Celebrating One Month of Chaos and Dal Bhat

Last Wednesday was my 1-month anniversary of my arrival in Nepal. Can you tell I’m a bit behind these days?

I think one of the hardest things about doing a trip like this is that every day is a challenge.  Things I’ve always taken for granted in the U.S. – buying groceries, for example, or riding the bus – is so much harder in a foreign country. It’s a great learning experience, but seriously exhausting some days.

So, let’s reflect on some things that have changed in the past month. 

1. As chaotic as Kathmandu is, it no longer overwhelms me.  Yes, it’s dirty. And polluted.  And in desperate need of zoning.  But there’s also a rhythm to life here.  People work all the time, it seems, but they take their time doing the work and they usually enjoy doing it.  There’s no separation between work and life like there is the in United States.  Family is incredibly important, as is culture and heritage.  People truly enjoy being together.  The longer I’m here, the more I see beyond the chaos. I really like it here, more than I ever expected that I would. But no worries, I’m not staying. I’ve killed enough cockroaches here to make me seriously look forward to a happy return to the U.S.

2. Nepal is, by far, more respectful to foreigners than any other place I’ve visited.  Though people stare (and stop what they’re doing in order to stare), few make obvious comments or approach you.  The U.S. presence is limited here – Europe has a far bigger influence.   For the most part, the stares no longer bother me.  It’s really only irritating when you do something stupid (trip, get on the wrong bus, etc) and you realize that EVERYONE was watching.  There’s nothing to do but laugh at yourself at that point, since everyone else already is.

3. The food here, assuming you like rice and spicy things, is really good.  The only thing I outright refuse is the curd (aka, plain, chunky yogurt).  Though I occasionally have to detox on rice, I love the tea, the dhal curry (some type of vegetable and curry), the fruits (lychees, mangos), the cheese, and the lentils.  Newari food is equally good, though they place a heavier emphasis on meats.  The ice cream is also really good – I had it four times last week. They have this flavor called 21 Love that I was totally intrigued by until I realized that it was just chocolate chips and vanilla. Letdown, but still delicious.  The milk (from goats? Water buffalo? I have no idea), because it is unpasteurized, is serve hot. No thank you.

4. Strikes (bandh) have worsened in the last two weeks, which has been an interesting experience to observe.  Several Maoist parties left the government, and though there’s a new prime minister, a new coalition government still has not been formed. A few days ago several youth Maoist parties started fighting, and at least one youth was killed. During the strikes, no vehicles are allowed in the streets except for police and military vehicles and the U.N. (which is the only international agency I’ve seen here).  Anyone riding a bicycle or motorbike is able to ride down certain streets, but will, at some point, be forced off the bike by groups of men who patrol certain checkpoints along the streets.  There are also parades of people marching with Maoist signs, and plenty of others watching from the sidewalks.  It’s incredibly orderly, at least as far as I’ve seen. And yes, I’m always careful.  Little but might, I tell you.

5. I’ve spent about 90% of the last month barefoot.  In Nepali culture, you remove your shoes before entering work or homes or many restaurants.  Our office has a little shoe shelf where you can leave your shoes and pick up some house sandals.  I actually enjoy it.  I’m also a fan of sitting on the floor for meetings and gatherings.  Though many families own couches and dining room tables, it’s not the norm by any means, and sitting on little cushions on the floor is often more comfortable. That being said, if upon arrival back into the U.S. I kick off my shoes and make myself at home on the floor – don’t be alarmed.   

Random things you might find interesting, though maybe not:

•     I went to kill two cockroaches in my kitchen last night and realized they were hanging out with a lizard that had made his home by my sink.  Fantastic.
  
•     I participated in a nature club workshop last week where I presented a session every day on capacity building and motivation. In English. To 90 9-to-14 year olds Who knew I had a future as a motivational speaker? 
•     My Nepali is still terrible because everyone at ECCA speaks English. It’s embarrassing, really.
  
•     I am officially a Nepali television star.  I attended two different ECCA programs for World Environment Day two weeks, and ended up in the video for the event that was broadcast on Nepali tv twice.  Granted, it was for 2 seconds out of a 30-minute video, but I’ll take the fame.
  
•     Load shedding has increased because the valley is desperately in need of rain and there’s little electricity.  My backup power has stopped working, so I’ve taken to sitting by candlelight and watching the sun set through my kitchen window.  My return to the U.S. will be a rude awakening. 
  

