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. ☹