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Honouring Fridays: June 5th, 2009

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The weekend ahead is full relaxing – no plans and no plans to make any plans.  When I started posting blogs on Fridays the idea was to recognize just how much potential and excitment was wrapped into a Friday – to honour that magical anticipation with some bold words of appreciation.  I am amazed that after writing posts for every Friday since January, I am still full of things to be grateful for.  And while I may have slipped for moments of whining, focussing on the positive things has certainly kept my spirits high and my perspectives in check…no problems, just inconveniences 🙂

  • Lychees.  The season of fresh lychees is in full swing all over Nepal.  The rough brown and pink exterior hides inside a rather gelatinous looking eyeball of sweet, juicy goodness.  I, for one, don’t mind the texture but I could see how it may throw some people off.  Eaten by the dozens they leave the fingers sticky with sugar and rough shards of husk everywhere!  But they are beautiful to look at and sold by the 1 kg bunch from the neighbourhood fruit seller.  I discovered that I had many unanswered questions about the lychee that wikipedia just didn’t have the answers to – enter LycheesOnline with the best set of FAQs I could find including “Can I plant the seeds from my lychee fruit to grow a lychee tree?” – everytime I eat a lychee is this the question I ask myelf.  The answer – YES!
  • Change. The VSO Office in Nepal is undergoing some very drastic changes over the next few months.  Staff are moving on to new opportunities, having babies, and shifting focus.  Additionally, there is a large corporate strategic review happening right now as well.  Everything is in flux.  Nothing feels stable or firm.  However, deep inside that change is opportunity.  It is small, hard to see, and sometimes only evident after squinting for a really long time, but in the distance is the light at the end of the tunnel that brings fresh ideas, renewed energy andexceptional creativity.  There is much to be grateful for but today I am grateful for possibilities.
  • Will Ferrell in Man Vs. Wild.  So, Man vs. Wild is apparently, a really popular show on Discovery channel.  I don’t watch it but I couldn’t resist downloading an episode that featured the Man (Bear Grylls) out in the Arctic of Sweden with Will Ferrell.  It was fantastic!  And it helped cool me down with the scenes of snow and ice in this humid hot house of an apartment.
  • Getting out of Kathmandu. Last weekend we took to the river and had an amazing time rafting through the green hills of Nepal.  What I appreciated most about this experience was that it pulled the focus away from Kathmandu and reminded me just how incredible Nepal truly is.  The geography is extreme, the beauty is intense, and the poverty is very real.  But the poverty, while shocking to some, is simply life for many Nepalis.  They eat what they can grow and live simply.  So, while we make every effort to help Nepali people eliminate poverty, let us not also remove their ability to choose in the process.  While we may see the benefits of refrigerators, cement houses, and products for every possible cleaning dilemma, they see the benefits of house made from local materials, eating daily and not relying on foods that need to stay cold, and having immune systems that cleaning products would actually weaken.  Poverty is not equivalent to a desire to change or a need for a different life.  It means the need for food, clean drinking water, and education – and then choice to determine the type of life they want.

Honouring Fridays: May 8th, 2009

This week contained an incredible amount of change for Nepal, with the resignation of the Prime Minister, amidst some of the most complicated accusations and juicy political scandal imaginable.  Videos circulating of lies the previous PM told the UN, unconstitutional moves by various individuals that have been called `illegal`, and a `constitutional coup`.  And while the rumour mills and gossip chains are on fire with chatter, the rest of life rolls along, as it must.  The regular folks (and that includes me) got up and went to work, drank their tea, made dinner, and tried with all their might to hope that stability and peace would succeed.

  • Packages. R`s mom sent us a lovely package that arrived early this week.  The anticipation of opening them, the secret treats that are hidden inside, the carefully wrapped and addressed box…packages are a treat (cards and letters are just as wonderful!) that we dearly look forward to.  It is true that we can get just about anything we need here, but there is still something lovely about knowing that someone somewhere thought enough about you to drop something in the mail.
  • uTorrent. The source for my regular fix of bad yet totally addictive TV.  Until now, our power situation was too dire to even consider downloading anything remotely large.  But lately, we have been the recipients of magical power that stays on for…gasp…DAYS…at a time!!!  Which has meant some quality utorrent downloading. I am slowly finding my way back to the centre of pop culture.
  • Courage. I am currently wading through some rather intense and unfortunate group politics in my work that has had me questioning not only myself, but the worth, value, and possibility that the work we do can actually change education for children.  I was reminded yesterday that there are so many Nepalis who have been fighting this same fight for their entire lives – demanding that Dalit members of their society have the same rights, opportunities, and access to quality of life that caste based discrimination has prevented them from having.  While I struggle to keep faith in humanity, my Dalit colleagues can look at this and see it simply, as one more challenge to be overcome. My emotions still get the better of me, my hope and faith slowly drains, and I know that my courage is only a sliver compared to the courageous folks who live with this every single day of their lives.  I am grateful that they feel the courage to keep on fighting the good fight.
  • Tuna. We have once again discovered the joys of canned tuna.  I know, not much of a discovery, but I had somehow forgotten how delicious a tuna sandwich, rich with mayonnaise and studded with sour little pickle bites could be.  How much it reminded me of home.  Part of this discovery was also the holy grail of a good tuna sandwich…good bread.  A local hotel makes fresh french bread – toasted and smothered with tuna and cheese brought us right back to home.  Mitho thiyo!  (It was tasty!).