We took the 06:30 bus for 5 hours to Besisahar. Bus rides in the Himalayas are always fun—full of pushing, shouting, arguing over seats, farm animals, and near wrecks. Fortunately, my guide/porter, a 55 year old Sherpa name Jibi, took care of everything, so I just watched as Jibi defended my window seat by holding a snot-nosed baby in the next seat. The bus speedily swerved around hairpin mountain curves, six inches from a tumbling death, with the driver blaring the horn, full of confidence that anything around the curve will get out of the way.
One of the women who lost the shouting match stood in aisle spitting on the floor, spreading her illness. When we emerged from the bus in Besisahar, a young German couple asked their guide: "why was the woman spitting on the bus?" He gave a stock answer about poverty, disease, smoking and drinking, to which they responded, "Wow! It's so much different than Europe!"
That's one way to describe Nepal--so much different than Europe!
We then hiked 4 hours up the river to a teahouse, or "hotel". These villages have anywhere from 4 to 15 "hotels" in them. Jibi knew exactly where he wanted to go, so I just agreed with his plan. He picked a teahouse with no view, but the family who ran it was very nice, the room was fine and the food was good, so no complaint from me. But they kept playing the same Tibetan song over and over again (if you've been in the Himalayas, you know the song: Om Mani Padme Hum), so I went for a walk and sat down for a tea at a nice place with a river view.
I was the only customer, so the girl who served me sat down to join me. She is a tenth grade student named Sita. She comes from a very low caste in Nepal, a caste of dressmakers. "My caste is so low," she said' "low, low, low," and she lowered her flat hand until it touched the grass.
When she discovered that I am a mathematics teacher, she jumped up, ran to her schoolbag, and brought back her math notebook. "Please, teach me mathematics!" she asked.
I looked at her homework, and after laboring to translate the Nepali, discovered that her assignment was quite difficult. The first problem was:
"Sita, this 10th grade math is very difficult, and you can't do it if you don't know 8th grade math. I'm not kidding, mathematics will be very hard for you, but just try your best and don't worry because many people find mathematics difficult.
"I know," she said, "I fail my mathematics exams every year!"
Mathematics exams--the curse of the lower castes!
One of the women who lost the shouting match stood in aisle spitting on the floor, spreading her illness. When we emerged from the bus in Besisahar, a young German couple asked their guide: "why was the woman spitting on the bus?" He gave a stock answer about poverty, disease, smoking and drinking, to which they responded, "Wow! It's so much different than Europe!"
That's one way to describe Nepal--so much different than Europe!
We then hiked 4 hours up the river to a teahouse, or "hotel". These villages have anywhere from 4 to 15 "hotels" in them. Jibi knew exactly where he wanted to go, so I just agreed with his plan. He picked a teahouse with no view, but the family who ran it was very nice, the room was fine and the food was good, so no complaint from me. But they kept playing the same Tibetan song over and over again (if you've been in the Himalayas, you know the song: Om Mani Padme Hum), so I went for a walk and sat down for a tea at a nice place with a river view.
I was the only customer, so the girl who served me sat down to join me. She is a tenth grade student named Sita. She comes from a very low caste in Nepal, a caste of dressmakers. "My caste is so low," she said' "low, low, low," and she lowered her flat hand until it touched the grass.
When she discovered that I am a mathematics teacher, she jumped up, ran to her schoolbag, and brought back her math notebook. "Please, teach me mathematics!" she asked.
I looked at her homework, and after laboring to translate the Nepali, discovered that her assignment was quite difficult. The first problem was:
I tried to show her polynomial long division, but soon discovered that she was hopelessly lost. I checked her algebra skills by giving her some 8th grade problems, but she was still lost, so I taught her some very simple stuff and then told her,Find the greatest common factor of x2 – 1 and x3 + 1
"Sita, this 10th grade math is very difficult, and you can't do it if you don't know 8th grade math. I'm not kidding, mathematics will be very hard for you, but just try your best and don't worry because many people find mathematics difficult.
"I know," she said, "I fail my mathematics exams every year!"
Mathematics exams--the curse of the lower castes!
1 comment:
wow - that is a little tricky for tenth grade - I might see if myclass can do it tomorrow, although we haven't done any polynomial division or factor theorem work yet. I haven't read the newer posts yet, but I am jealous already... Barry
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