Mid Term Break

This last weekend in February has been KISC's midterm break. So we had 5 days off together as a family. A good chance to catch up on jobs at home and to spend time together doing things we don't normally get to do.

On Sunday afternoon we went out to Godavari Botanical Gardens on the edge of Kathmandu with some friends. We had not made it out there before and now wish we hadn't waited so long. It is just a half hour ride by minibus, and at less then 20p each (kids go free), a bargain. Although we did end up with all 4 of us and a Nepali lady sat on a double seat - so it was cosy!

The gardens were really lovely, lots of open space for Sam to run around and the weather has been really warming up so we had a nice picnic lunch there too, enjoying the sunshine. This is obviously THE place to go for dating couples though, they were all over the place. In a culture where public displays of affection are not done and dating as we would in the west is a very new thing, couples are always looking for quiet places where they won't meet anyone they know!

Afterwards we stopped for a chiyaa (A very sweet, spiced tea drink) in the local village. Miriam soon made friends as the neighbours all came to see, and hold, the bideshi (foreign) baby. Sam isn't keen on this attention and spent his time climbing the wall outside. We then went to catch the minibus back, again there were 5 of us on a seat made for two for most of the journey. We also had a slightly crazy driver who was in a hurry to get back so he could get more passengers as it was coming up to rush hour and so the more trips out of Kathmandu he can make at that time the more money he can make. When the locals are calling for the driver to slow down it is a little worrying! But we all made it in one piece.

On the Monday evening we had a cross cultural evening. We were invited as the token Brits to a Southern American BBQ. The meat had been smoked for the whole day. Our chef had got up at 5am (having not been able to sleep because he was so excited!) to go round to our hosts, waking them up, so he get in and get the meat in the smoker before 6am so that it would be ready for us at 6pm! It was delicious, and made our British BBQs seem rather lame in comparison.

Sam enjoyed the evening too. The family hosting have chickens, bees and two dogs. So Sam got to feed the chickens and even stroke one. He was less keen about their 6 month old Alsatian "puppy" which was bigger then him and he reffered to as "The Lion". It kept trying to lick him when we first arrived but once it calmed down he was happier and we had to find the Lion to say goodbye when it was time to head home for bed.

First Day Back

Yesterday was our first day of school for 2012. It was a staff training day and as we gathered at 8 o’clock in the school courtyard we were greeted with doughnuts and lovely, warm masala tea. It’s a great start to the year on a cold morning as we great fellow staff who we haven’t seen for four weeks and find out about their adventures, and it was the first time for our 13 new staff to really start to meet the existing group. Word quickly spread that two of our teachers had got engaged the day before and there was a definite excitement to be back, despite the cold.

Our theme this term is "Excellence" and we enjoyed a session looking at the subject, including the obligatory team building game and our term verse of 2 Peter 1:5-7. Administrative meetings then took over for the rest of the morning as we handed out new timetables, went through arrangements for the mock exam week next week and the students reports which will follow the exams. During these meetings we heard the patter of rain on the roof. January rains, important as they can give vital extra power, but not always desirable as a cloudy day is a cold day. In a country with no central heating the cold can really hit home and every bit of sun at this time of year is important.

Our day had started with a little extra unexpected power, but then the bad news struck, we were now going up to 14 hours a day of power cuts. School uses a generator for power when there is none, but we only have four week’s worth of diesel and there is currently a fuel shortage in Nepal. If the situation doesn’t improve soon we are going to have to contemplate turning the generator off during the school day. Later in the day a member of the admin staff came to speak to me about gas bottles. We mostly use gas for cooking here and he was out and there were no bottles in any of the stores. Normally KISC has a good backup supply which staff can purchase bottles from, but even we are down to our last unused bottle and so we couldn’t sell him any.

At the end of our morning of meetings we joined with parents for our traditional Staff/Parent Prayer and Worship session we always hold at the start of the August and January terms. This is organised by the Parents and was a fantastic event yesterday. We sang praises to a great God, we joined in prayer for a whole range of things including a country that is much in need of prayer, our students, their families, our teaching training programme (EQUIP), our Nepali support staff – many of whom come from very difficult situations and much more. We ended with all the teachers stood at the front as the parents came up and prayed for us all. It was a great way to ready ourselves for the new term and hopefully a great introduction for the new staff to the blessings of KISC.

