Kinders and Kathmandu: Don't Angry Me

The new year has passed and it's now officially the year 2072 in Nepal. That also means a start of a new school year. The children who are ready will be heading off to government school, where they will hopefully stay for the remainder of their educational years. I'll be sad to lose some of the strongest little singers, but the younger ones will rise to the occasion.

Over the past five months I've compiled a list of some of the more hilarious things that come out of these kid's mouths. Kids are basically the same no matter where you are on earth. So here's a list of some of the best moments:

"Fighting, miss?"
"No, no fighting."
"Miss, DON'T ANGRY ME!!!!"
Commence fight sequence.

"Yaahh miss? No..." - when something is bad or they don't want something.

"Krisshh 3!!!" - favourite movie

"NamaAaste, miss!"

"Game off?" - time to stop playing

"Ke garne?" - "what to do?" a common Nepali phrase. The kids will use it sometimes to pretend they don't understand and couldn't possibly do what you've asked

Here's a video that gives you a bit of an idea of a typical morning at Sanga-Sangai. They act a little weird when they know I'm filming but you'll still get the gist.

Other exciting news! My father is brilliant and brought along a roll out keyboard. It obviously doesn't have the action of a real piano, but it's the best we can do taking security and space into consideration. The kids are delighted. I got them to do their absolute best singing and presented them and then they couldn't stop giggling. So now every day they ask for "piano" and start shaking when I bring it out. I'm glad I waited until now to at least start them as they didn't have enough of the basic skills needed back in December. I needed to prep them first. We don't have a lot of resources, so we write out most of the songs by hand so everyone has a copy (and practises their notiation). Most of the time that means "miss" has to do a lot of the writing. They can read the basic notations and rhythms quite well now. We are having a lot of fun with this. I am so proud of these guys!

I've been doing my best to teach them about life on the west coast of Canada. We've watched a few videos and looked at a bunch of photos. I told them some First Nations stories and we did some work with totem poles and other First Nations artwork. They love hearing all the stories, and especially love anything involving the ocean and its animals, which they have never seen.

We spend most mornings reading books in English and Nepali, so we all get to practise our words. I feel that just speaking with them in English really makes a big difference. They have their favourite phrases as well.

We've been enjoying the completed grounds at the school. We now have concrete over the full yard. Now it stays dry when the rains come, and the kids can play football more easily. It's been getting so hot now though that it absorbs and throws a lot of heat. There really are only two seasons in Nepal.

We had a fun sidewalk chalk day and the kids went nuts "decorating" the entire grounds. Check out the photo below for secret messages and tiny children climbing motor vehicles! Safety first :D

Some new adorable students have joined at the start of this new year, and over the next month or so more will come as families figure out where their children will be going.