Life has been busy here, to say the least. Pair that with
inconsistent internet and as you can tell it has been difficult to find
time/the resources to update. But thanks to one of the many holidays, I have
some time this morning to write. Probably the best way to get you guys up-to-date would be to give you a semi-typical daily schedule for me.
5:20 - I wake up to Taps being played from the Gurkha army
base down the street. Gurkha soldiers
are famous for being one of the toughest fighting forces in the world; besides
fighting for Nepal, they have been used heavily by the British for over a
hundred years. They are also are in the Singapore Police Force and are the
personal body guards to the Sultan of Brunei. The Indian army values them
incredibly and several of the other ETA's host fathers are either in India
currently or have served.
Then for the next hour or so I doze, with some sporadic
interruptions by roosters, shops opening, or the honks of motorcycles,
which consistently do that to alert pedestrians they are coming, or making a
turn on these tight old cobblestone streets of my neighborhood.
Around 6:30, I am up and out of bed, in some state of dress
and head downstairs to the mud floor kitchen that is the oldest part of the
house. One of my uncles, who I met two weeks ago during the cow festival, gave
me the brief run-down of my Nepali family house’s history. It has been in the
family for over seven generations, whereas, the majority of people living in
Gorkha have probably moved from the neighboring villages (read: villages within
a few days walk) in more recent decades. It was the first house in old town to
get stories added through reinforced concrete, but the old kitchen was kept. On
the first floor is the shop, which sells everything from grains and eggs to
soap and cell phone cards and fanta. I spend a lot of time there practicing my
Nepali. When I practice the written language it always draws a crowd, all with
their own opinions about how letters should be written. The second floor is a
set of four rooms that each have a family of two or three living in them, and
then the top two floors are us, with a kitchen as a side attachment and a small
garden of corn and other plants out back.
At this time, the family normally sits down (minus the person
who is tending the shop; it is open from before I get up, right until dinner,
every day, all day, even on holidays) for chiyaa (tea). We either have black tea (khalo chiyaa),
which according to my calculations is 1 part tea and 3 parts sugar, or milk tea (dudh, pronounced dude, chiyaa) which has a
good melody of spices added. Each family has their own recipes and own special
spices they add. Julia gets her milk from her family’s water buffalo, which she
regularly milks. We have this with either biscuits or bread.
Then I have a few hours before we eat our large meal. During
these early morning hours, I normally split my time between reading, writing,
studying Nepali, and watching badminton (emphasis on watching). I have been
playing a lot with the afternoon crew - kids, ETAs, and men in flip flops - but
one day I got invited to come at 7am to play. I strolled up in my cotton t-shirt, jeans, and Chacos (my typical playing wear) and was instantly even more
out of place (which is saying a lot considering my pigmentation and that I am
about a foot taller than most people here). These were the men who were ready
to play, all wearing athletic shoes, shorts, and shirts; Premier League jerseys
seemed to be the norm, and they divided the men into doubles teams (my dad here
is on the black Chelsea jersey with orange hue squad). After watching their
play, let us just say, I need a lot of work before I could even compete.
Also during this time, I have been walking a lot, the
clearest time of day has been the early hours and that has been when I have
gotten the best views of the Himalayas (photos coming when I can get good
internet access)!
Around 9, we have dhaal bhaat which is a BIG meal of rice
and lentils which I have too many stories to share about this and will save it
for a following blog post.
My school begins at 10, so I spend these last moments
getting prepped and making the ten minute walk down to school. My routine is
becoming more regular and I am getting to know some of the shop keepers on the
way, buying fresh fruit most days (best mangos I have ever had). Also on the
walk, I pass the steps to the palace and the hotel and normally run into sweaty
tourists on their way down from their morning hike up and have met some characters, to say the least.
School begins with the singing of the National Anthem for
the whole school in the courtyard, which I have been told that I will lead very
soon (I have already had to sing it in front of the entire teaching staff),
then off to class. I sit in the
teachers’ lounge, which is a long rectangular room, with chairs lining both
walls and a long series of tables in the middle with Niraj, the headmaster at
the head. Some periods I have off so I just talk with other teachers, learning
more about Nepal and practicing Nepali and in turn answering their questions
they have about America. We also have more chiyaa, which I never can deny. The
best way to describe my teaching role at school is through that of a "Utility
Player". I wait basically to be "pulled off the bench", because I have no set
schedule. So I wait for one of the English teachers to request me to go to
their class with them, which I always accept. Sometimes for class, I just am
instructed to sit and watch. But for most times, in the lounge, I am asked
something like “Do you know rhymes?” or “Can you do introductions?” where I am
put in front of the class for most of the period, providing native speaker (or
as some call me a ‘Native American’…) pronunciations or insight. My classes range from a 74 student grade 7 to
a group of 11 of the cutest 3rd graders ever (reflecting on that, how could one
not find a cute group of 3rd graders?). Still getting my footing in the
classrooms, but the teachers seem truly excited to have me there, and in turn I
am excited to learn from their far many more years of teaching experience.
Then around 4, I head home to normally have pre-dinner or
pre-pre-dinner depending on things (I am still figuring out). This normally
consists of either a bowl of noodles, veggies, an egg, or bread similar to
naan, and beans. Then I normally study more Nepali and then either walk to a
friend’s house or head to the courts. Then I get back and hang out at the shop
until dinner around 9 and by that time I am so spent and in such a food coma
that it is normally hard for me to keep my eyes open, even for the Olympics. To
be fair though, it seems that all ESPN India is interested in is weight lifting
(which I didn’t know there was more than one way to throw roughly your body
weight over your head), men’s field hockey (which I didn’t know existed), air
pistols (which rivals curling in the title for “sport” with most Olympic
athletes who are overweight), and dressage (does it make me pompous just to
know what that is?). Then I hit the pillow and start again - days mixed with new
stumbles with practicing Nepali, more Nepali challenging the westerners to
Badminton, and more fun.
This is a rough schedule for when I do not have holidays; which while I am here, more days have
been holidays than not. For those days, I fill in the time I would be at school
with more exploring of the town, hanging at the shop, and gorging on endless
plates of food.
