Lemon and avocado growth

3 September 2018, MondayBy Anita Bhattarai

Two months ago, we planted 50 lemon plants in our school. Now, the lemons are healthy and is growing fairly big.

I am responsible for watering the plants everyday. We are very happy that there are 63 healthy lemon plants, altogether in our school.

We are going to keep on planting more and more lemons until we reach our goal of planting and growing 100 healthy lemon plants.

We have also planted 4 avocados. They are very healthy for human beings and is quite expensive to buy.

We had planted avocados before and they were grown nicely by Utu. We ended up sending them to Dhading, for growing them in big farms.

This time, we have planted different kinds of avocado seeds. Some were long and some were circular.

Some days before, one of the avocado plant died, but the rest are about 12 inches long and growing healthy.

Terry’s Doll

By Anita Bhattarai

We have a very caring and helpful teacher who teaches us English, on every Monday evening, on Skype. Her name is Terry Miller.

I love making dolls. I have made three dolls till now for our teacher. The dolls looks like her and I have even sent her the pictures of it on her birthday.

The latest doll that I made for her is very nice which has two sides: front and back. On one side, she is sleeping, and on another, she is awake.

I love playing with these dolls. Sometimes I pretend and think it is my baby.

I have also created a lots of clothes for the dolls to wear, and dishes for the dolls. I love making dresses for my dollies.



I cut cloth into different shapes and i put it around the dollies.

When Terry ma’am visits Nepal again, we are going to give all the dolls to her as her birthday gifts from us.

Terry, Our Wonderful Teacher
A blog by Utkrishta Mulmi, Anita Bhatarai, Sanket Shrestha & Shila Shrestha

Utkrishta’s part:

About 2 years ago, Pallav sir told us that a visitor from the U.S.A was coming to Nepal and she would be teaching us English for her stay. The day she was coming, we quickly finished a big poster card and some greeting cards for her. She came; she was a nice old woman. We greeted her and gave her our greeting cards. She gleamed with happiness when we hugged her.

She gave us a little introduction. She said her name was Terry Miller. She has a son and a daughter, and their names were Woody and Amy. She lives in Maryland. She is 68 years old. We all introduced ourselves as well.

She told us that we were going to play a game called Grandma’s trunk. It was a story-telling game where everybody adds something to the story. We gave her a tour of the school. We showed her the animals we were raising at the time.

We had 2 rabbits, 4 chickens, 2 ducks and a caterpillar, of which we were studying and examining the caterpillar ecosystem. It was very sad when she left, but we still have classes with her through Skype and she has been teaching us ever since.

By Anita:

In Terry’s class, we have lots of fun learning grammar and English. Sometimes she gets busy, so we do not have her class sometimes. She was able to come this Monday though. We spent the class playing games and singing songs because we hadn’t seen her for 3 weeks.

We were so happy to have her class again. I think she was on a different room than the one we would normally take her class. We had fun singing songs; we sang Five Hundred miles, Country Roads, Raindrops, What a wonderful world, Clementine, Don’t worry be happy and other such songs.

We also practiced a bit of nouns, proper nouns, adjectives, singular and plural and pronouns. These are very interesting in English. Utu suggested a game called Pictionary. It is a game where a person draws a picture and the other people guesses it. We had a few of rounds and had tons of fun. While we were saying goodbye, we kissed her a lot of times.

By Shila:

We all love Terry's class. It happens on Mondays, Terry is online on Skype and teaches us. Not all the students here are Terry's students. Utu dada, Bishesh, Sanket, Vidheha, Suprit, Anita didi and I  are the ones to take Terry's class. 

On the class, we are doing so many fun things together. She teaches us so many things, which we never knew of. That is why, it is always interesting and we are eagerly waiting for her class. We do art, play games, sing songs, and learn new things. We also get homeworks and she checks it and provides us with feedbacks and comments. We are happy that we get to meet her and learn from her. Terry is also happy to teach us.

By Sanket:

Terry ma'am lives in Maryland. She teaches English to us; we have learned nouns, pronouns, adjectives and many others till now. Not all the students are in Terry ma'am's class. Me, Anita, Utuh, Shila, Suprit, Vidheha and Bishesh are in her class. We have Skype classes with her on every Monday. She comes online in 6:30 pm and our classes starts. 

We also get homeworks from Terry ma'am. I like doing her homeworks because it is different and fun to do. She sends us homeworks and exam questions in Google forms. Google forms has made our learning easy. We used to type our homeworks and send it to her. But now, we take tests and send homeworks to her on Google forms. We are learning new things everytime.

FUN with Nicola and Phoebe

Wednesday, 29 August 2018

Photos by Phoebe, Nicola, and Anita

Pheobe writes:

Arriving in Kathmandu I was so excited for my visit but did not know what to expect. What came next was the most incredible 2 days exploring Nepal with the best little tour guides that you could ask for. 




Having walked to Spiny Babbler, not knowing what we would find, we were greeted with a flavour of true Nepalese hospitality. Pallav was the most gracious host and an incredible teacher to such lovely children. 



I learned so much in my short trip and it was an honour to meet everyone from Spiny Babbler. I look forward to my next trip and to learning more about such an amazing country.

We thank you for your kind words and hope to have you again here at Spiny Babbler. The girls and our other children will love to have you guys again. Thank you.

