I still....

Back in Nepal, back to work and back to life.

I am still struggling to move on with my real life after a month long journey.

Sometime I feel like I am in a dream and would soon be awake. And, I have to get back to my scheduled placements, plan my lesson and be ready for debriefing in the evening at the balcony with my housemates.

JORDAN’s nearly perfect and funny Vietnamese accent still echoes in my ears. JENNIFER’s non-stop speedy talks still strike through my earphone. THERESE’s lively nature still make me feel oh dear you rock!! Love u all :)

Still feel like Qyun (our cook, I know am spelling out her name incorrect) gonna shout out “Dinner- Lunch” from downstairs. “Okay”…”Yeah Okay”- thumbs up!

I cried, laughed, shared and cared….Oh I lived wonderful 30 days of my life. Now, I have ample stories to tell my and my sister’s future kids. wink wink ;)

I know this is my first week back in Nepal and it would take little time to get back. Life is calling; I will remain occupied to make my way now. Sigh..

Love – Peace- Humanity.

XOXO
Jo_tee

Back in NEPAL with a dearest friend of mine, Sangeeta Karmacharya Shrestha



" I believe everything happens for a reason.
People change so you can learn how to let go.
Things go wrong, so that you can appreciate them when they're right.
You believe lies, so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, & sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

Exploring Singapore

Awesome, exhilarating and tiring day in City of life, Singapore.

I am staying at Wei fen's house with her parents who are really a great and loving people to be around with. Though this is the first time I’ve met them, they are making me feel like I’m home. Her sisters (Weizhen and Claire) are very pretty and so friendly. As soon as I reached here, I was greeted with a welcome note “Welcome Jyoti” sketched with the map of Nepal, I was so surprised, made me feel wow!

After more than a month in Vietnam, where traffic rules were rarely followed, I got the very first glimpse of tight traffic rules here, people don’t honk unnecessarily. Wish these rules were followed even in my country where people often enjoy blowing horns as if they were playing some musical instrument.

There are shopping malls at each and every corner of the city where you can shop whatever you want till you drop. It’s better if you leave your credit / debit card back home else there are high chances you will get bankrupt. It’s the ultimate shopping destination. (I can't say how much I spent today) :(
Wandering around, shopping (windows & door shopping what I call it  :)), boat ride in Clark Quay, Italian cuisine for lunch and Indian dinner (last night’s menu was Korean), visiting museum and experiencing extreme reverse bungee (that cost me SIN 45$,  oh hell yeah!) are the activities that occupied my day. What an amazing time!

Tomorrow Wei fen's mom is taking me for a Singaporean food, yum yum. Sentosa Island (hoping to do para flying there) is next on the list, I’m loving Singapore..... 

XOXO
Jo_tee

The last Journal -Vietnam

Time to say....."Good bye Vietnam" 


All good things come to an end, maybe for a new beginning. 


After my placement was over, I thought to roam around to explore some beautiful places here. I must say, last five days were full of fun in spite of continuous drizzle and freaking cold weather. 
The evening boat trip at Perfume River ; visiting historical places in Huye and setting afloat paper lanterns to make a wish were quite a memorable experience. Cable car ride in Ba Na Hill Mountain; lonely walk along the deserted Nam O Beach, and attending a big meal in a local’s house where I was trying hard to figure out what they were saying; were simply great.


Leaving behind all these things, now it’s time to fly away from this place with a sack full of memories. With pictures of all the good times, all the smiles of children here, their love, my wonderful friends (Jordan, Jennifer, Therese, Thien & Anett), the GVN team who made me feel like I was at home…oh! it’s so hard to leave. This page of my story; my days in Vietnam , was the best chapter of my life. I still feel like staying here, all stories end somewhere, I don’t know if I would ever be able to come here again, but I would always wish to…


I am flying to Singapore this evening…and then back to Nepal after a couple of days . Tomorrow, when the night would break apart with the first rays of sun, I would be awake at a new place….the same sun, but quite different challenges awaits everywhere. Life would start moving ahead like it always does, but memories will always beat in my heart. Stories would continue to unfold….


I will miss you all, and I will miss………………


XOXO
Jo_tee

Beyond the moment.....

Last day in placement, but everything seems just yesterday…


I don’t find words to express my feelings and I lack expression to show gratitude to every single person here especially all the kids who helped me learn the real meaning of life. :-)


Everyone has their own stories, sad or happy, but we still need to keep that smile on our face to overcome all the adversities we have, with positive thoughts that hard times would definitely end someday. In future, when we would look back, it would surely make us realize how brave we were then…… Bring it on!!!


