Friday (26th) was my last day of school. How quickly time flies! Maybe the short day times and the busy weekends helped, or maybe the school day goes so quick because lessons are only 40 minutes long (minus the the time the earlier teacher run overruns). Whatever the reason, I genuinely didn't expect this to be over so soon. It hit me really late that I had one week left and I was really busy sorting out my visa during school days that I only got to tell my kids on the penultimate day that I was leaving them. I hated that, just telling them so suddenly.
What did I spent the last day doing? I spent a helluva lot of time writing my signature, which probably changed at least 20 times. I wrote my full name and email address on the board but the kids insisted on having my autograph in their books and then to rewrite my name and email again. For the first time I regretted having a long email address but I didn't want any kid to feel left out. Some kids asked for my password, which I initially thought was a mistranslation but they said they wanted it so they can check my emails... The cheeky kids also tried to ask for my number too!
I also realised I didn't take advantage of my camera properly. I took photos of the little kids but I didn't take good photos of my friends or me with the kids. So maybe this was very trusting of me but I taught some of my kids how to use an canon 1100D, which many of them unsurprisingly was eager to use. It was cute seeing the kids trying to use the functions properly and I was proud to see they took the responsibility seriously (didn't get a heart attack once that a kid was going to drop it or ruin my lens). It's hard to photograph kids but they did a very good job! Within minutes, they were teaching each other how to use the separate functions. Pretty impressive kids they were.
I went back to school on Monday. My flight wasn't until 4pm and I wanted to spend my last few hours at my most favourite place in Nepal (Manasarovar Academy if you haven't guessed). I went to take some more photos and to say goodbye properly. The boys, forever full of (cheeky) requests asked me to kiss them on the cheek and I thought 'why not?' and gave one boy a kiss on the cheek. It didn't take long before a crowd of eager boys formed around me and a second crowd of boys formed who were pretending to faint after I kissed them on the cheeks and sighing 'Aye hai'. Throughout the day, I kept getting requests for kisses. I've never been this popular with the boys before! One boy sneakily stole a (wet) kiss on the lips. Regrettably my response was to yell out 'Ah frick!' I hope I didn't break his heart!
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| Never been so popular with boys before! |
The kids are sweet and I didn't expect much but I wanted to give them all hugs. I received cards, origami and letters as well as a book and a pen. The hand made cards are beautiful. Peanut cookies a student made me were a life saver for my trip to Kolkata. Two students even honoured me with a khada scarf!
As for Miss Tsultrim and Bijaya, I love them so much. I saw them as family. Miss Tsultrim, very opinionated but charismatic. She can be strict with the children but she'll also make them laugh. Determined to get good education for the children and not settling for less, she's an amazing role model. Miss Bijaya is like the caring mother, in fact she reminded me of my own mom! Also had genuine concern and put others first. She use to teach before her voice was at risk but that doesn't stop her from working with children. I tried to talk to them as much as I could on the last day but I didn't want to leave. They also honoured me with a khada scarf as well as normal scarf, both which I will treasure forever.
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| The amazing main staff <3 |
I do hope that I can visit Manasarovar academy again someday soon.
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