Score (another one) for Gorkha

The Crew at the 8th annual LeBaron Cousins' Sleepover Circa 2008

Although all of my blogposts are inspired by all of you back home (and around the world), this one was inspired specifically by my LeBaron cousins. Let me set the scene:

It was the 8th annual LeBaron cousins’ sleepover. The night was Dec. 26th West Coast time. This was my first (and hopefully last) time that I had missed this event, physically. When it was my turn to do our traditional ‘life update’ I was planned to Skype in (FYI besides this story sharing time, and a uncanny tradition of accidentally breaking something each year at the host’s house there is nothing Skull and Bones about this event. Although we do keep to their clandestine levels about what is said, IE “french-fries”). We had just connected and I had hardly seen all of my beautiful cousins’ faces for the first time in months when the power cut off…

Luckily, eventually the power came back on. And after not having talked to or seen my cousins for over 6 months, some a year, and after having trekked in the Himals and survived (on a daily basis) teaching an class of over 70 students the first thing they say to me is, “How’s the electricity over there?” Not an ‘Oh my god it’s great to see you!’ or even a ‘Hey how are you?’ But rather, a question regarding how the country of Nepal not only harnesses electrical currents and then distributes them to their population but also the efficiency at which they perform this task. . .

Needless to say, there were more important things to be discussed and I brushed it aside, but I could have delved deeper. So here it goes you guys, a much wordier answer to: “Yes power outages are common here.” :

When we were first choosing our teaching placements over 5 months ago (I can’t believe it has been that long!) we had two location options. 1) the southern part of the Kathmandu Valley, called Lilitpur, about 1 to 2 hours from downtown and 2) my current home, Gorkha which is about 5 to 7 hours west of Kathmandu (depending on traffic jams, sleeping cows in the road, and how long it takes to load and offload the livestock from the bus roof).

          

           Both have their merits. Nepalis and Americans alike have questioned why I chose to forgo the more comfortable valley life, with easy access to such creature comforts as warm showers, food other than rice and lentils, and toilets that you sit on.

          Then again, in Gorkha, due to the lack of pollution, I can blow my nose and not have it come out black.

          I would truly be happy living in both but a big variance between the two locations is electricity.

          Tourism isn’t the only profit that the Himals generate here. Hydroelectricity is created from the Himals’ snow melt and counts for a substantial portion of the GDP here as well. In fact, it is so profitable that although Nepal produces enough to supply the entire country 24 hours a day, year round, it exports the majority of it. The upshot of this is that that country has a rotating electrical schedule; this process is called ‘load shedding’. I have yet to visit a region that is not affected by it.  

            Here in Gorkha, we normally lose an hour or so in the morning and then every night an hour or two again. Totally manageable and because this is such a common occurrence we are always prepared with candles and for the kitchen have and inverter which charges when we have power and keeps a bulb lit while Aama cooks. We are the lucky ones though.

           I say that because Kathmandu has the opposite. Or at least that is what it is heading towards. Winter is coming. The monsoon season has ended, which means that the rivers have all but dried up. Kathmandu depending on the day is getting only 9 to 12 hours of power and as we only get further and further away from the monsoon season the government is predicting record setting load shedding with upwards of over 20 hours or more of no electricity each day. To combat this, the government is considering cutting the now current 6 day work week to only 5 days to ease the power demand.

Although at school I don’t use power, being in the situation that Kathmandu is would really put a hindrance onto writing things like this and following my Indian soaps.

Cousins, I’m not sure if this was really the post you expected or wanted to be inspired by you, but I hope it answered your question. And know that even though I do not say it in every post, I am always inspired by, and thankful for your love and support.

Sharing some California Christmas love reading the '12 Days of California Christmas' with our class

Happy Holidays

               After nearly six months of having nothing more than a runny nose, my system was finally hit hard. To put in bluntly, I spent the two days leading up to Christmas within a 40 foot radius of our toilet.  Out of our group, I believe up to this point I had the best health track record here. I now have soooooo much more empathy for what others went through.