Well, having completed my placement here, now it’s time to explore Vietnam for a few days, before I pack my bag and fly back home. I will carry all the beautiful memories in my mind, loads of love in my heart and thousands of pictures in my eyes. I will embrace these precious gifts forever.


Hard fact, sometime people like me love to ignore the predestined consequences and enjoy being in a certain situation, may be, with a wish to live in a moment.


Thank you all for giving me the best days of my life.....


XOXO
Jo_tee

A Letter

Tuesday evening, I was teaching English at Social Support Center, and I noticed ‘ Cam ’ waving at me. Standing behind the door, at the corner of my classroom, she pointed towards a piece of paper and a pen on her hand.

Nguyen Thi Cam, is 26 years old. Always well dressed and accessorized. She cannot speak and hear. But, she was not born like that. She could speak and hear until  she was brutally hit on the head by her father; punishment- after he found out that she was pregnant at the age of 16 without been married.

These days, she lives at Social Support Center where she takes care of children. Her daughter is now six years old and is being raised by her brother. Though she can’t speak, she tries to explain her story using sign language, brings photo albums to show us the pictures of her family members. She still remembers those days when she could speak and hear; how she attained this disability, those moments are still alive in her mind.

Her father who gave life to his daughter, himself, gave this life of disability to her, and he is free, still living a normal life. I doubt if he even regrets for what he did.

Cam gestured me a paper to write down our names, I happily inscribed “Therese, Jennifer and Jyoti”. With names on that paper, she hurriedly ran out of the room.

After my class was over, I saw Cam again; she was standing at the door with an envelope on her hand. She walked, swiftly handed the envelope over to me and ran back. Curiosity sprinted throughout my nerves; I opened the envelope, and found a letter written in Vietnamese

“I need a translator please!!!”

I couldn’t stop showing it to my volunteer mates, and we could not wait any further to know what was actually written in there....

Next day finally, I asked our translator to translate the letter in English, and it goes….

Dear Jennifer, Therese and Jyoti,

I am Nguyen Thi Cam. I am working at social support Center. I heard that you are going home soon, so I want to send my regards to your family and wish you always happy and funny as well as thinking of me and this center. I love you for your help and work  throughout your stay. You all are so kind, and take care of the children in the Social. Everyone in the Social support center loves you, and are very grateful for your help.

However, I am very sorry because I can not talk with you as I can't speak, and it makes me sad. If I could speak everything, it would have been better, but sadly I can't. 

Now you're going home, but I don't have anything to offer you. Therefore, I can only show my thoughts. It will be my happiness if you can read my letter.

Good luck to you.

I wish you succeed and want you to come back again.

With regards,                                                                 

Cam

Da Nang

(Letter translated by Ben)

XOXO

JO_tee

My Last day in Dai Loc Center

Jennifer, Therese and I, thought to do something different for our English class today in Dai Loc Center. We brought all our students together in one classroom and started teaching them Phonics.

Therese began teaching them sounds for English alphabets. I must say, she was simply amazing throughout the class. The reason why we thought to teach them Phonics was to help them pronounce English alphabets properly. Our students were so excited to learn this new topic and the way Therese was teaching them, they were really enjoying the lesson and I’m sure this helped them learn quite a lot. They were learning and having fun at the same time, and I believe, they must have never enjoyed their class like they did today. 

Vietnam is developing and amidst its international exposure, the knowledge of English language has become very vital here. It’s been my third week in Vietnam and I have observed that very few Vietnamese speak good English. One of the reasons that might be hindering their English fluency is their Vietnamese accent which makes them difficult to pronounce some English letters like S, T, H an F. But that has never frustrated students here. They are so keen to learn and they always give their 100% in every effort. 

Being a citizen of Nepal, I understand this situation quite well. English is not a native language in my country either. I consider myself blessed to have wonderful parents who sent me to an English medium school as a result of which I am being able to teach English here and help these kids learn.

However, I strongly believe that fluency in English language doesn’t reflect person’s knowledge. Whatever language you speak, all it matters is your honesty, faith and dedication to conquer your goals. Language is just a medium to express the knowledge. 

After half an hour, when the exciting Phonic class was over, Therese said “Come on children! Today is the last day for your Jyoti Teacher here…” and an instant ‘date and days’ calculation ran over my mind. Only then I realized that it was my final day in Dia Loc Centre; and I’m seeing these children here for the last time. 

