So it's been well over a week since I last blogged and there's way too much to tell. A lot has happened in a short amount of time...
We got a lesson in traditional Nepali dance and the 3 of us (Michelle, Becky, myself) performed at the Nepal Rotary District Conference (which was 3 days).
We had our last THREE vocational days. (I met with people in the government who work with semi-urban and rural water treatment projects, which rounded out well the previous meeting I had had with government urban water.)
We shook the hand of the Vice President of Nepal.
And, finally, yesterday, I said goodbye to the rotary group at the airport. It felt strange to leave the group I'd been with for over a month! And I felt really appreciate of how close Becky, Michelle and I have gotten. After leaving the airport, I met Dr. Laka - the wonderful rotarian who works in the clay pot filtration project - at her office. She said that I had been taken care of so long, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I were all alone so I'd better stay the night with her before starting my trek. As Laka and I were leaving her office, all my luggage in tow, she mentioned that the Maoists were planning a demonstration that day. Well, we ran right into it! But I don't think it would have been possible to avoid it! All morning I had been seeing people in red bandannas and waving red flags of the communist hammer and sickle. Our taxi only drove us a short distance before kicking us out! He refused to go any further and no other taxi would pick us up! So here we were, Dr. Laka dragging me, dragging my luggage (down a nasty broken sidewalk, wondering why the hell I hadn't just brought a backpack...but thank the stars, my rotary blazer has remained neatly folded!) and she's saying, "Oh! It's such a bother when they do this! We had better get home fast before they start burning tires in the street." What?!?! Burning tires?!?! She spoke like we were just about to get rained on and, oh, silly us! we've forgot our umbrellas.
In moments, we were in the thick of it, people marching shoulder to shoulder down the street, blocking all possible traffic and shouting slogans. I watched with fascination as a little woman closed up her sari shop. It was crazy to witness but Dr. Laka said it isnt that unusual. She says the police let them demonstrate from time to time and to make the demonstrations more impressive, the Maoist's recruit and pay people to march. She says half the people marching don't even know what they are marching for. Anyway, we got home and hunkered down and I'm disappointed to say that I never did see any tires burning in the street.
My very excellent girlfriend, Rachel, arrives this afternoon and tomorrow we will head to the Annapurna region to start a 16 day trek!
All the best!
SP
ps. Jain isn't Buddhist. It's Hindu. But The Buddhist and Hindu religions here are pretty compatible. But Jains don't believe in taking life (are vegetarian), similar to Buddhist.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Full Circle
Hello and Namaste! We are finally back in Kathmandu! After our amazing (and amazingly short) stay in Lumbini, we spent a night in Butwal (not too much to write home about...hot, muggy, and Rotary meetings), followed by 3 nights in Chitwan. We had several project site vists in Chitwan but two stand out as being particularly inspirational. First was a visit to an aged persons home. When we arrived, the old folks were eating so we walked around a bit. The home is on a river and we noticed that many people were down by the river bathing and celebrating. Our host explained to us that this day was a Hindu holiday, Ram Navami (they have a lot of holidays). Then he asked us if we would like to go down to the river. Becky, Michelle and I went down to the river with him and he told us that they bathed in the river to obtain some of the power of the god, Ram. They were bathing right at the merging of two rivers which, our guide told us, was one of the holiest places in Nepal. Then he invited us to wash our arms and faces in the water and when we came out an old man stood by us and chanted prayers to us and our guide told us that the man was blessing us (and no, he didn't ask for money). Maybe we were just being humored. Maybe I didn't notice. But it really seemed like we were just so easily included. Nobody asked us what we were doing there or what our religion was. They just peacefully welcomed us in.
When we got back to the old folks home, we all gathered in a meeting room to talk...but we don't speak Nepali and the old folks don't speak English. Michelle starts to tell (or more exactly show) the group that we have been learning Nepali dance and then, all of a sudden, someone has passed out instruments and the old folks start singing and clapping and then someone gets up to dance and soon we are all dancing again! Thanks to Michelle, we have been dancing our way across Nepal! When there's a language barrier that makes conversation difficult, and when the dozens of projects you've toured all start to blend together, the things that stand out are these extraordinary human interactions that make us laugh and move our bodies and leave a happy glow.
The other project that was particularly memorable was visiting a school that had been built completely out of pocket (but was only 2 rooms!) and had 2 local teachers who were completely volunteer. It was very inspirational and also quite moving to see how much work they still had ahead of them.
