Happy ducks and croaking frogs

The monsoon has arrived with vertical sheets of rain, a profusion of new lakes, happy ducks, croaking frogs from dusk to dawn, wallowing buffaloes and mud, mud, mud.
Madan Nath from NCED arrived last weekend to start a 10 day programme for English ‘master trainers’ from central and eastern Terai. When I arrived at work on Monday morning, the group had already started, having decided a 7am start would enable them to finish for the day before it got really hot. He presented me with a schedule, with my name against delivery of sessions for 3 days. Although I explained that I have no experience of teaching EFL, he seems to think that being a native speaker is enough. It is at least giving me a chance to talk to someone who writes policy and training materials, so I am being very cooperative! Delighted to see some familiar faces amongst the participants, including our friend Rajendra from Ilam. On the second morning, my arrival was described in the daily report: “Madam Deborah joined our training. She is very old, but energetic. She is very marvellous”. One of the biggest challenges is nasta break; while my friends consume daal bhat, I am challenged by a whole ripe mango that I have to try and eat while sustaining a conversation. While my fellow trainers deliver sessions where the intricate differences between grammar-translation and communicative methods are discussed in detail, I have developed games, role plays and other interactive activities.
David leaves for school at 5:30am and I follow an hour later. Once the masters’ training is over, I join the headteachers and / or the secondary English training. I am also trying to get to see the primary teachers on teaching practice, but with 57 in 6 different schools, its impossible to follow that up properly.
Meanwhile the king has left the palace, leaving his mother and concubines behind, presumably to become exhibits in the museum that the Maoists intend to make. Political stagnation continues.
A week later: masters training now over, so my time has been divided between schools in the hope that primary trainees will actually be teaching rather than organising musical chairs (no chairs, lots of mud) or making materials for their ‘exhibition’ – artistic rather than having any relevance to teaching and learning. Back to the ETC at tiffin time to see the secondary English group that I now teach every afternoon. David is back on the day shift so life is returning to some normality. Our friend Anil, a volunteer with an NGO in Kathmandu, arrived on Thursday, having survived the 15 hour bus journey with a colleague to visit a water and sanitation project in Jhapa; nights on a double bed in the office with several others and daal bhat 3 times a day. Strange and delightful to have a friend for a meal and a bottle of wine (the first in Biratnagar!); talking and listening is exhausting after our usual isolation.
A treat this week was a visit to the local girls’ school. I know Mina Pokharel, the deputy head quite well, as she comes to the ETC to train Science teachers. She is a very good trainer, wears beautiful clothes, has short hair (very unusual for Nepali women) and rides a motorbike. Her daughters are at school in India. The head of the school, Bina Koirala, has just completed the headteacher training; she is due to retire next year. Like Mina, she is very smart, with a fantastic sari collection – a different one for every day of the 30 day training. I arrived at school at 9:50 on Thursday morning to find most of the staff present, and 600 girls lining up for assembly. Primary students were in ragged blue dresses, while the secondary students wore blue and white kurta surwaal. Grade 10 girls led Saraswati’s (goddess of education) prayer, followed by the national anthem. It was then grade 6’s turn to pick up the litter on the field before going to class. I met all the staff – 9 women and 8 men, before being taken on a tour of the school and being introduced to every class. Taught grade 6 for part of the lesson before grade 10 English. Delightful, well motivated girls. After a science class with Mina, she showed me the cavernous science lab which resembled Miss Haversham’s house, before going to take her optional computer class. To my amazement there are 5 working computers in a newly refurbished room, with a group of students doing fairly advanced computer graphics. A very enjoyable morning and possibly a place of refuge when things are slack at the ETC.
Newspaper headlines are depressing. After one meeting of the new CA when the republic was declared, there has been no further meeting. Koirala continues to make all decisions; strikes are starting again. One Minister locked six of his junior ministers in a toilet for 3 days because they did not agree with him. Maoists have announced they are quitting the non-existent government. MEd students taking their final exams rampaged when invigilators tried to stop them cheating, attacking teachers, ripping up examination papers and preventing others from completing their exams.
Chhatra, our landlord is back in Kathmandu and phones daily with instructions for Karna, who remains cheerful and is a delight to have around. Yesterday he cycled to India to buy shears to attempt to tame the vegetation in the garden. SLC results (GCSE equivalent) were published on Monday; we were overjoyed to discover that Karna has achieved a first division pass, so discussions about his future are underway. His brother, Durna, has also passed, and is likely to go to Malaysia to earn money, as so many young Nepalis do.