Author Archives: Tlell Elviss

Honouring Fridays: April 10th, 2009

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Looking back on the past year it strikes me just how much my life has changed.  So much happened!  The anniversary of our elopment is this weekend on April 12th. Rex decided to pull a surprise and book a wonderful 4-day weekend in Pokhara…he spilled the beans this morning when he mistakenly mentioned that “while we are in Pokhara…”.  Also, many thanks to VSO for moving our marriage decision forward in a big way…got married so we could volunteer in Ethiopia and here we are in Nepal…whoops…well good thing that if we ever need to volunteer in Ethiopia we will be ready : )

This weekend will provide some time to reflect on the past year and dream about adventures in the year ahead.  Next week is also Nepali New Year – a timely moment to be celebrating our anniversary and thinking about the beginning of another year together.  This post is all my gratitude towards that handsome man in the photo over there…

  • The way you make me tea in the morning. Mornings begin early here.  And while this doesn’t mean we actually get out of bed before 6am, this does mean that the sounds of our neighbourhood waking up start around 4.30am.  So, there are many mornings when waking up is hard…regardless of how early you get to bed the night before, 4:30 is still an early time to begin the slow process of waking.  But the best, best, best part about every morning is knowning that you will sneak out of bed, walk down to the little shop on the corner and buy milk so we can have tea in the morning.  A small action but I know there is lots of love in that dudh chiyaa.
  • The way people just like you. I take some time to warm up to new people.  I am friendly enough but know that new friends will be kept at an arm’s length until I have made up my mind.  You, however, are just how I wish I could be – open, warm, genuine, and immediately likeable.  How many times have we met a new group of people and they have remarked to me, in confidence later, just how much they truly enjoy you.  You are everyone’s favourite warm-hearted soul and I am proud to snuggle my soul next to your kind soul.
  • Your passion…for libraries, for small towns, for rural life, for gardens, for technical gadgets, for peggle, for www.thegreenpages.ca, for blogging, for the West Coast, for my cooking, for the internet, for friends, for taking a nice walk, for enjoy what is, for adventure, for trying anything once, for taking care of people, for helping, for family, for goodness, for peace, for all that is right in the world.  It is contagious and inspiring to watch you dream and imagine what is possible.  I am a greater believer in the unreal and impossible because I see you make it real and possible every day.
  • Your hugs. Nothing is more comforting or more reassuring than coming home from a crazy day and walking into a warm hug from you.  That will always be the most satisfying and rejuvenating way to end any day.  May your hugs be ever more plentiful as we grow old together and may I always be there to hug you right back.

Chitawan

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Exhausted but happy we arrived back in Kathmandu from a whirlwind trip to to the Nepal jungle.  Rather than try to write every last detail down, please consider joining me as your virtual guide, here, on a photo tour of our weekend in Chitawan.  The best way to view is with the slideshow option in Picasa – all photos have captions…sorry they are so long!

Enjoy!

Honouring Fridays: April 3rd, 2009

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As you read this I am slowly making my way to Chitwan to bask in the tropical, humid, and hot jungles of Nepal.  If it makes you feel less jealous of me, you can bet that I am likely dripping with sweat, stickily uncomfortable while crammed into a small car with a dozen other people, and perhaps even stuck on some mud track somewhere either due to a road bloackade and protest or a landslide which has wiped the road clean away!  But your jealously is not about to detract from the single most exciting thing in the past 4 months:  I am about to ride an elephant 🙂