The last "highlight" of Chitwan was a jungle safari on elephants. However, I regret to tell you all that I did not partake. Well, I don't regret...but it was a little strange how, after seeing children in broken schools, villagers with meager water rations, and poverty in the streets, the thing that finally broke me was the damn elephants. Ridiculous. But I gave my camera to Michelle and she snapped a picture of the one horned rino that they saw! Very cool!
After Chitwan we had a long bus ride to Duhlikel (we saw 2 bus accidents along the way), where we stayed one night. Yesterday, we returned to Kathmandu, where we will be for the remainder of the exchange.
Today we had 2 rotary meetings and saw a beautiful Buddhist stupa. I'm really enjoying learning about the Buddhist and Hindu religions. My current host family is Jain (I'm not sure if that's correct spelling...but it's late and I'm too lazy to look it up), which is a sect of Buddhism. They are totally vegetarian, don't drink and they live as a "joint family," which means that the whole extended family lives together - grandma, brothers, brothers' wives, children - all under the same roof! Well, these guys have 2 roofs. It's very cool and an incredibly comfortable environment to be in.
I've met the GSE Nepal team that will be traveling to California next month! They are a great group and I'm really excited to see them in Mammoth!
Thanks for checking in!
When we got back to the old folks home, we all gathered in a meeting room to talk...but we don't speak Nepali and the old folks don't speak English. Michelle starts to tell (or more exactly show) the group that we have been learning Nepali dance and then, all of a sudden, someone has passed out instruments and the old folks start singing and clapping and then someone gets up to dance and soon we are all dancing again! Thanks to Michelle, we have been dancing our way across Nepal! When there's a language barrier that makes conversation difficult, and when the dozens of projects you've toured all start to blend together, the things that stand out are these extraordinary human interactions that make us laugh and move our bodies and leave a happy glow.
The other project that was particularly memorable was visiting a school that had been built completely out of pocket (but was only 2 rooms!) and had 2 local teachers who were completely volunteer. It was very inspirational and also quite moving to see how much work they still had ahead of them.
The last "highlight" of Chitwan was a jungle safari on elephants. However, I regret to tell you all that I did not partake. Well, I don't regret...but it was a little strange how, after seeing children in broken schools, villagers with meager water rations, and poverty in the streets, the thing that finally broke me was the damn elephants. Ridiculous. But I gave my camera to Michelle and she snapped a picture of the one horned rino that they saw! Very cool!
After Chitwan we had a long bus ride to Duhlikel (we saw 2 bus accidents along the way), where we stayed one night. Yesterday, we returned to Kathmandu, where we will be for the remainder of the exchange.
Today we had 2 rotary meetings and saw a beautiful Buddhist stupa. I'm really enjoying learning about the Buddhist and Hindu religions. My current host family is Jain (I'm not sure if that's correct spelling...but it's late and I'm too lazy to look it up), which is a sect of Buddhism. They are totally vegetarian, don't drink and they live as a "joint family," which means that the whole extended family lives together - grandma, brothers, brothers' wives, children - all under the same roof! Well, these guys have 2 roofs. It's very cool and an incredibly comfortable environment to be in.
I've met the GSE Nepal team that will be traveling to California next month! They are a great group and I'm really excited to see them in Mammoth!
Thanks for checking in!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Lumbini!
Hello and Namaste from the birth place of Lord Buddha! Today we arrived in Lumbini!
We spent the last 2 nights in Tansen. It's a very small town south of Polkara and it was nice and peaceful. We had a project visit and, you guys would be amazed, it was a water project that supplied water to a small group of people that previously had to walk 2-3 hours (both ways) to get water from a river. Here's the catch. The water project only produces enough water to turn the taps on for one half hour each and every day! Wow!
I had a great host stay in Tansen. My host family was so interested in America. They asked me to cook "american" food for them one night. I made spaghetti! Really, it was chow mein noodles topped with sauteed tomatoes and onion. We even found some local goat cheese to top it with! It was awesome and I was so happy to cook. I was instantly aware of where the water was, how much I had, how clean my hands and cooking tools where, even which slippers I had on (each Nepal home has seperate slippers for the bathroom, the outdoors, the house, and you usually go bare foot on anything carpeted or any bedrooms). I was all the more appreciative of the hospitality I have been receiving in my host homes.
This morning we drove to Lumbini. It is HOT and humid here. But that didn't stop us from visiting, what I think, has been one of the highlights of the trip...the birth place of Lord Buddha! Wow! It was great! There was so much devotion and history to admire! We even had a guide with us and he filled us in on lots of Buddhist history and the meaning of what we were seeing. I'm sorry to say that I can't upload any photos right now but I've been meaning too.
