Night Notes

Dear all,

It's almost 7 o'clock at night here and I'm standing on my balcony, writing to you. It's fully dark already and I can barely see this page, but the night is so beautiful I can't bring myself to turn on the porch light and cut the moment with any sudden brightness.

Thin stretches of clouds hide the stars here and there and the moon is no where in sight. Somehow, I don't miss it, the stars are enough. The air is refreshingly cool, but it still doesn't have the crisp taste of Michigan autumn air. Instead the air tastes of fried breads, not greasy or smokey really, but doughy and slightly earthy.

Lights from windows in other homes, as well as my own, light my writing. In a neighboring house, just a tall palm tree, I can see 3 elementary aged children playing. One of them has a wicker chair on his head and will doubtlessly be in trouble soon.

Even at night, Kathmandu is noisy. If the night sounds of Kathmandu were a symphony, the constant buzz of crickets would be the base on which it was built. The roar of motorcycles on the main road are like guitar wriffs tearing into the cricket buzz and the occasional dog bark and shout are like trumpet calls, one call always answered by another. Though it's getting late, you can still hear the occasional tinkle of puja bells, doubtlessly accompany smoke and prayers up to hindu dieties. My favorite sound though is the pressure cookers and frying oils releasing wheezes of hot gas in to the air and hinting at the lives being lived in the little squares of light coming from the houses all around me. Occasionally, someone on foot or motorbike comes up the path, but despite the constant murmur the night is very still.

The stillness is nice. It's been a tough day and I'm in need of some unwinding. In fact, I think today is the perfect day for rotis. There's something about making and rolling out dough that I find to be remarkably relaxing and affirming. I think maybe it's the feminine aspect of it. It requires a delicacy and gentleness that I cherish, and the sound of my new glass bangles punctuate the rolling rthyme with a whimiscal musical tinkle which I just adore. Yeah, I think that's the plan. Sorry to get mushy 0n you all, but it was too pretty of a night to keep to myself. Now I'm off to cook!

Love! Read more on "Night Notes"!

How's this for a warm welcome!

Well all, it's official. I'm an anthropologist. I've started doing some preliminary work and am as happy as a clam. I participated in my first focus group last week. Dai and I met with a group of students of varying grade levels to discuss what being Dhimal means to them. I was also able to ask a few questions regarding the tradition al garments I'm mostly focusing on. Throughout the meeting, I was amazed at the openess of the students and their excitement about my project. Everyone is eager to help and seems genuinely pleased that an American scholar would take such an interest in their culture. I left the meeting with a feeling that my work was off to a great start, but equally important, that the people I will be working with are overall sweet, kind and dynamic.

However, it wasn't until yesterday that I realized just how excited the Dhimal community is about my work. I had stayed home ill yesterday, and mid-nap my phone rang. When I answered it Dai excitedly told me that he had something that was sure to cure me. Of course, I was intrigued and pulled myself out of bed to meet him.

As I climbed on the back of Dai's motorcycle, he told me the interesting news. One of the main leaders of the Dhimal community had published an article announcing my arrival and my work in the national paper!! I was stunned. There was even a picture! (Don't worry, I'll scan it and post it here as soon as I can)

Interestingly, the article, though published in a Nepali paper, is written in Dhimali (except for the headline which remains in Nepali). This means that as of right now, I have no idea what the article says. I hope it's good! :P

The publication of the article feels like a fitting parallel to my work thus far. On the one hand, I am enormously pleased to be making the contacts that I am and the excitement of the community is clearly evident to everyone. But at the very same time, I feel that my work is still in a very tentative stage where things are clearly happening, but they are both beyond my understanding and my control.

What's more, I find new challenges to my own sense of identity and my own goals with each passing day. I'm sorry to say that i have no idea who will be coming home to you at the end of this. Maybe these posts will help map the eventual trajectory, but I think we'll all just have to wait and see.

