January: A Series of Mildly Unfortunate Events

Here is what your federal tax dollars have funded over the past month:
1) The aforementioned trip with my American family to Pokhara and Chitwan. 2) A massage and facial at my favorite Nepali spa. 3) A two week sightseeing tour with my friend Sydney, another ETA, to Lumbini, Gorkha, Manakamana, and Bandipur. 4)Two group celebrations, a firecracker candle, and a really delicious slice of birthday cheesecake.

It was an eventful month with lots of delightful plans and unexpected...inconveniences.

LUMBINI

This unassuming “town” is the birthplace of Buddha. It’s really just a small collection of ruins, a dozen monasteries, and a few basic hotels. But it was on my list of places to see before leaving Nepal so Sydney and I made the nine hour bus ride, loud Hindi music playing the whole way.

The best way to enjoy Lumbini is to rent a bicycle and spend the day riding along the canal to the various attractions including a large peepul tree, the actual site of the ruins, an eternal fire, a museum, and one of the World Peace Pagodas.

Foundation squares are all that remains of many buildings in Lumbini.

The World Peace Pagoda at Lumbini

The most uncomfortable way to see Lumbini is to rent a bicycle and spend the day riding in the POURING rain. It was wet. It was cold. The path was so muddy that at times the bicycle wheels just sunk into the ground and it was impossible to move without using your feet like paddles to inch forward. The wet conditions also mean I don’t have too many photos. But we did ask a hotel staffer to take our picture in the world’s most ridiculous lavender and buttercup yellow raincoats (the only ones in the whole town) before we left. Throughout the day, many other people stopped to pull out their mobile phones to snap a quick picture of the out-of-place tourists, in pastel rain jackets, riding rickety bicycles with plastic bag wrapped backpacks in the basket.

Make it work?

My favorite part of the day was when, approximately 2 minutes into our ride, the chain came off my bike. Or was it when, upon reaching our final destination, the clouds literally parted and the sun came out to mark the beginning of the perfect afternoon for riding bikes. Ke garne?

 

Not wanting to waste the sunshine, Sydney and I extended our bike ride past the hotels, around a local village, and out into wide fields of mustard. Under a cluster of trees we happened upon a collection of elephant statues. It was extraordinarily random and beautiful.

GORKHA

This hillside bazaar town is where six of the other ETAs are living and teaching. It was really fun to get to visit their families and schools. Each homestay has a distinct flavor; even the daal tasted different! Doing some classroom visits gave me an appreciation for some of the things I haven’t seen at my school (intoxicated parents entering school grounds, young students toddling dangerously near to ten foot drops in the landscape, a child having a seizure during class, etc.) And hearing the kids in Gorkha add an /i/ sound before words like school and shoulders was a comforting reminder that my students are pretty much on par with students in other government schools.

And the sunsets in Gorkha were worth watching.

The only really disgusting part of the trip was when, after four days and an increasingly offensive odor in our hotel room, we realized that the brown hole in the wall of our bathroom was actually a broken pipe leaking raw sewage from the toilets upstairs. In America, you alert the health department, sue the company, and collect a large settlement in exchange for not writing about this on tripadvisor. In Nepal, you ask for a different room and remind yourself to ALWAYS wear shower shoes.

 

MANAKAMANA

Perhaps the most surprisingly worthwhile part of the trip was taking the cable car up to Manakamana. This foreign sponsored project eliminated the need for a four hour, uphill hike to reach this famous temple and pilgrimage site. (After seeing how roads are maintained in much of Nepal, I will admit that as I boarded the little white car that would carry me dangling over the hills, I hoped that the foreign investors were still involved in keeping this form of transportation running safely.)

Sydney and I estimated that the line to enter the temple was about one mile long. We didn’t go inside, but I did spot one of my co-teachers among the thousands waiting! Even with the partly cloudy conditions, we enjoyed the view over a cup of hot tea.

The day trip was punctuated by several incidences of public nudity while waiting in line to go down the cable car. Two from small children whose parents decided letting them pee in the gutter was more convenient than walking to the public bathrooms, twenty feet away. A third from an adolescent boy who was jumping around a nearby grassy area with his pants at his ankles. Neither his friends nor the security guards seemed bothered by this behavior.

BANDIPUR

Our last stop before returning to the noise and pollution of Kathmandu was the peaceful hilltop community of Bandipur. To round out our trip of misfortunes, we visited a silk worm farm with nothing to see because it was the off season, and walked before dawn to a high plateau where the sunrise was perfectly blocked by another hill. But thanks to a long, luxurious hot shower the night before we boarded the bus feeling rather content.

And then… we got into a heated quarrel with some Chinese tourists about seat numbers, folded under their frighteningly loud voices, and spent five hours feeling jostled, nauseous, and unreclined in the very last row of seats.

