KATHMANDU — In Northern India, Sam and Ahni and I saw a t-shirt hanging in a store window with the words, “What a long strange journey it has been” crudely stitched above a pair of shoddily sewn hiking boots. As I sit here in Kathmandu formulating my final blog entry my mind keeps wandering back to that phrase – one that so perfectly seems to summarize the past five months.
What a long strange journey it has been…..
Sam and Ahni left me a few days ago, and are currently somewhere between Paris and America I would assume. I, on the other hand am catching my flight back to the states in around 12 hours.
Sam, Ahni and I spent the past month traveling throughout northern India and then Nepal. The day after arriving in Delhi and the delightful 100+ degree heat we left via train to Amritsar, the capital of Punjab which borders Pakistan. We went to the famous “border closing ceremony” where the Indian and Pakistani National Armies conduct an elaborate huffing, puffing, high kicking ritual before ceremoniously closing the gate between the rival nations. It is the only place where people can legally move between the two countries. With music blasting over the loudspeaker and a sort of strange “MC” doing call and response with the HUGE audience, it felt like some sort of odd sporting event. In Amritsar we also visited the Golden Temple — the holiest Sikh temple — which, in my view rivaled the beauty of the Taj Mahal.
From Amritsar we ventured north east to Dharamsala and the home of the Dalai Lama in exile. We had a difficult time finding a hotel upon arrival and for the first time since being over here we accepted the aid of a man on the street in finding a good hotel. The streets are full of people trying to take you to “their” hotels where they reap a sizable commission that often is added on to the price of the hotel – therefore it rarely helps anything to accept there help. But, this time it ended up working perfectly. The man led us up this dark dirt path to a large place under construction that was run and owned by a lovely Nepali family. We had the honey moon suite on the top floor, all windows, that looked out over the valley and the city and aside from the fact that our balcony was frequented by monkeys it was pretty ideal.
A 15 hour over night van ride from Dharamsala took us to the hillstation of Manali where Sam and Ahni got their first views of the Himalayas. We arrived at five in the morning and were immediately overwhelmed by the cold. Luckily Ahni and I had purchased shawls – which is actually a fun story in and of itself. The shawls are soooo soft and beautiful and had stickers that we THOUGHT said “100% wool” or something and it wasn’t until we had already purchased them that we realized the stickers only said “100% shawl” and sure enough a burn test indicated that they were in fact polyester. Ke garne?
We spent a few days wandering around Manali and stayed in this nice little guest house on the outskirts right across from a famous temple that doubled as a nice area for local families to dry their hay and “graze” their cattle. Our room had a nice musky, cow shit odor.
From Manali we decided to go to Leh – the capital of Ladakh, a region within the Jammu & Kashmir province that is almost entirely Buddhist. Unfortunately there is no easy and cheap way to get there. Tourists are given two options: 1) fly and pay lots of cash or 2) take a 23 hour mini van ride from Manali. Of course, we chose the latter and what an experience it was. The road that links the two cities is the second highest motorable road in the world and crosses multiple passes that reach more than 16,000 feet into the sky. In addition our mini bus had no heat so I was huddled in Sam’s sleeping bag and at one point we ran into a snow storm of sorts during which the entire inside of the bus iced over. Perhaps the most memorable moment came during the storm when I was huddled in the sleeping bag, unable to feel my toes and the inside of the bus was iced over. Our driver was smoking a cigarette with all the windows up and with his other hand was scraping the windshield with Sam’s nicely donated credit card.
Somehow we survived the journey and arrived in Leh which is about 3500m and in a small bowl surrounded by mountains. We ended up staying at a nice homey guesthouse run by a Ladakhi family who woke us up each morning with delicious tea. We spent a few days exploring the city and practicing our Ladakhi, which now consists of being able to say “hello” or “Joolay!” The namaste of Ladakh. We hiked to the city’s Old Fort and wandered around a bit until we decided to do a trek.
We ended up arranging through a trekking company a six day trek through the Markha Valley – one of the most famous hikes in the area that crosses two 5000m(ish) passes. The three of us were accompanied by a sizable crew – five mules, a mule boy, a guide cum cook and a helper. To my delight the helper and guide cum cook were both Nepali so I once again got to practice my skills. Many Nepali trekking and climbing guides go to Ladakh in the Nepal’s off season so that they can work year round, it’s quite interesting. The trek itself was pretty spectacular, unfortunately Ahni had some digestive struggles for much of it, but she was a champ and was much more upbeat than I would have been. Both days we crossed the passes the weather was iffy and stormy so we didn’t have the best views, but I guess you can’t win them all.
In an effort to avoid having to take the 20 hour bus ride back to Manali we checked the price of flights every day, but much to our dismay they weren’t within our price range. We were therefore forced to take the 20 hour bus ride (which was much easier the second time around) back to Manali where we spent one night and then caught an afternoon/overnight 15 bus back to Delhi. This is what got us….the bus to Delhi was huge, like a normal size USA tourist bus so we thought it would be fine and assumed we would get lots of sleep. Boy were we wrong. The three of us had the back “seats” which were in fact not seats at all, but just a bench with no cushion behind us, and to make matters worse the bus drive drove so erratically and sooo fast that we were really only ON the seat for like half the time. The other half of the time we were in mid air/slamming into the seat in front of us. Needless to say we slept zero and the night is sort of a blur, all I know is that we arrived in Delhi around 8am just in time to catch our 1:00 flight to Nepal.
Stepping onto the tarmac at Tribhuvan International Airport and entering the dungeon-like interior was oddly like coming home. I understood what people were saying and after two freaking months everything was finally familiar. I tried to prepare Sam and Ahni for the horrors of Thamel – the tourist district where we would stay. I freaked them out with tales of insane numbers of tourists, of crazy rikshaw drivers, tiger balm hawkers and people offering to sell you drugs I have never even heard of. Sure enough we arrive and the place has freakin’ cleared out, and is soo chilled out. I guess the monsoon scared everyone away.
We had a wonderful 10 days in the city, getting up late, drinking lattes, beating Sam at cards, reading, going to all the religious sites you have to see, buying shawls, scarves, paper products and all the other cool things Thamel has to offer. It was really really nice to just relax and slow down after three weeks of crazy travel I think we were all ready for a break.
And now here I am, having just finished an omelet and croissant, still sucking down my iced coffee thinking about going home in twelve hours. 12 HOURS. What a ride it has been. It’s hard to even reflect on all the things I have seen, and experienced, all the times my world as I know it has been turned upside down, all the things I have learned and all the ways that I have changed. I have spent more than five months away from home to the extent that now Kathmandu feels like home. In many ways I feel like I have been ready to be in Vermont for months now, and yet, now that it’s actually time to leave panic has begun to set in. Everyday in Nepal/India is exciting, different, scary, and exotic and while it’s overwhelming and exhausting it’s also so so great and so perfectly chaotic.
I look forward to coming home to some stability, though, and I can’t wait to drink water out of the tap, brush my teeth with sink water (!!!) and never again buy bottled mineral water. Twenty-four hour hot showers and electricity and even the occasional hamburger all sound delightful as well. And yet at the same time I will miss those nights when the power goes out (BATTI GAYO!) and six hours later you wake up with all the lights on and the fan going full speed.
So I guess this is the end for my blog. Sorry it has been so erratic and so frequently neglected – ke garne?
SO: thanks for reading it, thanks to Sam and Ahni for coming alllll the way here and being thrown into the fire in Delhi’s tourist district after their terrifying introduction to India via rickshaw! Thanks to Aleeza and Salome for allowing me to latch onto their India travels and for making me laugh harder than I have ever laughed in my entire life. I miss you two so much. Thanks to SIT for everything and for introducing me to people I will never forget, many of whom have become my best friends. Finally, thanks to Mom and Dad for making this whole thing possible, for supporting my decisions to delay my return flight over and over again and for being such amazing parents and friends.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
India Phase 1 Complete :(
Hi From India's Capital City!
Here I sit in another crowded internet cafe...Salome and Aleeza, my SIT buddies left yesterday and now I am excitedly awaiting the arrival of Sam and Ahn this evening. It's hard to fathom just how quickly the first part of my India adventure went by and to process all the things we saw, experienced, ate, and did in just under three weeks. We nearly traveled the width of the country -- our adventures took us from the far east and Calcutta to Jaisalmer, 115 degree heat and a mere 100 km east of the Pakistan border. We saw bodies cremeated along the Ganges River in Varanasi, the Taj Mahal in Agra, rode camels in Jaisalmer, sweated profusely in Jaipur and then relaxed in Delhi. People tried to sell us leather whips, fake beards, monkeys, toy trains, illicit drugs, babies (we turned them all down). We stared poverty in the eye for so long that we became ashamed and scared by how de-sensitized we have become. We became exhausted from bargaining for everything from hotel rooms to bottled water to rickshaw rides and we from the difficulties associated with being a young woman in this country. We got a taste of what it must be like to be a celebrity as we were frequently stopped and thrust into Indian family portraits or other photos with young women or men. As we sat in front of the Taj Mahal people seemed more interested in taking photos with us, than taking photos of one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
What is next you ask? Perhaps a journey to the isolated north of India and the hidden valley of Ladakh -- "little Tibet" if you will. Who knows. All I know is that I still have a month to enjoy this place.
Here I sit in another crowded internet cafe...Salome and Aleeza, my SIT buddies left yesterday and now I am excitedly awaiting the arrival of Sam and Ahn this evening. It's hard to fathom just how quickly the first part of my India adventure went by and to process all the things we saw, experienced, ate, and did in just under three weeks. We nearly traveled the width of the country -- our adventures took us from the far east and Calcutta to Jaisalmer, 115 degree heat and a mere 100 km east of the Pakistan border. We saw bodies cremeated along the Ganges River in Varanasi, the Taj Mahal in Agra, rode camels in Jaisalmer, sweated profusely in Jaipur and then relaxed in Delhi. People tried to sell us leather whips, fake beards, monkeys, toy trains, illicit drugs, babies (we turned them all down). We stared poverty in the eye for so long that we became ashamed and scared by how de-sensitized we have become. We became exhausted from bargaining for everything from hotel rooms to bottled water to rickshaw rides and we from the difficulties associated with being a young woman in this country. We got a taste of what it must be like to be a celebrity as we were frequently stopped and thrust into Indian family portraits or other photos with young women or men. As we sat in front of the Taj Mahal people seemed more interested in taking photos with us, than taking photos of one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
What is next you ask? Perhaps a journey to the isolated north of India and the hidden valley of Ladakh -- "little Tibet" if you will. Who knows. All I know is that I still have a month to enjoy this place.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Oh, India....
Hi from Jaipur!
It's hard to believe, and quite sad really that our trip is now more than half over. We have had just an amazing time so far and have attempted to adapt to the heat. Literally the first thing anyone says to us is, "You are in India in the worst part of the year, this is hot even for us." Oh, and it always makes us feel so special. Ha.
I guess the last time I wrote we were in Varanasi, but since then we have visited Agra -- the home of the Taj Mahal and are now in Jaipur, the first big city in Rajasthan. We spent four amazing days in Varanasi, went on sunrise and sunset boat rides in the Ganges River, got scammed out of money, visited the Mother Theresa house on the river bank, watched cremations -- nearly 300 people are burned each day on the burning ghats. We met an adorable old man who happily led us through the city's alleys, bought us chai and made us feel so comfortable in a foriegn city. The back alleys are so overwhelming and suffocating. Cows, HUGE bulls, goats, people, rickshaws, motorcyles, dogs etc pack into these alleys that just reek of fecal matter, urine and dust, people are constantly sweeping the street in front of their shops which just churns up all this shit on the ground and makes it almost impossible to breathe.
From Varanasi we took a night train to Agra, and again we stayed in the lowest class, or sleeper section of the train. There are sort of sections in the train but no real doors, and there are six people and beds in a very small area with just about a foot and a half in between, an upper, middle and lower bunk on each side. We kept the small windows open and the fans going but it was almost impossible to sleep between the heat, the thick layer of dirt and sweat that covered me and the small insects that landed on me every two seconds. We arrived in Agra exhausted but so excited to see the Taj. We spent the morning visiting the Agra Fort and the "Baby Taj" before venturing off to see the real thing at sunset and it certainly didn't let us down. It is perhaps the most breath taking man made structure I have ever seen -- though I will say that the experience is a bit tainted by the hoardes of people trying to sell you Taj Mahal snowglobes and carvings and the ridiculous number of people that you are forced to share the experience with. In addition, the beautiful white marble is yellowing from pollution, though, despite all these things it was still just unbelivable. A reflecting pool lies in front of the actual building and mosques frame it on either side. Huge gardens surround it, and we spent a bit of time lying in the grass in front, somethign I have been wanting to do for months.
After a sleepless night in Agra as our hotel room "had air conditioning" but it in fact did not work at all -- we woke at 4:30 to have breakfast and head to the train station to catch our train to Jaipur. We ate breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel where we could see the Taj glowing in the early morning light. As we ate our honey toast and sipped some "coffee" the morning became alive with muslim prayer. We could barely see each other it was so dark but the air was alive with chanting from all over the city.