In other nonwork related news. Roomie and I have a new house guest. In addition to Brutus, the giant spider that keeps our house bug free, I noticed this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krait slithering through our garden the other day. Our friend, who I've yet to name, is easily 3ft long and much faster than I would have expected. Of course, I'm only guessing that he is in fact a black Krait, but the pictures I was able to find online of this species seems to be the best match. But don't worry, I promise Roomie and I haven't stepped foot in the garden since, so I'm quite sure we're still perfectly safe.

Anyway that's all for now. I'll write again soon. With love!!!

Read more on "How's this for a warm welcome!"!

CNSP Photos

Just a quick note. I've put up some photos from the Cornell Nepal Study Program, where I occasionally attend lectures. Right now, it's probably my absolute favorite place to be because it's just so beautiful. It's also just outside the city in a place called Kirtipur, so it's very calm and quiet. Were I to live in Nepal more long term, I'd live in Kirtipur.

But don't worry, I'm coming home. I promise. I miss you all too much to stay away forever and ever.

All my love!!


Read more on "CNSP Photos"!

Snapshots of Kathmandu

Hi all!

First off, a few new pics are up so check out the slideshows!

So it’s been just over a week and I’d say I’m pretty well settled in now. I can confidently get to just about anywhere in town, even though sometimes that still means taking a taxi rather than wandering around, and I can safely say I’ve overcome the first bout of “adjustment” illness. More importantly, I feel wonderfully at home here. In fact, just yesterday I’d stopped a taxi driver and asked him (in nepali) how much it would cost to get me home. After we’d agreed on a price (haggling is a must in Kathmandu), I jumped in the cab and to my delight he asked me (again in Nepali) “How many years have you been living in Nepal?” When I told him I’d only been here 7 days he was amazed. So I’d say I’m starting to fit in just fine.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about what I wanted to write and tell you all about. In some senses, Nepal is everything I remembered it to be, so I’m not terribly surprised or overwhelmed by anything, and few things seem strange enough to write home about. With that in mind, I thought I’d just describe a few Kathmandu scenes to give you all a feel for what life’s like here and what I’m up to lately.


The bus stop: Buses are probably the most common motorized transportation for people here in Kathmandu. They are relatively cheap (13 rupees for a one way ride) and you can catch one from all over town. That said, all the buses eminent from Ratna park. The streets on either side of Ratna park are crowded with buses, rushing in and out as quickly as they can. Each bus is really a small white van with an intended capacity of maybe 12 people, though they usually actually contain twice that amount. I like to visit Ratna park because it’s the only place I’ve found where people of all walks of Nepali life seem to gather. (I’m only just beginning to fully grasp the immense diversity that is Nepal)

The other day, I was standing by the side of the road waiting to catch a bus from Ratna park back to my home. As I stood, I looked around at the other passengers waiting for their buses. Of the hundred or so that were waiting, a few stood out. There was an older woman in a sari with a small boy in western clothing. A few young men who appeared to be students and one man who I’d guess was a laborer of some kind. He was wearing a simple blue top and dark pants, both of which were a bit dirty. He stood out to me because he had a very hurried expression on his face. At first, I couldn’t understand what he could be in such a hurry for, but then I took another look. It was then that I noticed that clutched against his chest, he was holding a large red rooster. He held both of the rooster feet in one hand, and the rooster seemed quite content. The rooster would tilt his head from side to side occasionally, but other than that he was completely still. He reminded me very much of those American purse dogs that act as though they’ve spent their whole lives being carried around in. While the rooster seemed pretty calm, I decided I would catch another bus a bit up the road, just in case he wasn’t as good at riding buses as he was at waiting for them.

A taxi ride through Kanti Path: Kanti Path is one of the main arteries of Kathmandu, and one of the few streets to actually have a name. Most areas are designated first by neighborhood and then by familiar landmarks. I often find myself on Kanti Path on my way to one place or another. Both sides of Kanti path are lined with stores of every kind. There are boutiques, and bakeries, eye glass shops, stationary shops, even a few bars. Basically, it’s a bustling place. As I was riding in a taxi down Kanti Path the other day, I realized that there was a new vehicle in the traffic lane, a full grown elephant. While elephants are still common in the wild in Nepal, it’s very unusual to see one here in the city. As we got closer, I realized that this elephant was covered in advertisements….. for mayonaise. I’m not exactly sure why an elephant is a good way to advertise mayonaise, but apparently it made good sense to someone. In any case, it sure caught my attention.