I can’t explain feelings that passed through my heart; all these days, I’ve developed a special bond with these adorable kids; the way they learn, they have also helped me to learn many things. Before I could cheer up myself or those children, all the kids came close to me to pose for a farewell picture.

I know that very soon when my volunteering placement ends, I would have to prepare myself to get away, but I always hate to say ‘Good bye’ and I wish I could always be here with these loving children to help them learn; to bring a sweet smile on their face.

My art and craft class in Redcross

Every Tuesday and Thursday, I visit Redcross. There are about 20 students aged 17-26 years who can’t speak. Most of them are either orphans or from families with poor economic condition. These kids are amazingly intelligent and disciplined. 

I help these students learn about Arts and Crafts. Having said that, I prefer not to train them but rather encourage them to portrait their imagination for I believe creativity breeds within our own mind. With crayons and a sheet of drawing paper, I give them freedom to draw whatever they have in their mind, and this works better than confining students in a particular subject. I try to motivate them to let their imagination fly and bring the images back on the drawing paper. In the end, when the drawing is over, each paper holds an incredible piece of art. I love to see them drawing, it’s indeed a pleasure.

In previous two classes, they had filled colors in color book, but I thought to try something new in the last class and gave them crayons and drawing sheets asking them to draw their favorite things, whatever they like most. Surprisingly, ninety percent of them drew ‘house’ while rest ten percent drew flowers. They all have ‘house’ in their mind; sadly, their houses are without family members. One of the students drew a beautiful house with just him alone. And, I can feel, it’s the portrayal of their real life.

Arts and Crafts class indeed helps me learn more about these kids and feel the way they experience the world; how creativity cannot be hampered by any level of disability; how beautiful and special each mind is.

XOXO

Jo_tee

COLLAGE(Vietnam)

Third Week...Farewell to Thien

My third week in Vietnam ! But still feels like, it was yesterday that I landed in here….

What a great life it’s been now. Every morning when I wake up, I’m just not awake but feel awaken with meaningful reasons to start my day, a reason to bring smile, a reason to help and love.

Every week, I count for the arrival of Tuesday and Wednesday to visit Dien Tho and Dia Loc Centers. Dien Tho Center is the support center for differently-able children where I assist GVN Physiotherapist to help children exercise. Most of these children are suffering from Cerebral Palsy, Mental illness and Down syndrome. These kids are incredibly enthusiastic in their efforts; the big smile on their face after they finish their activities is bliss; a triumph that inspires and motivates; and happiness even greater than that of winning a World Cup. Jennifer and I were helping NHAT TAN, a six-year-old boy to exercise today. He doesn’t use his right hand quite often and depends on his left hand for almost everything. To improve his condition, we were helping him to put pebbles into a container using his right hand. Around 100 pebbles, we were almost tired to hold those, but it’s amazing that he was still not giving up, he did not stop; such was his passion to learn and recover.

Dio Loc Center; I teach English here and the class is full of energy and fun. In the beginning, I was asked to start with ‘Words’ and ‘Pronunciation’ but soon I realized that these kids really needed better understanding of elementary English right from the start; and ‘Alphabets’ was the first thing I taught them. Today, it was my third class and I was on “Days in a week” lesson. I have learnt a lot from these kids. You’ve to make sure that these kids learn and enjoy simultaneously, children grasp more easily when they are having fun. Cracking jokes, playing games, singing songs along with lessons greatly help to hold their attention till the end of class. There are students of different levels in same class, so sometime it’s very hard to help every child understand, but yet, it’s not impossible.

And, finally when they were able to say Sunday, Monday…..Saturday…it’s a big achievement…I want nothing else..…it’s a great moment for me and them as well. 

Parting is always a sweet sorrow.

This morning, we bid farewell to Thien and it was so hard to say Good Bye. She is one of the amazing persons I have ever met. She was very good in Vietnamese language (coz of her Vietnamese background). If she wasn’t here, we would have lost in translation.

This evening, when Jennifer, Therese and I were in Pharmacy, it took us more than half-an-hour to get the medicine we were asking for. And we said, “Oh! Thien, we miss you"

I’m so touched to see her note for me when I came back in house. I will always cherish all those moments we have spent (I miss her already) :( :(

Oh I am so bad in saying good bye. I always try to control my emotion that overflows at times. I wish I could learn the word “Detach” someday.

XOXO

Jo_tee