Since photos are fun, here are a couple from my last few weeks.  I’m not in any of them, because all of those pictures have ended up on someone else’s cameras.  Maybe soon I’ll create a post dedicated to photos of me.  Because this blog where I talk about myself incessantly isn’t enough, right?  Look, I’m just trying to prove that I’m really here and not hiding out somewhere in DC (thanks Lisa and Dina for suggesting as such).

With some of the members of Prachet's family (my contact).  We may have made our own dance party one evening. 

Sushila testing the quality of water in one of the schools. There are only two full-time ECCA staff that are females: the cook and receptionist.  Sushila is a part-time staff member. 

Little girl playing with vegetables at this huge wholesale vegetable market I visited two weeks ago. 

Men resting by a temple in Patan.  I cannot for the life of me keep the gods straight in this city.  I'm lucky I know where I am half the time. 

One of my favorite photos of the trip.  Children at one of the schools in Patan.

Your average classroom for students. This could be for any grade.  There are no books or games, and very little on the walls. 

The Chariot-pull for the  Rato Machhendranath Festival for Hindus and Buddhists in Patan. The chariot is pulled through the street by men.  In this photo, it is crashing into yet another building. The energy is intense here.  

The view of the crowd at the festival.  Packed and so much fun. 

Students at the Namina Machhindra school on School Environment Day.  They're selling recycled cards. There were 7 competitions that students from different nature clubs competed on, including best nature mural and best school newsletter about the environment. 

A teacher and some of the murals at the event. 

Everybody's Got a Water Buffalo

(10 points to everyone who now has the Veggie Tales song in their head)

I’m quite far behind in posting about my trip to the hills two weeks ago, but it was a great experience and I think it merits a separate post.  To be fair, I’ve been out of the office 7 out of the last 10 work days.  I’ll be posting again tomorrow, because the creative “posting juices” are now flowing. 

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel a lot in my 25 years. I’ve seen few sites that rival the beauty of these hills.  It's breathtaking.

It’s an hour and a half motorbike ride out of Kathmandu and through the hills to the villages we visited in the southern part of the valley.  A very bumpy and muddy trip. The first village was reachable by motorbike, but the other two were best reached on foot. Because the schools are on separate hills, however, you have to climb down and then back up again to reach many of the other towns. There is one bus that travels between several sites on the hills once a day. Other than that, there were few vehicles in sight. Because we did the trip in three days, we could take our time descending and ascending again, which is good because it was ridiculously hot and my tennis shoes aren’t exactly idea for walking down these steep footpaths.  Each hike took several hours to complete.  The locals, of course, climb them in sandals in half the time that it took me.

The first night of the trip, ECCA staff member Binod and I stayed overnight at the house of one of the school’s teachers. It was reminiscent to me of the mud homes constructed by Native Americans in the southwest U.S.  Load shedding happens outside the valley as well, so we sat in the dark with the teacher and his family, eating our dinner by candlelight.  The house overlooks a number of hills to the West, and watching the sun set behind the hills is indescribable.   The second night we stayed in the community’s research center, which overlooks the Kathmandu Valley. Amazing.

Life here, however, is hard.  The majority of the people earn their living by farming (vegetables, mainly corn) or milk production (goat and water buffalo).  Trucks come every morning to pick up the milk from certain stations across the valley, which means that most families must haul their huge milk cartons up or down the hills every day.  Farming also takes place on the steep hills, so farmers must construct terraces and practice rudimentary irrigation techniques.  The entire Valley has not received much rain in the past 10 months, which has had a detrimental impact on crops and clean water. Two of the three communities we visited were very low on watr.

To reference the title, nearly everyone has a water buffalo in these villages.  Because cows are sacred (hence the reason they’re hanging out in the streets of Kathmandu), water buffalo is the meat of choice here.  Seeing as how I’m usually vegetarian, I so far have avoided sampling “buff.”  I did, however, also get to try some “local” fish, delivered to me in large chunks in a bowl, head and all. I had to gnaw the fish off the cartilage while the family watched. Easier said than done, people.

The houses here are very similar to one another: two story, mud and stone homes.  The goats, water buffalo, and chickens are kept close to the side of the home.  Kitchens are located downstairs, and those who can afford to build toilets have them located in little outhouses near the home (or group of homes).  Bathing is often done outside in buckets. 