Then we got to share a wonderful lunch with all the parents who had come, cooked by our fantastic cook Sarita. The courtyard was full of staff, parents and a number of children who had also come in. The KISC community at its best.

As we worked on various other tasks that needed to be done to ready the school for the return of students word started to spread. Tomorrow would be a bundh (strike) day. A group of squatters who live along the river’s edge are going to be evicted and so they were striking. They would be blocking the main roads and bridges around the city meaning we would be unable to bus in our students who live away from the school. While this only affects about 20% of our students in the secondary and less in the primary, it’s not what you want for you for the first day of a new term to have a chunk of the school missing. But this is Nepal, these are some of the challenges and exciting things we are part of as we try to run a school in a country with so many needs. And I love it.

Good News

A few weeks ago Dan had a meeting at school to discuss how KISC could manage without any new staff next term. It was a month until the end of term and there was no-one in the pipeline for January despite several key teachers leaving. The meeting ended with the conclusion that someone had to come. There just wasn't enough teachers or people qualified in the right areas to cover the teachers leaving. You could say things had got pretty desperate. Hence the topic of our last blog.

Later that day the secondary principal, Libby, an Australian, who has lived in Nepal for nearly 20 years came to see Dan. Her eldest child who has just qualified as a teacher would like to come out for a year to teach at the school (his old school) and would like to bring his girlfriend with him, who would also like to work at the school. Great!

Then a few hours later another couple of emails came in. The girlfriends friend also wanted to come out for a period of time, starting in January and someone else has heard of KISC through Libby's sending organisation and wants to come in January too! Then the next morning Dan arrived at school to find out that the girlfriend's sister had emailed the previous evening to say she would like to come too. 5 people in one day. Fantastic!

At the same time Judith (KISC's CEO) was in America meeting with our recruitment person who is based there and together they went to several recruitment fairs. These went really well and we have had over 20 applicants for people to come to KISC in the future, quite a few considering long term commitments. Since returning from the recruitment fair Judith has also had more classroom teachers applying, interviewed an experienced international school Principal and a couple of our existing staff who we were expecting to leave at the end of the year have told us they are considering staying longer. Amazing!

So God has been amazingly faithful. We have the staff we need for January and lots of people looking for the future. Now all we need is more space.

We have mentioned the need for space before. Now we have enough teachers for every Primary year in August we need another classroom, and we still need open space for the students to run around. A number of people have felt prompted in the past few weeks to pray for more land - through conversations, dreams, prayers... So God has been faithful, and we want to ask him again to be faithful. So if you are someone who prays please join the KISC community, here in Nepal and around the world, as we thank God for his faithfulness and ask him for the provision of some land to become available - and the finances needed to get it!

URGENT Staffing Needs

There seems to be a common theme about our time here, which we've probably bored you with before now, but it's fairly crucial. Staffing.

Yet again we don't have enough staff for January. We need at least 2 of the following positions filled in time for January term, which starts on the 16th January. If you know anyone that might be suitable, or are interested yourself, get the message out to them to contact Laura Beth Webster at recruitment@kisc.edu.np, and get them have a look at our website.

If you don't know anyone, but do pray then please Pray.

Urgent needs for January 2012:

• Maths teacher
• English Teacher
• History teacher
• Science teacher

There are also plenty of positions needed for the next school year. For more details check out the vacancies page on our website.

Back "Home"

We have now been back in Nepal for 10 days. Back in our home here in Kathmandu. We both felt as we left England that it had all been a bit rushed and maybe we were coming back too soon. But thankfully since we have arrived back it has felt very much like coming home. Samuel has certainly enjoyed “catching up” with his old friends, and Miriam seems to have settled very quickly, and has even started to settle into a routine, which is great at 8 weeks old.

And for us it has been good too. Dan has certainly enjoyed the first few days back at work. Starting to get back into the swing of things. Walking in on the first day was hard as everyone else was in full swing, and the work related questions came thick and fast forcing him to get his brain back into KISC mode very quickly. Becky is learning to cope with two children at home, she’s enjoyed the first week back, catching up with friends and trying to settle Sam back into his normal routine.