                I woke up Christmas morning and felt the best I had in days (read: able to leave my 40 foot radius) and headed to meet the other Fulbrighters, along with all of Krista’s family and Rachel’s dad, to teach our ACCESS Class about Christmas. We spent the morning making paper stocking, drawing a 8 foot tall paper Christmas tree, and of course you can’t have a tree without making ornaments. We taught and sang songs such as ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Jingle Bells’ and ended with our own Christmas feast Nepali style with rice pudding and curry along with Candy Canes provided by Krista’s family and cups of hot chocolate. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with each other and our host families wandering around town and appreciating the views.

                This was my first Christmas away from home and I really don’t think I could have imagined it to be much better. I think being in a country where Christianity is not a dominant religion helps with the homesickness. I remember, after studying abroad in Beijing in the Fall and seeing very little if any Christmas decorations where I was living. Then, arriving to Hong Kong a few days before Christmas and being bombarded by the holiday from every direction. It was difficult to escape the glow of the multiple 30 plus story tall neon Christmas trees. Upon seeing these, I was immediately overcome with homesickness more severe than I had experienced throughout the rest of my time in China.

But here, I am not reminded of Christmas all the time, the only time I think about it is when I am with the other Americans here or talking to you guys back home (which I have greatly enjoyed).  Although a few nights back I did stumble on Tim Allen’s the Santa Claus 3 on television which was then followed by Tim Allen’s Santa Claus 2 which was supposed to be followed by Total Recall…

                For me, Christmas is about being with the people you love, sharing good times together and of course eating good food.  And for this Christmas, although I wasn’t with you, I was able to share it with people I care about here (although I have yet to give my family their presents, preferring to wait to share them with them when I am fully healthy and can enjoy the American candy with then) And, even if I had had the amazing food choices that you had (which you all have been so gracious to relentlessly remind me) I couldn’t have enjoyed it anyway. Namaste.

Some film shots

 

So, I got my first roll of film here developed and the good news is, that everything worked out. I am at school right now, on a break in between classes, just taught 3rd grade the difference between I and my. Thanks to Fulbright, we are getting pies to share with our host families on Thursday and then the next day after class we head into Kathmandu and on Saturday we get to celebrate Thanksgiving at a home of someone who works at the Embassy. I hope you all are staying healthy and happy, bummed I cannot see you for the holidays, but know that I am happy. Also don't worry about my appearance from the picture above, that photo was taken in my first week in Gorkha and my hair and facial hair are now more properly manicured to fit with my teaching uniform.

Some of the kids who live near my house.

Morning, looking out of my back window.

SHOPPING!

With a sign like this, how could you go wrong?

              As much as it pains me to say it, for the first time in my life, I have found myself enjoying shopping. Shopping in Nepal, like shopping at Goodwill, every crazy pattern and style can be found, and hidden in between the crest green sleeveless and the acid washed booty shorts gems can be found. But unlike Goodwill where these ‘gems’ are only is size 24 or XXL, EVERYTHING FITS YOU! That is because it is cheaper here to buy fabric and get it personally tailored then to buy something that is factory made. The best part about it is not only do you get to choose the style you want and get it custom fitted, but it all come for less than the cost of a burger and fries (or at least at an establishment that doesn’t use pink slime).


           The process is actually incredibly enjoyable. You stroll fabric shop to fabric shop, pulling out sheets of cloth from the floor to ceiling shelves which make up the walls of the shop. You then sit with the shop keeper, normally with a cup of tea, and you proceed to haggle until you both are satisfied then you take it to a tailor shop nearby and within a day or two you got your new threads.

               The sign from the tailor shop above sold it to me, but what was the icing on the cake was when I walked in, and noticed, hanging from above, a pair of pleated camo pants waiting to be picked up.