In each village, we met with the principal, the teacher in charge of each school’s library, and the executive committee of the nature club (all students).  The nature clubs have been established by ECCA in more than 250 schools (and they’ve trained organizations to establish another 300 in other parts of Nepal, Bhutan, and India).  The clubs are hugely popular in the schools, and are run 99% by students with teacher/principal oversight.

The clubs encourage student awareness of environmental and sanitation issues facing their communities.  Through the clubs, students learn and teach proper hygiene, waste disposal, and water conservation.  They work together to publish school-wide magazines, hold academic competitions, paint murals on school grounds, and a number of other really impressive activities that improve the overall school environment.  Many of these schools have very few resources and little funding, so ECCA also runs a number of other projects, including: water purification, the development of school gardens and playgrounds, training teachers in good teaching methods, and creating libraries.  Each school is different – this is reflected by the diversity in the activities of each nature club and the types of programs that ECCA has in each. 

Binod and I met with each executive committee to assess how things are going. It was very interesting and heartbreaking at the same time to hear about the things that the students had to accomplish on their own.  One school was proud because they’d raised enough money from their nature club fees (about 10 rupees a year per student – maybe $0.15) to purchase trashcans for each classroom. Another school talked about how several students had taught their families how to dig waste pits at home to dispose of trash. The third nature club was offering loans to students who couldn’t afford to buy books for class.

I’m not trying to be political here (Hi Republicans! Hi Democrats!), but there’s a complete disconnect between the government (national and local) and the local communities in Nepal.  Anything that would be done by the national, state, or local governments in the U.S. (waste removal, development of bathrooms, provision of water and electricity) has to be done independently by the schools and the communities here. I personally find that appalling. Everyone should have access to water. Period. 

Anyway, here are some photos.   It’s your reward for reading this entire blog post.

 

The beginnings of the trip.  Nice mouth protection, no?

The hills surrounding Kathmandu Valley. Breathtaking. 

Binod meeting with students in Chaughare

The school in Chaughare. The school is extremely crowded. Kindergartners and First Grade students now share a class, for example, and tin dividers section off already small rooms into two.  The school is trying to build a new building, but does not have the funds to do so. 

A young girl with her baby brother strapped to her back.  This was very common, and the most convenient way for women to carry their children while they work. 

One in a long series of photos of these kids. We had a bit of a "photo shoot" one evening.  They're part of the Tamang community in Nepal, I believe. 

One of the many amazing views.  This picture doesn't do it justice. 

Water buffalo.  They're not a friendly sort. 

Beginning my descent from Dalchoki to Sankhu. I look relatively energized. That does not last. 

Students in the Dalchoki Secondary School. The boy in the middle raced us while on motorbike. He won by far. 

Students at the Dalchoki school.  The school has an amazing view of the valley. Students walk up to 2 hours every day to reach the school. 

Clothes drying on a fence overlooking a grouping of houses. 

Turning 25

I have plenty of photos to share from my adventures in the field earlier this week, but figured that post could wait a few days until I finish going through my notes.

So, let’s talk about my birthday instead.  Thanks so much to everyone for the wonderful messages and emails - I loved them and they meant a lot. 

They do celebrate birthdays in Nepal, but they use three different calendars here (international, Nepali, and Newari), so it’s a little complicated to determine which day most people celebrate. Their rituals are different than in the U.S. as well, though I didn’t actually observe any of them.  I am pretty sure that an egg is involved, but don't know too much more other than that. 

I started my birthday out with a trip with Lilian to the tourist district of Kathmandu - Thamel - where I happily had a fattening American breakfast to start my birthday off right (coffee, croissants, eggs, bacon, hash browns – yum!).  We then traveled to Boudha, the largest Buddhist stuppa (religious site) in Nepal and an area heavily influenced by Tibetan culture. After exploring Boudha for some time, we traveled back to Thamel for some shopping, where I bought myself a nice birthday present.  We then met a work colleague, Ram, for drinks in the main square in Patan (to the south of Kathmandu).  The sky was so clear for once, and we were able to see the real mountains of Nepal in the distance.  FINALLY.   

After drinks, Lilian, Ram, and I headed to a restaurant in Patan for dinner and drinks with the most of the full-time ECCA staff. Though conveniently taking place on my birthday, it was also a goodbye party for Lilian, who is now on her way back to Switzerland.  We had delicious food and drinks, listened to a musician play Hindi and Nepali music, and ended the evening with a surprise chocolate birthday cake.  

It made for a great day, which ended promptly at 9 because everything closes here early and we work on Sundays.