So, there's a reflection pool outside Buddha's temple. His mother slipped into the pool and started to feel labor pains. Then she got out of the pool and took 25 steps to a bodi (spelling?) tree, where she held a branch over her head and when the full moon appeared, Buddha was born.
Everyone's health is well. Michelle is feeling better and hanging in there like a trooper. She's dancing again :-)
Best wishes! Thanks for keeping in touch!
We spent the last 2 nights in Tansen. It's a very small town south of Polkara and it was nice and peaceful. We had a project visit and, you guys would be amazed, it was a water project that supplied water to a small group of people that previously had to walk 2-3 hours (both ways) to get water from a river. Here's the catch. The water project only produces enough water to turn the taps on for one half hour each and every day! Wow!
I had a great host stay in Tansen. My host family was so interested in America. They asked me to cook "american" food for them one night. I made spaghetti! Really, it was chow mein noodles topped with sauteed tomatoes and onion. We even found some local goat cheese to top it with! It was awesome and I was so happy to cook. I was instantly aware of where the water was, how much I had, how clean my hands and cooking tools where, even which slippers I had on (each Nepal home has seperate slippers for the bathroom, the outdoors, the house, and you usually go bare foot on anything carpeted or any bedrooms). I was all the more appreciative of the hospitality I have been receiving in my host homes.
This morning we drove to Lumbini. It is HOT and humid here. But that didn't stop us from visiting, what I think, has been one of the highlights of the trip...the birth place of Lord Buddha! Wow! It was great! There was so much devotion and history to admire! We even had a guide with us and he filled us in on lots of Buddhist history and the meaning of what we were seeing. I'm sorry to say that I can't upload any photos right now but I've been meaning too.
So, there's a reflection pool outside Buddha's temple. His mother slipped into the pool and started to feel labor pains. Then she got out of the pool and took 25 steps to a bodi (spelling?) tree, where she held a branch over her head and when the full moon appeared, Buddha was born.
Everyone's health is well. Michelle is feeling better and hanging in there like a trooper. She's dancing again :-)
Best wishes! Thanks for keeping in touch!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Kathmandu --> Bandipur --> Pokhara
Hello everyone! Thank you so much for checking in and thanks for all the personal emails. It's so nice to hear from home. It has been a while since I've been able to get on the internet and now that I'm finally sitting in front of a computer screen, I don't know where to start. We were in Kathmandu until the 13th and while there, we got to visit several projects that Rotary is involved with and we also got a vocational day!
On our projects tour we saw an orthopedic hospital and Child Heaven International, a school and orphanage home.
On my vocational day, I met with a woman who volunteers with a project called, "Solutions Benefiting Life." It's a local project that makes small, clay filtration systems and then distributes them to rural areas. I also met with the Government of Nepal's Ministry of Physical Planning and Works. I left with more questions than answers. In a nutshell...Nepal is sucking dry the major aquifer that rests below the city of Kathmandu, partly because Kathmandu has become grossly overpopulated. To put it into perspective, recognize that a large percentage of people living in Kathmandu rely on public taps, government supplied water that's located all over the city. One district of Kathmandu, Patan, has 60 public taps...but only 15 of them are running. The rest have gone dry. If you've got a house that's plumbed for water, you'll only receive it for about 2 or 3 hours per day.
So, Nepal's long term solution is building a 26 Km tunnel to bring water from a neighboring aquifer to Kathmandu. Construction has already started but nobody knows when it might be completed, if at all. Sort term solution? Grit your teeth and stress sanitation. None of the water is treated and every local is asked to boil their water before consumption.
Yikes.
So we left Kathmandu. We jumped on a bus and about 5 hours later arrived in Bandipur, a small village. It was a lovely break from the city, where the traffic was reminiscent of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! We watched a lightning storm that night and the next morning, we got our first view of the Annapurna mountains!
The next day we continued on to Pokhara, where we've been since the 14th. I love Pokhara! I have a great host family. I'm with a civil engineer. He was very excited to show me his shop. He designs and builds everything from metal table chairs to bridges to solar panels. On my 2nd vocational day I got to see Nepal's very first solid waste & waste water management system (now there are 3 or 4). It's pretty simple. It's a landfill. The water that runs off the landfill is directed through two reed beds that naturally filters the water before it runs into the river. There were some sand drying beds that were designed to manage human waste but haven't been utilized yet because (apparently) all of Pokhara is on a septic system.
