Update from Nepal

Hello all,

Well, I nearly made it all the way to Everest Base Camp--got as far as Pheriche before winter weather and extreme cold made it nearly impossible to continue. Well, not impossible, just very unwise. I took advice from locals/sherpas along the way, and they advised all trekkers to turn back at Pheriche and Lobuche. I did not argue! I have never felt as cold in my life as when I had my overnight stay in a "lodge" in Pheriche. -20 F outdoors, and easily zero indoors. Actually, the only thing separating me, outside from inside, was a thin plywood wall and a plastic tarp for a door--very primitive from Tengboche on, and certainly not for the weak-at-heart at even lower elevations like Namche Bazar. But what a trek while it lasted! I saw some of the most beautiful geography ever, and had a good time, although freezing cold for most of it. From Lukla to Namche, the weather was sunny and warm, and I hiked in a t-shirt for this distance. Then like a light switch, the weather turned nasty and cold. Trekking upward from Namche to Pheriche was literally in the fog, and the entire trek back down to Lukla was foggy, windy, light snow, and COLD. Once back in Lukla, I found the accomodations all over town to be staggering. In the middle of winter, there is no running water--it's all frozen, and nobody wants to waste their firewood for warmth, only to cook with. The best place to hang out for the night, I found, was in the kitchen of the Shangri-La Lodge, with the locals. I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but it was warmer than in the lodge itself! I just smiled a great deal, and responded, "USA"!!! With a backup of airline flights, I had to battle it out with frantic foreign trekkers for a flight down to Kathmandu--this proved to be quite an adventure. Some of these trekkers had been stuck in Lukla for up to seven days already. A very temporary break in the clouds yesterday morning meant that three airplanes had time, and visibility, to land and take back off. A "bribe" on my part of $120 US to the right airport worker (with the help of a sherpa, Goatham), assured me a seat on Agni Airlines back to Kathmandu--really. Otherwise, I think I might still be sitting in the freezing wasteland of Lukla.

Anyway, now I am back in the relative warmth of Kathmandu, at the Hotel Everest Mount Holiday, enjoying my last 48 hours before flying back to the United States. Helena's Rooftop Cafe is every bit as good as I read about and was advised--a long walk upstairs (well worth it) puts you eight stories above Thamel on a sunny, warm, scenic rooftop overlooking the entire city. The breakfast at this location has been the absolute best! See you all in a few short days,

Paul Bosseler

Mountain Bike Race

Today we worked a downhill monutain bike race here in the foothills of Kathmandu. We taught first aid, trauma management, and CPR to race volunteers, and we even got a chance to utilize some of our skills, as there were many crashes, and a few cuts and scrapes that were tended to. The bikers are crazy! This hill is steep, fast, rocky, and bumpy--pictures can do no justice when shooting a 45 degree angle.

Farewell from Kathmandu. The other four volunteers leave for home tomorrow, and I am pressing on to trek to Everest Base Camp for the next two weeks. Will have no on-line contact during this time period, but will get everyone caught up with some great photos in two weeks.

Paul Bosseler

Namaste Nepal

I feel so blessed to have been able to make three trips with Project Swim International, and this last one here in Nepal has been great! The people have been so wonderful and welcoming here. I loved having the chance to teach such a variety of students not only our water safety education program, but to also conduct a CPR class for lifeguards and a First Aid class for a group of Mountain Bikers. The experiences I have had are once in a lifetime, and I am so glad that I have had so much support from family and friends to get here, and continued support from the locals of Nepal, and the wonderful volunteers with PSI.

I want to say a big thank you to our executive director, Benjamin Schaub and all the hard work and HEART he puts into each of these trips. Thank you for all you do!! I want to thank our wonderful and very supportive local contact Yubraj with Nepal Swimming Association and our friend Deepak for their help on this trip. Finally, a huge thank you to the members of my group I was able to lead this year. They are an amazing group of volunteers who have struggled through sickness and hard situations, and everyday awoke with smiles and taught so many people here. Thank you Paul (co-leader), Amanda, Jacque, and Nick for a wonderful trip to Nepal, you guys were so great and thank you for putting up with me for 3 weeks! ;)

It is a bitter sweet goodbye as I leave for home tomorrow and return to school and work! Thank you to everyone who has been involved with PSI, especially the other groups in India! See you soon!

Namaste!

Nicole

Sup Nepal!

So today the school we were supposed to teach at unfortunatly cancelled on us, so we spent the day with our contact, Yubraj's family. We had a great time and they made us a great Nepali Lunch and then we stayed for tea. We had a great time and will Miss Yubraj's family when we leave. We have two days of teaching left which include two schools, a group of mountian bikers, and a village just north of Kathmandu. We will be so sad to leave on Sunday, we have had so much fun in Nepal!!

Namaste!

Team Tiik Chha

Nicole, Jacque, Amanda, Nick, and Paul

A Visit to Kopan Monastery Plus a Great Day of Teaching

The five of us taught in the sun today at Joseph School--it was a really nice experience. We have taught in a variety of settings now--big and small groups, tightly packed school rooms, large auditoriums, indoors and out. It is such a satisfying and rewarding experience to teach such attentive, lively, and inquisitive audiences. I know I can speak for all five of us when I say that we are in a fortunate situation to be teaching as we do! In between teachings, we try to get a little cultural tourism in--these pictures are from Kopan Monastery, which sits on a hilltop on the Northern outskirts of Kathmandu. This is a really, really cool place to see.

Paul

Teaching is Complete!

We finished our 10 full days of teaching today! We cannot believe that our trip is almost over! We taught a total of 1,943 people over the course of 10 days! Our most memorable teaching experience was yesterday, we taught 50 adult women at the Madurai Non-Formal Education Centre (MNEC), an organization that provides women from rural and urban slums with food, medical supplies and education, and it also has a center for HIV/AIDS for women and children. These women were fantastic! They were so eager to learn, and they presented each of us with beautiful flower garlands. At the end of our lesson, a few of them came up to us and thanked us. One woman told us how they see drownings occur fairly often, and they never did anything because they didn't know what to do, and they were excited because this was the first time they had ever received any information about how to rescue someone, and they were very excited to use what we had taught. We were so moved by these women, that we donated our teaching bag with all of our teaching supplies and script of what we taught to the MNEC. This entire teaching experience has been great, some of the boys we taught at an all boys high school near our hotel recognize us on the street every morning.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Mamallapurram!

--Kaitlin, Caitlin, Carley, Beth, Jesse and Bella.

Back from Chitwan National Park!

Hi Everyone,

The five of us had a great side trip to Chitwan National Park for a little R&R in between teaching. We rode elephants, took some nature walks, and went canoeing with crocodiles--yes, that's a crocodile peering up from the water in the first picture. I think he was looking for breakfast! Even on this side of the world, we have heard the bad news, and are deeply saddened by the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords, as well as the other victims wounded and killed at her side. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all.

We are back to teaching bright and early tomorrow morning--goodnight.

Paul