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We had the interesting experience of staying with a host family during our time in Gundu. They had recently built a brand spanking new three storey house in the middle of the corn and wheat fields, and we rented a bedroom from them as well as having all meals with them.

The mum’s name is Pabitra (not to be confused with my interpreter who is also called Pabitra) and she spoke little English, but we managed to communicate with our basic Nepali and through hand gestures. Pabitra is a very motherly person and insists on second and third helpings at lunch and dinner, which got difficult to stomach. We learned how to say “only a little” and “no more, please” in Nepali, as well as emphatically gesturing or covering our plates.

Pabitra’s husband Ramesh is the strong silent type, and all we could glean was that he worked in an “office”. Gentlemen take note - Ramesh did most of the cooking in our house. We’re not sure if this is customary or if he simply likes spending six hours in the kitchen every day making rice and curry.

They have two boys, Ravin aged 13 and Pravin aged 11. They spoke a little English and were our translators at home. They were fascinated by us to say the least, to the extent where they barged in to our room once without knocking - which we reprimanded. They would sit and stare at us as we went through our daily (and extremely boring) ritual of filtering drinking water, for half an hour at a time. The rest of the time they spent torturing another little boy who lived in the house - poor three-year-old Supreme, the son of the local school principal, who rented the bottom floor of the house.

When we say it was “interesting” to live in the house, this is a diplomatic way of saying we were actually terrified when we learned about the daily schedule. Up at 5:30am, and tea and biscuits at 6:15am. Nothing happens until 8:30am when “lunch” (?) is served - rice, vegetable curry and lentil soup. Every day. The vegetables do alternate between peas, potatoes, green peppers, bamboo shoots, and chickpeas. The health post opens at 10am and closes at 2pm. There is no midday meal served, but tea and biscuits are served again at 1pm and at 5pm. Dinner is served any time after 8pm, and is the same as lunch. It was slightly disconcerting to us that we were always served first as well (as “honoured guests”) and the family waited until we had finished before eating their dinner. Pabitra hovered around us and watched like a hawk, running for refills as soon as we got through half of our meals. We felt as though we had to bolt down our dinner so that they could have theirs, which made for a few cases of indigestion.

The long hours of having nothing to do, (and nothing to eat), were challenging, but we did adjust to it. We hoarded bags of nuts and emergency chocolate rations in our room, and we learned to sit and do nothing and enjoy this experience - something we rarely do in busy Melbourne. We had both brought two books each to read, and read them with great care, and as slowly as possible, and swapped books when we finished them. We tried to learn as much Nepali as possible, V learning more than me. Evenings were lovely - sitting up on the rooftop and looking at the distant lights, the stars, and the fireflies (and trying not to get devoured by mosquitoes).