  • Falafel.  In efforts to expand my culinary repertoire I embarked on the ambitious and satisfying task of making falafel.  Mashed chick peas with spices, cilantro, grated carrots (my own addition for extra veg), sesame seeds, garlic and onion fried up in small patties to golden brown then stuffed into a warm, fresh, hand-rolled tortilla and topped with grilled paneer and a cabbage, carrot, and tomato salad.  Intense flavours and soul-satisfying textures.  A meal to remember!  And stunningly, uses all the same ingredients as my curry dinners but tastes totally different.
  • Culinary basics.  I have come to the conclusion that much of the worlds unique culinary flavours are still based on the same core ingredients.  I made a mexican, indian, and middle-eastern fare this week and used almost identical ingredients for everything – flour tortillas/roti, beans, tomatos, coriander, various veggies, garlic, onions, chilies, and rice!  By varying the spices slightly and cooking them in different ways, the result was 3 very distinct meals.  Kudos to our great agricultural forebearers who cultivated such adaptable, hearty, and basic ingredients that find themselves on tables all over the world.
  • Dark Was the Night.  This week a friend received one best presents to ever be sent – a teeny tiny USB key filled to the brim with new music!  While we sometimes feel utterly and incredibly connected here it is impossible to keep up with everything.  In my life, pop culture is floating adrift – I can keep up with news from home, the lives of friends and family, even what is happening at UBC in Student Development!  But music, movies, and tv are lost and I admit that I miss these things.  So this week, I soothed my musical ear and found one album that both musically and philosophically I resonate with.  A collaboration of various artists which supports the Red Hot Organization, an international HIV/AIDs charity organization.  Take a listen and soothe your soul.
  • The hopeful corner of my mind where future dreams are stored. I had a moment today where I once again contemplated a dream that I have carried for about 15 years.  I tucked it safely away with confidence that I would revisit it some day.  And I haul it out, turn it over, and try it on again (to see if it still fits).  Then I tuck it away again waiting for the right moment to tackle it.  Well, today I pulled it out and indeed it still fits…in fact it may fit better now that before!  Hurrah! I got all queasy and flushed thinking about it…it feels like it might just be the right time to embark on it and I can hardly contain my excitement.

Kathmandu After the Rain

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The loose refuse twinkles with dewy drops – sparkly garbage ornaments decorate every alley.

Everyone is lazy, slowly moving, barking less, smiling more.  They look scrubbed and fresh too as though they spent the night under a downspout.

The air, fresh and suffused with richness, shook clean of dust, odor, and heat. The breeze plays it cool.

Filaments of sharp, crisp, verdant smells are layered over a rich earthiness.

Feet have trampled the casualties, melting them into a carpet of pink blossoms, a tribute to the wind, a cushion for my soul.

Mud tracks, previously roads, gush with silty water making sandy, dusty swirls as the sun bakes their waters to steam.

A drip drop is all that is left.  Enough to quench no thirst but my ear, wanting to hear, for one moment more, the  rain song.

Honouring Fridays: March 27th, 2009

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I have spent the whole day today in a incredibly interesting consultation forum on the drafting of a new youth policy in Nepal.  Youth from all regions of the country were invited to review the draft policy and provide feedback, suggestions, and critques about how their voices were reflected in the policy.  Youth from many ethnic groups, with disabilities, religious minorities, and those displaced from conflict zones in Nepal shared passionate and emotional stories with the policy committee and have clearly invested much of their future in the development of “New Nepal”.  I left feeling hopeful for what they should be able to achieve within Nepal, provided the government listens to their voices.

  • Fragrance. Kathmandu is alive and bursting with flowers now that the winter chill has subsided.  Besides the colourful beauty of these flowers, my favourite part is the fragrance.  At night in my little neighbourhood you can walk down these small winding alleys and find yourself in a haze of jasmine – sweet, pungent, and rish was sumptuous frangrance.  The other flower that has been casting a spell over my walk to work the past few days is a bit like a large grapefruit flower.  The smell is intoxicating and I have taken to picking a couple blossoms on the way to work that are an easy counter smell to some of the nasty odors one encounters on the walk (garbage, pollution, smelly river etc.).  And both of these blossoms make wonderful natural perfume, dabbed on the wrist when walking past a bush.
  • Vacations. Next Friday my lovely hubby and I will be leaving to take a short 3-day trip down to Chitiwan with some of our friends.  Another volunteer has a travel agent for a landlord so the deal we have gotten is simply incredible.  We have all transportation, food, and accommodation included, PLUS, some great activities in Chitiwan – tiger walks, elephant rides etc.  I have been in Kathmandu for about 3 months with only a short respits to a village and training centre for 1 month – I am itching to get out of he city and into something more peaceful.  I think this trip will be the perfect salve for my battered nerves and polluted lungs 🙂
  • Rainstorms. Storm season has officially started.  Nothing torrential and as heavy as a monsoon rain, but at least some scattered and intense showers to freshen things up.  The heavy clouds billow like blackend marshmallows and hang there for what seems like hours.  The thunder will grumble, grumble, grumble and then finally, as though lightening is the decision maker, a streak of electricity will get the whole thing started.  The storm will thunder on for about an hour and then like a faucet being turned off will suddenly stop.  Brilliant sunshine comes back out and everything dries in a matter of minutes.  But I love the storms – it reminds me of Vancouver, of being cozy, and of a fresh new start.
  • Ovens! We had a lovely and generous gift of a small toaster oven this week.  Another volunteer who is leaving inhertited one when she arrived and is passing it along.  I have grown so familiar with gas flame cooking that it has been sitting in our kitchen all week gathering dust because I don’t know what to do with it.  Oh, and I guess because we need electricity to run the darn thing.  But once we have more power I am certain that some cookies, cakes, and perhaps muffins might emerge from it 🙂

