Nepal June Update by Ardyn Ford & Ryan James

We were welcomed into the village by Nepalese dances and songs performed by the kids at the school. It was so adorable. Every day since then we’ve been teaching them in English camp. They are all so eager to learn. During construction a lot of them will come over and help us haul rocks up the mountain. Today a group of them even worked together to carry up a basket of sand so heavy that most of the guys on the team can barely carry them.

The construction projects and English camp are going pretty well. Our biggest project is building a retaining wall, which holds the schoolyard and bathrooms in place.

It has gone pretty fast even though the rocks are delivered about a hundred feet below the wall and have to be hauled up by hand. We are also working on painting projects throughout the school, and building walls between classrooms. We are still planning to build some houses, but the projects are really focusing on developing the primary school.

Yesterday was our excursion day, which was honestly kind of annoying because it screwed up our normal routine. This gave us lots of opportunities to practice our bartering skills, which you need at nearly every shop in Nepal. Most shopkeepers will try to charge you double the value of the things you are buying. One of the biggest differences between Kathmandu and a US city is all the animals that live in the city. Cows, monkeys, dogs, goats, and cats are all pretty common, and none of them care how many humans are nearby.