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!!