Anyway, I’ll just share some photos because that’s got to be more interesting than me going on and on about my birthday.

Love, Lisa

At Boudha. It's very peaceful. And much bigger than it appears in the photo. This was first constructed sometime before 900 AD and was rebuilt in the 1300s. 

Monks putting up new prayer flags

View of Patan Square, south of Kathmandu. It's one of the most historic parts of the Valley.

It's hard to see from this photo, but the Himalayan mountains are outlined behind the hills of the Kathmandu Valley. 

 To put it in perspective: the hills are about 1700 m high, while the mountains are over 8000 m. (Switzerland's highest mountains are between 3000 and 4000 m)

Photo with Lilian on her last day in Nepal. 

Dinner with ECCA staff. Binod is on left and Yogendra on right. 

With Jai. 

Ram, Lilian, Sushil, and Siddhi.  These three males, along with Jai,  Yogendra, and a few others, make up the full-time staff of the main office of ECCA. ECCA has quite a few field staff in other parts of Nepal, as well as a HUGE coalition of volunteers and part-time staff. 

With Prachet - the reason I am in Nepal.

My birthday cake. It had chocolate shavings, four cherries, and two birds.  Apparently there was no theme. It was quite good. Not too long after this picture, load shedding began and we sat in the dark for a few minutes while waiting for the backup power to come on.  Good times, good times.  

Visiting the Monkey Temple

Today there are strikes, called “bandh,” across Kathmandu, so the government, schools, and most businesses are closed for the day.  There are only a few of us at ECCA –mainly the people who live close enough to walk or use their bicycle.  Strikes in Nepal are actually quite fascinating, and relatively peaceful.  The strikes today are in protest to a ruling that the Nepali government made two years ago that the official language across Nepal be Nepali, not the local ethnic language. In Kathmandu, the Newars are the highest class (and caste) in society and as such, are protesting the fact that Newari is not the official language of Kathmandu.

Or, at least that’s how I understand it.  But I’m finding that you can ask five Nepalis the same question and get five different answers, so for all I know this strike is about something totally different. Anyway, the city was so quiet and empty on the way to work today because there are no vehicles running. The police and military are out in full force, but besides people hanging flags to show their support, not much is happening in my part of Kathmandu.  The strikers are in other parts of the city, not where I live or work.  From what I hear, even these strikes are relatively peaceful and organized.  Nonetheless, foreigners are well respected here so I’m not too concerned one way or another.  Nepal is an interesting place.

I’m leaving tomorrow for South Lalitpur for three days of travel through three villages to the South. ECCA has programs in the schools in these villages, so I am traveling alongside ECCA staff member Binod as he observes the projects going on in the schools. We’ll be meeting up with a group of ECCA field staff that are monitoring all 11 villages in the region.  It’ll be a good time for me to start my research, in theory, on the role of conflict in child development in Nepal.  Also, I get to hike through the hills to visit two of the villages, which I’m pretty excited about.

On Friday I went to Swayambhunath (also called the Monkey Temple) on the western part of Kathmandu.  It was constructed hundreds, maybe thousands, of years ago in honor of Buddha.  Like everything else in Nepal, there is a lot of mysticism and folklore surrounding the the temple.  According to legend (and archeology), this area was once a huge lake. Upon visiting the valley, Buddha drained the water from the region standing on the hill where the temple is now located.  

I am not so much a fan of monkeys, but these little dudes were all over the place, which was pretty cool. Swayambhunath also offers a beautiful view of the valley.

There is also a Hindu temple on this site.  Though two separate religions, Hindus accepts Buddhism as part of Hinduism.  It’s quite interesting.  There’s a lot of other meaning behind this place, but I’ll allow the pictures to speak for themselves.

Love, Lisa

See? I'm really in Nepal!  It's impossible to capture everything on this site in one photo.  The temple is the white and gold dome, but there are a number of other statues and smaller temples as well.  The Buddha's eyes are watching in every direction. 

One of the views of the valley, with the hills in the distance.  You can only seen the mountains on a really good day. 

Meeting a new monkey friend.  

One part of the Hindu temple also on this site. 

Another part of the temple site.  It's incredibly high off the ground and you have to climb up quite a few stairs to get there. There are Tibetan prayer flags EVERYWHERE - it's beautiful.  There are a number of monks that live here and are responsible for upkeep on the temple and the grounds. There's also trash everywhere. Shocking, right?