This post features student writing.

Day 5

Today was a great day for everyone. Barely anyone had a low of the day! We left at around 9:30 to go to the school. We arrived and all of the kids were singing the national anthem. They performed a welcoming ceremony for us, which included marching (military style) and lots of dances. So many of the kids were so talented, and all of them were adorable. We walked back to the hostel for lunch, after which we returned to the school and finally began our construction for the classrooms. We split up into two groups. One group spent a short amount of time moving bricks and most of the time tying down rods with wire (for stability purposes). The other group shoveled dirt and stones, mixing them together with water to make cement. After the hard work, we all hiked back to the hostel once again for our dance lesson. Apparently we’re much better than we thought! Then, most of the the group moved on to learning Nepali, while a few of us helped out in the kitchen, learning how to make momos (dumplings).

-Sabine B.

Day 6

Today, we awoke to the sound of crows chirping and pans banging. Breakfast was omelettes with toast and bananas.

We went for a long walk downtown to the market, where there was a combination of harvested food and objects. Many people bought goods, including pants in the local style. After this experience, we trekked up the side of a mountain back to our accommodations.

Lunch was more dhal bhat (#dhal bhat power 24hr). It is so delicious. After lunch, a few of us participated in a game of volleyball.

The central focus of this trip, community service, occurred in the afternoon hours between 2pm and 4pm. This experience is both meaningful and powerful. We worked through the rain, in the middle of a cloud.

The latter half of the afternoon was spent engaging in Nepali dance lessons and interactions with the boarding girls.

Overall, today was a great day! Everyone seems to get along beautifully, like one big happy family.

Excited for tomorrow and the trek that is upcoming soon.

-Samuel C. (Sami)

Day 7

Today was a really fun day! We got an earlier start than usual and left for the school around 8:30 after breakfast. Once we got to the school, we split into two groups. One group worked on mixing concrete while the other group spent some time observing the students and the teachers in the school. Around 11am, we headed back for lunch and we ate dhal bhat. Afterwards, we went back to the school and we switched so that the other group could go see what the classrooms were like. This was one of the highlights of my day because it was really fun to meet all of the kids. Afterwards, we had a lesson about the caste system in Nepal and then we met some of the members of the lowest caste who live nearby. This was an amazing experience that really gave a lot of us a different perspective. We ate dinner and talked as a group about our trek that we will be leaving on tomorrow.

-Gabby E.