Waterfall Smoke.

Another day, another digging session. Raj didn’t come because his back was “paining”, and Jess was ill. The front of the pipeline reached the houses at the top of the village, which belonged to the family of the lowest caste. They mostly kept to themselves, I’m not sure if by choice or due to the villagers in the higher castes not wanting to associate with them. Either way, my host Dad helped them out with carpentry jobs occassionally and seemed on friendly terms with them. What a good guy.

Following the usual lunch of of lentils and rice, I went for a solo shower and smoked one of the cigarettes I’d bought at the shop a while back. I’m not sure what was in those Nepali cigarettes, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt more relaxed. I sat down on a nearby rock, listening to the burble of the waterfall and admiring the way the sun glinted off the rushing river.

Feeling fully recharged, I spent the rest of the afternoon ‘helping’ build another hand washing station. Translation: sitting around chatting shit and doing brain teasers from Jess’ book while Raj and Sudhakar refused to let us help. They did eventually let us mix the cement but then the team leader’s alcoholic host Dad turned up and fell into it as it was still drying.

Evening came and we had been invited to the team leaders host home with the promise of roti. On arrival, we discovered that it was drunk Dad (see above with Loulou and Masuma the goat) that had promised this and he was still off his face. The Nepali volunteers stepped up to the task, while the English volunteers contributed by peeling potatoes. Before long I was satisfyingly full, with four roti and two servings of curry inside me. Meanwhile drunk Dad managed to hit Masum on the back hard, elbow Rianne in the eye and force various unwilling people to dance with him. His wife gave him the proper stinkeye throughout, but then again I don’t think I’d ever seen her look remotely happy.

Butts and Cuddles

More digging. Getting really close now. The usual four of us had arranged to meet at the shower afterwards, but 20 minutes of sunbathing with Jess later we decided the others weren’t coming. It was doubly surprising then when we were greeted by Loulou’s bare arse and a loud “fuck off” when we got down there. Loulou was mortified and we had to reassure her that we’d seen barely anything and had closed our eyes immediately. We weren’t completely lying, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.

By this point most of us had given up trying to help Raj and Sudhakar with the handwashing stations and just left them to it. Unfortunately, this meant that we had to do my favourite activity instead: organising an awareness raising session. The Nepali girls turned up 40 minutes late, which put the brakes on that whole idea so we all went up to see Raj and Sudhakars handiwork. Bullet dodged! Credit where credits due, they’d done a fantastic job. It looked like a giant grey cake.

Luke had brought a little wooden chess set with him and he and I spent the evening playing. Despite losing my queen super early on, I managed to win the game. My time in the Branfil Junior School chess club was finally paying off. Basking in the glow of victory, I headed up to Jess’ host home to share the news. We spent a while going through her scrapbook, which included everything from leaves to my letters to her, before Masum came in for a chat. He told us about his home in the Chitwan region: the elephants that lived there, the magic mushrooms that grew on the elephant dung and the weed that made purple smoke. After he left, I stayed a while cuddling with Jess. She makes me feel like I’m 16 again and I told her as much. I’m not sure whether to tell her I like her or not, as it will probably only lead to awkwardness.

Following dinner, I met up with Loulou and Jess again at Loulou’s host home. More chatting and cuddling ensued, but it was slightly ruined by my constant farting. Damn you Raj and your egg curries. Not actually, they’re delicious.

Getting Hands On

Even more digging in the morning. The villagers didn’t show up because apparently they were having a heated argument about someone stealing some oil.

Our in country partner Som showed up to guide us all through building a handwashing station. Most of us had already picked up the basics of what to do, but his presence finally got Raj and Sudhakar to step back and let the rest of us get hands on. I helped do one layer of the mud-brick wall and cement the top and base. Meg walked over the wet concrete at one point, and Loulou knocked off some of the top with her, now famous, butt. Masum, Rianne, Amita, Bidhya and myself had to go get some additional sand from where it had been dumped by a lorry at the old school, and Masum did his best impression of carrying it like an old man using a head sling.

Late afternoon came and I found myself listening to music off my early 2000s mp3 player and watching the sunset at the team leaders house. Rianne was also leading another yoga session with some of the other girls and both provided some great views. Feeling suitably relaxed, Jess continued with the drawing/painting she had been doing of Meg. Despite having the wrong kind of paint and having to use a toothbrush as a brush, the portrait was unbelievably good. To say Jess is a talented artist would be an understatement.

When the time came for our weekly waste bonfire I had leant Jess my mp3 to listen to the new London Grammar album. I assumed she liked it because she spent the rest of the evening with the headphones in. I meanwhile had decided to have another cigarette, but after the initial wave of rexation, it combined with my still sensitive stomach to make for a bad time. Still, I went to bed happy after showing Raj and Dipika (my host sister) the photos on my camera. They especially liked the photo of the goat on top of the cow (as seen in my earlier blog ‘Planning’).