It is a lot harder to come up with a blog when you are not moving around that much. You wait and wait until something interesting happens, something that merits a place in history, to be etched in that sacred online journal for the world to forever see. But the longer you wait, the longer the pages will gather dust, and thus this is the newest entry.
Life this week has been different to say the least. It has been my busiest week so far in Pokhara with 4 days of work, a public holiday coining itself 'National Democracy Day' (And yes I talk of holidays in a rather satirical tone because Nepal seems to have holidays every week) and a week of rain, sun, homesickness and general lazing about - albeit none of this probably occurred on the same day.

School has been generally hard to cope with; not in the sense of the children; they are adorable and most of them willing to learn or play, but in that for some reason this week I felt a sense of apathy within me. I thought to myself, what is the future going to be like for these kids? They come to what arguably looks like one of the poorest primary schools in Lakeside, wear near enough the same clothes every day and learn things that well in the UK they probably would have learnt 4 years ago in nursery even. What takes you back is despite all their misfortunes; their inability to make major leaps across the English language, the bright eyes and laughter resonates with 'whatever happens I still want to learn'. My lack of knowledge on the Nepali education system is probably what is making me feel apathetic, but I just hope these kids do end up going to a good secondary school, and manage to achieve an education that they deserve.

The hardest thing to do here is not make constant comparisons with the British System. We are use to standards and quality, but this is the way of life here and what they are happy with, you can't run in and change the system, even though you might feel they will be better off. However one thing both Georgia and I are trying to get a handle on is the common hitting, punching and raising of the hand. The children are so accustomed to this that they bring it with them in school. If they don't get their own way, snatching is the resorting measure. If someone takes something off him or her, it's a big wallop on that persons head. Hopefully our incessant 'No you don't hit', or 'No Smacking' will slowly become ingrained in their heads, already we have become to see improvement with mannerisms and raising of the hand to answer a question, and less shouting out, so who knows what miracles may be in this last month.

One of the oddest things to deal with is the random scars that are prevalent on the children. Foreheads, forearms, the back of hands, most kids have some mark of accident, but it doesn't seem to bother them. I find it slightly scary, who knows what the home situation is like for any of these children, but all we can do is give them some sense of fulfilment at school, stickers, stamps, praise, laughter, fun, to brush away the bad memories that they may have, and hopefully help them understand how fun being a child can be.

The atmosphere of Pokhara is so different to anything that I've seen before. People know that the situation of Nepal is bad, and even yesterday, in my one on one conversation 'class' at Paddle Nepal I was asked, 'when do you think Nepal will reach the development level of the UK?' I had no idea. All I could think of was that successful development must lie with a successful, strong and relatively happy government. I guess until that is achieved in Nepal, only then can development be truly instigated. Yet with people knowing how bad the situation is, they are relatively content with living lives here. Tourists set up homes here with businesses, and as a woman said to me yesterday, the only way anyone would be able to survive in Nepal is with Patience, something which in the bustling centre of London, is virtually inexistent.

There have been a few things that I have missed this week. Jacket Potatoes; I guess that's one of those little home comforts, thus became my journey to discover where I could purchase one of these delicacies, and lo behold I found the restaurant. I have yet to suffice my appetite, by attempting to consume one of these delights, but in time, that Potato shall be mine. My Precious....

I have also really missed TV. Not the general rubbish that is on, but my shows that I download off the internet; Chuck, Smallville and Heroes, as well as just the general comfort of when you are bored you always have TV there to fill up that gap. Well here I have books. Which are obviously different to the big box, but interesting in it's own way. Lakeside has tonnes of bookshops, some containing new books, some containing second hand books, some containing a mix of new and old, different languages, fiction and non fiction etc. I have discovered some that have interested me, The Last Man by Mary Shelley, Don Quixote by Cervantes and Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne I believe. Don Quixote was chosen as a way into Spanish Literature, which I thought, was necessary due to university. The Last Man, purely on the basis of Mary Shelley being an incredibly author, and having not heard of the book before, and having been so engrossed with Frankenstein, I thought it just to endeavour to find out what message is presented within the book. Around the World in 80 Days, as I've never read it before, and really did like the film with Jackie Chan. =D

I've also really missed my dads Parathas. I've had Paratha 3 times for lunch at a restaurant, but it's just not the same. I'm not too sure what the main difference actually is, but it's very noticeable. Hm....I can see a list of things to eat when I'm back at home slowly emerging. Dads Parathas, Mums Briyani, Mums Lasagne, Dads Fried Chicken, Home baked potatoes...hmm maybe I should stop writing about food!