Our train to Jaipur was quite late so we had to endure three hours on the train station at the platform with creepy men surrounding us, monkeys cruising the rafters, rats scampering around the tracks and the overwhelming stench of human waste. The train tracks are just full of poop and litter and children looking for recyclables -- it's a hard time to spend any signficant length of time. The ride to Jaipur was nice though, we got to watch the landscape turn into desert, watch as camels starting appearing in the windows and the wind throughthe window got unbearably hot. We were greeted at the Jaipur train station by a nice man holding an SIT sign who whisked us away into a Toyota -- the first large, air conditioned car we have been in in four months and took us to the SIT Jaipur program house where Azimji, the academic director for the first half of our semester in Nepal works. We had a great time catching up and had lunch together before we jetted off to our hotel to relax before getting dinner with him. It was so nice to see a familiar face and someone who we enjoy spending time with so much! We had a delightful dinner and in a few days are headed to Jaisalmer and then back to Jaipur to spend more time with Azimji, then we aer going to all driev together to Delhi and part ways on the 31st! Hopefully I will time to post more before then, but I hope this helps a bit.
xoxox
It's hard to believe, and quite sad really that our trip is now more than half over. We have had just an amazing time so far and have attempted to adapt to the heat. Literally the first thing anyone says to us is, "You are in India in the worst part of the year, this is hot even for us." Oh, and it always makes us feel so special. Ha.
I guess the last time I wrote we were in Varanasi, but since then we have visited Agra -- the home of the Taj Mahal and are now in Jaipur, the first big city in Rajasthan. We spent four amazing days in Varanasi, went on sunrise and sunset boat rides in the Ganges River, got scammed out of money, visited the Mother Theresa house on the river bank, watched cremations -- nearly 300 people are burned each day on the burning ghats. We met an adorable old man who happily led us through the city's alleys, bought us chai and made us feel so comfortable in a foriegn city. The back alleys are so overwhelming and suffocating. Cows, HUGE bulls, goats, people, rickshaws, motorcyles, dogs etc pack into these alleys that just reek of fecal matter, urine and dust, people are constantly sweeping the street in front of their shops which just churns up all this shit on the ground and makes it almost impossible to breathe.
From Varanasi we took a night train to Agra, and again we stayed in the lowest class, or sleeper section of the train. There are sort of sections in the train but no real doors, and there are six people and beds in a very small area with just about a foot and a half in between, an upper, middle and lower bunk on each side. We kept the small windows open and the fans going but it was almost impossible to sleep between the heat, the thick layer of dirt and sweat that covered me and the small insects that landed on me every two seconds. We arrived in Agra exhausted but so excited to see the Taj. We spent the morning visiting the Agra Fort and the "Baby Taj" before venturing off to see the real thing at sunset and it certainly didn't let us down. It is perhaps the most breath taking man made structure I have ever seen -- though I will say that the experience is a bit tainted by the hoardes of people trying to sell you Taj Mahal snowglobes and carvings and the ridiculous number of people that you are forced to share the experience with. In addition, the beautiful white marble is yellowing from pollution, though, despite all these things it was still just unbelivable. A reflecting pool lies in front of the actual building and mosques frame it on either side. Huge gardens surround it, and we spent a bit of time lying in the grass in front, somethign I have been wanting to do for months.
After a sleepless night in Agra as our hotel room "had air conditioning" but it in fact did not work at all -- we woke at 4:30 to have breakfast and head to the train station to catch our train to Jaipur. We ate breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel where we could see the Taj glowing in the early morning light. As we ate our honey toast and sipped some "coffee" the morning became alive with muslim prayer. We could barely see each other it was so dark but the air was alive with chanting from all over the city.
Our train to Jaipur was quite late so we had to endure three hours on the train station at the platform with creepy men surrounding us, monkeys cruising the rafters, rats scampering around the tracks and the overwhelming stench of human waste. The train tracks are just full of poop and litter and children looking for recyclables -- it's a hard time to spend any signficant length of time. The ride to Jaipur was nice though, we got to watch the landscape turn into desert, watch as camels starting appearing in the windows and the wind throughthe window got unbearably hot. We were greeted at the Jaipur train station by a nice man holding an SIT sign who whisked us away into a Toyota -- the first large, air conditioned car we have been in in four months and took us to the SIT Jaipur program house where Azimji, the academic director for the first half of our semester in Nepal works. We had a great time catching up and had lunch together before we jetted off to our hotel to relax before getting dinner with him. It was so nice to see a familiar face and someone who we enjoy spending time with so much! We had a delightful dinner and in a few days are headed to Jaisalmer and then back to Jaipur to spend more time with Azimji, then we aer going to all driev together to Delhi and part ways on the 31st! Hopefully I will time to post more before then, but I hope this helps a bit.
xoxox
Friday, May 15, 2009
Greetings from Boiling Calcutta!!
Hello All!!
Sorry it has been so long since I have updated, honestly I have just been overwhelmed by the thought of trying to write about my ISP experience that I haven't sat down to do it. I think I will have to save those stories for when I return state side (on july 4th!!)
I'm currently in India with two of my friends, Aleeza and Salome (yes, we all have very weird names) from the SIT Program. On the 12th we flew from Kathmandu to Calcutta where we have stayed until today. We are leaving this evening to head to Varanasi on a night train! It is unbelivably hot here, by 7am it is often well over 95 degrees and the humidity feels like it has to be nearly 100%. Air conditioned hotel rooms are really the only reason we are still alive. However, we are having a great time, Calcutta is an absolutely gorgeous city compared to Kathmandu. The British influence is very apparent in the city's huge, wide boulevards and tree lined streets. That said, there are still thousands of people everywhere, beggers and garbage lining the streets and men yelling rude comments to us 90% of the time. The buildings though are so old and beautiful and the city is just much more developed than anythign we have seen since we got to Nepal. We saw our first McDonalds and were so suprised, it was like we had almost forgotten they existed. We have wandered around quite a bit, seen the Victoria Memorial, Mother Therea's tomb, a beautiful planatarium, the Indian Museum, New Market etc etc. We are trying to take the heat in stride, but we literally walk out the door and are dripping sweat, and look absolutely horrible. We have also noticed that no one else appears to really be sweating that much, which has perplexed us to no end. We also have seen shockingly few women on the streets which has been very interesting, and I saw for the first time women wearing Burkas, which I can't even begin to imagine must be sooooooo hot. We have been quite frustrated by the language barrier, after being able to speak so freely to people in Nepal. Nepali is actually quite similar to Hindi so we can undrestand it a big but we can't really speak it. I think our combination of Nepali and english has made it very difficult for people to understand anything that we are saying! Also, the food here -- not so great, something about hot food and hot weather that doesn't fly with me -- though i have had the best chicken kababs ever here.
I will try to better in the coming months about updating (and because many of the net cafes are air conditioned i feel like i will often be taking refuge!). Also, I want to say hi to Grammy and Uncle David, as I hear they are avid blog readers!! I miss you both and can't wait to see when I come back in July!
Lots of Love from India!
Roz
Sorry it has been so long since I have updated, honestly I have just been overwhelmed by the thought of trying to write about my ISP experience that I haven't sat down to do it. I think I will have to save those stories for when I return state side (on july 4th!!)
I'm currently in India with two of my friends, Aleeza and Salome (yes, we all have very weird names) from the SIT Program. On the 12th we flew from Kathmandu to Calcutta where we have stayed until today. We are leaving this evening to head to Varanasi on a night train! It is unbelivably hot here, by 7am it is often well over 95 degrees and the humidity feels like it has to be nearly 100%. Air conditioned hotel rooms are really the only reason we are still alive. However, we are having a great time, Calcutta is an absolutely gorgeous city compared to Kathmandu. The British influence is very apparent in the city's huge, wide boulevards and tree lined streets. That said, there are still thousands of people everywhere, beggers and garbage lining the streets and men yelling rude comments to us 90% of the time. The buildings though are so old and beautiful and the city is just much more developed than anythign we have seen since we got to Nepal. We saw our first McDonalds and were so suprised, it was like we had almost forgotten they existed. We have wandered around quite a bit, seen the Victoria Memorial, Mother Therea's tomb, a beautiful planatarium, the Indian Museum, New Market etc etc. We are trying to take the heat in stride, but we literally walk out the door and are dripping sweat, and look absolutely horrible. We have also noticed that no one else appears to really be sweating that much, which has perplexed us to no end. We also have seen shockingly few women on the streets which has been very interesting, and I saw for the first time women wearing Burkas, which I can't even begin to imagine must be sooooooo hot. We have been quite frustrated by the language barrier, after being able to speak so freely to people in Nepal. Nepali is actually quite similar to Hindi so we can undrestand it a big but we can't really speak it. I think our combination of Nepali and english has made it very difficult for people to understand anything that we are saying! Also, the food here -- not so great, something about hot food and hot weather that doesn't fly with me -- though i have had the best chicken kababs ever here.
I will try to better in the coming months about updating (and because many of the net cafes are air conditioned i feel like i will often be taking refuge!). Also, I want to say hi to Grammy and Uncle David, as I hear they are avid blog readers!! I miss you both and can't wait to see when I come back in July!
Lots of Love from India!
Roz
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Escalating Political Situation
Things are getting a little tense over this way, Nepal even made the New York Times. I thought you might be interested in reading the article.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Photos
Hi All,
I'm back safely in Kathmandu after a three weeks of cruising around in the mountains. I have managed to upload more photos that are in no particular order which makes it confusing even for me, but they are up none the less. Check out this link and this one too.
And, stay posted for a blog update. I'm overwhelmed by everything I have to say, the task is daunting and for now I must focus on writing my ISP.
Hugs and Kisses from Kathmandu!
I'm back safely in Kathmandu after a three weeks of cruising around in the mountains. I have managed to upload more photos that are in no particular order which makes it confusing even for me, but they are up none the less. Check out this link and this one too.
And, stay posted for a blog update. I'm overwhelmed by everything I have to say, the task is daunting and for now I must focus on writing my ISP.
Hugs and Kisses from Kathmandu!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Trapped in Kathmandu
It's times like these when I realize I am in Kathmandu. This morning I was scheduled to leave on a bus headed to Besi Sahar at which point I would begin my journey north. Instead, I am currently in Kathmandu's Thamel District, perhaps the most overwhelming, and horrifying part of the city. It's the tourist district where packed masses of people mingle amist orphaned boys high on glue, tiger balm hawking men, taxi and rikshaw drivers and everything else you can imagine. It's no wonder most tourists want to get out of this city as quickly as possible, I can hardly imagine getting in a taxi from the airport bound for Thamel.
Anyway, the country's transportation systems were all shut down today because of a bhand, or strike. Thus, no busses, taxis, minibusses etc ran to Pokhara or the Terai, or anywhere. Thus, I am hanging out in Thamel for the day with some friends and hoping we can catch a bus tomorrow, if the bhand is over. Thing is, in Nepal, you never know. It could last one day or eight. We are making the most of it though, getting in our last cold sodas and pizzas before venturing into the more remote regions of the country.
On a parting note, I will share with you three experiences that took place yesterday that made me reflect on why Nepal is such an interesting place to spend any time.
1. On my walk to school I was actually hit in the face by a flying pigeon. I assume it miscalculated in deciding how high it needed to fly as I am roughly 2 feet taller than everyone in this country.
2. I was bluff charged by the largest bull I have ever seen that was hanging out in the road between my house and school. It was a terrifying experience that ended well.
3. Last night, my last night with my host family, and my siblings and I watched a group of men, for roughly two hours, attempt to capture a HUGE black pig that had apparently escaped. The hullabaloo took place quite far from our house, but nevertheless we could see the crowd, and hear the shrieking pig.
Finally, my last update. I have extended my flight home and have decided to travel around northern India with a few friends for about 3 weeks after the program ends! Woo!!
And, now I venture off to the land with no internet. When I return I hope to hear that the UConn women have completed, for the third time in their history, an undefeated season. I can't tell you how hard it is to be away from March Madness. I clearly did not factor this into my decision to travel abroad in the spring.
xoxox
Anyway, the country's transportation systems were all shut down today because of a bhand, or strike. Thus, no busses, taxis, minibusses etc ran to Pokhara or the Terai, or anywhere. Thus, I am hanging out in Thamel for the day with some friends and hoping we can catch a bus tomorrow, if the bhand is over. Thing is, in Nepal, you never know. It could last one day or eight. We are making the most of it though, getting in our last cold sodas and pizzas before venturing into the more remote regions of the country.
On a parting note, I will share with you three experiences that took place yesterday that made me reflect on why Nepal is such an interesting place to spend any time.
1. On my walk to school I was actually hit in the face by a flying pigeon. I assume it miscalculated in deciding how high it needed to fly as I am roughly 2 feet taller than everyone in this country.
2. I was bluff charged by the largest bull I have ever seen that was hanging out in the road between my house and school. It was a terrifying experience that ended well.
3. Last night, my last night with my host family, and my siblings and I watched a group of men, for roughly two hours, attempt to capture a HUGE black pig that had apparently escaped. The hullabaloo took place quite far from our house, but nevertheless we could see the crowd, and hear the shrieking pig.
Finally, my last update. I have extended my flight home and have decided to travel around northern India with a few friends for about 3 weeks after the program ends! Woo!!
