Class Picnic

My class 9B students wanted to have a "class picnic".  Of course I said yes.  One student collected cash from everyone and made up a duty roster.  Each child brought a small bag of rice, which resulted in about 25 kg of rice.  I went shopping with 2 boys and 2 girls, and we made two trips back to my quarters to deposit the food. 

One student had a tent, so a few boys put it up the night before.  Then 2 of them slept in it to claim our area of the the school picnic grounds.  It rained as they were on their way so they were cold and wet.  They invited 2 friends, so there were 4 boys in a two man tent with one sleeping bag.  They had a bottle of water they got from my place and I gave them a package of chocolate biscuits.   Cold night.  

I rang my alarm for 5 am as they had informed me that was when they would start arriving to pick up the food and wood and pots from my place. They actually arrived at 6 am and it was a bit chaotic, no fire, fire, no wood, more wood.

  By 7:30 the class members started to arrive, and when Akari and I got to the picnic area there was a GIANT pot on the fire with hot tea.  Students enjoyed their bread and jam for breakfast.  I will post photos of food in another blog as the production and results were . . . outrageous.  

  Girls showed up dressed in jeans and kiras.  One boy showed up in his gho looking EXTREMELY  handsome, but he was the only one so he went home and changed. 

The morning hours from about 7 to 11 were spent preparing food and having a second cup of tea with biscuits.  We played frisbee and the boys also played football. (soccer)  A bunch of them got bamboo for targets and made spears for a throwing game they play.  Darts (khuru), archery and throwing stones are the popular games.  Although they really enjoyed frisbee, the plastic discs seemed a bit incongruous. 

The basket for the wood is carried mostly by women.  Crops, grass for the cows, wood, weaving, almost anything goes in them.  They are not to be carried empty, and they come in all sizes as small girls carry loads also.  Some of the loads are unbelievably large.  Men, I was told, carry the wood on their backs tied on with ropes.  I have seen young children and women carry wood this way.  During the day several groups of foragers passed through the picnic ground and back with loads of wood.  

 

The cricket team showed up.  There were also 2 other classes having picnics, another class 9 and a class 11.
I played frisbee for a couple of hours, tried throwing spears, danced a bit.  We had a mini sound system. 

It was a really fun day.  I imagined my Canadian students cooking the same volume of food, organizing themselves and producing a great meal.  I think I had it easy here as the students did all of the work.  

I organized some relays after lunch - you have never seen a faster 3 legged race.  Dave thought they were cheating until they tumbled with their legs tied together.  

DEFINITELY AMONG MY HIGHLIGHTS.