Since then I have gotten several shirts and pants made and even this traditional number:

And who doesn’t want to see a photo of me in that gear on a ping?



Diwali Festival



Yesterday was my first day off for the Diwali festival. Yesterday was based around celebrating  the goddess of wealth.   I began my day with the typical chiyaa and biscuits and appreciating the dog puja (blessing) which had been given the day before:

Then I went out with some of the men to spruce up our street for the festivities. First off, we started stringing up Tihaar lights on the houses (Tihaar lights, for those of you that do not know, are just like Christmas lights,but used by Nepali for Tihaar). Following that, we began to fix up the temples which separate our badminton court from our cricket court, changing the light bulbs for the next few evening’s festivities.

We spent the rest of the day eating and cleaning the houses and shops for the puja that was to be given that night.

I went to my host father’s office where we gave blessing and then spent the night walking up and down the streets with a band of little children, singing and dancing and blessing the businesses. I went to sleep to the sounds of the children's bands still going around house to house.

This is me with some of my father's coworkes.

The view from his office.

This morning I woke and took a walk to Julia’s house to pick up a sleeping bag because later in this week I am headed to one of my neighbor’s villages about 5 hours by bus to the north. I was told it snows there, so I am, for the first time in Nepal other than my trek and at school, bringing shoes … Truly excited for this opportunity.

I returned home to find this:

Today was cow puja day. Cows are regarded as gods here, and thus their meat is not eaten. This calf was paraded from house to house with each family blessing it, and for an extra blessing crawling under it!

As I said before, soon I will be headed out into the district where I undoubtedly will be the only Native English speaker in the village. All is well here.

``



Some Group Photos

 I just dropped off my friend from the swim team Sara Lee, her cousin McKenzie, and friend Maya, at the bus rank; they spent the past 4 nights with my family and me in Gorkha. With them staying with me, plus our election viewing party, a mini-Pitzer reunion (there were 8 of us together in Kathmandu!), and my teaching, I have had my hands tied. I will post more about everything soon. But here are some photos I want to share. 

I took this photo of Julia and her little friend when we first visited Gorkha nearly 4 months ago (sounds crazy that it has already been that long! Past halfway now for my grant!). Little did I know that this would be 5 houses down from where I now live and that this little girl would be my barber's daughter.

This was also taken on our first trip to Gorkha. Robin, who is on the far left, is our director. Also, at this time we had no idea how truly big the Himals, just behind us through the fog, actually were.

Sorcha, Rachel, Krista, and Julia, showing how we typically travel.

The best juice I have ever had.

Deja vu!

Two years ago, nearly to this day, the Giants clinched the NLCS.

At that time I was studying abroad in Botswana and by some freak coincidence in scheduling (and good choice in hotels), I found myself in the capital, Gaborone, for one night in-between host family stays at a place that had internet access (one of my first exposures to it since arriving).

At around 2 AM, I woke with the two other Bay Area natives on my program, Karen, now in Malawi and Ian, headed soon to Malaysia on a Fulbright, along with Jessie from Phoenix, also headed to Malaysia in January who was there in solidarity with the NL West. Thanks to some help stateside, we were able to arrange to get the KNBR broadcast of the entire game in all of its glory.

The final out was recorded just as the sun was beginning to creep over the horizon. Ecstatic but exhausted, we shuffled ourselves to our beds for quick naps before meeting our new host families later that morning. The rest of the day we were as jovial as zombies could be. Completely worth it. I remember uttering the words to Ian “once in a lifetime.” Little did I know…

This year I find myself again abroad during a Giants’ playoff crusade. Luckily, I have been able to stay semi up-to-date on their (so far) epic run thanks to irregular internet access and texts from home.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Nepal is currently in the middle of the biggest holiday of the year, Deshain.  Although the holiday itself and most of its traditions are foreign to any of those which I have experienced before, there are some commonalities I have noticed. These staples are part of the foundation that makes up nearly every holiday and they are primarily centered around being with the people you love, and of course, food.