And, now I venture off to the land with no internet. When I return I hope to hear that the UConn women have completed, for the third time in their history, an undefeated season. I can't tell you how hard it is to be away from March Madness. I clearly did not factor this into my decision to travel abroad in the spring.
xoxox
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Updates from the Motherland
Namaste Pariwarharu & Sathiharu!
After two weeks of traveling I have safely arrived back in Kathmandu for my final week with my homestay family. It was oddly comforting to get back to the city and last night, for the first time in two months I fell asleep to the sound of rain pounding on the roof and thunder rattling. Even the dogs were silent in appreciation.
I will try to reconstruct what was possibly the most amazing experience of my life, but even in my journal I have found it difficult to recreate and reflect on. We left Kathmandu two weeks ago and took a bus to Pokhara, roughly six hours west of the capital. We stayed there in a guesthouse along a gorgeous lake in the extremely touristy district appropriately called “Lakeside.” We visited the Annapurna Conservation Area Project Office (ACAP) and some other NGOs for a few days and enjoyed the “night scene” which, like all of Nepal shuts down at the 11:00 national curfew. After two days in Pokhara we flew to Jomsom, on a 18 person plane. It wasn’t until we cleared the runway taking off that I thought we actually survive the flight in such a rickety plane. The plane flew directly north through the heart of the Annapurna Mountain Range just above a deep river gorge. It’s an odd feeling to be in an airplane and have to look out and the window and UP to see the tops of mountains. Our flight left early in the morning so we were fortunate enough to avoid the wind, which is what can cause intense turbulence. Upon arriving in Jomsom, which is a good sized village, located in the dusty rain shadow of the Annapurna’s we ate dhal baat before walking south to the village of Marpha. In Marpha we sampled the village’s famous apple brandy and spent one night before trekking south again to the two villages where we would stay with our homestay families. The geography of the area is shockingly gorgeous – high snow capped peaks stand in stark contrast to the otherwise, dry, barren lower hills.
Our eight day homestays took place in the neighboring villages of Khobang and Larjung, both of which are right along the country’s most popular trekking route, the Annapurna Circuit Trail. However, the route is becoming less and less popular because, as of two years ago, the trail has been converted into a rough jeep trail and few trekkers are willing to share the road with jeeps and motorcycles (rightly so). It is actually sad to see what the road has done to the economies of the two villages that once acted as perfect stopping places for food and or lodging along the circuit. Today, many tourists and locals jeep through the villages en route to either Jomsom, or Muktinath in the far north. The area absolutely beautiful, and Khobang is literally located in the shadow of the sixth largest mountain in the world, Dualagiri which tops out at over 8000 meters.
Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about our endlessly interesting and in many ways, hilarious homestays. Unlike our Kathmandu homestays where we are all with our own families, in Khobang and Larjung we were in pairs – thank god. I randomly got paired with one of my good friends, which was very nice. The two of us stayed with a small family of four who had some cattle and chickens and a small vegetable garden, but who’s main source of income came from the small teahouse they ran in their house. Our house was a constant source of entertainment as at any given time there were bound to be 10-20 villagers drinking raksi (the local brew), tea or snacking. It was great because none of the villagers spoke English so we were, for the first time, really forced to speak Nepali. My fellow SITer – Myra – and I shared a room, which can be more realistically described as a tool shed, which was outside, which was outside of the main house and above the cattle pit. There was no heat in the “room,” which was no larger than 6 x 8, literally just large enough for a six-inch walkway between the two beds. Three cattle lived below us and each were adorned with their very own ginormous bell around their neck. We quickly learned that cows never sleep and that the bells never stopped ringing. To make things more interesting there were also roosters in the livestock pit. For some reason, prior to our trip I was under the impression that roosters crowed once when the sun came up – perhaps a romantic notion, but mine nonetheless. It quickly became apparent to us that was not the case, and that in reality roosters only begin crowing at sunrise, but then continue to crow consistently throughout much of the morning. Thus, from about 5am when the rooster first woke us up, we lay in bed listening to a bell/rooster duet until getting out of bed at 7.
We enjoyed some interesting meals in the village, but for the most part our days were dominated by dhal baat. Our family was generous with the raksi, though, which was a new experience for me as my Kathmandu family is Brahmin and does not drink alcohol. Raksi is an interesting grain alcohol, served warm, that tastes in many ways like a combination of vodka and rubbing alcohol. In addition to raksi Myra and I were exposed to a number of interesting dishes at our house. By far the most interesting thing I consumed was a creation that is made from goat blood and flour and then served inside goat intestine – Nepali sausage if you will. Later on in the week, after watching my family slaughter a chicken dangerously close to our “room” I was served the head in my dish, beak and all. At first I thought maybe that meant I was highly respected, although, after attempting to eat it, I think it might have been some sort of punishment. As you are really expected to eat everything on your plate, consuming the head, which has very little meat, was quite challenging. I just sort of gnawed on it briefly and considered it good. Finally, the last night we were served warm beer complete with floating fried milk/cheese stuff, yak butter and salt. Recounting all this is funny, at the time, not so much.
Really, though, our family was great, and it really was an experience. While in the village we had language class and were conducting mini research projects about different aspects of the village so we were quite busy. We did have some time to go on hikes though and I managed to get to walk to a high yak pasture, small lake and on another day to a famous cave where a Buddhist monk is said to have mediated for thousands of years.
After a little over a week in the village we were set free to return to Kathmandu on our own via some combination of trekking, bussing and jeeping. While the vast majority of the group hiked south through Tatopani, Ghorepani and up Poon Hill, myself and three friends decided to go north, which was a bit more complicated, but in the end was most definitely worth it. We ended up riding via jeep-rooftop to the northern most village, and perhaps the only one that has benefited from the jeep road, Muktinath. To go into the district of Upper Mustang you have to pay $70 dollars per day, so Muktinath is the furthest north you can go without getting slammed with fees. It is also perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever been. Located at just under 14,000 feet, it is also considered to be the second holiest religious site for both Hindus and Buddhists. Looking out from the village you see the huge snow capped Himalayas framing a landscape that looks otherwise like Utah or Nevada on crack. Upon arriving we visited the famous temple that people come from thousands of miles away to visit. We touched water from each of the 108 spouts of holy water to our foreheads cleansings ourselves of our past sins, spun the prayer wheels and even saw the internal flame deep inside a Buddhist temple. We spent one night in the Mona Lisa Guesthouse and spent the evening throwing snow balls and playing in the four inches of snow that fell throughout the afternoon, evening and morning. The boys ate yak steaks and I enjoyed the first pasta I had tasted in months. The next morning we hiked through the snow, wearing hats and down jackets, reveling in the landscape that looked entirely different from the one we had seen the previous afternoon. We put in a good five hour hike to Kagbeni, a route separate from the jeep trail, on which we saw no other trekkers. It wove through villages, up through a small pass, before dropping into the valley and the green fields surrounding Kagbeni. We saw fossils, coyote-like animals, mule herders, yaks and were almost caught in a snowstorm, and for the first time since getting to Nepal I really felt like I deserved the amount of dhal baat I was fed.
We spent the night at a cute little place in Kagbeni and then hiked to Jomsom along the riverbed the next day. We left Jomsom early the next morning and spent 7 hours in a jeep getting to Beni where we picked up a taxi and got back to Pokhara for one more night on the town. On Sunday we arrived back in Kathmandu, after two weeks on the road.
It is comforting to be back in Kathmandu, and I’ve woken up the last few mornings to the sound of birds – which prior to this week I did not know could survive in the city. My family is super cute and are adamant that I come to visit them after my ISP before retuning back to the states.
On Monday I will leave Kathmandu for a month on my own for my Independent Study Project (ISP). I plan to return to the Mustang District, but this time venture to Manang where I will study migration. I’m curious to see how effective my research is going to be as my methodology relies heavily on conversing with families in Nepali. I’m excited to be on my own, and a bit terrified, but I know it will be great for me.
I hope you feel at least a little bit updated on my whereabouts. As the flowers bloom in Kathmandu and will be thinking of you all riding out the end of winter. Mom and Dad, I hope you have enough firewood to make it.
I miss you all!! (and happy april fool’s day)
Roz
After two weeks of traveling I have safely arrived back in Kathmandu for my final week with my homestay family. It was oddly comforting to get back to the city and last night, for the first time in two months I fell asleep to the sound of rain pounding on the roof and thunder rattling. Even the dogs were silent in appreciation.
I will try to reconstruct what was possibly the most amazing experience of my life, but even in my journal I have found it difficult to recreate and reflect on. We left Kathmandu two weeks ago and took a bus to Pokhara, roughly six hours west of the capital. We stayed there in a guesthouse along a gorgeous lake in the extremely touristy district appropriately called “Lakeside.” We visited the Annapurna Conservation Area Project Office (ACAP) and some other NGOs for a few days and enjoyed the “night scene” which, like all of Nepal shuts down at the 11:00 national curfew. After two days in Pokhara we flew to Jomsom, on a 18 person plane. It wasn’t until we cleared the runway taking off that I thought we actually survive the flight in such a rickety plane. The plane flew directly north through the heart of the Annapurna Mountain Range just above a deep river gorge. It’s an odd feeling to be in an airplane and have to look out and the window and UP to see the tops of mountains. Our flight left early in the morning so we were fortunate enough to avoid the wind, which is what can cause intense turbulence. Upon arriving in Jomsom, which is a good sized village, located in the dusty rain shadow of the Annapurna’s we ate dhal baat before walking south to the village of Marpha. In Marpha we sampled the village’s famous apple brandy and spent one night before trekking south again to the two villages where we would stay with our homestay families. The geography of the area is shockingly gorgeous – high snow capped peaks stand in stark contrast to the otherwise, dry, barren lower hills.
Our eight day homestays took place in the neighboring villages of Khobang and Larjung, both of which are right along the country’s most popular trekking route, the Annapurna Circuit Trail. However, the route is becoming less and less popular because, as of two years ago, the trail has been converted into a rough jeep trail and few trekkers are willing to share the road with jeeps and motorcycles (rightly so). It is actually sad to see what the road has done to the economies of the two villages that once acted as perfect stopping places for food and or lodging along the circuit. Today, many tourists and locals jeep through the villages en route to either Jomsom, or Muktinath in the far north. The area absolutely beautiful, and Khobang is literally located in the shadow of the sixth largest mountain in the world, Dualagiri which tops out at over 8000 meters.
Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about our endlessly interesting and in many ways, hilarious homestays. Unlike our Kathmandu homestays where we are all with our own families, in Khobang and Larjung we were in pairs – thank god. I randomly got paired with one of my good friends, which was very nice. The two of us stayed with a small family of four who had some cattle and chickens and a small vegetable garden, but who’s main source of income came from the small teahouse they ran in their house. Our house was a constant source of entertainment as at any given time there were bound to be 10-20 villagers drinking raksi (the local brew), tea or snacking. It was great because none of the villagers spoke English so we were, for the first time, really forced to speak Nepali. My fellow SITer – Myra – and I shared a room, which can be more realistically described as a tool shed, which was outside, which was outside of the main house and above the cattle pit. There was no heat in the “room,” which was no larger than 6 x 8, literally just large enough for a six-inch walkway between the two beds. Three cattle lived below us and each were adorned with their very own ginormous bell around their neck. We quickly learned that cows never sleep and that the bells never stopped ringing. To make things more interesting there were also roosters in the livestock pit. For some reason, prior to our trip I was under the impression that roosters crowed once when the sun came up – perhaps a romantic notion, but mine nonetheless. It quickly became apparent to us that was not the case, and that in reality roosters only begin crowing at sunrise, but then continue to crow consistently throughout much of the morning. Thus, from about 5am when the rooster first woke us up, we lay in bed listening to a bell/rooster duet until getting out of bed at 7.
We enjoyed some interesting meals in the village, but for the most part our days were dominated by dhal baat. Our family was generous with the raksi, though, which was a new experience for me as my Kathmandu family is Brahmin and does not drink alcohol. Raksi is an interesting grain alcohol, served warm, that tastes in many ways like a combination of vodka and rubbing alcohol. In addition to raksi Myra and I were exposed to a number of interesting dishes at our house. By far the most interesting thing I consumed was a creation that is made from goat blood and flour and then served inside goat intestine – Nepali sausage if you will. Later on in the week, after watching my family slaughter a chicken dangerously close to our “room” I was served the head in my dish, beak and all. At first I thought maybe that meant I was highly respected, although, after attempting to eat it, I think it might have been some sort of punishment. As you are really expected to eat everything on your plate, consuming the head, which has very little meat, was quite challenging. I just sort of gnawed on it briefly and considered it good. Finally, the last night we were served warm beer complete with floating fried milk/cheese stuff, yak butter and salt. Recounting all this is funny, at the time, not so much.
Really, though, our family was great, and it really was an experience. While in the village we had language class and were conducting mini research projects about different aspects of the village so we were quite busy. We did have some time to go on hikes though and I managed to get to walk to a high yak pasture, small lake and on another day to a famous cave where a Buddhist monk is said to have mediated for thousands of years.