Student Elections in Nepal

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Last week marked the annual student elections for some of the major university and college campuses in Nepal.  These elections, unlike most of the student elections I have seen, are incredibly heated and tumultuous events.  They are political statements of youth who through their voting align themselves with national political parties.  That’s right, you heard me, ALIGNING themselves with variious national Nepali parties.  The result is a highly charged, dangerous and fear festering process that looks nothing like a demoncratic voting process and more appears to resemble violent mob behaviour.  Each student party is a youth wing of the major political parties and the ripe and fertile grounds of higher education institutions are used as a grooming ground for future national politicians.  Through the ranks of student politicians come the national leaders.  The current politicians take student elections very seriously – this is their opportunity to froth, foam, and rile the groups into a turmoil.  To pit youth parties against each other and crush any chances that these youth might for a moment consider collaboration more fruitful than war.

UBC students please take note…this message is for you.  You are so incredibly fortunate to be able to undertake a safe and democratic process through which you hopefully elect student leaders who sincerely care about your experience. Please imagine for a moment, as was the case in Nepal last week, that 1 student was killed while voting.  He was risking life and limb to cast a vote and was killed in his student union elections.  Add to that the 6 students who were seriously injured as a series of bombs exploded near various voting stations.  Imagine, what it must feel like to be a university student here.  Imagine the intimidation tactics that can play into election campaigns.  Please, please count yourself so lucky to be part of a system that allows you to voice an opinion safely.  You have peers in other countries that are not as lucky and would be ashamed to know that so many of you do not vote – that you do not take the democratic process seriously.  If they can get themselves to the polls and risk death…it means you have no excuse.

Honouring Fridays: March 20th, 2009

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The march of the week days continues on.  One thing that I can confidently say about working in a new country is that work is still work is still work, any way you slice it.  I had kind of thought (naively) that somehow working overseas would feel not like work!  But who am I kidding really – it is still fraught with the same pitfalls as work anywhere – overtime/weekend work may be expected, office politics still run rampant, not everyone loves their job and it is still hard to get people to work together and collaborate.  All that said, work in Nepal is nothing like work in Canada 🙂  Yes, it still feels like work and still has many of the same pitfalls, but …it is indescribably different.  So, to honour this particular Friday some things that I am grateful for at work 🙂

  • Talented and wise colleagues. It is often the case that I seek the wise council and advise of my “supervisor” R.  I have found myself a bit stumped this week on how to address some internal politics and clearly unethical behaviour within the coalition I work with.  What I am continually so impressed with is R’s ability to read a situation for the subtle and often incredibly sensitive cultural messages that I so easily miss.  He understands so well the dynamics of human behaviour within the Nepali context and can so easily and gracefully adapt his own communication to these complex social situations.  Hi wisdom and talent is impressive and I have so much to learn from him.
  • The official VSO Library. Not everyone knows this, but one of the simple pleasures of being at the VSO office is that I can sherpa back to my apartment every day a couple of books from the VSO library.  These are years and years worth of books collected by various volunteers and left for the enjoyment of continuing volunteer generations.  All free and totalling about 1500 books in total.  From the obscure, to the mundane, to the breathtaking one can find just about anything.  And I have also discovered that there is a point after which one will read ANYTHING simply for the sake of reading.  So far I have read books (fiction and non…you decide) on the following topics: British culture, tennis and drug addiction, incest in frontier France, the Nepali civil war, walking the Appalachian Trail, lesbian love in the early 1900 British theatre scene, down’s syndrome, the life of a writer, the culture of a small fishing village of the coast of france…and I have only just dipped a toe into the literary excitement of the VSO library.
  • Riding on the back of my boss’s motorbike to get to meetings.  It is hard to imagine how I would have reacted in Canada to the suggestion that I hop on the back of a bosses motorbike and zip off to a meeting.  But, today, that was exactly what happened.  Indulge me for a moment and just imagine your own boss riding a motorbike.  Now, imagine yourself, dressed in traditional Nepali clothes but topped off with a black motorcycle helment and hopping on the back.  Weaving in between cars, traffic, and bicycles, balancing precariously on the back, trying to make your body flow with the bike rather than against it.  After the meeting, we debrief the meeting while whizzing through the streets….incredible!  I must admit that I loved it and hope we have more meetings we need to get to where we will need to take the motorbike.
  • Meetings where a mutiny occurs! The above mentioned motorbike trip took us to the first all-members meeting of the Global Campaign for Education-Nepal.  About 15 people in total attended but the big news, and something I was considerably grateful for, was the fact that a mutiny occurred!  The chair was essentially kicked from his position by both his organization and the rest of the members.  There was a reshuffle of the steering committee which hopefully resulted in renewed focus and energy.  AND, all this happened while the (ex) Chair was not in attendance!  He wasn’t even there to defend himself.  Bizarre to think that he was part of the coalition a day ago and now is no longer involved…and I don’t even know that anyone has told him yet…yikes!  But I must admit it was a step in the right direction – and it was just such a interesting process to observe.