I have spent the past several days visiting relatives and friends, sharing meals and good times. Enjoying the company of those that you love is pretty much as universal as you can get.  I truly miss all of you back home (and around the world), but without the love and support from my family and my community here I would be wishing to ship off much sooner. 

A few nights ago I stopped by my co-teacher’s house just to wish her and her family happy Deshain before heading home. Nearly two hours later, lots and lots of plates of salted and spiced peanuts and even spicier sukuti (dried buffalo), I headed back to my house with Kalapna’s husband, Sham,  where he was treated with just as must hospitality as I was.This is not a rare occurrence. 

Two of the pillars of holidays are being with those you care about and food, and since I have been given so much by the Nepali around me, I decided to introduce a staple of American holidays to them. Sports.

Originally, I had worked out a grand scheme to wake up early head down to the hotel which has Wi-Fi and convince them to let me camp out there drinking milk tea and eating biscuits (my substitute for beer and hot dogs) listening just like in Botswana, to KNBR for the NLCS.

Right as I was leaving I was struck by some unknown inclination to check our tv in case by some strange technical mishap they were broadcasting the game.  I turned it on, navigating my way through the plethora of Bollywood films and cricket matches, and then stumbled on what I can only describe as truly a holiday miracle.

I saw, for the first time since early summer, Caine on the mound! By some inexplicable reason the stars had aligned for me. ESPN India (it’s past ESPN 8 ‘The Ocho’ for those of you looking on Direct TV) must have run out of cricket highlights, shots of the same goal being scored somewhere in some European league by the umpteenth alternate angle, and commentators to discuss the “earth shattering effects” of said goal in said European league which allowed for the greatness of the MLB to be shown here, in Nepal.  Not just that, but the FOX broadcast, in ENGLSIH! 

I spent the next three hours glued to the tv, teaching my 9^th grade host brother, Nischal, and Aama about baseball, trying to convey the importance of the game to them.  

I don’t think I could possibly dream of a better holiday gift (read: I can think of a better gift, but I just don’t want to jinx it). ESPN India must now have caught onto their mistake, and undoubtedly the person responsible for them receiving their lowest viewership ever has been terminated.

 I am forever in their debt.

 

GO GIANTS!

On a side note:

In the spring after Botswana, I was able to share my experience with one of the key players who made it possible. Thanks to an alumni baseball game, Brian Wilson showed up to the Pomona-Pitzer field to watch one of his former minor league teammates play.  I’m not normally one to get star shocked (not that that is saying much considering my celebrity sightings pretty much consist of being in the same sandwich shop as the black guy from Ghost Busters, watching Ludacris’posse drive around a corner, and sharing several beers with a guy who can be seen in the background of some party scenes of Laguna Beach).

But this was different. I stood in the shadows with several friends watching the Beard himself. By the way we were acting; we might as well have been 13 year old girls waiting outside of Justin Bieber’s dressing room, all giggling and trying to build up the courage to ask for an autograph.

People gradually filtered by asking him to sign things and eventually, after giving myself a pep speech that Patton himself would have been proud of, I ventured over.

Trying to maintain my cool, I stuck out my hand and told him I simply wanted to thank him, and that listening to them in Botswana was one of the highlights of my year. To which I received one of the simplest yet most gratifying response I have had in my life so far, “Wow, cool!”  

Holidays

Thanks to some morning walks, I have found even more Pings!

This may have been the craziest thing I have ever been on. It is made entirely of wood and stands nearly two stories tall! Also with the colder weather, the Himals are becoming more frequently visible!

Also with the holidays, obviously comes this.

One Ping to Rule Them All

Deshain is in full swing, literally. The festival is the biggest of the year and lasts for fifteen days. My family, in respect to my host grandmother who passed away this past year, is not celebrating any of the holidays this year; but fortunately, I am sharing the holiday with neighbors, co-teachers, and other Fulbrighters. 