After a little over a week in the village we were set free to return to Kathmandu on our own via some combination of trekking, bussing and jeeping. While the vast majority of the group hiked south through Tatopani, Ghorepani and up Poon Hill, myself and three friends decided to go north, which was a bit more complicated, but in the end was most definitely worth it. We ended up riding via jeep-rooftop to the northern most village, and perhaps the only one that has benefited from the jeep road, Muktinath. To go into the district of Upper Mustang you have to pay $70 dollars per day, so Muktinath is the furthest north you can go without getting slammed with fees. It is also perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever been. Located at just under 14,000 feet, it is also considered to be the second holiest religious site for both Hindus and Buddhists. Looking out from the village you see the huge snow capped Himalayas framing a landscape that looks otherwise like Utah or Nevada on crack. Upon arriving we visited the famous temple that people come from thousands of miles away to visit. We touched water from each of the 108 spouts of holy water to our foreheads cleansings ourselves of our past sins, spun the prayer wheels and even saw the internal flame deep inside a Buddhist temple. We spent one night in the Mona Lisa Guesthouse and spent the evening throwing snow balls and playing in the four inches of snow that fell throughout the afternoon, evening and morning. The boys ate yak steaks and I enjoyed the first pasta I had tasted in months. The next morning we hiked through the snow, wearing hats and down jackets, reveling in the landscape that looked entirely different from the one we had seen the previous afternoon. We put in a good five hour hike to Kagbeni, a route separate from the jeep trail, on which we saw no other trekkers. It wove through villages, up through a small pass, before dropping into the valley and the green fields surrounding Kagbeni. We saw fossils, coyote-like animals, mule herders, yaks and were almost caught in a snowstorm, and for the first time since getting to Nepal I really felt like I deserved the amount of dhal baat I was fed.
We spent the night at a cute little place in Kagbeni and then hiked to Jomsom along the riverbed the next day. We left Jomsom early the next morning and spent 7 hours in a jeep getting to Beni where we picked up a taxi and got back to Pokhara for one more night on the town. On Sunday we arrived back in Kathmandu, after two weeks on the road.
It is comforting to be back in Kathmandu, and I’ve woken up the last few mornings to the sound of birds – which prior to this week I did not know could survive in the city. My family is super cute and are adamant that I come to visit them after my ISP before retuning back to the states.
On Monday I will leave Kathmandu for a month on my own for my Independent Study Project (ISP). I plan to return to the Mustang District, but this time venture to Manang where I will study migration. I’m curious to see how effective my research is going to be as my methodology relies heavily on conversing with families in Nepali. I’m excited to be on my own, and a bit terrified, but I know it will be great for me.
I hope you feel at least a little bit updated on my whereabouts. As the flowers bloom in Kathmandu and will be thinking of you all riding out the end of winter. Mom and Dad, I hope you have enough firewood to make it.
I miss you all!! (and happy april fool’s day)
Roz
Thursday, March 12, 2009
3, or is it 30, Cups of Tea
Sorry for the lull in my blog, but all of a sudden things are picking up speed here… I have recently discovered that my duhdchiiya (milk tea) intake increases proportionally with my stress level, and these days I’m drinking 10+ cups a day.
Today is Friday – and in a few hours we have a pretty substantial paper due on a development topic of our choice. Rather than work any more on mine I will have more fun, and write this. My paper focused on Nepal’s education system, which is perhaps the country’s most glaring developmental weakness and a very interesting topic to spend some time examining, especially after being educated in the states. I ended up conducting a few interviews – one with the director of Rata Bangala, one of Nepal’s most well respected boarding schools, and one with a Harvard educated Nepali man who is the director of the Open Learning Exchange NGO that is currently working in conjunction with the One Laptop Per Child initiative that I’m sure many of you are familiar with. Interesting paper, but I’m glad to be done.
SO, the reason my tea intake has been through the roof was partially this paper, partially our huge language exam on Monday, but also our trip to Jomsom! We were planning on leaving on Sunday for a two week trip to northern Nepal, (in the Annapurnas, not far from Tibet) but because of a huge bhand (strike) that is supposed to go into effect on Sunday, we are leaving a day earlier, which means we have to get a lot of stuff in order even sooner. The scary thing is, when we get back from our trip we just have one week in the city during which we have to do all our final exams and get everything together for our ISP projects – AND, it’s also our last week with our home stay families, so everything has gotten super hectic. AND, since I’m still a little unclear about what my ISP is going to look like, I’m a bit more frantic than most. But, as they say in Nepal, “ke garne?” (rough translation – What to do?) But anyway, I am so excited about the two week getaway. We will take a bus to Pokhara, which is almost directly west, and stay there for a couple days before flying to Jomsom – just a 15 plane ride through the pass, and then a five hour hike later we will arrive in a village where we will stay with one other SITer in village families for seven days. After the week long rural homestay we can trek out of the mountains and get back to Pokhara in four days, so we can do it however we like. I cannot wait. I think, as of now, I will be trekking out on part of the Jomsom Trek that you can read about in guide books, and will hopefully be able to go up Poon Hill in the morning (with about 800 other tourists). After seeing photos from when my Aunt Liz hiked it, it doesn’t seem like a place I should miss.
Ok, other fun things that have gone on: FIRST, Holi is finally over, which means that I no longer get pelted with water balloons every time I step outside, I no longer panic everytime a school bus passes, I no longer have to scan the rooftops before stepping beneath buildings and I no longer think that every shadow, whether it be from a bird or butterfly is a water balloon headed my way. Tuesday, which was the actual holiday of Holi was actually a really great day. We didn’t have school, and by 8:30 am, (after my amma came into my room and told me I was an alchii chora or “lazy child”) I was on the roof pelting people with water balloons and/or simply emptying buckets of water on people who passed below our house. At around 11:00 a bunch of my friends from SIT came to the house and we had a giant water balloon fight and covered each other in brightly colored powders – it has been four or five days now and my face is still slightly yellow from all the toxic dyes that have seeped into my skin. You can’t really understand how crazy the holiday is until you see pictures!
Aside from Holi I have been pretty consumed by work, we had another language exam on Monday, and I feel like I’m able to converse pretty well now. I have grown to love my family – we spend many electricity-less evenings sitting in bed under the giant Nepali blankets that I have become obsessed with (I’m plotting how I’m going to get one home – they are suuuper heavy and wonderful) and just chat. On the worst nights I am commanded to sing – last night I did solo performances of “My Heart Will Go On,” and, my brothers favorite, “Dangerous” by Akon. Even though I think I have, quite possibly, the worst voice in the history of the world, they eat it up. My sister has become very fond of Nacho (my stuffed elephant, for those of you that don’t know him) and I’m concerned that I may have to keep a close eye on him, as she has a knack for acquiring things of mine that she likes. I’m still in the process of getting my favorite t-shirt back. Normally I would let her have it, but that t-shirt accounts for roughly one-third of the shirts that I have. My Amma continues to awkwardly corner for me for one-on-one sessions that slowly turn into huge misunderstandings. I learned that she and my father had a love marriage, which is pretty rare, but she was 16 at the time! She then asked about my real family and I said that my parents had been married for 25 years and that they were 55, but it’s unclear to me whether she heard that, or that my parents were 25 and had been married for 55 years. As always, communication here is pretty questionable. OH! I had my first taste of chicken at home a few days ago – I made a point to re-emphasize how much I enjoyed it as I’m hoping maybe goat can be erased from the menu. However, at this point we have just one week left with the fam…. Also, I keep forgetting to mention, for my Mom’s sake, that badminton is a BIG deal here – everyone plays it and it’s super intense, I tend to see people playing a lot on my way to school in the morning and I keep thinking I need to tell you Mom that with your badminton background, you would be sooo cool in Nepal.
A few nights ago some friends and I ate dinner at Boudhina, the huge Buddhist stupa in the Boudha, the Buddhist area in the city. Kathmandu is such an early-to-bed city that I have rarely been out at night – so it was really fun. The Stupa is such an amazing place – the Buddhists who come walk around it, clockwise, spinning the prayer wheels and it’s impossible not to get pulled into the rhythm of it. Everywhere people are lighting butter candles, and it’s almost silent aside for the incessant people hawking Tiger Balm. It’s a very powerful place, and it was one of my favorite nights in the city.
Goodbye for now. My next post will likely be in a few weeks when we get back from Jomsom, as we definitely will not have Internet access while we are there. I hope you got to see the few photos I was able to upload, sadly that will probably be all I can put up as it takes a ridiculous amount of time for them to load.
Today is Friday – and in a few hours we have a pretty substantial paper due on a development topic of our choice. Rather than work any more on mine I will have more fun, and write this. My paper focused on Nepal’s education system, which is perhaps the country’s most glaring developmental weakness and a very interesting topic to spend some time examining, especially after being educated in the states. I ended up conducting a few interviews – one with the director of Rata Bangala, one of Nepal’s most well respected boarding schools, and one with a Harvard educated Nepali man who is the director of the Open Learning Exchange NGO that is currently working in conjunction with the One Laptop Per Child initiative that I’m sure many of you are familiar with. Interesting paper, but I’m glad to be done.
SO, the reason my tea intake has been through the roof was partially this paper, partially our huge language exam on Monday, but also our trip to Jomsom! We were planning on leaving on Sunday for a two week trip to northern Nepal, (in the Annapurnas, not far from Tibet) but because of a huge bhand (strike) that is supposed to go into effect on Sunday, we are leaving a day earlier, which means we have to get a lot of stuff in order even sooner. The scary thing is, when we get back from our trip we just have one week in the city during which we have to do all our final exams and get everything together for our ISP projects – AND, it’s also our last week with our home stay families, so everything has gotten super hectic. AND, since I’m still a little unclear about what my ISP is going to look like, I’m a bit more frantic than most. But, as they say in Nepal, “ke garne?” (rough translation – What to do?) But anyway, I am so excited about the two week getaway. We will take a bus to Pokhara, which is almost directly west, and stay there for a couple days before flying to Jomsom – just a 15 plane ride through the pass, and then a five hour hike later we will arrive in a village where we will stay with one other SITer in village families for seven days. After the week long rural homestay we can trek out of the mountains and get back to Pokhara in four days, so we can do it however we like. I cannot wait. I think, as of now, I will be trekking out on part of the Jomsom Trek that you can read about in guide books, and will hopefully be able to go up Poon Hill in the morning (with about 800 other tourists). After seeing photos from when my Aunt Liz hiked it, it doesn’t seem like a place I should miss.
Ok, other fun things that have gone on: FIRST, Holi is finally over, which means that I no longer get pelted with water balloons every time I step outside, I no longer panic everytime a school bus passes, I no longer have to scan the rooftops before stepping beneath buildings and I no longer think that every shadow, whether it be from a bird or butterfly is a water balloon headed my way. Tuesday, which was the actual holiday of Holi was actually a really great day. We didn’t have school, and by 8:30 am, (after my amma came into my room and told me I was an alchii chora or “lazy child”) I was on the roof pelting people with water balloons and/or simply emptying buckets of water on people who passed below our house. At around 11:00 a bunch of my friends from SIT came to the house and we had a giant water balloon fight and covered each other in brightly colored powders – it has been four or five days now and my face is still slightly yellow from all the toxic dyes that have seeped into my skin. You can’t really understand how crazy the holiday is until you see pictures!
Aside from Holi I have been pretty consumed by work, we had another language exam on Monday, and I feel like I’m able to converse pretty well now. I have grown to love my family – we spend many electricity-less evenings sitting in bed under the giant Nepali blankets that I have become obsessed with (I’m plotting how I’m going to get one home – they are suuuper heavy and wonderful) and just chat. On the worst nights I am commanded to sing – last night I did solo performances of “My Heart Will Go On,” and, my brothers favorite, “Dangerous” by Akon. Even though I think I have, quite possibly, the worst voice in the history of the world, they eat it up. My sister has become very fond of Nacho (my stuffed elephant, for those of you that don’t know him) and I’m concerned that I may have to keep a close eye on him, as she has a knack for acquiring things of mine that she likes. I’m still in the process of getting my favorite t-shirt back. Normally I would let her have it, but that t-shirt accounts for roughly one-third of the shirts that I have. My Amma continues to awkwardly corner for me for one-on-one sessions that slowly turn into huge misunderstandings. I learned that she and my father had a love marriage, which is pretty rare, but she was 16 at the time! She then asked about my real family and I said that my parents had been married for 25 years and that they were 55, but it’s unclear to me whether she heard that, or that my parents were 25 and had been married for 55 years. As always, communication here is pretty questionable. OH! I had my first taste of chicken at home a few days ago – I made a point to re-emphasize how much I enjoyed it as I’m hoping maybe goat can be erased from the menu. However, at this point we have just one week left with the fam…. Also, I keep forgetting to mention, for my Mom’s sake, that badminton is a BIG deal here – everyone plays it and it’s super intense, I tend to see people playing a lot on my way to school in the morning and I keep thinking I need to tell you Mom that with your badminton background, you would be sooo cool in Nepal.
A few nights ago some friends and I ate dinner at Boudhina, the huge Buddhist stupa in the Boudha, the Buddhist area in the city. Kathmandu is such an early-to-bed city that I have rarely been out at night – so it was really fun. The Stupa is such an amazing place – the Buddhists who come walk around it, clockwise, spinning the prayer wheels and it’s impossible not to get pulled into the rhythm of it. Everywhere people are lighting butter candles, and it’s almost silent aside for the incessant people hawking Tiger Balm. It’s a very powerful place, and it was one of my favorite nights in the city.