Anita writes:

Yesterday, there were three friends at our school gate. They were just looking at our signboard. Pallav sir saw them and said hello to them. We came down and we also said hello to them. 



Then, we went to the office and Pallav sir discussed about our school and Vidheha. They were happy to hear Shila and I playing the flute.

I also taught them how to play the flute. Nicky played the flute very well and we also took the photos and videos. Her friend, Phoebe was also great. They were such nice people, we liked them. 



One was from Australia and the others from England. After that, we ate our dinner together. They loved the Nepalese food. They wanted to learn Nepali language as well.

They asked us how to say how are you in Nepali. We taught them "Timi kasto chau?" They were able to learn it very fast. Then, we discussed about world heartiest side. 


Pallav sir told us that we were visiting their hotel the next day. They were staying at a hotel named "Taleju".

This morning I was very excited. Karan sir came and we went to Taleju hotel together to pick them up. They were easy to find and all of us were now together in the van.

First we went to Boudha. I had never been to Boudha before. It was big and amazing. We took some photos there. We got to see many thanka paintings as well. 



Nicky and her friend Phoebe were very happy, as they had never seen a place like this before. 



Next, we went to the Pashupatinath Temple. The Pashupatinath Temple is older than Boudha. There were lots of monkeys to see. 



We also visited the graveyard there. Nicky and Phoebe were so scared so they didn't go near the graves.


Our next visit was to Guyeshwori temple and Mrigasthali to see the deer but we were unable to find even one due to the rain.

After that we visited Bhaktapur. We were very hungry so we had our lunch there. We ate dahi, beaten rice, momo and eggs. 



In Bhaktapur, we visited the Potter's Square, and saw hard working men and women making and coloring many pots. Next stop to the jeri sweet market where we got to eat fresh jerries there. 



We even shopped few things like bracelets, there. Nicky and Phoebe were very happy to go to these different places with us.



Lastly, since our trip was over and Nicky and Phoebe were going back to their home, we went to the airport and said goodbye. And then we returned to our school.

Shila writes:

When Phoebe and Nicky visited us, we had a great trip to different places of Kathmandu. Phoebe and Nikki wants to come back to Nepal again. And they told us they would be coming back soon. 



Anita didi, Vidheha and I miss Phoebe and Nikki very much. We want to meet them again. They told us they will never forget us. We will also never forget them and the trip. We played the flute, keyboard and songs together and had fun on the day we met. 



Next day, we went to many places like the Pashupatinath Temple, Bouddha and Bhaktapur. We all loved these places. Nicky and Phoebe were very happy to meet us and see the new places.

We were pleased hear from Nicky, Phoebe and Wendy again after they went back to Dubai where they work. They sent us their love.

Pallav writes:

I was moving my office downstairs and as I was arranging the books, out of the window I saw three girls looking at the signboard and talking. I thought they were tourists wandering about.



 A minute later, they were still there looking a little lost so I looked out and waved. They asked if this was Spiny Babbler, and I said yes. 



They asked if the gallery was open, and though the shutters were down and it was after 5 pm, I decided well, since they are interested, might as well open the door to them.

I go down and open the gate and guess what, one of them says, "Hi, I am Wendy Birman's granddaughter." And opens her phone to show me an email from you for proof!

I invited the three girls upstairs. After talking with them for a bit, I asked if they would like tea, they did, and once they were comfortable I asked them if they would like to stay for dinner, which they did. 



Our students and my daughter Vidheha played flute for them and Nicola played sections of Mozart's Ode to Joy on the Eastern bamboo flute which Vidheha is learning on the piano!

Since they seemed comfortable, I asked them if they would like to travel around with us the next day. 



I was somewhat surprised that they were in Kathmandu for one night only, but heeeey it was great that they were here, that they had sought us out using Google maps, that I was looking out of the window just then! I had not received your email and it was a series of coincidences. 



In Nepal we have a 6 day work week as you know and my wife called our driver if he knew anyone who could drive us around town, he was at his girlfriend's birthday party and they had plans the next day but he kindly volunteered to take us around instead. I was embarrassed to learn this the next day, but thankful to him.

So after dinner, it was raining and we went to look for taxi and we got a most kind taxi driver to take them to the hotel (kind taxi drivers are like a super rarity around here) and when it is night and raining, most of them turn into blood-sucking nasties, which this one wasn't!

The next day was wonderful, their hotel was easy to find, Nicola and Phoebe went with us to Boudha, Pashupati, and Bhaktapur.

What a wonderful day, a mild drizzle and then some sun and a calm cloud cover helped make the day. 



The entry tickets that they charge Westerners to enter the area was more than steep though but still, these are the main places to see in Nepal and I hope Nicola and Phoebe found it worth the cost.

We had the special Juju (King's) Bhaktapur yogurt, hand beaten Bhaktapur rice flakes for lunch under a peepal tree around shrines. 



I wonder if that was ok, cause mostly visitors are used to restaurants rather than temple stones to sit on for lunch.

Everything was perfect, the day, the timing, and the tiredness also, I think. The girls had an hour to shop as well!

I think all of us were somewhat exhausted by the end of the day. We dropped them off at the airport 15 minutes early. 



Some years ago, my sister-her 3 kids-and my mom missed their international flight because we reached the airport 15 minutes late. I did not want Nicola to have the same problem.

Even today, the girls misses them a lot. They even wrote a blog about the fun day by themselves