One of the staples of this holiday are the giant Pings (swings in English); that have been constructed in nearly every open field. These contraptions are made by the community solely from bamboo and rope and most tower to be at least two to three stories tall.  It is something that would never be allowed in America - from its creaky structure with no construction oversight, to no one over seeing it throughout the day and monitoring the children at play on it. But from my room I can hear laughter from people playing on it from when the sun comes out to late into the night. And hey, they’ve had many more hundreds of years to test and perfect this art than most of the medicines we put in our body.

And it is not just the children, adults of all ages throughout the day come for their turn.

Today also was the great goat sacrifice day. This morning, I walked up to the palace with my 32 year old cousin who lives in Kathmandu. On the way up, we passed hundreds of people returning from the palace after making their offerings on the hilltop. As we climbed higher and higher it became more and more packed, with a huge line leading into the palace. Around that back the tension from the goats, who by the screams of their fellows knew their end was near, was palpable in contrast to the jovial Nepali who were milling about them. Several hundred goats were tethered. I didn't care to stay too long there, but in the evening I did enjoy a great meal of rice, lentils, and some of the tastiest and freshest meat one could imagine.    

The postmaster's daughter in her festival clothing. 

The Ping right by my house.

 This is what holds the bamboo together.

Everyone from babies to grandparents have been taking their turns on the Pings.

Amaa (Nepali for mom) with her niece and younger sister watching the festival procession on the hill from our rooftop.

My rooftop / laundry room. To the back left of the photo is the tap I use, although it took me over a month to finally convince them that I knew how to do it myself. I kept trying to tell them that I learned how to while living in Botswana and even then, after I received a full lesson (which consisted of me watching my host sister Sajana washing my clothes) Amaa still keeps creeping up to watch to make sure I am doing it right. When I last went to Kathmandu, she snuck into my room and washed a few shirts. They are so nice!

A goat's last march. On the way up to the palace to be sacrificed.

 Just part of the Himals I can see from the Palace.

 Some of the several thousand people who were at the old palace in the morning.

 This is a photo I took from my porch, these goats were being taken to the start of the over 1,500 steps to the palace.

Rachel's family drying out some of their meat.

Rachel's Amaa preparing the goat for dinner.

As the sun set, we sipped on some of the home brew, appreciated the view and then began to enjoy our meal.

Story time with the family.

Rafting

In celebration of Rachel’s birthday last weekend, we went rafting on the Bhote Kosi River, Northwest of Kathmandu.  It was the first time since we had orientation back in July in Kathmandu that all eight of us had been together. We were also joined by a fellow Pitzer graduate, Dean, who is spending his year after school researching Neuroscience and Art on a Watson Fellowship, and Erin who is in Nepal on a Research Fulbright  based around the effects of migrant laborers on the family. She  graduated last year from Pomona College. This past weekend, the three of us made up the 2^nd largest concentration of Claremont College students in all of Nepal, second only to the Pitzer in Nepal Program.

 Friday night we slept at Ayumi’s host family’s house in the southern part of the Kathmandu Valley. We stayed up late into the night with her extended family teaching each other our respective cultural dances and songs. "Aint No Mountain High" and "Build Me Up Buttercup" are my two go to’s.  Made me feel almost as if I was back at one of the garage dance parties in Arnold.

Early in the morning we made the winding climb north out of the valley on the Chinese-made ‘Friendship Highway’ all in the shadow of the Himals, stopping at our camp a few km south of the Tibetan boarder. 

We spent the next two days rafting on the river where (thanks to some friends) I believe, I spent more time outside of the raft than in, playing beach volleyball and cards, and trading teaching stories. 

We then spent a few days in Kathmandu, doing some holiday shopping for our host families, attempting to fill our fix of western food (milk from a goat is not a suitable substitute for goat cheese), and meeting with Robin and Laurie the two directors of our program.