Goodbye for now. My next post will likely be in a few weeks when we get back from Jomsom, as we definitely will not have Internet access while we are there. I hope you got to see the few photos I was able to upload, sadly that will probably be all I can put up as it takes a ridiculous amount of time for them to load.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Interesting Article
There is an interesting article on the bbc website that you should check out.
Many of the women in our program who are staying with Hindu families, including myself, have dealt with much milder versions of this "confinement" that the article discusses.
Many of the women in our program who are staying with Hindu families, including myself, have dealt with much milder versions of this "confinement" that the article discusses.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Thanks for the Letters!!!
So first of all I need to thank Lauren, Alex, Sam, Ahni and Alicia for making me look like the cool kid on mail day. Four letters really brightened my day that, prior to that had been dominated by digestive problems… ☺
No real exciting news to relay…I have now developed perfect timing with three school buses on my way to school in the morning and have yet to make it to school yet without being pelted/soaked by water balloons. Luckily, though, the festival culminates on Tuesday with one final crazy water balloon, vermilion, rock, tomato, and potato throwing day. We don’t have class and my brothers have recommended that I “do not go outside on Holy.” Fair enough as I really don’t have enough clothes in Nepal to destroy any of them.
Monday I did the evening puja – or worship ceremony – at our house as my brothers were not home, my mom has her period and I’m older than my sister. It was pretty interesting and involved lighting various things on fire, lighting incense, scattering rice, making offers of fruits and then ringing the bell. It really made me feel like a part of the family, but at the same time was sort of uncomfortable because it is such a spiritual act.
Yesterday instead of Nepali language class we cooked Nepali food. My group was in charge of making roti – which are like thicker tortillas – and curried vegetables. Today we had to present our recipe in Nepali and somehow my group managed to say that we “cooked lots of people,” in our defense the words for people and vegetables are very similar. My sister also taught me to make ramen last night – clearly she was under the impression that I have never cooked in my life. I had to feign interest as she added ramen noodles to boiling water.
On a sad note, our academic director left yesterday to return to his SIT program in India and a new AD has stepped in. This is a transition year for the SIT Nepal program, so Azim was here for the first month settling us in and now a man named Bill from the US has replaced him. Azim was really great and provided us with a perfect introduction to south asian culture, and we are all so sad to see him go, however, at the same time Bill has a long history in Nepal working with the community forests and knows so much about resource conservation and management we are all excited for him to begin as well.
Load shedding here is up to 20 hours so we spend lots of time doing homework by candlelight and it’s pretty difficult to use the computer since it’s hard to charge them. We have a generator at the SIT house but it’s rarely run. Most stores here have generators so they are able to keep their shops open, or they use candles. The restaurant we ate at last night just had candlelight.
Ok, work time.
No real exciting news to relay…I have now developed perfect timing with three school buses on my way to school in the morning and have yet to make it to school yet without being pelted/soaked by water balloons. Luckily, though, the festival culminates on Tuesday with one final crazy water balloon, vermilion, rock, tomato, and potato throwing day. We don’t have class and my brothers have recommended that I “do not go outside on Holy.” Fair enough as I really don’t have enough clothes in Nepal to destroy any of them.
Monday I did the evening puja – or worship ceremony – at our house as my brothers were not home, my mom has her period and I’m older than my sister. It was pretty interesting and involved lighting various things on fire, lighting incense, scattering rice, making offers of fruits and then ringing the bell. It really made me feel like a part of the family, but at the same time was sort of uncomfortable because it is such a spiritual act.
Yesterday instead of Nepali language class we cooked Nepali food. My group was in charge of making roti – which are like thicker tortillas – and curried vegetables. Today we had to present our recipe in Nepali and somehow my group managed to say that we “cooked lots of people,” in our defense the words for people and vegetables are very similar. My sister also taught me to make ramen last night – clearly she was under the impression that I have never cooked in my life. I had to feign interest as she added ramen noodles to boiling water.
On a sad note, our academic director left yesterday to return to his SIT program in India and a new AD has stepped in. This is a transition year for the SIT Nepal program, so Azim was here for the first month settling us in and now a man named Bill from the US has replaced him. Azim was really great and provided us with a perfect introduction to south asian culture, and we are all so sad to see him go, however, at the same time Bill has a long history in Nepal working with the community forests and knows so much about resource conservation and management we are all excited for him to begin as well.
Load shedding here is up to 20 hours so we spend lots of time doing homework by candlelight and it’s pretty difficult to use the computer since it’s hard to charge them. We have a generator at the SIT house but it’s rarely run. Most stores here have generators so they are able to keep their shops open, or they use candles. The restaurant we ate at last night just had candlelight.
Ok, work time.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Dhulikhel
Last night I got back from a two day adventure to Dhulikhel, a small Newari village located 30 km north east of the city. Six of us left after classes ended Friday afternoon and took a taxi (which is the size of like a hatch back Toyota) out of the valley. Somehow we all jammed into it, and we were ceremonially pelted with water balloons – yes, the color festival is still going down – on our way out of the city. We stayed in a very nice, but very cheap guesthouse that looked out to the valley opposite of the Kathmandu Valley and the Himalayas – when they decided to poke through the smog. They are just so overwhelmingly huge – we were at like 6,000 feet, and it looked like they were floating. We enjoyed some Nepali festivities on Friday night and then on Saturday we ended up doing a seven-hour, 12ish mile hike. We first hiked up along some dirt roads, through a bunch of villages to a Buddhist monastery situated high on a hill with stunning views of the hills, valleys and Himalayas. As we sat beneath the prayer flaps flapping thinly in the wind, I realized that that was the Nepal I pictured when I signed up. I thought little about the city, and the madness that is Kathmandu and more about those moments when you are sitting high above the world, hearing monks chanting and looking into the deep river gorges and terraced wheat fields and thinking that everything makes sense. I could have stayed there all day, or all week. The hike down through the valley was equally amazing though. We cut through fields and through small villages, relying entirely on people to guide us back to Dhulikel. We stopped and spoke with an old man who offered to let us all stay with him and who was absolutely beside himself that we could communicate with him in Nepali. We returned to Kathmandu Sunday afternoon, absolutely exhausted on another crazy bus. I got back just in time to watch the Grand Finale of Indian Idol on TV with my family. Apparently the city adjusted load shedding so that the majority of the city would have power at 8:30 when it came on. Thank God. The load shedding is actually increasing now so that we only have four hours a day of potential power, sometimes there is none and sometimes there is four. Not much else to report, I could write pages about our escape from the city, but I will spare you all. To leave things on an amusing note, I met up with a friend to walk to school today and on the way, distracted by a bus with a crazy melodic horn stepped in the largest pile of cow poop we have ever seen, wearing only sandals. We then walked 20 minutes to school – great way to start the day. And, tomorrow we are going to have nepali food cooking class rather than language class, but as our head language teacher likes to say, “it’s just not fun,” we also have to write the directions out in the script. Tough.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
hiiiii
So, two days ago my friend and I were walking home from the program house and were hit with count it, four, water balloons. One attack involved an 8 year old-ish boy chasing us down for like five minutes before nailing us in the back with multiple balloons as we tried to flee pathetically. I returned to my house to find both of my brothers toting squirt guns and happily hosing everyone who passed beneath our balcony. This sparked some questions, as you might imagine, and I was informed that this is the beginning of the Color Festival and that for the next two weeks I can expect to be pelted with water balloons on the way to and from school. The actual festival only lasts one or two days, and during that time the water balloons are full of paint, until then kids get really excited and just use water. They lurk on rooftops, in alleys, or in the case of the eight year old they are just persistent. Being white and really tall apparently makes me a perfect target.
In other news, I got hit by a bike for the second time, on my way to school. I have developed a knack for making eye contact with someone on a bike, and walking one way and then the bike swerves the same way, and then I go the other way and the bike swerves that way and hits me. However, as I’ve said before, I still think of all things to get hit by in the street, a bike is probably my top choice.
I have also recently stopped listening to all the warnings about eating street food and have fulfilled my appetite by gorging on delicious samosas. It is so amazing I can no longer resist. I found a nice little place that sells the most amazingly wonderful samosas for 7 rupees. It’s like they are free.
Yesterday we watched Slumdog Millionaire after class. I had seen it before I left but watching it while in Nepal was such a different, and intense experience. Everything in the movie now seems so familiar – the crazy bus and car horns, the language and the garbage, the clogged streets, people’s mannerisms, the street dogs. I felt like I could smell it all.
Last night we went to the ambassador’s house who is actually a very close friend of the Daniels family. I delivered a gift that Roz had sent with me and got to see a beautiful quilt that Roz had made hanging above her piano. Her house is absolutely gorgeous, in a quiet and beautiful area. Being in such a nice house made me miss home, but was also quite overwhelming. We had delicious pizza and brownies and even ice cream, for the first time since being in Nepal!
I have also recently learned that the sentence for hitting a cow with your car is more severe than killing your wife. It’s unclear if this is actually true, but at this point I could believe it. Additionally, there is a law here that says that if you hit someone with a vehicle you have to pay for the person’s medical bills, and thus recently there have been instances where people have been hit and injured and then run over and killed so that the driver wouldn’t have to pay the bills. This has been a recent issue, and it’s shocking to me that the law has not been revised.
This weekend I am going with some friends to Dhulikel, a village about 30km outside the city. It is a traditional Newari village that is supposed to have amazing views of the Himalayas. It will be nice to escape the smog and spend some time hiking and relaxing. There are supposed to be some beautiful Buddhist monasteries around the village and some nice day hikes. When I return my sister is going to teach me how to cook some delicious Nepali food and being a student at a beauty salon, I may even let her cut my hair.
In other news, I got hit by a bike for the second time, on my way to school. I have developed a knack for making eye contact with someone on a bike, and walking one way and then the bike swerves the same way, and then I go the other way and the bike swerves that way and hits me. However, as I’ve said before, I still think of all things to get hit by in the street, a bike is probably my top choice.
I have also recently stopped listening to all the warnings about eating street food and have fulfilled my appetite by gorging on delicious samosas. It is so amazing I can no longer resist. I found a nice little place that sells the most amazingly wonderful samosas for 7 rupees. It’s like they are free.
Yesterday we watched Slumdog Millionaire after class. I had seen it before I left but watching it while in Nepal was such a different, and intense experience. Everything in the movie now seems so familiar – the crazy bus and car horns, the language and the garbage, the clogged streets, people’s mannerisms, the street dogs. I felt like I could smell it all.
Last night we went to the ambassador’s house who is actually a very close friend of the Daniels family. I delivered a gift that Roz had sent with me and got to see a beautiful quilt that Roz had made hanging above her piano. Her house is absolutely gorgeous, in a quiet and beautiful area. Being in such a nice house made me miss home, but was also quite overwhelming. We had delicious pizza and brownies and even ice cream, for the first time since being in Nepal!
I have also recently learned that the sentence for hitting a cow with your car is more severe than killing your wife. It’s unclear if this is actually true, but at this point I could believe it. Additionally, there is a law here that says that if you hit someone with a vehicle you have to pay for the person’s medical bills, and thus recently there have been instances where people have been hit and injured and then run over and killed so that the driver wouldn’t have to pay the bills. This has been a recent issue, and it’s shocking to me that the law has not been revised.
This weekend I am going with some friends to Dhulikel, a village about 30km outside the city. It is a traditional Newari village that is supposed to have amazing views of the Himalayas. It will be nice to escape the smog and spend some time hiking and relaxing. There are supposed to be some beautiful Buddhist monasteries around the village and some nice day hikes. When I return my sister is going to teach me how to cook some delicious Nepali food and being a student at a beauty salon, I may even let her cut my hair.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Dheri upanyaas
Yesterday was extremely ridiculous, the streets for absolutely packed for Shivarhatri and it took us like 40 minutes to go a few kilometers on the bus. On my way to and from school we were consistently stopped by groups of small kids who were holding a string/twine across the street and demanding that we pay them to pass by. It doesn't help that they assume all Americans and super rich -- and thus they would surround us and pull at our clothes and our bag etc. I pulled the "ma biddhyarthi chhu, rupees chhaina." (i'm a student, i have no money) card, and could often get away, but many of our classmates ended up being forced to pay.
In other news I came back from school yesterday to find that my dad has left for Japan and will "return after one year." Apparently everyone neglected to tell me that he was just home on holiday for the last month and then was going to leave again. Unfortunately I didn't get to say goodbye, and I had really enjoyed talking to him, so that was sort of sad and unexpected. However, as many of us have learned in the past month, communication rarely happens between us and our families. Often there will be some random person in our house for a few days and I will have no idea who it is, experiences that many of my classmates have had as well. When we ask who it is, my family will respond with some answer that is so clearly wrong, like "he is my brother, or he is my father" both of which I know to be incorrect. Or, sometimes we will eat on the floor for no particular reason.
I'm slowing being able to communicate much more easily in Nepali, though. I had a nice long conversation with my amma last night in Nepali, which was a big slow and very general, but still it's nice to feel like I'm making some progress. My brothers are so adorable, my younger one saw that I had all these books on yetis and got so excited and got into bed with my headlamp and read for like half an hour. This was the first time I have seen any of my family members read for "fun." My other brother, the 17 year old is currently taking these huge exams that he must pass in order to "graduate from HS" and be able to go to college. He has big exams in science, math, and social studies, but once he completes them has three months off. He goes to bed at like 9 and then gets up at like 2:00am and studies by the light of my headlamp until he leaves for school around 7:00. Crazy crazy schedule.
