Nepali school in Norway

Nepali Society in Ås

Nepali School in Ås

I like to cross the borders. I would like to see the other parts of the world and learn more about. Not only me but many people from Nepal cross the border. They have different kinds of mission and ambition. Some of them traveling for higher education and others are to explore the better opportunities.

We always keep in mind that and feel that the saying “Mother and the mother land are dearer then heaven and the language and culture are the identity of the people.”

Some people forget their native language and culture while they are on the race towards better opportunity for future, but many of them manage to keep their culture and language as an Integral part of life.

Such community I experienced in Norway. About 30 km south of Oslo, the capital city of Norway, there is the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway. There are some small numbers of students studying their higher education from Nepal. Ås it is a really nice place for study purposes.

Many Nepalese students already accomplished their master degree and PhD from this university and now serving the nation and some are on the way. Children’s are comes together with their parents go to the Norwegian school.

Study report shows that Children can learn 4 languages at a time. I got surprised when Nepali children are so fluent in Norwegian language then their own native language. They were chatting in Norwegian even in the Nepali class. If they can learn fast then they can forget as wel, that is the main problem.

They are here for short term stay. Once their parents accomplished their study, they have to go back to homeland. During the stay they study in Norwegian school and Norwegian language and then when they go back to home they have to resume their study in Nepali school and it could be very difficult for them.

Relishing this situation Nepali society in Ås (NEPSA) is running a Nepali school for them once in a week (Saturday) in the evening where they study their native language Nepali.

Being a journalist I feel that this effort is really appreciative and interesting story for me to share with the people, so that my friend Sushil and I made a report and send it to Nepal and broadcasted trough National Television on our weekly video magazine called Aankhijhyal.

Tivoli Park-Copenhagen

1st of May 07, my friend Sushil and I visited Copenhagen the capital city of Denmark. We have had the particular task over there, but we also enjoyed a lot in Copenhagen. We found Tivoli Park is the most interesting and beautiful part of Copenhagen, located in the city center.

Tivoli as its name, a garden with many beautiful flowers. Flowers bloom here by the hundred thousands, and most of the trees have been in residence since the opening of the Tivoli Gardens.

It says Tivoli is a place of lights, which makes Tivoli a very special place to visit once it gets dark. You have to go to Tivoli twice (or for a long time) if you want to experience both atmospheres of Tivoli: In the daytime the abundance of flowers, and in the night time the many lights and an atmosphere that could be taken directly from a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen; but unfartunatly we have no time for that. We had to get back to Oslo the same day by the ship. So that we tried to enjoy as much as possible with in few hours.

Different kinds of play station for the kids and adults, games, open theaters, aquarium museum and some religious cast and cultural decorations like Buddhist and Muslim glimpse can be seen in the park.

We are really happy to see the peacock open theater in the park because we are using traditional Peacock window as a backdrop of our programme 'Aankhijhyal' broadcast from National Television in Nepal.

Tivoli tower is the most interesting attractive event of the park. It is the world’s tallest carousel which is 80 meters tall and if you dare try it you have terrific flight with an eagle eye view of the city. But we didn’t try that.

One remnant of the old fortification of Copenhagen, which is today a part of Tivoli, is the lake, which used to be part of the moat in front of the Copenhagen city wall. Today, gold fish, koi carps and ducks share this tranquil water, which has water added from as different sources as a watermill and a Japanese brook - both elements that enhance the tranquil atmosphere of Tivoli very well.

There were many events and happening to enjoy inside the park. Some of them are for free and some are need to pay extra to enjoy it.

To get entrance in the park have to pay 75 Danish kroner, and to enjoy other extra event you have to pay extra.

The park is managed very well. Gardeners are seen dedicated to make it better, so that I felt like all the things there are looks like flower. That’s the region why we spend most of the time in the park.

Cultural Shock!

It is already late to post this story on the blog but please go through it. As I’m in Norway this year, I got an opportunity to celebrate x-mas and some other festivals. There were 10 days long holiday for x-mas and New Year. This is the main festival of western people as Dashain in Nepal.

As we visit our parent’s and relatives during Dashain festival many Norwegians visits their parent’s during x-mas. There are many similarities and differences celebrating the festivals. We use to go the temple they go to church. We sacrifice the goats, cocks and duck to the goddess Durga, the goddess of power. They also go the church and just pray. We also eat good food and ware nice clothes. Many Nepalese have to wait until Dashain for new cloths. I remember that I had manage with single pare of cloth and had wait for Dashain to get new one. To day my kids does not need to do so but still there are many Nepalese kids waits for Dashain for new cloths and nice foods.

Beside that we receive blasé (tika and jamara that are from ritual ceremony) from grand parents and senior relatives. Here we didn’t see such tradition but they visit parents and exchange the gifts.

This is my first x-mas, I was curious to know more about. I asked with Norwegian friend what do you do during x-mas? He replies me; I will go to my mother’s home. I was shocked! We also have the same kinds of tradition to visit parents during Dashain festival but we always say my home where parents living, but not mothers house of fathers house. Suddenly I relished this culture developed because they are independent and self centered or individuality society.

There were so many parties before x-mas. Future in Our Hands (FIVH) where we are working, organized early x-mas party in office. My friend Sushil is vegetarian. Norwegian eats egg and fish but Sushil do not eat. But office arranged some vegetarian food for him. I do not eat beef and pork, I don’t like lamb and sushi (the raw fish) here I eat is chicken. There was a lot of food we enjoyed a lot.

As we are the FK participant based on Oslo, we were invited by fk x east x-mas party at fk office in Oslo. We mate there ex. Participant and active participant from north and south in this occasion.

In this party we have to make some food from our home country. I have no idea to make food. My friend Sushil is good on making food. He made pickle (Aachar in Nepali). It was quite hot tomato pickle with ginger, garlic and some others species. We didn’t know that, did they like or not, fortunately they like very much. Particularly the Indian participant and some from Africa liked it very much.

There were about 20 participants. There were varieties of food from their home and fk manage food and drinks for the party. We know Norway consumes a lot of alcohol but Sushil and I do not drink alcohol but we enjoy the party with the friends from the different continents.

We talked to new friends, sing, and dance after food. We had to do some other work early in the next day morning so that we left the party shortly. The main gate was locked. We tried our best to unlock the door. We couldn’t make it so finally we had to get back to upstairs and asked someone for help. Finally Joram came to support us to open the door. Then we knew that you need the password to unlock the gate but no one told us about it when we say bye to them.

It was a kind of shock for us because we were just arrived Oslo from Nepal and we did not know anything about door lock system of that building. This was the first cultural shock that we faced in Norway, even though we had 3 weeks preparatory course in Mandal, southern village of Norway.

Since we are the journalists and pretend to be intelligent, we got shock with technology and lifestyle in Norway.