Tomorrow we press on to Palpa! I think I shall conclude this post with some interesting Nepal facts and personal observations:
* If you kill a cow anywhere in Nepal, you go to jail for life...and they wander all over the place, even napping in the road.
* The most practiced religion in Nepal is Hinduism, the second is Buddhism. A Hindu place of worship is called a temple, a Buddhist place of worship is called a stupa. They are beautiful and, like Starbucks, can be found on every corner! The two religions co-mingle very well and people often practice a mix of the two.
* Dahl Baht is Nepal's national dish and we eat it at least once a day, if not twice a day (rice, lentil soup, curried veggies - usually potatoes, and sometimes boiled greens or curried goat meat).
* One of the hardest things I've done so far is give some of my dirty laundry to the "house help," who cleaned it by hand. My jeans came back nicer than if I'd put them in the washing machine back home.
* My host mom has a beautiful big stone pestle and mortar which she uses every day to pound lentils for the dahl soup. It's a very peaceful sound.
* As with the water, the electricity has been running on a restricted schedule, usually at night, for the past 2 years.
* One of our team members got sick. I went with her to the hospital. None of the nurses wore gloves and there was no soap in the bathroom.
* Communication here is more difficult than I had anticipated.
On our projects tour we saw an orthopedic hospital and Child Heaven International, a school and orphanage home.
On my vocational day, I met with a woman who volunteers with a project called, "Solutions Benefiting Life." It's a local project that makes small, clay filtration systems and then distributes them to rural areas. I also met with the Government of Nepal's Ministry of Physical Planning and Works. I left with more questions than answers. In a nutshell...Nepal is sucking dry the major aquifer that rests below the city of Kathmandu, partly because Kathmandu has become grossly overpopulated. To put it into perspective, recognize that a large percentage of people living in Kathmandu rely on public taps, government supplied water that's located all over the city. One district of Kathmandu, Patan, has 60 public taps...but only 15 of them are running. The rest have gone dry. If you've got a house that's plumbed for water, you'll only receive it for about 2 or 3 hours per day.
So, Nepal's long term solution is building a 26 Km tunnel to bring water from a neighboring aquifer to Kathmandu. Construction has already started but nobody knows when it might be completed, if at all. Sort term solution? Grit your teeth and stress sanitation. None of the water is treated and every local is asked to boil their water before consumption.
Yikes.
So we left Kathmandu. We jumped on a bus and about 5 hours later arrived in Bandipur, a small village. It was a lovely break from the city, where the traffic was reminiscent of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride! We watched a lightning storm that night and the next morning, we got our first view of the Annapurna mountains!
The next day we continued on to Pokhara, where we've been since the 14th. I love Pokhara! I have a great host family. I'm with a civil engineer. He was very excited to show me his shop. He designs and builds everything from metal table chairs to bridges to solar panels. On my 2nd vocational day I got to see Nepal's very first solid waste & waste water management system (now there are 3 or 4). It's pretty simple. It's a landfill. The water that runs off the landfill is directed through two reed beds that naturally filters the water before it runs into the river. There were some sand drying beds that were designed to manage human waste but haven't been utilized yet because (apparently) all of Pokhara is on a septic system.
Tomorrow we press on to Palpa! I think I shall conclude this post with some interesting Nepal facts and personal observations:
* If you kill a cow anywhere in Nepal, you go to jail for life...and they wander all over the place, even napping in the road.
* The most practiced religion in Nepal is Hinduism, the second is Buddhism. A Hindu place of worship is called a temple, a Buddhist place of worship is called a stupa. They are beautiful and, like Starbucks, can be found on every corner! The two religions co-mingle very well and people often practice a mix of the two.
* Dahl Baht is Nepal's national dish and we eat it at least once a day, if not twice a day (rice, lentil soup, curried veggies - usually potatoes, and sometimes boiled greens or curried goat meat).
* One of the hardest things I've done so far is give some of my dirty laundry to the "house help," who cleaned it by hand. My jeans came back nicer than if I'd put them in the washing machine back home.
* My host mom has a beautiful big stone pestle and mortar which she uses every day to pound lentils for the dahl soup. It's a very peaceful sound.
* As with the water, the electricity has been running on a restricted schedule, usually at night, for the past 2 years.
* One of our team members got sick. I went with her to the hospital. None of the nurses wore gloves and there was no soap in the bathroom.
* Communication here is more difficult than I had anticipated.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
We made it!