I have spent the past few days playing a lot of Badminton and planning for our upcoming Access classes. Next up is our Halloween Carnival then our create-your- own theater program.

The view from Ian, Dean, and my tent.

The crew getting stoked for our first day.

Ian and I.

Sorcha, Rachel, and I (before I got through in on nearly every flat water section).

Bundha!

I write this after having slept in the longest since I have been in Gorkha, 7:30. We left Kathmandu yesterday early in the morning, but midway home we got stopped by a Bundh, which is a strike or protest resulting normally in a road stoppage. The reasons for these vary from being hosted by one of the over 93 official political parties, or groups for ethnic or workers’ rights, or more local issues appealing to the authorities. Considering how few major thoroughfares there are here and how vital they are for the transportation of people and goods, these can be at least very effective at stopping the flow.

There is only one main road that goes west from Kathmandu and yesterday there was a Bundh. We were traveling in our minivan, which impressively only can be described as a clown car with the sheer number of bodies they manage to cram in these things using a mixture and real life tetris and yoga skills, when we arrived to a line of stopped cars, our driver, who was wearing what one would not be criticized for believing was the national uniform due to the sheer number of people wearing them, and Angry Birds t shirt, cut the engine and placed the emergency brake, a rock behind the back wheel.

For him along with the other Nepali on the bus, there was no questioning of what was going on and they seemed fine with it. In Nepal, Bundhs are fairly common and it was only a matter of time before we ran into one. The next two hours were spent drinking milk tea, milling about the town that was ‘hosting’ the bundh while eating the locally picked guava, and watching the helplessly outnumbered Nepali Armed Police Force try and calm down a crowd of young males who had taken the center of the road.

Eventually, while sitting near the van, we saw a wave of people running back to their respective vehicles, the Bundh had finally been broken up and it was time to leave. Now began the slow game of inching our way out of town. During the 2 hours or so of stoppage, on arguably Nepal’s busiest road outside of Kathmandu, on one of the heaviest travel days of the year (the first day of Deshian, a 15 day holiday), cars loaded with people and gifts for the upcoming festival, trucks over flowing with goats and other livestock unknowingly living their last few days before they are scarified (one of the days of Deshian is dedicated to sacrificing an animal, to cope with the need over 89,000 goats were shipped into Kathmandu during these past few weeks, in about a week, I will be walking up the over fifteen hundred steps to the old palace, along with mostly everyone else in Gorkha to participate in the sacrifice), and busses filled with a mixture of Nepali heading back to their villages for the holidays and tourists enjoying the high seasons weather heading to or from the Anapurna Region, where the majority of treks and climbing take place. These vehicles had jockeyed themselves into every possible orifice in an attempt to save some time, and thus a long unraveling process began, with surprisingly little use of the horns.

By late afternoon, I made it home to where my host father and uncles made up for lost time and poured me several glasses of our home brewed alcohol, Roxi. Soon I will be making it with Amaa (Nepali for mother). I asked them why there was a bundh today and they told me it was over a football game! Eventually, like many of my conversations with Nepali, I discovered through Napenglish and some elaborate pantomimes that the Bundh was in fact over football, but not as first suspected, an argument between two teams or supporters, but rather friends trying to petition the government to take action because their friend had been stabbed by supporters from the other team.

Today is the second of fifteen days I will have off for Deshian. Festivities kick into gear next week so this week I am planning of hanging out a lot with the family, trying to convince them to let me learn to cook (I am still struggling with getting them to allow me to clear my plate and have to plays games like “look over there” to distract them to give me time to secretly put the plate in the sink, I’m not even attempting to wash them yet). All of us Fulbrighters are also planning upcoming teacher trainings and different holiday celebrations for Access class. Halloween in Nepal!

Time to play some badminton I will fill you in more soon about this weekend’s rafting trip.

Thanks to the upcoming holiday there will be a lot more of this: