Kaiser library scavenger hunt

Today was a very fun day for me. Asoke Sir and I took the twenty-one fifth, sixth, and seventh graders to Kathmandu's wonderful Kaiser Library. However, this once-palace is more than a library--it is the house and private collection of the son of one of Nepal's Rana kings from the early 20th century. It is a musty and dusty series of fantastic rooms filled with old tomes, statues, animal "trophies," and portraits of anyone who was anyone in Nepal in the first half of the century.

If you can't tell from his name, Kaiser Shamsher Jung
Bahadur Rana's 486 publicly displayed pictures of himself
point to a man whose only love greater than old books,
old statues, and dead stuffed animals, was himself.

So naturally the kids could hardly contain themselves. But I had a surprise for them. A few weeks ago, I scouted Kaiser and created a scavenger hunt. The students had to split into their houses and search for information buried in the palace's books.

They actually had a lot of fun doing this, and I like to think they learned a few things on the way. Apart from learning the hunted-for information (when did Darwin's U.S.S. Beagle set sail?), they got practice deciphering Dewey Decimals, navigating a library, and navigating within books for specific information. These students do not have easy access to a library (a school library is almost unheard of here), so this allowed them to run around one (a quite impressive one) and have fun. At least, more fun than doing a research project. Several of their tasks did not involve cracking an ancient spine and dusting off a book cover--below, Suprina is searching for a certain Devanagari symbol in the library owner's biggest portrait:

"I don't know Alex Sir, all I can see is his ego..."

Find a great buffalo head. Check.

After the wildly successful scavenger hunt, we ate some lunch and took a tour of the ornate building. The biggest hit by far was the Bengal Tiger.

Although, I thought it was the creepiest. No matter where you
stand, the beast is always looking right at you

Yuvraj, giving the beast a wide berth and the respect it deserves

Karan and Rasik, discourteously taunting the tiger
(by my suggestion)

Kaiser is a wonderful place to spend a whole day poring over pages you have to blow dust off of before reading, or to take a quick tour taking pictures of the unique royal collection of one of Nepal's historical elite rulers.

Or, of course, to take part in a kick-ass scavenger hunt

Mass Momo

As the children draped themselves around their room like drying laundry after their trip through Shivapuri National Park, I was getting a crash course in momo-making.

Momos are dumplings. The Nepalese love their momo joints the way Americans love their McDonalds--a dozen on each street and service in the billions. They mainly come in Buffalo, Chicken, and Veggie, though I have heard momo connoisseurs argue that a momo isn't a momo unless it's a meat momo. Another fun fact about momo is that "momo" is fun to say.

Today I will teach you how to make momo for sixteen school-children. I was taught by Sita Miss, the owner, proprietor, and CEO of Stephens International School.

Sita graciously adding to my meagre momo pile

First, roll out a simple dough of flour and water and use a drinking glass to cut out circles. Then, take a delicious mix of ground buffalo (or chicken or anything tasty), onions, cabbage, ginger, a bit of oil and salt, and put a hefty dollop on your small circle of momo dough. Here comes the part that requires technique. Take your dough and and pinch one end together with thumb and forefinger while holding the meat-dollop in place with your other thumb, like so:

also, make sure you are amusing some native Nepalese
as they watch a Kuirey (stupid foreigner) try to make a momo

Then, fumble around with the meat and dough to make sure it doesn't overflow when you eventually try to pinch it closed.

This step removes the amusement from Nepalese onlookers
and replaces it with a heap of pity and a pinch of disgust.

The next step is where the fun begins. With your "pinching" thumb, push your side of the dough-circle away from you while at the same time folding the other side with your other thumb and forefinger. This creates the ridges on your momo and also gives them their signature crescent shape.

Then, after about 5 or 6 folds, seal the momo by pinching it closed. Be over-proud of your momo and disregard the fact that the people around you have made five momo in the time it took you to make one.

Finally, the momo are steamed until delicious.

Asoke Sir and Sita Miss are a formidable momo making team. It is rumored that Asoke once forged 1,400 momo in one sitting.

The master at his craft

This is a very good thing, seeing as we had to make around four hundred last night. I actually ended up making some decent looking momo, after my initial 50 were recurrently referred to as "little potbellied rat-babies." The momo piled higher and higher--slighty higher on Asoke and Sita's side of the table until we had enough to feed the momo munching machines. The dinner bell rang, footsteps quickened toward the kitchen, and saliva dripped from the mouths of sixteen ravenous school children. Momo are a treat, a rarity among the endless trough of dal-bhat that comes from the kitchen day in, day out. They were eaten in silence, mouths too full to talk. They went upstairs, stomachs too full to play. They went to sleep, bodies too busy digesting mass momo to do anything else. A satisfying reward after a strenuous day of trekking the mysterious, historical Kathmandu Valley.

Shivapuri Peak

Yesterday the Stephens School boarders and I trekked up to Shivapuri Peak, just north of Kathmandu, seeking the sacred source of the Bagmati River. On our way, we stopped at an ancient and highly revered Hindu temple. After the sixteen of us piled out of a microbus, we walked a short distance to the Budanilkantha Temple (buda--old man, nil--blue, kantha--throat.) Here lies the largest and most important of three ancient stone sculptures of Vishnu Narayan. It may be over 2,000 years old, according to some.

In Hinduism, Vishnu has many forms, but the reclining Vishnu Narayan is the source of all things. While laying on a sea of serpents, a lotus sprung from the supine figure's navel. In that lotus was Brahma, the creator of all things. Since this temple is important to Hindus, it is difficult to get close to the revered recliner and we had a mountain to climb, so we only stayed for a few minutes to bask in one of Kathmandu Valley's four Mandalas which honor Lord Vishnu.

Next stop, Baghdwar, a quick 7-kilometer hike up about 1,000 meters. Have you ever been hiking with 14 children?

Nepalese parents have a saying they use when talking to one another about their children and when they are feeling particularly exasperated. It goes something like this: "If I throw my kids in the river, I'm going upstream to look for them."

Fortunately for the Stephens kids we were looking for the source of a river, so "downstream" was all that existed from where we were. Where we were was Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park, a wonderful escape from polluted Kathmandu. The forest boasts beasts such as Himalayan bear, Indian leopards, and rhesus monkeys. However, our own stampede of loud and complaining children ensured that none of those beasts got remotely close to us.

Half of our stampede, which included the stray canine 

Apart from a lot of complaining and several instances of Shyam (sixth grade) and I carrying a couple of especially whiny 4th graders up the steepest sections, the kids did very well. I'm really proud of them. They are an amazing group of kids. I am not hiking with a group of young children ever again.

I like them better on my camera, not
my back... looking at you, Aaditi

I am a solitary trekker. Exhales and footfalls are the only noises I don't mind giving the forest. Yelling back and forth, telling the fast kids to stop before they leave the slower ones for good, locating the bag with the only water in it (bad planning), and hearing "Sir! My legs are paining, I can't walk," over and over again is not peaceful hiking for me. We had also picked up a stray dog I had warned the students not to feed noodles to. They didn't listen and he became a member of our pack immediately. At first I was dismayed, but the dog seemed loyal and stuck with us and seemed to even show us the way sometimes. Perhaps he was our spirit guide. Perhaps he just wanted more pizza flavored noodles. Either way we all missed him when we left.

Shyam carrying Heath. Heath: small frame, big complainer

Bibek and Ajay made a vine-leash for our kukur for a bit

I even grew to like our faithful companion

The hike was demanding, however, and I can't blame the kids for being kids (short legs and all.) We reached Baghdwar (Bagh--tiger, dwar--gate) in about 2.5 hours. Baghdwar is the source of the sacred Bagmati River which flows through the capital, separating the Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts. Unlike the Bagmati in the city, the water at 2,732 meters was clean and refreshing.

Ajay giving the Bagh a big, wet kiss

And taking a drink from this river

After the team posed for me at Baghdwar with their biggest and brightest smiles...

