Spring has sprung

Yes, all the signs were there last week and with the return of mozzies at the office today I think we can say that spring is here.

After all the rain last week, the sky was very clear last Monday morning as I set off in the jeep for Kathmandu. After climbing the hills out of Bhimphedi we turned the corner at the top, ready to go back down into the valley and there were the mountains - I've been that way several times before and never realised that there would be a view there, but it disappeared very quickly as we descended through the red rhododendron forest (now in full bloom, to the delight of the Nepalis on board, who persuaded the driver to stop so they could buy flowers from the young children standing by the road, for 5 rupees a bunch - lalli gurans is the national flower of Nepal and I haven't heard of any plans to change that).

The next surprise was that we went up and over the Kulikhani reservoir road. We had heard that there were roadworks and sure enough we had a short wait for a road roller, but it does look as though they are seriously attempting to make this route a really viable alternative to the highway.

With no punctures or other holdups I was in VSO 4 and a half hours after leaving Hetauda. After some discussion I found out I wasn't staying at the Pacfic but at the Orchid Hotel where the UNESCO workshop was to be held. The taxi driver didn't know where it was on the long busy road, but eventually I spotted a small sign. It really was a case of not judging a hotel by it's front door - my room was big and bright with contant hot water and a view across to the hills in the west. Downstairs was a lovely garden with a covered eating area and a big comfortable meeting hall.

Just down the road from the hotel was a building I'd heard about but never visited - the Bluebird Mall. What a revelation - western shopping comes to Kathmandu-there's even a food court. I didn't spend, though some of the clothes were very nice.

The two-day workshop was very interesting - new people to meet, different perspectives to hear about, but I'm a bit concerned that all the information UNESCO are suggesting should be given to school teachers a) will never reach them (it's too expensive to go to every school and will probably be watered down if it only gets to the RPs) and b)they will not find an opportunity to use it unless they are health and population teachers in secondary schools (where it's supposed to be in the curriculum). 'Class' teachers who know all their children well and year tutors with pastoral responsibiity in big secondary schools are an unknown here. The big boss from UNESCO Bangkok who had devised the original information tool kit to be used in policy making (Ministry level)for teaching about the prevention of HIV and AIDS was also surprised when I explained that this wasn't the scenario in Nepal c) The Nepalis' biggest concern in my group was that the transpaltion from the original English was not good and wouldn't be understood - I really couldn't help with that. (It was around this time that one of the group - from an NGO - decided to do some origami and showed me how to make a paper shirt).

On Wednesday after the closing of the workshop, the hall was rarranged for the 'launch' of the Ministry toolkit. Rohini and Christopher (an Indian HIV and AIDS VSO volunteer-not Chris, as in Rohini's husband) had worked on trialling ths and they were also at the launch. Many people were saying farewells to Chris and Rohini, including the DG of the Department of Education, who was very friendly when he knew I was working in Makwanpur - apparently he was DEO here once upon a time and worked with Mahendraji. (Talking of which, I got an e-mail from poor Richard today - he's back in Birgunj, but the schools are closed, though the DEO is open and he has a new DEO - number 12 since November 2004).

Thursday was International Women's Day. I missed a large district gathering in Hetauda (Clare's photos show dozens of women climbing out of trucks arriving from all over the district)and didn't make it to the procession in Kathmandu, but as Rosemary said - one of the aims is to give women time to think about themselves - and that was what we were doing.

After a meeting with Purna at VSO (and the chance to collect the funding for my next two training sessions)and a look round the office - where noone had started packing, though the move was to take place the next day, but the VSO NEPAL box hedge had disappeared - I went to meet Rohini for a pizza lunch and a long natter and later went over to Patan to meet up with Geraldine and Judith at Rosemary's. She took us for the short walk to the new VSO office - Prem was just arriving with another load in one of the vehicles, so they had started - and we were able to walk through all three floors (education is on the top floor)and get a feel for the place - it's great for all the vols in Patan, but the journey from the Pacific is more complicated. (The VSO NEPAL box hedge had already been transplanted!)