Honouring Fridays: March 13th, 2009

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Mid-march already!  So hard to believe it really.  At home, I could mark the months with work cycles, important dates, holidays, and often seasons; here is harder to mark the passage of time as readily.  The holidays are new and unfamiliar, the work cycle is totally new, and the seasons seem to wash slowly into each other like the bleeding of water colour paints.  Perhaps this why time is more fluid and less structured here…thinking in larger increments of time lends itself to a more free and bigger picture way of thinking.  The immediate details don’t matter…the afterlife, one’s legacy, one’s family history and sucessive generations…that is how time is truly measured in Nepal.

  • Nepali Straight talkers. Today I had my first productive meeting with my Global Campaign for Education-Nepal steering committee.  The challenge for the past 4 months has been to try and observe, assess, and understand the organization and leave plenty of room for them to involve me where they see fit.  I am very conscious of the methods other INGOs use to push their own agendas and I am very focussed on not working in that way.  It is their country, their education policy, and their coalition…I can support but they need to feel comfortable with me.  So, months roll by, I wait.  And today, a tipping point thanks to another INGO.  They had brought along a senior member of staff to observe and comment on the planning process (we are 8 reports behind schedule for our donor oganization….blech!).  He was able to say the things I wasn’t – he could speak as a Nepali to another Nepali, with confidence about how things work , in a direct and constructive way.  And the best part was that he was able to reinforce many of the recommendations that I had been making….so without getting too hopeful I would like to believe that this signals a productive turn in the work of the coalition.  Yippee!
  • Cabbage. One of the most under appreciated, hardy, and satisfyingly crunchy vegetables to hit the culinary scene some centuries ago.  Last night we made the most delicious sesame-soy-honey coleslaw with fresh green cabbage, carrots, red onion, and a smashing dressing.  Recipe is coming soon….but wanted to remind folks that the lowly cabbage is worth a second look.  Excellent in curries, instead of tortillas as wrappers for tasty fillings, in salads, pickled, in soups, as filling for tacos…consider this slogan…”where one could use lettuce….CABBAGE instead!”
  • M’s Family. The parents of my dear friend, M,  arrived in Nepal this week.   M’s mother was recently diagnosed with cancer so this trip has already been an emotional and mental preparation.  A small group of us went for dinner with them this week and it was such an honour to meet them.  There we moments of intense sadness and tears but also moments shining with laughter and sheer joy for being together.  The poor waiters must have thought we were crazy, switching from laughing to tears in mere seconds.  It was however, one of the most genuine, real, and honest moments of my time here in Nepal.  Nobody tried to pretend things were okay or to create an atmosphere that felt overly celebratory.  We all just shared our meal and infused our time with love, good conversation, support, warmth, understanding, and compassion…when we felt like laughing we laughed and when we felt like crying we cried.
  • Feeling a place through art. Other of my dear friends, and a fellow Canadian, is an exceptionally talented painter.  It is a hobby but in my mind it is his true calling.  He captures more vividly the mood, feeling, and inner sense of Nepal than any picture I could take with a camera.  A few of his paintings are available to view on his website.   His Nepal hills pulsate with purples, blues, greens and appear smoky with the haze of fog.  It is always one of my favourite things to be in a place with G and then to revisit that place through his paintings.

Honouring Fridays: March 6th, 2009

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I missed last Friday`s post and then was late on this Fridays…a sure sign that work is getting busier and there are fewer hours when free-time and electricity coincide.

