Tag Archives: neighbours

Honouring Fridays: May 29th, 2009

3 Replies

In efforts to get a jump on my blog post due to a white-water rafting extravaganza happening this weekend, I am writing this on Thursday night.  Usually peaceful and quiet evenings are the norm in our cozy little neighbourhood.  However, tonight we have the distinct privilege of a wild and noisy party happening next door.  Ordinarily, I might be particularly bothered by this disruption of peace but it is hard to be mad when the crowd is grooving to a great live band and screaming the lyrics to Bon Jovi and the Police songs at the top of their lungs…if I close my eyes I could be anywhere…when I open them I am both surprised and tickled to remember I am rockin’ out to Bon Jovi in Nepal 🙂

  • Plums. Appearing in street-side wicker baskets all over the city, the bright red and yellow globes are the new must-have fruit of the season 🙂  About the size of very large cherries with intensley bitter skin and sweet juicy insides they are the perfect accessory for fruity salads or workplace snack attacks.  And the pits make great chew toys for long bus rides and are fun to spit out the windows of moving vehicles.  Plus, they are THE newest super food…watch out plums…you may have tried to stay out of the spotlight but I think you might be headed into the super food fastlane…ask the blueberry for tips on handling the “pit”falls of fame and fortune.
  • The sound of children playing in the alleys near our house. From the sterile and serene environment of our Vancouver apartment to our bustling and yet peaceful neighbourhood in Kathmandu, the sounds have changed with the seasons (the evening dog choir is the only constant) and we now have frogs, crickets, and monsoon rains to soothe us to sleep.  But the most joyful and happy sound is actually the sound of the neighbourhood kids playing in the alley.  Squeals of delight at being caught in the rain, laughter when a friend gets lost in the empty lot, beautiful singing of one of the many traditional folk songs, and shouts between competitors in one of the many imaginative games they play.  It is the sound of complete comfort and reminds me just how inventive and creative kids can be with nothing more than each other for company.
  • Braids.  It has been an incredibly long time since my hair was long enough to braid.  Ponytail, yes, braid, not quite.  But the time  has come to march the braid out.  I have dreams of having those long thick braids that many Nepali women have – glossy, black, and as thick as a rope – it will never happen but one can dream.  Instead I parade a more meak and sad version of the braid, thinly woven into a teeny tiny blonde rat-tail like braid (it feels this bad but I have been assured by credible sources it is not this bad).  Braids hold a kind of earth mother mystique for me – perhaps beause my own mom worn one in my early years – but I always feel like I should bake bread, till the earth, and milk cows when I wear a braid.  Natural, earthy, and maternal – all stylish looks in Nepal.
  • Having less choice. I walked past a sign this afternoon in a large kitchen appliance shop.  Their slogan “130 modles of kitchen appliances, with more on the way” .  WHO needs 130 types of fridges and stoves to choose from? In Canada, I remember quite vividly suffering from my need for choice.  In fact, I carried it all the way to Nepal and have only just recently shaken the need.  I bought my first kurta surwal (Nepali clothes) after visiting 6-8 different tailor shops, patiently searching for the perfect fabric and colour.  I was certain that if I looked a bit further I would find exactly what I wanted – in psychological terms this is called being a maximizer.  But it didn’t take too long for me to realize that the quest for that perfect something was entirely built upon my need for excessive choice – to leave no stone unturned before making my decision.  Yesterday, I went to two shops, next door to each other, to buy another kurta surwal.  I looked at the options, picked the two that pleased me the most, got measured, and left.  I liked what I chose and felt no urge to keep searching for something better – I have become a satisficer!  More choice for me meant I was paralyzed by options…less choice meant I got to buy something lovely and had enough time left to stop, buy some plums, watch the kids play, braid my hair, and smile knowing that all the choices in the world would not make up for missing the opportunity to live in this moment.

Honouring Fridays: May 22nd, 2009

2 Replies

Let’s keep this short and snappy shall we?  Time has been creeping away from me lately and I find myself on a Friday afternoon facing into a weekend jam-packed with meetings, presentations, language refresher classes, and proposal reading and have just finished up a week that contained a 4-day volunteer conference with full to bursting days.  So, I am in the mood to get straight to the point – no waxing poetic or philosophizing about life in Nepal.  Just some honest-to-goodness moments of gratitude worthy of sharing and then on to enjoying this lovely Friday evening.

  • Debate. Alright, I hate debate.  I loathe the strict and structured format, the polarization of opinion, and the outcome of motions “standing or falling”.  However, this week, I saw the value of debate.  It kep people quiet.  More specifically, it kept the people who talk too much quiet and gave the people who did talk a time limit.  And while I don’t find the process of debate fulfilling, I sure do like the silence it can provide.  I can think of a number of meetings where this would be helpful here in Nepal – keeps the loud ones quiet enough to here the voices that are mere whispers.
  • Miracle ovens. One of the highlights for the volunteer conference was that we had a cooking demonstration session.  A group of us put together a collection of easy recipes one can make on a 2 ring gas burner or in a miracle oven.  I took the challenge and produced a chocolate cake!  Over a gas burner!  Thanks goes entirely to the magical Miracle Oven. A miracle oven is like a bundt pan that sits oven a gas flame with a lid over the top.  The centre hole in the pan allows heat to move through the centre and create an oven-like atmosphere in the bundt pan.  Amazing, but true, a perfectly moist and delicious chocolate cake was mixed and baked over one gas flame 🙂  Loaves and fishes…pshaw…chocolate cake is the true miracle!
  • OR2K. One of my favourite new restaurants in Kathmandu, serving up magically delicious Israeli food.  How I did not find this months ago, I will never know, but surely am glad I found it now.  Last night we went and had falafel, hummous, baba ghanoush, a soured cream cheese dip, and a spicy tomato spread all slathered on thick and soft pieces of naan bread.  I will admit that the place is more than a little touristy but the food is so delicious it is hard to resist and the prices are reasonable.  It is hard to imagine getting jazzed up by hummous but the escape from curry was heavenly, even just for one night.  OR2K means “Light to Kathmandu” in Hebrew.
  • Great chimeckiharu (neighbours).  We live in a building with great people.  We have caring landlords and even a couple of fledgling friendships with people in the building.  Yesterday, I rescued a pigeon trapped in our stairwell with the girl downstairs.  And Rex might take motorcycle lessons with the guy on the first floor.  They are good people and I am so grateful to have good people who live in such close proximity.  There should be a day every year for people to honour their neighbours…to thank them for being good and neighbourly…I think it should be May 22nd every year.  In fact, I think I will begin this year – if you want to join me cross the hall, road, or field and bring that neighbour of yours some cookies!