A family dinner: Since I’ve arrived, Meetini’s family, and particularly her older sister, have been very kind to me and have had me over for dinners a couple of times. In fact, they always insist that I’m the youngest sister now and that I should come for dinner every night. I visited them for dinner again today, but to my relief, they finally allowed me to help cook. So I spent a good deal of the evening sitting on the floor in the kitchen, surrounded by the five young boys (ages 18 mo –12) that run the house, rolling out potato balls with meetini’s sisters. The two middle boys are very fond of me, so we often had to shoo them away as they wanted to help or try to entice me to come out to the front room to play with their new dinosaur toys. Yes, little boys are exactly the same no matter where you are. While the boys make everything a little crazier, it is so nice to be around them. Sitting there, helping to cook for the family and yelling at the boys to play nicely, really made me feel as though I belonged.

The Escalator:
At our apartment, we have a woman who comes to clean, do laundry and cook dinner for us twice a week. We call her “Didi” which means older sister in Nepali. Suprisingly, this is a common practice and raises some questions about my kinship theories (see “I love you , beta if you’re curious) Didi is an interesting person to me because she’s very different from most of the Nepalis I’ve ever known. For one thing, she comes from a different group than the many highly educated nepalis I generally meet. Additionally, talking with Didi is always an adventure because she doesn’t know any English and Nepali is her second language. She was born and raised in Nepal, but she is from a minority ethnic group which only uses Nepali in public places and she seems to really struggle in Nepali. I’m sure an outsider would find our conversations to be just hilarious.

In the hopes of getting to know Didi better and of maybe learning a little more about grocery shopping here, I decided to go to the store for vegetables with Didi when she came last Monday. So we went to the big department/grocery in bhat bateni to try and get everything done at once. The store was quite an adventure because didi had never seen an escalator before. She was surprised and excited, putting a hand on my arm to stop me as I rushed towards it and smilingly broadly. I understood immediately despite the language barrier and told her (in n) that it was ok. I stepped on first and put my arm behind her back to make her feel safe and at the end I warned her early to step off (afraid her sari may catch) and exhaggerated my step which she mimicked exactly. It was endearing, but somewhat suprising. It’s suprising because this is not new technology for nepal, and it’s not as though she lives in a village far off from the city. But I assume that she’s done most of her shopping at smaller stalls until now. In any case, I’m hoping to learn more about her and her life as time goes on, but the language barriers are pretty tricky.

In other news, I went on a tour of several orphanages in town on Friday. While some of the homes are well run and well stocked, a few others were in pretty desperate need. At all the homes the kids seemed happy and well looked after, but it seems that health and hygiene are major challenges. It’s yet to be determined exactly how I’ll be able to help out due to my work schedule and my frequent travelling, but I’ve begged the volunteer coordinator to find something for me, even if it’s small. There was one home I’d really like to work in because they seemed to need the most help and because there was one little girl that needed a lot more attention than she is currently getting. She has Down syndrome and seems to be suffering from some kind of depression. Right now, they tell me that she never leaves her bed and that she neither speaks nor eats. I don’t know that I’d be able to make any difference, but there was just something about her that made me want to sit with her. Hopefully, I’ll be allowed to make visits, but it may be more detrimental than helpful if I can’t make regular visits, so I’ll have to wait and see what the coordinator determines. I’ll keep you posted on how that all works out.

But it’s very very late, almost 2 in fact and I’m generally up by 5:30-6 here, so I better head off to bed. I miss you all and I’m sending as much love as I can fit in each one of these letters!!

Read more on "Snapshots of Kathmandu"!