So it was time to come back. My alarm was set for 6am but I woke up at 5.20. Thinking that I'd read until it was time to get up, I was disappointed when the lights went out at 5.30, so there was a bit of washing by head torch before it as properly light. After a quick (no, service isn't quick at the Pacific) breakfast I set off in a taxi to the bus park (well it's really a busy road with spare land on either side). Unfortunately, before we had gone too far there was a big hold up as power lines, which had come down, were being removed to safety. I eventually reached the buses and found a microbus which was going to Hetauda 'at 9 o'clock'. It left its parking space at 9am and drove up and down the road trying unsuccessfully to find an extra passenger to fill the one remaining space. We eventually left Kathmandu at 10 - with plenty of space on my row of seats - so much, in fact, that my neighbour sat cross-legged on the seat (reading a Maoist pamphlet, which he'd bought from a seller at the window, singing along with the inevitable music and finally falling asleep).

We travelled the more bumpy road and it looked even more scary going in this direction,

but on the lower slopes there was a mass of white cherry blossom, the yellow mustard was out and as we climbed higher we came to the rhododendrons again - no flower sellers, but passengers asked the driver to stop so they could pick their own.

The journey was going smoothly (well, bumpily really)until we reached a narrow bend near the junction with the highway. As another microbus was coming the other, we reversed to let it through - bang, straight into a metal post behind us. Fortunately the noise was the worst thing about it, but there were plenty of people sitting out in the sun to enjoy the driver's embarrassment and annoyance with his (very) young helper.

Saturday came and went with a walk up to the temple, washing and tidying, and no football since load shedding was from 10pm.It was the second birthday of Gorab who lives downstairs.There was a big family party in the evening with delicious smells wafting up all day (yes I did get a plateful when his mum came to borrow four plates)and she also asked if I'd take a photo of the birthday boy in his new t-shirt.

Then back to work. It seems that I'm flavour of the month - another RP asking me to provide training for her heads and SMC chairs (at least I don't have to reinvent the wheel - it's just a pity that these RPs weren't around last year, then the word might have spread more quickly).

I wrote all that on Sunday - it's now Tuesday. Forget spring - we had a howling gale and tremendous downpour yesterday afternoon, (Clare and I both put shawls away and took out summer kurtas on Sunday)but there was a spectacular rainbow right across our part of town at the end of it.

The earlier warmth has also woken the geckos (obviously they know there are mozzies about) and a new visitor is a splendid brown and cream spider who has made his mark on the outside of my living room window.

Another first in my education of the wildlife of Nepal came this morning. Rain at 5am, thunder and lightning before 6 then the lights went out (not load shedding - we had that unexpectedly tonight!)and as I went to draw the curtains there were 5 large swallow shaped birds with graceful forked tails all balancing on my telphone wire, sheltering under the roof of my balcony. The sound of the door opening as I went to take a photo was enough to scare them off, but I'd love to know what they were.

As I was taking training for another group of women SMC members today, out in the rural area to the east, I was on the bus with Uma, the RP, at 10 o'clock. There was great hilarity just before we set off, when a woman threw a large sack under a seat and told the driver it would be picked up.The sack began moving, squealing and making everyone sitting near it move to the back of the bus. Just before departure, the conductor decided the sack was a liability and might roll down the steps, so he picked it up and returned it to the woman who was in a nearby shop. What was in the sack? A pig.

On that typical Nepali story I'll close - another day with the women tomorrow - why don't they let the women run this country - the ones who have made it as far as being involved in school management are so committed and enthusiastic (and in one case, today, very politicaly aware).They would certainly do as good a job as the men, who are descending to the level of a group of schoolboys -'My party's better than your party' (the latest accusation is that the Crown Prince is plotting to kill Americans and Nepali party leaders - and they have a CD to prove it). Now that is a typical Nepali story.