I saw that Slumdog Millionaire did really well at the Oscars!! I bought it here for 150 rupees the other day, that's like $1.50 and we are going to have a screening at the program house on Thursday before we go off to a pizza party that the ambassador is holding for all american students studying in Nepal.
In other news I came back from school yesterday to find that my dad has left for Japan and will "return after one year." Apparently everyone neglected to tell me that he was just home on holiday for the last month and then was going to leave again. Unfortunately I didn't get to say goodbye, and I had really enjoyed talking to him, so that was sort of sad and unexpected. However, as many of us have learned in the past month, communication rarely happens between us and our families. Often there will be some random person in our house for a few days and I will have no idea who it is, experiences that many of my classmates have had as well. When we ask who it is, my family will respond with some answer that is so clearly wrong, like "he is my brother, or he is my father" both of which I know to be incorrect. Or, sometimes we will eat on the floor for no particular reason.
I'm slowing being able to communicate much more easily in Nepali, though. I had a nice long conversation with my amma last night in Nepali, which was a big slow and very general, but still it's nice to feel like I'm making some progress. My brothers are so adorable, my younger one saw that I had all these books on yetis and got so excited and got into bed with my headlamp and read for like half an hour. This was the first time I have seen any of my family members read for "fun." My other brother, the 17 year old is currently taking these huge exams that he must pass in order to "graduate from HS" and be able to go to college. He has big exams in science, math, and social studies, but once he completes them has three months off. He goes to bed at like 9 and then gets up at like 2:00am and studies by the light of my headlamp until he leaves for school around 7:00. Crazy crazy schedule.
I saw that Slumdog Millionaire did really well at the Oscars!! I bought it here for 150 rupees the other day, that's like $1.50 and we are going to have a screening at the program house on Thursday before we go off to a pizza party that the ambassador is holding for all american students studying in Nepal.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Maph Garnus (Sorry for the delay....)
Sorry for being a horrible blogger – I know it has been waayy too long, and now the task of catching y’all up is daunting…so I may do it stream of consciousness style.
On Saturday our group returned from a week long excursion in the Terai – the southern most part of the country that borders India. We stayed in the village of Sauhara which is located on the northern entrance into Chitwan National Park. The town itself is super touristy, but it was also really quiet and free of dust and insane horn honking. While there we visited a variety of NGOs – a Biological Conservation Center, a beekeeper, a woman’s micro credit group, a community forest, a biogas plant and a few others. On the last day we had a “fun day” during which we “canoed” – basically, floated, down the river that runs through the village and saw crocodiles, rhinos and peacocks. It was gorgeous and very relaxing – I felt like I could have stayed there all day. After the canoe ride we went to the elephant breeding center where we got to see adorable baby elephants, some of which were actually extremely aggressive. The babies weren’t tied up or anything so they roamed freely and a few decided it would be fun to bluff charge us and/or head butt. In the afternoon we entered the National Park on elephants – it is the only way you are allowed in. There were four of us essentially in a basket on top of the elephant and we cruised around for a couple hours. We saw more rhinos, deer and peacocks, but the heat and dust were pretty oppressive and riding an elephant is not exactly a smooth ride.
Now, some other fun tidbits from the trip. First, the bus ride. Anyone who has traveled abroad is probably familiar with the absolutely terrifying bus rides. The “highway” that runs east-to-west in Nepal is roughly 1.5 car widths wide and teeters high above a deep river gorge. Huge buses are constantly whipping by and passing each other on corners at 60mph. Many of the buses or trucks we saw were carrying 20ish live goats on the roof!! The best part was, every 20 minutes or so we would see the shells of buses crashed into the side of the hill, no doubt the result of some fiery crash. How we survived is unclear at this point. The bus ride took like 6 hours, and it’s only like 150 km from our school in Kathmandu. It seemed actually much longer as I was having my first legit digestive problems. Ha.
Random News from Kathmandu:
Much to my dismay goat meat is now playing a prominent role in my diet at home. It’s hard to describe what it tastes like, but I feel like 90% of it is fat and a thick, chewy skin. AND, leaving food on your plate irritates the Gods, so my family sits there as I finish every last morsel. Additionally, when I first arrived my family made sure that the food wasn’t too spicy, but they have slowly upped the ante to the point that at dinner I have to consume ridiculous quantities of yogurt and water to cancel the heat. I have eaten some chicken here, which has been quite good, it takes a little while to get used to picking through fat and bones after so many years of boneless chicken breast at home, but perhaps this is the way meat is actually supposed to look like. My family has almost no premade foods in the house, just the staples that they use to make curried vegetables and rice etc. Often they have biscuits (cookies) that we have with tea, and they do have some ramen noodles that we eat raw, but aside from that almost everything is in bulk form.
Today is a Holy Day in the city, the celebration of the birth of the god Shiva, it’s called Shiva rhatri and I think we are the only school/work place in all of Kathmandu that has school. Thousands of people from Nepal and India go to Pashupatina, the Hindu temple in the eastern part of the city and do puja, get naked and smoke a lot of marijuana. Today is the only day that weed is actually legal here. The temple is flooded with sanyas – they are devout Hindus who are in the “final stages” of their lives and thus renounce everything, get rid of their possessions, stop eating and just hang around temples etc. They often only wear loin clothes and paint their bodies. If anyone has seen the cover the Lonely Planet Nepal book, the guy on the cover is a sanyasan. We went to visit the temple yesterday before it got too crazy and two of us were actually really awkwardly interviewed by some news media.
As for school, last week we were surprised with a “pop up exam”, our Nepali language teachers version of a pop quiz. We had to write an essay and then read it in front of the class which was shockingly difficult, but I think we are all amazed at how much we can actually say now. It’s frustrating still at home because while sometimes I think I could say most of what I want to articulate in Nepali, it’s just so much harder and so slow to formulate in my head. Nepali is a postpositional language (?) so the word order is so very different than English. In Nepali if I wanted to say, “Ashley and I went to Thamel,” the word order in Nepali would be “Roz Ashley with Thamel go.” Sounds simple maybe, but with more complicated sentences I panic and revert to English.
Load shedding is definitely still in effect, still 16 hours a day, so a lot of time at home is spent by candle light, or the light of my headlamp or “torch” as my family calls it. They are newly fascinated by it. I actually don’t mind the load shedding because it limits the amount of time that I will be forced to watch really horrible Bollywood films slash Hindi Music Videos.
Almost two weeks ago now, my friend got attacked by a dog on our walk home. The crazy thing was it was a small, white, fluffy, manicured house dog that bombed out into the street when its gate opened as the owner drove inside. It got some good bites out of her leg, and eventually we took her to the clinic here, but luckily we were able to find out that the dog had been vaccinated so it wasn’t necessary to get the $1,500 rabies shots. Other than that we have had no troubles thus far, though I have had, of late some annoying instances with men following me etc. For the most part they are harmless but the other night I was walking home, it was still light out and was followed for quite some time by a begger before my long legs were able to beat him out. Luckily all the Nepali men are so short and out of shape I can usually get away quickly.
I have been reading The Snow Leopard and have determined that I really want to do my ISP on yetis! I figure that this will be a great way to get me into the mountains…I find it interesting that my family never reads, they will actually just sit there silently and watch me read than do it themselves. And, whenever I’m reading they think I’m studying, they couldn’t possibly understand that I enjoy doing it. Oh Nepal.
I realize that this doesn’t exactly flow nicely, and for that I apologize, I will try to be better about updating more frequently. Please let me know if you have exciting questions or things you want to hear about. I miss you all and thanks to everyone who has emailed me!! Also, I have been trying to upload photos but have had no luck, so I guess you will just have to use your imagination (and google images)...sorry Mom. :(
On Saturday our group returned from a week long excursion in the Terai – the southern most part of the country that borders India. We stayed in the village of Sauhara which is located on the northern entrance into Chitwan National Park. The town itself is super touristy, but it was also really quiet and free of dust and insane horn honking. While there we visited a variety of NGOs – a Biological Conservation Center, a beekeeper, a woman’s micro credit group, a community forest, a biogas plant and a few others. On the last day we had a “fun day” during which we “canoed” – basically, floated, down the river that runs through the village and saw crocodiles, rhinos and peacocks. It was gorgeous and very relaxing – I felt like I could have stayed there all day. After the canoe ride we went to the elephant breeding center where we got to see adorable baby elephants, some of which were actually extremely aggressive. The babies weren’t tied up or anything so they roamed freely and a few decided it would be fun to bluff charge us and/or head butt. In the afternoon we entered the National Park on elephants – it is the only way you are allowed in. There were four of us essentially in a basket on top of the elephant and we cruised around for a couple hours. We saw more rhinos, deer and peacocks, but the heat and dust were pretty oppressive and riding an elephant is not exactly a smooth ride.
Now, some other fun tidbits from the trip. First, the bus ride. Anyone who has traveled abroad is probably familiar with the absolutely terrifying bus rides. The “highway” that runs east-to-west in Nepal is roughly 1.5 car widths wide and teeters high above a deep river gorge. Huge buses are constantly whipping by and passing each other on corners at 60mph. Many of the buses or trucks we saw were carrying 20ish live goats on the roof!! The best part was, every 20 minutes or so we would see the shells of buses crashed into the side of the hill, no doubt the result of some fiery crash. How we survived is unclear at this point. The bus ride took like 6 hours, and it’s only like 150 km from our school in Kathmandu. It seemed actually much longer as I was having my first legit digestive problems. Ha.
Random News from Kathmandu:
Much to my dismay goat meat is now playing a prominent role in my diet at home. It’s hard to describe what it tastes like, but I feel like 90% of it is fat and a thick, chewy skin. AND, leaving food on your plate irritates the Gods, so my family sits there as I finish every last morsel. Additionally, when I first arrived my family made sure that the food wasn’t too spicy, but they have slowly upped the ante to the point that at dinner I have to consume ridiculous quantities of yogurt and water to cancel the heat. I have eaten some chicken here, which has been quite good, it takes a little while to get used to picking through fat and bones after so many years of boneless chicken breast at home, but perhaps this is the way meat is actually supposed to look like. My family has almost no premade foods in the house, just the staples that they use to make curried vegetables and rice etc. Often they have biscuits (cookies) that we have with tea, and they do have some ramen noodles that we eat raw, but aside from that almost everything is in bulk form.
Today is a Holy Day in the city, the celebration of the birth of the god Shiva, it’s called Shiva rhatri and I think we are the only school/work place in all of Kathmandu that has school. Thousands of people from Nepal and India go to Pashupatina, the Hindu temple in the eastern part of the city and do puja, get naked and smoke a lot of marijuana. Today is the only day that weed is actually legal here. The temple is flooded with sanyas – they are devout Hindus who are in the “final stages” of their lives and thus renounce everything, get rid of their possessions, stop eating and just hang around temples etc. They often only wear loin clothes and paint their bodies. If anyone has seen the cover the Lonely Planet Nepal book, the guy on the cover is a sanyasan. We went to visit the temple yesterday before it got too crazy and two of us were actually really awkwardly interviewed by some news media.
As for school, last week we were surprised with a “pop up exam”, our Nepali language teachers version of a pop quiz. We had to write an essay and then read it in front of the class which was shockingly difficult, but I think we are all amazed at how much we can actually say now. It’s frustrating still at home because while sometimes I think I could say most of what I want to articulate in Nepali, it’s just so much harder and so slow to formulate in my head. Nepali is a postpositional language (?) so the word order is so very different than English. In Nepali if I wanted to say, “Ashley and I went to Thamel,” the word order in Nepali would be “Roz Ashley with Thamel go.” Sounds simple maybe, but with more complicated sentences I panic and revert to English.
Load shedding is definitely still in effect, still 16 hours a day, so a lot of time at home is spent by candle light, or the light of my headlamp or “torch” as my family calls it. They are newly fascinated by it. I actually don’t mind the load shedding because it limits the amount of time that I will be forced to watch really horrible Bollywood films slash Hindi Music Videos.
Almost two weeks ago now, my friend got attacked by a dog on our walk home. The crazy thing was it was a small, white, fluffy, manicured house dog that bombed out into the street when its gate opened as the owner drove inside. It got some good bites out of her leg, and eventually we took her to the clinic here, but luckily we were able to find out that the dog had been vaccinated so it wasn’t necessary to get the $1,500 rabies shots. Other than that we have had no troubles thus far, though I have had, of late some annoying instances with men following me etc. For the most part they are harmless but the other night I was walking home, it was still light out and was followed for quite some time by a begger before my long legs were able to beat him out. Luckily all the Nepali men are so short and out of shape I can usually get away quickly.
I have been reading The Snow Leopard and have determined that I really want to do my ISP on yetis! I figure that this will be a great way to get me into the mountains…I find it interesting that my family never reads, they will actually just sit there silently and watch me read than do it themselves. And, whenever I’m reading they think I’m studying, they couldn’t possibly understand that I enjoy doing it. Oh Nepal.