Of course it was hard to say goodbye to our family as they remain back “home” in England. We had a fantastic summer spending time with family, and seeing many friends too. Samuel certainly enjoyed getting to know his grandparents better and loved being able to play with them and have lots of time together – nearly as much as they enjoyed it. But for now, we are back to skype relationships with the family as we settle in back “Home” in Nepal.

Miriam Clare Parnell

As most of our readers have hopefully heard, on the 4 Sept we welcomed into the world Miriam Clare Parnell. She was born in the Wallingford maternity unit, weighing 7lbs 14oz at 3.12am.
The last two weeks have been a lot of fun, a lot of tiredness as the 3 of us get used to being 4, and a lot of busyness as the prospect of returning to Nepal starts to loom large. Samuel has adapted very well to being a big brother and is very interested in Miriam and very keen for her to be part of all we do.

We are finding it is a lot different having 2 instead of just 1 as the times for rest when the baby sleeps are not usually an option as Samuel is up, and the time Samuel is asleep is often the time Miriam chooses to be awake.

We are now visiting churches again as part of our home assignment, starting this weekend with our home church of Toxteth Tabernacle in Liverpool. After that it’s just 3 weeks until we fly back to Kathmandu on the 17th October, so life is busy getting everything prepared ready for our return.

Thank you to all of you who have sent cards and greetings, the many cards now adorn our lounge here in Didcot. We know we won’t get to see very many of you before we return, but thank you for your thoughts and prayers over the last few weeks and as we prepare to head back to Nepal.

If you haven't already heard Nepal experienced a significant earthquake over the weekend. Thankfully, our friends there are all safe and sound, but there was some loss of life.

We have added a bunch of photos to Facebook. You don't have to be on Facebook to view this photos, so just click the links below. The two albums are pretty similar, although there are some different photos in each.

Dan's photos


Becky's photos

Reverse Culture Shock

We arrived back in the UK a few weeks back and have been enjoying settling in and seeing lots of families. Samuel, particularly, is enjoying the attention of Grandparents. Thankfully we have been able to get a BMS house in Didcot for 3 months, which is right in the town centre, and easy access for the shops and families.
Coming back this time we’re really starting to feel like we’ve been away from England for quite some time and we’ve noticed a few things that are now strange for us, in the country of our birth.

Driving
Even though I don’t drive in Nepal I do ride my bike around Kathmandu, and am a regular car passenger. But I was still surprised with how aggressive I have become on the roads, not dangerously, but just not very generous, going for gaps that aren’t rightfully mine etc, just because you need to too survive on roads in Kathmandu.

Flushing
Two button flushes were certainly around before we left the UK at the beginning of 2008, but I have really noticed being back this time how they have now taken over every toilet in the land. I seriously don’t think I’ve pulled a handle on a toilet yet.

Petrol
I know this is kind of a hot topic, and I knew it was expensive, but I reckon it has now gone up more in the 3 ½ years we’ve been in Nepal, than the previous 11 years I was driving beforehand.

Music
I’ve not been fully up on the newest bands for quite some time, but at least I’d heard of most of them. Now the TV and radio are advertising and playing bands I’ve never even heard of. And not just the odd band, every single band seems to be new to me. Or is that just my age?

TV screens
Like toilet flushes these were certainly around plenty before I left, but again, the 30”+ screens have now taken over. I don’t think I’ve seen a CRT since being back.

Indoor shoes
I’m finding it really hard to walk into a house and not take my shoes off the second I walk through the door. And if for some reason I don’t take them off, for example lugging furniture into and out of houses, I feel very awkward wearing my shoes inside.

Internet
Wow, the internet is so fast! Download an episode off iplayer in less than 5 minutes, as opposed to 3-4 hours for an equivalent download back in Kathmandu.

Water
Flushing the toilet from the cistern, and not using dirty shower water. Showering in drinkable water seems such a waste. Being able to just rinse a cup or bowl and then use it straight away, rather than worrying if it’s completely dry, because back home, if it had unfiltered water still on it we’d be getting mighty sick.

I'm sure those readers who have lived overseas can sympathise with this!