After volunteering at a village school in Nepal for several weeks, you might have thought I’d settled into a comfortable routine. But no, the life of Amrita (my Nepali name, meaning Goddess of Nectar) was still pretty chaotic. Here's typical day in my experience at Manakamana School, Dakshin Dhoka, in the Kathmandu Valley...

5am: the day started. Well, not technically my day, as I usually didn’t get up for another couple of hours. I generally woke up at about this time though, because of the light and noise outside. However, the students had to get up with the sun to do "physical training", before drinking some milk tea and going to the classroom to do homework.

7am: Amrita Miss would get out of bed, stagger to the freezing cold shower, and put on some Western clothes. Sometimes I might go for a wander, though very often this would entrap me into doing something (like star jumps or running round the block or being very enthusiastic early in the morning). I usually did some lesson preparation - maybe cutting up pieces of paper for a task, or thinking up ideas of what I could do with whatever random classes I end up with that day.

8.30: Amrita Miss ventured out into the school yard, to be greeted by an onslaught of kids saying "Good Morning Mam", "Hello Miss" and "You look beautiful today Miss" etc. I’d take my empty water bottle to fill with hot water that was safe to drink, and go to the "canteen" – essentially a kitchen with two hobs that are heated using gas, with one table. Outside there's a kind of hall with tables and benches, and a sort of fire where they do some of the cooking. There are also shelves with veges on, like cauliflower and the jack fruit that I hated so much!

8.45: I’d eat my brekkers - dhaal bhaat (curry, rice, pickles and lentil soup – the national Nepali dish) and fill up my water bottle. Then someone - usually Sita Didi (big sister) – would help me put on my sari. This would be interesting, especially with her kids running around putting their uniforms on and the fact that neither of us could speak each other's language very well!

9am: the school was filling up, with kids running everywhere, playing table tennis, basketball, football, tag and random games where they beat each other up. By about 9.15am a bell would ring, indicating time for all the classes to line up in the quad and playground for assembly. This involves doing physical exercises and saluting, in time to whistles that are blown by the teachers, and singing the school anthem.

9.30am: assembly finishes and the kids march off to their various classrooms. A few minutes later, the first class of the day begins. At around this time, I’d try to get an idea what the hell I was supposed to be doing from Shiva Sir, who was in charge of organising the schedule. At first, this was quite an ordeal, but after some battling he started telling me more in advance (i.e. more than 30 seconds), and also asking me which classes I want to take on particular days. Result! This did not always happen or work, but it was progress.

Usually I’d take between four and five classes a day teaching from class two (around six or seven with not such a strong grasp of English) up to class eight (young teenagers... some with a more teenage attitude than others!). I'd generally be greeted with screams of joy and enthusiasm, which meant it often took a while to get the lesson started!

1.20pm: After periods four and five comes Tiffin break. Apparently, Tiffin is a well-known British word, but ironically I wasn't familiar with it until I went to Nepal. Tiffin lasts for about half an hour, and crucially, involves food! By now I'd generally be pretty hungry, and excited as this is one meal that doesn't always involve rice. Sometimes we had samosas, sometimes roti and curry, sometimes beaten rice, curry and doy (yogurt), sometimes rice pudding, sometimes a boiled egg.

1.50pm: Time for afternoon classes - periods six to eight. For the younger kids, school finishes at around 3.15pm, older kids school finishes at 4pm. Around this time, there's a sense of mayhem, as kids of different ages rush out of class, play in the playgrounds and clamber onto the various school buses. Depending where they live, some have to stay later as each bus might do a couple of different journeys. There's generally a pretty joyful atmosphere, with kids running around enjoying the sunshine.

4pm: School is over. So where is Amrita Miss by now? Well it would depend on how the mood took me. I might go and have a cup of tea and snack in the kitchen with the hostel kids (the children who live in the school) and maybe hang out with them in their rooms for a while, letting them feed me strange exotic food or paint my hands with henna. Other times I'd hang out with some of the teachers, laughing and exchanging ideas.

Sometimes, I’d leave the school for some chill out time - maybe to go for a walk or to get the bus to the Internet cafe. This helped me preserve my sanity! What happened each day would depend on where I'm needed - I never wanted to disappoint the kids. They are generally so enthusiastic - every day different groups begged me to go to their class, so I knew I must be doing something right!

6.15pm: the hostel kids would be in classrooms doing their mountains of homework. At some point after this, I'd stroll over to see them. I'd usually take my pile of reading books that people had sent me from the UK, and sometimes some other goodies - like sticky stars for good work, or craft materials. Dinner is at around 7.15pm, and usually I’d sit with some of the other teachers and/or family members at the table in the kitchen, while the kids sit in the hall together.

Then it's back to the hostel, and time to spend a couple of hours working with the kids. This was one of my favourite times of day, as I could give individual attention much easier than in the classes. I read with them, helped them with their homework and chatted to them in English, answering any questions they had. On some occasions, I gave them pencil crayons and paper to work with if they'd finished their homework, and I always tried to spend time with the kids that were having the most problems.

9pm: the younger kids were sent off to bed and I’d go for a chat with the older ones until they are sent to bed too. Generally I'd stroll back to my room at about 9.30pm , and chill out for a while - reading etc, often by a candle when the light didn't work - before going to sleep at whatever time the mood takes me. Teaching was pretty tiring but absolutely worth it - I got so much back from the kids. Sweet dreams...