After an 18 hour flight to Bangkok, a 4 hour layover and a final 3 hour flight to Kathmandu, we arrived! We were met at the airport like movie stars, with garlands of flowers and scarves. It was quite exciting and a complete rush as people grabbed our luggage and scooted us into cars and then those cars lurched into crazy traffic! The traffic is out of control here! There are no rules....even the locals admit that.
They put us up in a hotel for the first couple nights. One of the women in Rotary, Primala, took us girls (well, Eli came too and he endured) sari shopping...that was an experience and if any of you know me, you know I'm a terrible shopper. But thanks to Primala who wrapped us up expertly, we all came out looking gorgeous. We met several Rotary clubs, their families and the group team that is coming to CA at a restaurant. We had a lovely dinner and met so many people...it's impossible to remember everyones names.
Then, we had our first formal meeting last night and gave our first presentation before breaking into our individual host homes. I really enjoy the family I am staying with. The husband and wife, Suresh and Leena, are very friendly and chatty. Suresh plays cricket and talks about it non stop. They have 3 beautiful children who's names I can't even begin to remember; but an adorable 4 year old girl who smiles all the time, a 10 year old boy who's quite shy, and a 13 year old girl who's very intelligent and nice.
We have been eating lots of good food...lots of rice, potatoes, lentils and noodles (lots of Chinese food here because of the Tibetan influence). We've already eaten goat, pickled lemon, curd (really runny, creamy, slightly chunky yogurt), and curries. We've also learned several helpful phrases in Nepali and are all making an effort to pick up more of the language. But, of course, everyone speaks excellent english.
Yesterday we saw a very large, beautiful Buddist temple and also visited Primala's school. We walked in on a class that was practicing dancing and Michelle, who is quite the charmer, jumped right in and had everyone laughing as she tried to learn the dance. Today is our first vocational day and I am very excited. I'm meeting with a gentleman who is in charge of a local small systems water distribution project. I'm learning that the water situation here is complicated. There is government distributed water that only runs for a couple hours per day. There are personal and community well (the treatment of which varies) and there are water trucks that will deliver water to those who can afford to purchase it. They fill up at sources outside of Kathmandu and I do not believe it is treated.
Internet access is sporadic. Rotary is keeping a tight leash on us girls and our schedule is tight but I look forward to updating again soon. Thanks for reading!
They put us up in a hotel for the first couple nights. One of the women in Rotary, Primala, took us girls (well, Eli came too and he endured) sari shopping...that was an experience and if any of you know me, you know I'm a terrible shopper. But thanks to Primala who wrapped us up expertly, we all came out looking gorgeous. We met several Rotary clubs, their families and the group team that is coming to CA at a restaurant. We had a lovely dinner and met so many people...it's impossible to remember everyones names.
Then, we had our first formal meeting last night and gave our first presentation before breaking into our individual host homes. I really enjoy the family I am staying with. The husband and wife, Suresh and Leena, are very friendly and chatty. Suresh plays cricket and talks about it non stop. They have 3 beautiful children who's names I can't even begin to remember; but an adorable 4 year old girl who smiles all the time, a 10 year old boy who's quite shy, and a 13 year old girl who's very intelligent and nice.
We have been eating lots of good food...lots of rice, potatoes, lentils and noodles (lots of Chinese food here because of the Tibetan influence). We've already eaten goat, pickled lemon, curd (really runny, creamy, slightly chunky yogurt), and curries. We've also learned several helpful phrases in Nepali and are all making an effort to pick up more of the language. But, of course, everyone speaks excellent english.
Yesterday we saw a very large, beautiful Buddist temple and also visited Primala's school. We walked in on a class that was practicing dancing and Michelle, who is quite the charmer, jumped right in and had everyone laughing as she tried to learn the dance. Today is our first vocational day and I am very excited. I'm meeting with a gentleman who is in charge of a local small systems water distribution project. I'm learning that the water situation here is complicated. There is government distributed water that only runs for a couple hours per day. There are personal and community well (the treatment of which varies) and there are water trucks that will deliver water to those who can afford to purchase it. They fill up at sources outside of Kathmandu and I do not believe it is treated.
Internet access is sporadic. Rotary is keeping a tight leash on us girls and our schedule is tight but I look forward to updating again soon. Thanks for reading!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Welcome to my Blog!
On March 6th, I leave LAX for Nepal...and I would love to share with you guys just what I'll be doing over the next several weeks while I participate in a Rotary vocational exchange! Please check in here at my Blog and I'll keep it updated with information about our groups vocational days, sightseeing days, home stays, and various Rotarian excitements! Best wishes and thanks for keeping in touch, SP
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