Aryaa goes to School

Aryaa started going to school yesterday, one and half months after returning to Nepal.

She will be in 'Nursery' level for the time being, until she becomes familiar with the system here.

We have started living in the teachers/staff residence of an engineering college, where I have a job. Aryaa's school is not far from here. School bus comes to pick Aryaa and other kids up in morning and also to drop off in afternoon. Aryaa seems to have enjoyed these two days in school. We were worried about her Nepali language skills, but she is learning it very fast. She now knows enough to communicate in simple and short Nepali sentences and express her feelings. With her new friends and teachers, she will be fluent soon.

As all other parents, it was very hard for us too to decide a school for Aryaa. This one is considered one of the best in the locality we are living in now. All the people whom we asked had very good view of this school. I was also very much impressed by the School Principal's concepts and visions for kids' education.

‘KUSAI!’, ‘URUSAI!’, ‘GAI AYO!’, ‘KUKUR AYO!’

It’s already more than one month that we are back to Nepal. Aryaa has become familiar with all the family members and many of the relatives. Her Nepali has improved a lot, and she has well maintained her Japanese language skills till now. If we two sometimes talk with her in Japanese, it’s probable that she will carry it further for some years.

We are trying to make her life in Nepal as comfortable as possible. We know she misses her kindergarten, her friends, her teachers and well equipped children parks in Japan very much. Her formal schooling in Nepal will start after a few days. We hope that she can make a lot of friends soon. When she has a lot of friends, she will enjoy her days here more than she is doing now.

While going for walk or for shopping, she is irritated with the garbage one can see everywhere. Nepal has been going through a long period of political instability. This has affected every sector of life, and waste management is one among them. Nepal’s waste management system might be one of the worst in world. “KUSAI! KUSAI!” (It stinks! It stinks!), she says, and covers her nose almost all the time we are in the street.

And the streets here are very crowded too. Our villages have very few facilities. They are also hotbeds for many insurgencies. So a lot of people from villages immigrated to cities. So villages are empty these days and cities have dense population, more than what their infrastructures can bear. The number of vehicles and bikes has gone up too, and with it the noise pollution. It’s as if there is a permanent horn blowing competition in our streets. Aryaa was very afraid at the beginning. She is not so much afraid these days but tries to close her ears with index fingers and sys “URUSAI!” (It’s noisy).

Our streets have a lot of stray cows and dogs. “GAI AYO!” (A cow there!), she says in Nepali, with smile in her face whenever she sees a cow. And “KUKUR AYO!” (A dog there!”), whenever see sees a dog. Even in this chaotic ‘world’, there is something that fascinates Aryaa and makes her happy:)

*'KUSAI' and 'URUSAI' are Japanese words, whereas 'GAI AYO' and 'KUKUR AYO' are Nepali.