have no idea, what’s going to happen, but I’m surprised to find that I love letting go of the control like that. Something I’ve never used to do before in Denmark, where I needed to know what’s happening, when and where! I’ve also become a lot more chilled, seeing as the concept of time here is a little different from what I’m used to – but again I love it. Not to mention the incredible thigh muscles I’ve gained from pedaltoilets, and all the new friends I’ve gotten to know – the last three weeks have been a life-changing experience for me!

This morning we went to a school to observe the teaching. After a quite nice ride there, we arrived and split into teams. I teamed up with Caty and Mette, and we were placed in Class 2 with only 16 students. I was positively surprised to find there weren’t more students; I was expecting something like 42! The teacher welcomed us, and so did the kids who seemed a little freaked by the fact that three weird looking girls had to sit at the back of the class and watch them. A few girls giggled at the start of class, but there was such good discipline that they quickly stopped. The teaching however surprised me a little – it was completely different from what I’m used too! The students had to copy from a notebook that was already correctly filled out, and when they were done, they had to correct each other’s work! It seemed a little abstract to us, but it was so inspiring to watch how nice the teacher was with the kids. She helped them, complimented their work and there was just a really nice atmosphere. After they had copied the numbers from 1-100 in maths, it was time for scienceclass. Here a student had to stand up in front of the rest of the class and read aloud – the student read about three words, and then the rest of the class had to repeat it. At one point they were really shouting, and they were so cute when they pronounced animals – it was more like “aniimaaalss”. The chapter they read was about animals and what they can be used for, so when we had to plan the teaching for tomorrow, we decided to teach them about animals. I really hope they will like the quiz we made for them, but if not, I’m sure they’ll be happy to learn some nouns with “Simon says” or feel challenged by a round of Kloudermutter.

After spending the afternoon outside, preparing for tomorrow, relaxing and doing a few push-ups, we went out to eat some amazing – vegetarian – Indian food. It was really good, and we were some of the only customers at the restaurant, so the waiters were extremely happy to serve us! After our meal, we went to a karaoke bar – a very pink building close to the Royal Palace. It was so much fun! I’ve never been at a karaokebar before, but we hit it off with some pretty good tunes (or maybe not too good when I was standing behind the microphone) with “Like A Virgin”, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Grease and a lot more songs! I had such a good time, dancing and singing 🙂

So now there’s one week left at the platform – let’s get as much out of it as we possibly can! And thank you guys so much for being such amazing and wonderful people 🙂