Bloom where you're Planted

In the seven weeks of term one at Kathmandu International Study Centre I have learnt unbelievable amounts about myself, the children under my care, how to run my class effectively and how to live in a foreign culture without becoming utterly overwhelmed... it's sad to say the first term is over, but realising that it was the shortest term of the four, I'm so happy there's many more weeks to come in this beautiful country with this amazing role! We ended the term with a 'Splash Day' for the kids, but I was loving life, flying down soapy slides and tipping buckets of freezing cold water on my colleagues; most of them reciprocating simultaneously! The kids had so much fun and it was a great end of term bonding experience!

Throughout the term, I had to face the challenges of every new teacher... parents night was one of these and I'm so glad my teaching assistant, Amelia was there to help! I also had to face taking an Assembly, for the first time in my teaching career - to say I felt anxious would be a complete understatement, as I woke up panicking the night before, terrified of speaking to a hall full of kids AND adults AND parents..! It was a success though, as the kids in my class had prepared a song with actions and shared some facts about India, as it's the country we've been studying in our World Around Us lessons! So at least the pressure was taken off me and I could actually enjoy the morning!

These are some of the beautiful kids in my Year 2 class:

When I watched a recruitment video about coming to teach at KISC back in the early months of 2017, the recurring statement of past staff was that the children here 'make it'. They kept saying things like 'it's the kids that make this place special', 'once you teach here, you'll never want to leave because of the kids'... I thought to myself, how could they be any different than children elsewhere in the world, but since I've been in this unique country, I've come to realise the unique situation of each family and child under our care. Their families may be involved in work to help the surrounding community, sometimes in the mountains, sometimes in the valley, but it means that these children have a unique childhood, as a lot of them are classed as Third Culture Kids (TCKs) because they are living in Nepal presently, but have been born elsewhere and will probably be going somewhere else in the future. Most of the children come from Christian families and therefore believe and respect what we teach and value at KISC. So, the children in KISC are special. In fact, children in every school are special. But these young children have made me realise the importance of trusting God in everyday situations and that life is a gift from God to be used for His glory! I've learnt here that it's not about where you're 'from' but about where you're planted NOW.

One day after school, Amelia and I went to a famous 'monkey temple' in Kathmandu and the sights at night were incredible! We also got a selfie with the local Tibetan monks! They were all looking at us weirdly though when we were running away from the monkeys screaming... probably wasn't the best place for two jumpy girls to go!

On Friday evenings, it's turning into a tradition to go out for a meal after our staff football game and go back to someone's house for a movie... this is half of the gang and it really is like a family - a home from home!

Trying different cuisine together has been more like a routine rather than an anomaly here... this photo was taken during our first taste of Korean food! Some was bland and some, I wish was bland!!

Days out with friends make life bearable when there's so much going on! We were at the school swimming gala here, enjoying some laughs!

I am so thankful to be working alongside like-minded people who are indescribably supportive... I am coming to the end of my two week break from teaching and the challenge will begin again this Monday, but I've had an amazing time being off school, travelling to the South of Nepal to visit and ride elephants, see wild Rhinos and canoe in Chitwan National Park!

On this trip, I sat on a precious elephant for the first time ever and after seeing a skull in an elephant museum it was actually quite creepy sitting on it!

We were allowed to bathe the elephants after they bathed us! It was like a spa day for everyone!

We also rode through the jungle on an elephant and even spent the night in a treehouse to watch the active nocturnal wildlife... for which, they didn't provide night time lenses!

Directly after my three day trip to Chitwan (which consisted of an 11 hour bus journey along a death road both ways!), I flew to New Delhi in India with a friend from the KISC Guesthouse to explore the areas within a 12 hour driving radius! Firstly, we got a tour round 5 of the major tourist areas in Delhi - this is the famous Lotus Temple 

Then we drove three hours to Agra to see the Romantic and Majestic Taj Mahal! 

After staying in Agra and visiting the Red Fort and carpet and jewel factories, we hit the road again to Jaipur, the Pink City! Here, we road a camel and an elephant again and saw all the pink sights! 

God really has been watching over me in this side of the world and his presence is forever my sense of comfort.

After everything though, I'm glad to be back in Nepal, settling in again to a place I can comfortably call 'home' for the foreseeable future. This blog is surprisingly short considering I haven't written one in six/seven weeks but in short, I've been having the time of my life, learning lots and enjoying life with new found friendships that I am confident will last a very long time! Also, wifi is often slow here and there have been weeks between starting my blog and finishing it! Due to the busy nature of life in Nepal, it is tricky to face technological problems but I will try and write more regular blogs this time as there's lots of exciting things coming up that I'd love to share, including activity week at KISC and a Hindu festival which means we're off school; AGAIN!

In the meantime, I'm going to remember to 'bloom where I'm planted' as God has placed me in this unique school and country for that very reason. I pray you'll do the same where you're rooted!

Till next time,
God bless,

Nikita x