On Sunday and Monday we continued painting and varnishing various rooms.
On Tuesday we had a day off so after breakfast we headed for the local monastery. The only Yeti skull in the world was held at this monastery and we paid a small donation to see it. It just looked like the top of a goats head. After visiting the monastery we walked up a hill behind the lodge to a chorta which had some information on Sir Edmund Hillary. If it was clear we would have been able to see Everest from here. Unfortunately, there was a cloud right where Everest would have been. We saw a bunch of other mountains, including Lhotse, and Lakpar took a group picture of all of us in front of the view. Once we got back our patrol repacked the barrels with all the stuff we would need for Island peak. In the afternoon a bunch of us played football. It was all against all and then we played in pairs and Chris and Joe won. After that lots of people did some washing outside using the eco wash we’d bought and hung it out to dry in the Sun. This evening we had some bonding time where we all sat around the table discussing our favourite things. It was nice to get to know people more.
On Wednesday morning some of us varnished the rest of the dining hall as well as the tops of some tables. A couple of people finished painting the roof green whilst others painted the school office. In the time before dinner and after tea about half of the team played football. We played England vs Nepal which was a very even game. In the beginning we outnumbered them but they had the advantage of being used to the altitude. Our side were tired easily after running the length of the pitch. When we had to go in for dinner the score stood at England 12 Nepal 11, a narrow win.
On Thursday our patrol worked for the whole day, painting several classrooms. The top half of the room we painted custard yellow with the bottom half being light blue. In the afternoon we had quite a large audience of children watching us. As we painted their classroom the children had to learn outside.
Friday morning between breakfast and starting work all of us walked back up to the chorta with the hope of seeing Everest given that it was clear. However when we got there a cloud was blocking the mountain yet again. Our patrol went for a walk around the mountain whilst everyone else went back to the school to do the mornings work. We walked up to the top of the hill where there was a really nice lodge. Continuing on we saw some spectacular views and saw our patrol’s first glimpse of the summit of Everest. Then we went around the hill spotting the airport we passed on our way to Khumjung and walked back into the village. In the morning the team had finished all of the work that we needed to do. So in the afternoon we went back to the school to say goodbye to everyone up there. They wanted to thank us for all the work we had done so gave us Carter scarfs after some tea and biscuits.