So, if you have been keeping up with Rex’s blog then you may have seen these already. But if not, here are some photos from our first week in Nepal 🙂 Enjoy! More photos to come soon.
Photos
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Monthly Archives: November 2008
Morning…bihanna
The fog sinks deep and thick over wooded hills. The terraced rice fields, brown and scrubby after harvest, steam from the weak sunlight that manages to pierce the fog. Damp clothes swing from clotheslines dripping the dampness from their stitches. I too swing dampness from my limbs. And yet, the anticipation of the heat and warmth beyond the fog brings everything from their warm beds. There is rice to be sown, corn to be dried, and dust to be swept. There is not a morning without the hallam (noise) of magpies and crows awake in the fog. By lunch, the fog has been swept clean behind the hills. But for now the fog rests heavily and I am hidden within it.
Load Shedding
Ackk! We have been experiencing regular efforts to decrease power consumption in Nepal which means peak hours without power…which means few entries to my blog 🙁 So, consider this a chance for you to load shed yourself…read only once a week instead of once a day 🙂 And, sadly, with an overwhelming number of spam comments, I have changed the settings to require approval from me…not ideal but will prevent all of us from having to read about the latest casino offerings!
We are currently in a moderately-sized town called Banepa taking intensive language classes during the day and then climbing into cold sparse rooms to catch some sleep at night. Much like camping but with the added smells of pit toilets in your room…quaint 🙂 However, the people have made it so much more pleasant than it sounds. We have a fantastic teacher, Krishna-ji who is incredibly patient as our mouths struggle with complex reflexive and palative sounds. And the other volunteers are just so interesting. We are a true complex patchwork of experiences, cultures, and personalities. Tossed together into a fairly intense experience has meant that everyone connected fairly quickly. We have 3 folks from India (Varanasi, Delhi, and Bangalore), 2 Dutch, 1 American, 1 Brit, 2 Filipinos, one other Canadian and 1 Ugandan.
So while I am here in what feels like volunteer residence mixed with a pretty rough summer camp, I send everyone lots of love and good wishes.
Namaste!
Bandh
Today is my first bandh. A bandh is a strike, by a organized group of workers, ethnic minorities or a union, to remind the political wheels of their desires and needs. It can involve large demonstrations, many road closures, which shuts and entire city down. Not unlike a strike in Canada in fact, except that it is announced about a week ahead to notify the citizens. We were scheduled to have class in the VSO office today but the bandha road closures have prevented staff from getting to work, so we have the day off!
This weekend I have been asked to attend a 2-day workshop entitled “Quest for Quality Education” which is organized by a number of local NGO’s. This will be my first opportunity to meet the partners who form the coalition, the Global Campaign for Education, Nepal, for whom I work. Nerves, anticipation, anxiety, and excitment abound – will I have the right skills? Will I be of use? Can I do this work? Nothing I can answer yet, but hoping this workshop will put my mind to rest a little bit.
Bistaarai, bistaarai
Firstly, thank you to everyone for the comments – they bring me many smiles (especially since I am usually sleepily checking my email at 7am…we wake up super duper early here). A special hello to all my friends at UBC and family around Canada – miss you all very very much. Also a special congratulations to J&J on their wedding….so wish I could have been there to celebrate with you.
Bistarai, bistaarai is the phrase I referred to in my last post which means “slowly, slowly” and it couldn’t feel more like a mantra. Everything is moving slowly for me – time passes slowly, life passes slowly, culture shock is passing slowly.
Mero namm Tlell ho.
Mero deshko naam Canada ho. Mero ghar Vancouver ho.
My name is Tlell. I am from Canada. My home is in Vancouver. The first day of language classes have been going great – small groups of 3 students and lots of repition and drilling for practice. I can also say banana (keraa), pomegranate (anaar), and orange (suntala). And I can count to 10. There is a phrase here that seems very applicable to my learning whihc translates to “slowly, slowly”. Everything in Nepal is “slowly, slowly” including my language skills.
My first ethical dilemma
The crowded throngs of people surge through the narrow brick alleys, bumping and tumbling to their destination. My new friend M has just helped me purchase, in broken Hindi, an order of chatipati, puffed rice tossed with vinegar, onion, potato, chili, “sauce”, peas, and fried soybeans/kidney beans. A traditional street food in Nepal it is eaten out of a paper cone off of a broken piece of phone card (complete with serial numbers and prices on the front). It tastes of spicy, dusty, and sour rice – much like if rice crispies were made savoury, spicy.
We munch as we bump our way up the crowded alleys. After our snack I puzzle over the remaining paper cone and shard of calling card. I allow myself to ask the ridiculous question – “where do I put this?”. The quick response from the group is, “toss it on the ground”. I know they are right. It is what everyone does. There isn’t a garbage can on every corner to shuffle away my trash while I sleep at night. But I have trouble tossing it aside. I carry it dutifully the rest of the walk home and clutch it in my hands in hopes of seeing a trash can. And sadly, I end up making it someone else’s problem by leaving it on a restaurant table, inadvertently but somewhat subconsciously. But I cannot spend two years leaving my garbage on someone else’s table…something I will need to sort out over the next few weeks.
Is it wrong to wish for a warmer, softer bed?
Last night marked our first interaction with the VSO Nepal staff and current VSO Nepal volunteers. We visited their offices in Patan (just across the Bagmati river from Kathmandu) and celebrated a with a bonfire and delicious meal, complete with music and dancing. It was spirited, lively, and utterly welcoming. Despit a lingering head cold, it was great fun. Today we shall embark on a scavenger hunt of Kathmandu – a small team competition to help familiarize ourelves with the city.
I am reminded that it has only been 24 hours since we arrived, when I catch myself thinking of my warm bed in Vancouver…still not a distant enough memory to be forgotten and so readily available for comparison. Our current guest house is lovely, but like most accommodations in Nepal there is no central heating and it is winter now, with temperatures in the 20’s during the day but plummeting to between 5-10 at night…chilly indeed.
Arrival!
We hve successfully arrived and had our first night in Kathmandu. It was a smooth and rather uneventful trip, aside of course from the anticipation and excitement that built as we got closer. Had no difficulty getting our visas sorted out and arrived in Kathmandu with a group of 6 other volunteers. In traditional Nepali fashion we were all given a marigold chain necklace and small Nepali purse (for the ladies) or traditional hat (for the men). The scent of the marigolds was just delicious – they were a vivid and bright reminder that our arrival was exciting not just for us but for the VSO Nepal office staff who worked so hard to get us here.
Last night we stayed at the Pacific Guest house where we will remain for 9 days after which we move about an hour outside of Kathmandu for the rest of our training (in all a total of 6 weeks), mostly spent on langauge training.
This morning we awoke to a 6:30am badminton game in the square outside the guest house…brilliant 🙂 A short jaunt around the neighbourhood gave us some good tests in traffic navigation (assertive and confident is best) but I must admit that I love the chaos – the bustle, the noise, the sensory overload…just exactly what I was hoping for. We have arrived.
Hotel? No, Yotel!
We have arrived safely in Qatar via London and made the quick trip between Heathrow terminals to land ourselves in the Yotel – we had 5 hours of complete bliss: a nap on a cozy bed, a shower, wireless internet, and some TV entertainment 🙂 The catch – it all fits in a small, teeny, tiny room about 8’x8′ in size.
Pictures to follow once we have a more dependable internet connection 🙂 One final leg of flying to go – we have clocked 15 hours in flight so far and are looking forward to the final 4 hours – the view of Everest will make it all worthwhile I think 🙂