  • Friday socializing. The cohort of volunteers that arrived right before us have instituted a lovely casual Friday gathering for anyone who is interested.  It is usually a chance for us to reconnect, debrief, and share with other volunteers.  The crowd changes depending on who is free but the conversations always remains engaging, lively, and interesting.  Last night I had a fantastic debate over the role of INGOs in development work…clearly there are various opinions on this and it was a good opportunity for me to test some of my own theories and assumptions about our organization.  Thanks to NB for the great debate.
  • Royal Tandoori. By far our absolute favourite restaurant for cheap and delicious food in Lazimpat, the region of Kathmandu where we live.  They have curries and naan bread that put anything found in Vancouver to shame (although Indian Oven is a pretty close contender).  We can eat 4 pieces of naan and 2 different curries and pay about $3…we could eat there everyday.  We go there so frequently that we see the staff cycling around other areas of Kathmandu and they wave hello…perhaps time I invested in a brick oven to make my own naan?
  • Kurta surwaal. Imagine the ease of getting dressed every morning for work when all you needed to do was jump into loose baggy pants, a long tunic top, and wrap yourself in a scarf for warmth?  This is my work outfit most days of the week.  And imagine again if everyone was wearing these outfits in purple, pink, red, orange, green, and blue patterns – like looking through a kaleidescope – everywhere you turn the clashes of pattern and colour in clothes jumps into vision.  So, I joined the parade.  I have had some lovely kurtas made for me but my favourite is the first one I bought in a deep orange colour with some paisley green and yellow patterns.  Honestly, getting dressed for work has become one of the easiest and simplest parts of my day!  Below is a picture of me and my friends H and M in our beautiful kurtas.
  • Candles. Simple reality that with 20 hours a day without power the simple and humble candle becomes the source of all light in our small apartment.  It felt romantic and quaint for the first couple of weeks – now it is just a necessity.  BUT, it provides a great excuse to purchase cheap bottles of wine as the bottles double as candle holders when the sweet elixir has been drunk.  Thanks to candles for forcing me to buy wine…
Me, M and H in our beautiful Nepali lugaa (clothes)

Let there be light and chana masala

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So, we are now up to 19 hours per day without electricity…a radical increase from the 14 we had last week!  However, this increase coincided with the arrival of the Sri Lankan President in Kathmandu.  And although these two separate events would seem isolated and unrelated to an untrained observer, the result for our small domestic corner of life is ELECTRICITY!

We are luckily living in the same region as Nepal’s Prime Minister which, for whatever reason, has meant that for the last two days he needs extra power in his house during this important diplomatic visit (and you can’t tell me the man doesn’t have a generator at his house anyway…I am sure power cuts are not something he experiences regularly anyway).  But we won’t complain.

We are basking in the glow of our low energy lightbulbs and computer screens, staying up to the unthinkable hour of 11pm (truly a rarity for anyone living in Nepal who is not tied to Thamel, the trendy tourist area with all the bars) to simply enjoy it!  I know, I know, we have gone a little crazy, but we know what waits at the end of this tunnel – 19 hours a day with no power…can you blame us?

To celebrate our second evening of cooking by something stronger than candlelight we made one of our new favourite dishes, chana masala.  A spicy tomato-based curry of chick peas.  Rex made fresh roti to top off the celebration factor.

So, for those of you craving a recipe of “electric” capacity try out this simple recipe for Chana Masala, compliments of one of my favourite Indian food bloggers, Hooked on Heat.  We added a bit of extra spices, garlic, ginger, and cilantro and a whole small eggplant as well to boost the veggie intake.  Also used dried chick peas soaked over night and then pressure cooked till tender, but mostly because we are too cheap to buy the canned variety and not because it tastes any better.

CHANA MASALA
CHICKPEA CURRY
Prep time: 10 min | Cooking time: 20 min | Serves: 2

1 can
1 medium-sized
1 large
1-2
1 tbsp
1 tsp
1 tsp
1/4 tsp
1/4 tsp
1/2 tsp
1/2 tsp
2 tbsp		 chickpeas, drained
onion, finely chopped
tomato, chopped
green chillies, finely chopped
ginger-garlic paste
tomato paste
cumin seeds
red chilli powder
turmeric powder
coriander powder
cumin powder
light cooking oil
salt, to taste
water, as needed
fresh chopped coriander, as garnish
lemon wedges, as garnish

SAUTE cumin seeds in hot oil till they start to sizzle and pop. Add onions and green chillies, and fry till tender.

ADD in tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, tomato paste, salt and spices, and cook till tomatoes pulp and starts to give out oil from the sides.

STIR in about a cup of water, allow it to come to a boil, and then add chickpeas. Let simmer covered for a few minutes till chickpeas are soft and tender to the touch.

GARNISH with fresh coriander and a sprinkle of lemon juice.