On the Mend.

The night went pretty much the same as the previous few, and after not going to dig again Rianne came to check on me. She put me on the phone to the medic and I was prescribed a round of anti-biotics to be taken at 12 hour intervals. I’d never taken anti-biotics before and always thought of them as a very American solution to medical problems.

Mostly due to boredom, I went for a solo shower at the waterfall around midday. Something about airdrying naked in the sun feels utterly natural. Meg was there too, chasing butterflies mostly.

Just as I got back, Rianne came up to the house again with a get well card signed by everyone, and a little care package of food. It was a lovely gesture, if a little redundant, as by that point I was feeling well enough to join in the afternoon trip to the school. In classic NC5 fashion, the trip turned out to be rather unorganised and most of the English volunteers decided to leave the Nepali’s to it and hang around outside the classroom. There’s only so much smiling and nodding you can do before it gets old. Instead we played around with the volleyball, until Jess nearly punted over the side of the cliff.

After the Nepali’s had finished delivering their session to the school children, we made another short trip to the shop and headed back. En route we made a stop off at what we had dubbed ‘The Resting Tree’. It was a great, gnarled thing that someone had built a stone bench around, and just so happened to be about halfway between Archale and the school. The perfect place for a rest.

A Funeral

The good news is I didn’t spend my night glued to the toilet, so I can stop talking about being ill. This meant I could join the morning dig for the first time in nearly a week. Although it was cut short as we were gatecrashing another event, this time a funeral. I promise this blog isn’t a rip off of ‘The Wedding Crashers’. I don’t think I’m a good enough liar for that anyway.

To get to the funeral we head to (yup you guessed it) hike up a massive hill. The journey took an hour in the midday sun and we were joined by members of the grieving family, including a 71 year old grandmother. When we got there, we found out that what we were attending wasn’t actually the funeral itself and more of an after party, which mostly consisted of a big feast. We were given yellow tika heasd markings and served fruit, rotti, some kind of rice pudding-like thing and curried vegetables. We were also given 10 rupees each, which we all found a bit awkward.

On sharing this story with one of other volunteer groups later on, we found out that they had attended an actual funeral. By their account, they watched as the body was burned ontop of a pyre and saw everything. I know which of the two events I would rather have to gone to.

As it happened, today was also international women’s day so as were already nearby, we headed to what we were told was a celebration. Now I would definitely describe myself as a feminist, but sitting for 2 hours as Nepali women talked about empowerment isn’t quite my idea of a good time. But each to their own.

On our way back we discovered Meg, who had been following us all day, was a massive coward. We encountered 6 or 7 other dogs, all mutts and a bit crusty looking, and without fail she ran away whimpering every time one approached.

Evening came and what started as a usual chat and chill session between John, Jess, Loulou at Jess’ host home, somehow developed into a four way spooning session. I think it was our way of dealing with homesickness. Sometime during this, I realised I had a full on teenager level crush on Jess. Why is it always the unavailable girls I’m attracted to?

Unusually, this wasn’t actually the end of the day. It being international women’s day, we had decided to throw a little party for all the women of the village after dinner. What began as a bonfire with balloons and paper hats made in the shape of bras, blossomed into one of the best evenings yet. We soon had even the most dour women of the village dancing around the fire and letting loose, for what looked like the first time in a long time for some of them.

Garlic Bread

My first full morning back to digging felt amazing. Being able to push myself without worrying about potentially shitting myself was definitely something I had undderrated before.

The afternoon by contrast, was thoroughly dull. We spent it doing an Active Global Citizen session about peace and conflict, then waiting for the mason who was going to show us how to build our first handwashing station, but he never turned up.

The day was salvaged however, by the evening. Raj had offered to cook potato rotti again, but this time for the whole team, and everyone was excited from how I’d hyped it up. This time, he also added garlic, which took them to a whole other level. To say the rotti were delcious, would do them a vast disservice. After weeks of lentils and rice, they were like sex for the mouth.

The time not spent eating, saw the usual 4 of us sitting/laying on my bed. Something I hadn’t realised earlier, was that Raj and I were the online volunteers to have duvets provided by our host family. The others were understandably jealous and vowed to spend more time hanging out at my house. Fine by me, that would mean a lot less walking around.