***

There have been many occasions during the past six months when I have called upon my mantra “if you are not having a good day, you are in the middle of a great story.” But even the annoying, inconvenient, and confusing times haven’t been unbearable thanks to great friends and family both here and back home. All of whom made my 23^rd a very happy birthday.

 

Part Five: I swear this is the end

Last, but not least, my family wrapped up their vacation with a quick trip to Chitwan National Park. We stayed in the adorable Sapana Village Lodge and got to meet the hotel's privately owned elephants. Including a teeny-tiny (well, teeny-tiny for an elephant) baby that was born the day before we arrived!

Other highlights included an elephant safari (not very comfortable, but worth doing), a magical canoe ride down the river spotting crocodiles all the way, and a fortunately/unfortunately uneventful walk through the jungle.

All baby animals are cute, but this baby elephant was stinkin' precious.

 

 

This moment may have been the highlight of having my family in Nepal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Four: Because I took over 800 pictures in two weeks

Both of my camera batteries and my new 64gb memory card certainly got a workout while my family was here! This is a random spattering of other photos I took while trekking. The last pictures is one of the most adventurous things I've ever done...

Paragliding.

"Okay, so when I say run, just run down the hill."
"You mean towards the edge of the hill where it steeply falls into the valley?"
"Yeah. And you have to run or it won't work."

Give me one second while I turn off all forms of common sense...okay sure.
(Actually, less terrifying than I anticipated, and once you're off the ground it's quite peaceful.)

 

Part Three: Sunrise at Poon Hill

The third day of trekking began with a very early morning climb to the top of Poon Hill. This was a much anticipated event, but I must admit that having done it I'm not sure I would do it again. Perhaps it was my thighs still burning from over 3,000 steps the day before or the knowledge that the view out my window, from beneath my warm cozy covers in the hotel, was quite similar. But now I can say I did it and some of the photos turned out to be favorites.

Our hotel was in Ghorepani so even before the sun rose we climbed 336 meters!

 

 

 

Part Two: And A Happy New Year

After Nagarkot everyone came back into the valley to see a little bit of Kathmandu, meet my Nepali family, and visit my school. Unfortunately all of those pictures must be on other cameras because I don't have them. Hopefully some kind family members will send some to me or upload them to google drive very soon!

Then it was off for a quick trek in the Annapurna region. If you are familiar with it, we went from Nayapul to Tikedhunga to Ghorepani to Tadapani and back down to Nayapul. Some days were challenging but ultimately the views were totally worth it!

The path was actually quite easy to follow, but we went with a guide.

I was surprised to pass so many gorgeous waterfalls along the way.

The landscape was all "Nepali Flat" meaning a little bit up, a little bit down.

When you encounter a line of mules, avoid standing on the drop off side of the road.
 

For us this was trekking, but for many people it’s just life.

You won't see me in pictures of bridges because I consistently wanted to get off as fast as possible!
This one was one of the best.

What can you see Becca?

More beautiful waterfalls. Later on we passed several that were frozen. 

In the next post...the magnificent Himalayas.
(Sorry, but every photo requires editing HTML code and I can only do so many in one sitting.)

Part One: Merry Christmas

I had an especially merry Christmas this year because my family arrived at the Kathmandu airport for two weeks in Nepal! As soon as they landed we headed up to Nagarkot for a few days to adjust to the altitude and the time difference. Some did better than others, but I won't name names...



Enjoying the mountain range from the Nagarkot view tower

Sisters in Nepal

Everest is the one on the right if you look at the two smaller peaks in the middle.

The summit is swept up in the clouds.

 





Mountain sunset from the Hotel at the End of the Universe in Nagarkot

 

 



 

Spontaneous Holidays and Unexpected School Days

Perhaps one of the most challenging parts of teaching in Nepal is knowing whether or not the school will be open on a particular day. I have basically always taken it for granted that school would follow the calendar published months in advance, with an occasional but widely announced change due to a snow day or two. That is not how it happens here.

Don't assume that February and March will actually include that much school,
it's just too early to know about the unexpected stuff.

I live with another teacher from my school and the headmaster of another local school, so if anyone should be in the know about whether or not school is running, it’s me. But that hasn’t really been my experience. Here is a quick guide to determining whether or not school will be open based on my diligent observations and questioning in a desperate search for answers:

1. Be sure to say “see you tomorrow!” to everyone you encounter at school. Hopefully one of the dozens of students and teachers will pipe up if it has already been determined that school will be closed the following day.