...we began our journey back, but rested for quite a while on the sunny Shivapuri peak (2732m). The kids were beat. In fact, they looked dead, so I had to check to make sure each was alive with a good stick prod. Trust me, it was necessary and in no way payback for making me yell at and carry them.

OK kids, who's ready to head back down?

... anyone...? 

... Kids?

We have to go home! Stick to the plan!

In the end, though they moaned and groaned, they made it down like the true champs I know they are. It was a long day for them but they were rewarded when they got back to the school: homemade momos for dinner. And you know what? With this group of kids, I would look downstream for them if I threw them in the river. And I mean that.

3rd and Final Day of Sports Week!

The 3rd and final day of the first ever Stephens Sports Week has come and gone, but it will not be forgotten. Water, dangling biscuits, and the highly anticipated return of Toddlers vs. Balloons are among some of the highlights of the day. But enough words.

For the first event on this final day, the second and third graders soaked up some fun with the Water Relay, where one teammate filled the bottle for the other to transport back to the start. The second event was very similar, but catered to the kindergartners. After a lot of teacher intervention, there was still a large radius of residual water around the filling station.

Next up, grades three through seven partnered up and tied the knot. No, not to settle down, but to fall down in the Three-Legged Relay.

Bizen and Bibek made a formidable team. They took
the last leg of the three legged race for Yellow House

Some were naturals. Others were Siamese Frankensteins

The little guys had a big day today. Again it was the Lower Kindergartner's turn to take the courtyard, this time to show off their honed hand-eye coordination and deadly accuracy. Their task was to transfer colorful balls from a box to their own team's dust-bin. Naturally the conniving kiddies tried to throw their opponents off by putting balls in the other team's baskets. Tricky little tikes.

The Upper KG class had a modified version of the LKG ball in basket task. They had to toss the balls into the dust bins. Participants reached, stretched, and more than toed the line to get an edge on the other competitors. A shrewd bunch of five year olds...

Elbows! Come on Bibika!

The shot's there. The confidence isn't.

Then it was time for all the little kids to again take the courtyard the Dribbling Relay. They were so good at basketball-style dribbling, the balls never seemed to touch the ground...

Finally it was the big kids' turn again. They took the stage and took to their stocking feet for the Shoe-Tying Relay. I was paying less attention to which house won this one, and more about which shoe-tying technique came out on top; the loop-swoop-pull, or the bunny-ear technique?

The hardest part was trying to find your own shoes

Once securely fashioned to all parts of their school uniform, the big kids battled brains and fast fingers in the Chess and Table Tennis Competitions. However, there is no footage of chess occurring in the classrooms because at the same time in the courtyard, a different strategy game was being strung up for the first, second, and third graders.

Like baby birds or feeding fish, I don't know which, the relayers arrived at the feeding frenzy open mouthed, vying for the dangling crackers and their tickets back to the starting line.

It was a horrifying day to be a cracker

He's so proud he forgot to let go of the rope and run back

While the points from the last three days were being tallied up, the toddlers were given a chance to once and for all prove their dominance over their sworn enemies, balloons. Their task was to bat the balloons in the air to the finish line, but in a dramatic turn, the devious little kids decided to instead humiliate the balloons by playing with them with reckless abandon. Swatting them this way and that, pretending to swat and missing on purpose no doubt to inflict fear upon their inflated foes, the littles ended up the victors by tossing aside the rules and instead tossing around their new, round playthings.

Some didn't bother batting balloons and
authoritatively toted their new toys around

It's been an exciting three days, and though the results are in, I think you know what I'm going to say. I was going to make a talk about there being one big house, a combination of all the houses, but that would make a big brown house and it wasn't a pretty metaphor, so I'll just say this. Every single Stephens student has won today. Everyone had smiles on their faces. Everyone had shouts of encouragement for their friends and their opponents. Everyone had a blast. Everyone got to skip out on three days of classes to play games. Everyone won.

However, for those of you keeping track at home as far points go, Red House and Blue House tied for first, while Green and then Yellow took second and third, respectively. I hope this amazing, first annual tradition of sportsmanship, friendship, and teamwork lives on at Stephens for a long, long time. Way to go Stephens!