I realize that this doesn’t exactly flow nicely, and for that I apologize, I will try to be better about updating more frequently. Please let me know if you have exciting questions or things you want to hear about. I miss you all and thanks to everyone who has emailed me!! Also, I have been trying to upload photos but have had no luck, so I guess you will just have to use your imagination (and google images)...sorry Mom. :(
Monday, February 9, 2009
Dhal Bat, Dhal Bat, Dhal Bat
I’m so lucky to have a mother who cares enough about me to send me helpful lists of things that she “would like to read about” on my blog. Thus, this entry will be dedicated to some of those things, and ideally there will be less complaining about crazy, hair-less, rabid (?) kukurs.
First, a typical day in Kathmandu. I wake up around 6:45 and my sister Manisha makes me tea and brings me breakfast around 7:00. Breakfast is usually comprised of either bread and orange jam or a dry rice crispie like cereal that has ginger and peanuts and other interesting spices mixed in. It is rather uncomfortable to be served breakfast by my sister, or anyone, for that matter, but it is just the way it is here. There are many things that we all come into contact with each day that make us very uncomfortable, but are considered fine here – it just takes some adjusting. I usually leave the house and meet up with Lisa and walk to school at about 7:15. The way to school takes about half an hour, and winds through some smaller streets and other larger ones as well. We walk past many butcher shops and often see goats being slaughtered somewhere between our house in Sukedara and the school which is located in Naxal. We have language classes in groups of three or four from 8:30-11:00, though, at some point in the middle a gong will sound indicating it’s time for a 15 minute chiiya break. A lecture of some sort follows language class for the hour and a half before lunch. So far we have had lectures on Buddhism, Hinduism, social entrepreneurship, rainwater harvesting, and history. The SIT staff makes us lunch and we have an hour and a half break until our afternoon activity. After lunch we either have another lecture, watch a film of some sort, or go on an excursion.
Typically our afternoon class ends around 3:00 and then we are free to do whatever. Often some of us explore the city, do some shopping in Thamel, the tourist district, or visit one of the thousands of temples. I usually head home around 5:00ish and get there at 5:30ish. At home, my sister or mother makes me tea again and we chat. As of late they have been encouraging me to “take rest” which is nice, because often I don’t get much time to myself. I typically study with my brothers by candle light at the kitchen table before we eat dinner. Dinner is eaten late here, usually around 7:30 and 99% consists of dhal bat and water. As I think I have mentioned, utensils are not used but huge quantities of food are consumed in a remarkably short period of time. I often question whether or not my father actually chews, it seems to be that he just inhales and when he is finished says, “ok, thank you, see you next time.” It cracks me up every time. We often eat at the kitchen table – many nepali families do not have tables – by candle light as the power doesn’t usually come on until 8:00pm, but a few times we have eaten on the kitchen floor. Perhaps one of my greatest struggles is going to be sitting comfortably on the floor for hours at a time. In Nepal it is considered extremely rude to sit with your feet pointing at anyone, so one must always sit cross legged or in some other sort of difficult position that does not offend anyone. I’m attempting to get more flexible but it is a struggle.
After dinner I often hang out with my brothers and sister – Rohit, Suraj and Manisha. My brothers are obsessed with my iPod and have taken to dancing around the house singing various Akon, Sean Kingston, Rihanna and Beyonce songs. A few nights ago they forced me to sing the national anthem at the dinner table, you can imagine how that went. One of their favorite games is to point to things and have me recite them in Nepali. My sister got pretty frustrated with me because it literally took me like ten days to be able to remember the word for blanket. Oh – this brings me to Nepali beds. My hips are literally bruised from sleeping on my side on the beds which are essentially boards with a sheet on top – the “pillow” has a pretty similar feel. Needless to say I mind it less and less everyday, and as we are constantly reminded, we all came to Nepal to “step outside our comfort zones.” This brings me to sickness…. Our group was pretty healthy until earlier this week when we began dropping like flies. It is so so so easy to get sick here, whether it is from eating street food, or getting a tiny bit of water in your mouth in the shower. Many of my classmates have experienced being very very sick, but except for a low fever for a few days I have felt pretty good. Knock on wood.
In general, minus dogs and monkeys, I feel very safe in Kathmandu. Unfortunately, because of Hollywood movies, most men here have a very unrealistic understanding of western women and while comments are made 99% of the time, I haven’t felt unsafe. Really, everyone stares, so I’ve gotten used to it.
As for sightseeing in the city, we really don’t have much free time, but I have had the opportunity thus far to visit the city’s holiest Hindu Temple, Pashupatinath and the Stupa, which is the largest Buddhist temple here. At Pashupatinath there were many cremations going on along the “river” which was, interesting, I guess, but rather unsettling. In the Hindu religion, dying at Pashupatinath is the ultimate, infact there is a huge building where people can come to wait to die. Westerners are not even allowed inside the temple as we are considered impure. The Stupa is located in Boudah, the Buddhist community and is absolutely gorgeous – bright white with prayer flags everywhere!! I have also been to Patan Durbar Square which is also nice, but infiltrated with crazy numbers of tourists. I suppose I shouldn’t speak negatively of tourists, as I am one as well, but it does seem to taint the experience.
AND, trekking – in March we will trek to Lower Mustang and trek out, I think it’s like four days each way, so that will be nice. Next week we will go to a small village in the Terai, just near Royal Chitwan National Park where we will study community forestry among other stuff, and visit some NGOs as well.
I do read some newspapers here, we have them at the Program House, but they are pretty bad, I tend to get my news elsewhere. The media here is super corrupt and unstable, and some journalists have even been killed lately.
I think that should cover all the questions… I’m learning more and more Nepali each day, and feel like I’m making improvements. It’s really exciting to learn another language again, and I’m amazed at how supportive and interested my host family is in my education and the language. However, my father did sit me down and tell me that I studied too much, which is sort of true, but it’s so hard to not get behind in the language. So far the load shedding hasn’t been an issue here, it just means that we read by candle light sometimes and so forth, a lot of the shops here have generators so really it sounds just like my house in Vermont! I think the harder part is the fact that there is no indoor heat anywhere. While Vermont is much colder you can always escape it inside. Here, it’s usually significantly colder inside so the layers are essential.
Oh, one more thing. The bus system here. Amazing. Buses drive by slowly and men yell out the destination and if you are so inclined you leap on the bus as it continues to drive past and often end up one someones lap, or on the roof. Lisa and I tend to walk.
I love and miss you all! Since being deemed Rachana, I haven’t been called Roz in so long. ☹
First, a typical day in Kathmandu. I wake up around 6:45 and my sister Manisha makes me tea and brings me breakfast around 7:00. Breakfast is usually comprised of either bread and orange jam or a dry rice crispie like cereal that has ginger and peanuts and other interesting spices mixed in. It is rather uncomfortable to be served breakfast by my sister, or anyone, for that matter, but it is just the way it is here. There are many things that we all come into contact with each day that make us very uncomfortable, but are considered fine here – it just takes some adjusting. I usually leave the house and meet up with Lisa and walk to school at about 7:15. The way to school takes about half an hour, and winds through some smaller streets and other larger ones as well. We walk past many butcher shops and often see goats being slaughtered somewhere between our house in Sukedara and the school which is located in Naxal. We have language classes in groups of three or four from 8:30-11:00, though, at some point in the middle a gong will sound indicating it’s time for a 15 minute chiiya break. A lecture of some sort follows language class for the hour and a half before lunch. So far we have had lectures on Buddhism, Hinduism, social entrepreneurship, rainwater harvesting, and history. The SIT staff makes us lunch and we have an hour and a half break until our afternoon activity. After lunch we either have another lecture, watch a film of some sort, or go on an excursion.
Typically our afternoon class ends around 3:00 and then we are free to do whatever. Often some of us explore the city, do some shopping in Thamel, the tourist district, or visit one of the thousands of temples. I usually head home around 5:00ish and get there at 5:30ish. At home, my sister or mother makes me tea again and we chat. As of late they have been encouraging me to “take rest” which is nice, because often I don’t get much time to myself. I typically study with my brothers by candle light at the kitchen table before we eat dinner. Dinner is eaten late here, usually around 7:30 and 99% consists of dhal bat and water. As I think I have mentioned, utensils are not used but huge quantities of food are consumed in a remarkably short period of time. I often question whether or not my father actually chews, it seems to be that he just inhales and when he is finished says, “ok, thank you, see you next time.” It cracks me up every time. We often eat at the kitchen table – many nepali families do not have tables – by candle light as the power doesn’t usually come on until 8:00pm, but a few times we have eaten on the kitchen floor. Perhaps one of my greatest struggles is going to be sitting comfortably on the floor for hours at a time. In Nepal it is considered extremely rude to sit with your feet pointing at anyone, so one must always sit cross legged or in some other sort of difficult position that does not offend anyone. I’m attempting to get more flexible but it is a struggle.
After dinner I often hang out with my brothers and sister – Rohit, Suraj and Manisha. My brothers are obsessed with my iPod and have taken to dancing around the house singing various Akon, Sean Kingston, Rihanna and Beyonce songs. A few nights ago they forced me to sing the national anthem at the dinner table, you can imagine how that went. One of their favorite games is to point to things and have me recite them in Nepali. My sister got pretty frustrated with me because it literally took me like ten days to be able to remember the word for blanket. Oh – this brings me to Nepali beds. My hips are literally bruised from sleeping on my side on the beds which are essentially boards with a sheet on top – the “pillow” has a pretty similar feel. Needless to say I mind it less and less everyday, and as we are constantly reminded, we all came to Nepal to “step outside our comfort zones.” This brings me to sickness…. Our group was pretty healthy until earlier this week when we began dropping like flies. It is so so so easy to get sick here, whether it is from eating street food, or getting a tiny bit of water in your mouth in the shower. Many of my classmates have experienced being very very sick, but except for a low fever for a few days I have felt pretty good. Knock on wood.
In general, minus dogs and monkeys, I feel very safe in Kathmandu. Unfortunately, because of Hollywood movies, most men here have a very unrealistic understanding of western women and while comments are made 99% of the time, I haven’t felt unsafe. Really, everyone stares, so I’ve gotten used to it.
As for sightseeing in the city, we really don’t have much free time, but I have had the opportunity thus far to visit the city’s holiest Hindu Temple, Pashupatinath and the Stupa, which is the largest Buddhist temple here. At Pashupatinath there were many cremations going on along the “river” which was, interesting, I guess, but rather unsettling. In the Hindu religion, dying at Pashupatinath is the ultimate, infact there is a huge building where people can come to wait to die. Westerners are not even allowed inside the temple as we are considered impure. The Stupa is located in Boudah, the Buddhist community and is absolutely gorgeous – bright white with prayer flags everywhere!! I have also been to Patan Durbar Square which is also nice, but infiltrated with crazy numbers of tourists. I suppose I shouldn’t speak negatively of tourists, as I am one as well, but it does seem to taint the experience.
AND, trekking – in March we will trek to Lower Mustang and trek out, I think it’s like four days each way, so that will be nice. Next week we will go to a small village in the Terai, just near Royal Chitwan National Park where we will study community forestry among other stuff, and visit some NGOs as well.
I do read some newspapers here, we have them at the Program House, but they are pretty bad, I tend to get my news elsewhere. The media here is super corrupt and unstable, and some journalists have even been killed lately.
I think that should cover all the questions… I’m learning more and more Nepali each day, and feel like I’m making improvements. It’s really exciting to learn another language again, and I’m amazed at how supportive and interested my host family is in my education and the language. However, my father did sit me down and tell me that I studied too much, which is sort of true, but it’s so hard to not get behind in the language. So far the load shedding hasn’t been an issue here, it just means that we read by candle light sometimes and so forth, a lot of the shops here have generators so really it sounds just like my house in Vermont! I think the harder part is the fact that there is no indoor heat anywhere. While Vermont is much colder you can always escape it inside. Here, it’s usually significantly colder inside so the layers are essential.
Oh, one more thing. The bus system here. Amazing. Buses drive by slowly and men yell out the destination and if you are so inclined you leap on the bus as it continues to drive past and often end up one someones lap, or on the roof. Lisa and I tend to walk.
I love and miss you all! Since being deemed Rachana, I haven’t been called Roz in so long. ☹
Saturday, February 7, 2009
City Livin'
As the days pass in Kathmandu, it's unclear to me whether or not I'm becoming more comfortable with the city, or more terrified. In many ways it is a friendly city -- the vast majority of the people here are compassionate, genuine people, and yet in so many ways it is also a busy, intense and at times, scary city. In the past few days I have spent more time venturing outside of Naxal, the area where the SIT house is located and have been confronted with some of the harsher realities of the city. Near Thamel, the tourist district, beggers line the streets and I saw, for the first time, a group of orphan boys sniffing glue out of milk bags -- a growing phenomenon here in Kathmandu. Each day on my way to school I walk past a dog that I'm sure is going to attack me one of these days. He has one eye and always growls and bluff charges and each day I get more and more terrified.