2. Don’t count too strongly on strategy number one. It probably works 50% of the time.

3. Try to make friends with people who are well-connected to the grapevine. This provides access to rumors about upcoming bandhs or poorly publicized local holidays that are approaching. Any kind of a rumor, no matter how seemingly ridiculous, is enough to indicate that school may or may not be closed.

4. Don’t spend too much time asking people. When confronted directly with the question “Is there school tomorrow or not?” in English or in Nepali, most will say “there may be school tomorrow.” Which is a frustratingly vague answer.

5. Definitely don’t try to get an answer the night before. It’s too early. No one knows.

6. In the morning, check with your host family. Questions like “are you going to school today?” generally receive a more informative answer than “is there school today?” Even though it would seem like within three hours of school starting a decision would be clear. If you don’t get a clear answer, check back in 45 minutes; kind of like shaking a magic 8 ball until it gives you what you want.

7. If on the way to school you pass an entire soccer field full of students from grade three, don’t assume this means that school is closed. Simply make a note that class three will be smaller than usual.

8. When in doubt, take everything with you to school on the assumption that even though less than half of the staff have showed up the school will still run and you will suddenly be in charge of way more classes than normal. At least the student numbers will also be running below half so even when the headsir says “you take grades one AND two” the class size won’t be terribly overwhelming.

9. Even if school is running, don’t assume that it will be a full day. Assume that any adult approaching your classroom, at any time during the day, is coming to announce that everyone is leaving at 12:00 or 1:30 or right now. NOTE: DO NOT listen to older students who deliver the same message, always wait for a credible adult who you can identify if later asked “who told you to let all the grade ones go running out the gate?”

10. Laugh. Go with the flow. Bat away a single tear as the time you were going to use to teach that great new game with rhyming words is snatched out from under you. Enjoy the six kids who actually showed up – be sure you know their names and give them an extra star just for coming when no one else did. Sigh as you develop a deeper understanding of why teachers in Nepal are frustrated beyond belief and have no interest in lesson/unit planning. Why plan for a day that may or may not happen? Force a smile when you walk past the seven teachers enjoy their leisure period outside while you run between classes wondering how there can possibly be any spare adults on a day like today. Take the long way home when the day ends three hours early. Buy yourself a pack of oreos at the grocery store to remind yourself that somewhere in the world things are different. Then eat a huge plate of daal bhat to remind yourself that you’re in Nepal whether school runs today or not.

Tihar



Tihar is a grand celebration basically centered around the victory of good over evil. It is praised as a holiday for all castes and religions and celebrated throughout Nepal. Many people told me that even though Tihar is shorter than Dashain it is their favorite holiday of the year.

 

There is lots to do in terms of decorating the house. Garlands are made and draped on every window and every door. A grand mandala or rangoli is put on the ground outside the house and the path leads all the way to the space inside the home where puja, worship, takes place.



The mandala or rangoli that we created out of tika
powder on the ground in front of the house.

Making the mandala.











A marigold garland along the door frame.



 

For two nights, all the houses are lit up and groups of kids come around asking for money and gifts. It's like the strange offspring of Christmas and Halloween.

Some electric lights and a lot of candles.

These kids showed off by bringing a guitar. Most groups are just 3-8 children singing/chanting.

 

During the day, kids enjoy giant swings built from rope and bamboo. And by kids I mean kids of all ages. Not only did my host siblings and I enjoy it, but two women who I would guess were in their 50's were waiting in line to take a turn after us! **Correction: giant swings, called pings, are actually constructed for Dashain not Tihar. In my family it just so happened that we didn't find one during Dashain and later happened upon a leftover one.**


 





The guy in the picture is standing on the swing, he's just got his legs bent to build more momentum.

Worship is directed towards certain things on certain days. There were days of puja for dogs, and crows, cows. My family doesn't have a dog so one of the neighbors brought their dog over and we put a garland and tika on it. There was some confusion regarding the astronomical date for the cow puja. I ended up not being witness to the event because my host mom went and did it early one morning somewhere else since our family does not have a cow.

 

 

It took some convincing (read bribery with food) for the dog to wear the garland.

And the cow is someone else's that I saw in a field on the way to the giant swing.

 

 Using thin twigs and two leaves little "boats" are made. This is what holds the offering during puja.

I asked my host mom to teach me how to make them. It's tricky business!

 

 

On the last day we celebrated brothers. This involved a particular kind of tika with seven colors; normally there is just red or yellow. Plus lots of gifts --mostly food-- from sisters to their brothers! (But then the brothers have to give money to the sisters.)

 

 

**Sorry for the insane photo layout and lack of captions at the end. Sometimes I love blogger and sometimes the way this website handles images makes me want to swear off ever trying to post pictures. But don't worry, I promise not to resort to that! You'll just have to tolerate less than aesthetically pleasing combinations of photos.