Stepping off the plane at Kathmandu airport and seeing high snow-capped mountains encircling the valley was incredible, and I knew that every minute of the long 26 hours it had been since I left Heathrow had been worth it. Kathmandu is a third world city; noisy, smelly, dirty and polluted but it has a vitality and life that is difficult to describe but which brings many people me included back time and time again.

From Kathmandu we travelled by minibus and then trekked through tropical rain forest into the foothills of the Himalayas. Here at a place called Shivapuri I and 20 other volunteers who had come out to Nepal with an organization called Asian Venture learnt something of this wonderful country: it's history and traditions. We also learnt what would be expected of us in the schools where we would be teaching English. It was hard work but we all thoroughly enjoyed the time together. The views of the mountains were fantastic One morning-we all got up at 5.30 to see a breathtaking sunrise over Annapurna. The grandeur of the place makes you feel so small and insignificant.

After our first week we dispersed to various schools. to start teaching- I and five others ended up in a small town in the west of the country, about 11 hours from Kathmandu. Teaching was fun and so satisfying when I heard the children repeating something I had taught them.- I soon felt that we became part of the community which was great. And my knowledge of Nepali improved rapidly as did our acceptance of cold showers and frequent power cuts. There were several occasions when I ended- up cooking-for six on two calor gas rings by candle light. We had to be careful to wash all our food in bottled or filtered water, but these trials and tribulations, far from being a burden quickly became fun. I thought that sleeping under a mosquito net would- be- pain but in fact it became strangely comforting, as did walking down the street and having little kids yelling hello and asking my name every time they saw me because it was all the English they knew- The. three months I was in Waling went so very quickly with the enjoyment of Tihar, birthdays, school picnics, Christmas and New Year. I was so sad to leave when the time came. When I left England I never thought it would he possible that a Nepali village,. at the foothills of the Himalayas, thousands of miles from England, could find such a place in my heart, and I know I will return.