I'm enjoying my host family still although they have made it their personal goal to feed me more than anyone could ever imagine eating. Picture the largest plate of rice ever and then add a bunch of curried veggies -- it sounds delicious I know. But, the kicker is, they eat with their hands ridiculously fast so not only do I have a ton of food to eat, but I have to eat it really really fast just to keep up. The daal bhat is starting tog et a little bit old, which worries me since I haven't even been here two weeks. Each morning my classmates and I reminisce about how much food we were fed and how we can get out of it. The thing is, our families do not accept the request for "less" -- it is a cultural goal here to feed the guests until they are full and I think they think it takes a shit ton of food for us to be full, which is not at all the case.
If any of you ever get the opportunity to watch a Bollywood film I would definitely recommend it. I watched one last night that was priceless -- it was possibly the worst movie I had ever seen. There was a bad guy with a gun but then a german shepard lept out of nowhere and knocked the man to the ground and then a torch-toting monkey lit the man on the fire. That was merely one highlight, I wish I knew the name of the movie so you could go watch it. We only have electricity for like 6 hours a day so luckily the tv is rarely on.
More soon...
I'm enjoying my host family still although they have made it their personal goal to feed me more than anyone could ever imagine eating. Picture the largest plate of rice ever and then add a bunch of curried veggies -- it sounds delicious I know. But, the kicker is, they eat with their hands ridiculously fast so not only do I have a ton of food to eat, but I have to eat it really really fast just to keep up. The daal bhat is starting tog et a little bit old, which worries me since I haven't even been here two weeks. Each morning my classmates and I reminisce about how much food we were fed and how we can get out of it. The thing is, our families do not accept the request for "less" -- it is a cultural goal here to feed the guests until they are full and I think they think it takes a shit ton of food for us to be full, which is not at all the case.
If any of you ever get the opportunity to watch a Bollywood film I would definitely recommend it. I watched one last night that was priceless -- it was possibly the worst movie I had ever seen. There was a bad guy with a gun but then a german shepard lept out of nowhere and knocked the man to the ground and then a torch-toting monkey lit the man on the fire. That was merely one highlight, I wish I knew the name of the movie so you could go watch it. We only have electricity for like 6 hours a day so luckily the tv is rarely on.
More soon...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Hello from Kathmandu!
It is hard to believe I have only been here for eight days, so so much happened I don’t even know where to begin.
We arrived in Nepal last Tuesday after traveling for over 30 hours, needless to say we were all exhausted, disoriented and overwhelmed. The Kathmandu airport reeked of urine and was deserted, with only bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. We walked right through customs and were met by our SIT program staff and a pack of street dogs outside. From there we boarded a bus bound for Pharping, a suburb of Kathmandu located just 30 km outside the heart of the city. It was midnight Nepali time so we drove there in the dark and woke up in a completely new area. Pharping is a small village from which you can see the Himalaya’s, when and if the smog ever clears. In addition, the surrounding hills are terraced for agricultural purposes and dotted with Hindu Temples decorated with prayer flags, hundreds of them.
While in Pharping we stayed at a nice guesthouse and took part in some orientation things, ventured into the village and began our Nepali language classes. There are only three or four of us in each language class, so we are actually learning quite quickly. The poverty in the village is overwhelming, but the people are incredibly friendly and interested in us. We attended two puja’s – religious ceremonies – and saw sacrifices take place as well. It is so interesting to be in a place where the overwhelming majority of the people have such devout faith in their religion. I made friends Asika, a little girl who lived near the guesthouse and was possibly with the most adorable little girl I have ever seen. I taught her how to give high-fives and we were immediately best friends. She taught me lots of Nepali words.
After four days in the village we returned by bus to Kathmandu and were ridiculously overwhelmed. If I manage to avoid getting hit by some kind of motorized vehicle over the course of the semester, I will consider myself lucky. The streets are narrow to begin with and are packed with cars, buses, bikes, motorcycles, rabid and “healthy” dogs, rabid and “healthy” monkeys (which we were encouraged NOT to make eye contact with), goats, cows – which are holy, and people, so many people. It has not rained here since October so the dust is overpowering and air thick with diesel fumes. In the morning the sun is bright orange as it tries to shine through the smog. The Himalaya’s are less than 75 miles away and yet I have never seen them from the city.
Three days ago we were shipped away with our host families. I live with a mother, father, 19-year old sister, and two brothers who are 17 and 15 in a huge house. I have my own room with a balcony and we even have a hot shower (heated via solar power). Additionally I have a western toilet, which is not always common, as many families have squat toilets. Sadly, though, my family does not use toilet paper, instead my bathroom is equipped with a hose that sprays ice cold water remarkably fast. Needless to say, it is an experience. Most of my family speaks English very well, so we have gotten to know each other well and I insert Nepali when I can, which is not often. My host mother has made it her personal goal to make me as uncomfortable as possible though, as she has informed me that she will only speak Nepali with me, to help me learn. It is a nice, thought, but it translates into many long, awkward “conversations” dotted with the longest awkward pauses ever. Load shedding is also in effect so we don’t have power for like 14 hours a day, which isn’t that big of a deal, just means that I often study by candle light. I’m really enjoying learning the language here, it is challenging, but we have already made so much progress.
I hope some of this makes sense. Lots of love.
It is hard to believe I have only been here for eight days, so so much happened I don’t even know where to begin.
We arrived in Nepal last Tuesday after traveling for over 30 hours, needless to say we were all exhausted, disoriented and overwhelmed. The Kathmandu airport reeked of urine and was deserted, with only bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. We walked right through customs and were met by our SIT program staff and a pack of street dogs outside. From there we boarded a bus bound for Pharping, a suburb of Kathmandu located just 30 km outside the heart of the city. It was midnight Nepali time so we drove there in the dark and woke up in a completely new area. Pharping is a small village from which you can see the Himalaya’s, when and if the smog ever clears. In addition, the surrounding hills are terraced for agricultural purposes and dotted with Hindu Temples decorated with prayer flags, hundreds of them.
While in Pharping we stayed at a nice guesthouse and took part in some orientation things, ventured into the village and began our Nepali language classes. There are only three or four of us in each language class, so we are actually learning quite quickly. The poverty in the village is overwhelming, but the people are incredibly friendly and interested in us. We attended two puja’s – religious ceremonies – and saw sacrifices take place as well. It is so interesting to be in a place where the overwhelming majority of the people have such devout faith in their religion. I made friends Asika, a little girl who lived near the guesthouse and was possibly with the most adorable little girl I have ever seen. I taught her how to give high-fives and we were immediately best friends. She taught me lots of Nepali words.
After four days in the village we returned by bus to Kathmandu and were ridiculously overwhelmed. If I manage to avoid getting hit by some kind of motorized vehicle over the course of the semester, I will consider myself lucky. The streets are narrow to begin with and are packed with cars, buses, bikes, motorcycles, rabid and “healthy” dogs, rabid and “healthy” monkeys (which we were encouraged NOT to make eye contact with), goats, cows – which are holy, and people, so many people. It has not rained here since October so the dust is overpowering and air thick with diesel fumes. In the morning the sun is bright orange as it tries to shine through the smog. The Himalaya’s are less than 75 miles away and yet I have never seen them from the city.
Three days ago we were shipped away with our host families. I live with a mother, father, 19-year old sister, and two brothers who are 17 and 15 in a huge house. I have my own room with a balcony and we even have a hot shower (heated via solar power). Additionally I have a western toilet, which is not always common, as many families have squat toilets. Sadly, though, my family does not use toilet paper, instead my bathroom is equipped with a hose that sprays ice cold water remarkably fast. Needless to say, it is an experience. Most of my family speaks English very well, so we have gotten to know each other well and I insert Nepali when I can, which is not often. My host mother has made it her personal goal to make me as uncomfortable as possible though, as she has informed me that she will only speak Nepali with me, to help me learn. It is a nice, thought, but it translates into many long, awkward “conversations” dotted with the longest awkward pauses ever. Load shedding is also in effect so we don’t have power for like 14 hours a day, which isn’t that big of a deal, just means that I often study by candle light. I’m really enjoying learning the language here, it is challenging, but we have already made so much progress.
I hope some of this makes sense. Lots of love.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Hello from Nepal!!
Namaste!!!
I have arrived safely in Nepal and have internet access for the first time. I hope to post soon with some photos and commentary on all that has happened sometime soon. I have much to update y'all on -- from the longest plane ride of my life on which half of the passengers were infants to my experiences here in Nepal in Pharping and Kathmandu and my struggles with Nepali. I will meet my homestay family tonight armed with very basic Nepali and useful phrases like, "is that my book on the table?", "this is a pen", and "my name is Roz" (which is a mans name in Nepal, thanks Mom) and "Mt. Everest is not in Vermont." More soon. Love and kisses to all.
-roz
I have arrived safely in Nepal and have internet access for the first time. I hope to post soon with some photos and commentary on all that has happened sometime soon. I have much to update y'all on -- from the longest plane ride of my life on which half of the passengers were infants to my experiences here in Nepal in Pharping and Kathmandu and my struggles with Nepali. I will meet my homestay family tonight armed with very basic Nepali and useful phrases like, "is that my book on the table?", "this is a pen", and "my name is Roz" (which is a mans name in Nepal, thanks Mom) and "Mt. Everest is not in Vermont." More soon. Love and kisses to all.
-roz
Friday, January 9, 2009
Namaste
Hi Friends, Family, Middlebury Ballers, etc. etc.,
As I prepare to depart Middlebury and venture off to Nepal I wanted to make sure I had an easy way to be in touch with everyone who wanted to hear about my most recent adventures, thus I decided to start my first blog. I can't promise it will always, or ever, be interesting, exciting or well written, but I will try to update it as much as possible (mainly for my Mom's sake).
So, here's the deal, as most of you are probably know I'm going to be spending the second half of my junior year abroad in Nepal through the School for International Training's Nepal: Culture and Development Program. SIT is based in Brattleboro, Vermont, and students from any college or university can apply to their programs, so I will be traveling with 15-25 kids from all over the United States. The majority of our time will be spent in the capital city of Kathmandu where we will each be living with different homestay families and attending classes at the SIT program house during the week. We will take a Nepali language class, field methods course and culture and development seminar. These courses help to prepare us for the last 5-6 weeks of the program when we will each travel to different parts of the country to work on an independent study project of our choosing. During the time that we are all together in Kathmandu we will take a few week-long trips to different parts of the country as a group. We will likely trek into the foothills of the Himalayas, and travel to the Terai - the southern, tropical region of the country. I've been fiddling with googlemaps lately and have created an experimental map of some of the places we will likely be, it can be seen here, check it out and let me know what you think.
It is unclear what the living conditions will be like with my host family and I have no idea how easy it will be for me to find internet access as the country is currently in the midst of an electricity shortage. As of this week the the country has instituted 16 hour blackouts each day, thus it will be even more difficult than usual to find internet access and my updates could be quite infrequent. The blackouts occur mainly during the middle of the day which means that all internet cafes are closed and there are rumors that the blackouts could increase to up to 20 hours per day.
While it will be hard to leave Middlebury and miss the remainder of our basketball season, I cannot wait to embark on my first real, extended journey and I hope that this blog will enable me to share some of my experiences with you. Email me your contact info if you wish to receive a postcard of some sort from Nepal, it might get to you by the time I get home.
My address where I can receive all your letters (!!!) is:
Roz Vara
c/o School for International Training
Box 1373
Kathmandu, Nepal
-roz (rpvara@gmail.com)
As I prepare to depart Middlebury and venture off to Nepal I wanted to make sure I had an easy way to be in touch with everyone who wanted to hear about my most recent adventures, thus I decided to start my first blog. I can't promise it will always, or ever, be interesting, exciting or well written, but I will try to update it as much as possible (mainly for my Mom's sake).
So, here's the deal, as most of you are probably know I'm going to be spending the second half of my junior year abroad in Nepal through the School for International Training's Nepal: Culture and Development Program. SIT is based in Brattleboro, Vermont, and students from any college or university can apply to their programs, so I will be traveling with 15-25 kids from all over the United States. The majority of our time will be spent in the capital city of Kathmandu where we will each be living with different homestay families and attending classes at the SIT program house during the week. We will take a Nepali language class, field methods course and culture and development seminar. These courses help to prepare us for the last 5-6 weeks of the program when we will each travel to different parts of the country to work on an independent study project of our choosing. During the time that we are all together in Kathmandu we will take a few week-long trips to different parts of the country as a group. We will likely trek into the foothills of the Himalayas, and travel to the Terai - the southern, tropical region of the country. I've been fiddling with googlemaps lately and have created an experimental map of some of the places we will likely be, it can be seen here, check it out and let me know what you think.
It is unclear what the living conditions will be like with my host family and I have no idea how easy it will be for me to find internet access as the country is currently in the midst of an electricity shortage. As of this week the the country has instituted 16 hour blackouts each day, thus it will be even more difficult than usual to find internet access and my updates could be quite infrequent. The blackouts occur mainly during the middle of the day which means that all internet cafes are closed and there are rumors that the blackouts could increase to up to 20 hours per day.
While it will be hard to leave Middlebury and miss the remainder of our basketball season, I cannot wait to embark on my first real, extended journey and I hope that this blog will enable me to share some of my experiences with you. Email me your contact info if you wish to receive a postcard of some sort from Nepal, it might get to you by the time I get home.
My address where I can receive all your letters (!!!) is:
Roz Vara
c/o School for International Training
Box 1373
Kathmandu, Nepal
-roz (rpvara@gmail.com)
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