Greatests Hits from Last Week

Hey everyone, I'm still alive, I just haven't been able to update anything for awhile because I was gone for week exploring the country. Let me give you the greatest hits: hill hiking (hills here are pretty much mountains though) and catching a spectacular glimpse of Mt. Everest, only then to be attacked by blood-sucking leeches; walking through beautiful terraced rice fields in the country; rafting down the river (I'm definitely doing this again!) on my way to Chitwan National park, where I bushwacked through jungle and 8 foot high rhino grass on foot and then later on elephant also. Then I returned to Kathmandu where I got sick sick sick (that is just part of being here), but luckily I am on the mend. More details to follow!

Random Observations Part 4: Mostly About TV

What do you know, there's another bus and taxi strike in the Kathmandu Valley---I think this time it's to protest the rising prices of fares due to the shortage of gas. So of course the kids in the family didn't have school again (they aren't on summer break like me). I'm so lucky I'm not dependent on public transportation out where I am; my school is about a 7 minute walk from my house.

This morning I watched part of "High School Musical 2" in Hindi with the kids. Even the songs were in Hindi. So funny. It is oddly (and perhaps disturbingly) comforting to me to have a TV in the house, even if I usually can't understand anything. My greatest pleasure on the small screen is now watching Tom and Jerry cartoons with Anish because nothing is lost in translation.

A lot of the TV shows here (mostly transmitted on Indian channels and all in Hindi) are copy-cats of American shows. For example, they have their version of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and there are several spin-offs from the "American Idol"-type show. The main difference is that they love putting the little (and I mean little!) kids in the main spotlight. The main show that my host family watches---"Chak De Bachche"--- is a combination dancing and singing show where boy-girl duos (I think most of them are brother and sister) perform these really cheesy routines and people then call or text to vote for their favorites. For all the people I've heard sing really poorly on the big stage for "American Idol," I am really surprised at how terrific most of these kids are! I've never really heard any kid biff it or just freak out because of nerves (which is what I think most of us would expect from a little child now and then). Of course the style of singing is very different than what we are used to. I think most of us would call it whiny, but it really does start to grow on you, ha ha.

On one of the Nepali stations there is even a spin off of "America's Next Top Model." Nepali people I think are naturally very shy people (especially on camera or if they're having their picture taken), and even more so when it comes to trying to act sexy. I really will not go too much into detail as to not be too demeaning, but I venture to say that even some of my most awkward junior high students would know more how to act on camera than most of these girls (I would say most of them ages 16-20.). When they make the attempt at being seductive, I really don't know whether to laugh or to cry!

Back to my students: I have taken many pictures of them and while they're so excited at the prospect of seeing a camera and having a picture taken, the discomfort they experience while they're actually having to stare at the lens is almost painful for me now. They almost never smile at the camera, even if they usually smile otherwise. I've resorted to taking more candid shots now because it really captures how sweet and happy most of them are.

I am getting really really great at walking in mud and water. Even my little jaunt to town---Patan, basically a suburb of Kathmandu---left even more of my students laughing at me sliding around mud and water in sandals. I am really in awe of how they do it all---we're taking short cuts through rice fields, for crying out loud!---and not splash mud all over the back of their pant legs (I have resorted to rolling my pants up above my knees so I just have to wash my leg and not the pants. Everyone stares at me anyway, so I have long since given up trying to look good.) It had just barely finished raining as we entered Patan so the sort-of-paved streets were extremely muddy as well; I think I had to wash myself like 3 times that day (there are just free-flowing stone taps in the city that people collect water from if they don't have running water in their homes, believe it or not) and I still can't get all of the mud stain from off the bottom of my feet!

I washed clothes by hand for well over an hour yesterday. It was the first time I had really done major laundry in the 3 weeks I've been here. I love my washing machine at home! Even though I might not have to go to the gym if I put a couple hours into hand scrubbing my clothes with a bar of soap and a brush each week.

I got an email from a student today who finally admitted, "So is Nepal in Utah? I don't really know where it is." I think that was the internet highlight of the day.

Personal Space

Over the past 3 weeks I've been in Nepal, I've noticed that Nepali have very different notions about personal space. Maybe it is because there is less space to go around.

I first noticed it at the airport when I thought people were going to walk right up to me and ask me something (or I'm ashamed to say, maybe take my bag) and they were simply walking past me. It is the same in the city. Especially where traffic is concerned. In a bus, you cram as many people as you can inside and then people start hanging off the back and hopping on the top (hey, at least it's air-conditioned up there). On the street the cars and motorbikes get so close that several times I absent-mindedly had my elbow resting out of the side window and it just about got taken off (by cars going the opposite direction and the same way). It's often that I could have easily reached into neighboring cars and touched people through the windows if I had wanted to. I've seen 2 way traffic go in the smallest of back alleys, all the while they're manuevering around cows and pedestrians with enormous loads on their their backs and heads (just like you see in National Geographic!).

It is a sweet thing in the family and at school. The children are extremely affectionate. Even after a few days, the children in my family would snuggle up close to me or rest their head on my shoulder or leg just while we were hanging out. Last week during one of our normal several hour power outages, we curled up on the patio with blankets and just feel asleep. At school, I had to get used to students linking arms with me or grabbing me by the hand just merely to take my hand in theirs---no reason at all really, just to be close.

It is not uncommon at all to see men in public hold hands or to have their arms around one another as they walk down the street. The same is okay for women too, but really it's the guys that do it most. However, public displays of affection on the other hand are completely frowned upon and you NEVER see couples romantically linked in an embrace, definitely never a kiss, and not even holding hands. Married couples do not seem to be exempt from this social norm either; I took a picture of my host mom and dad at Anish's birthday party, and even there they posed like 2 strangers right there in their own home. On TV or in the few Bollywood (Indian movie industry) movies I've seen, the romantic leads barely kiss---like not even a peck. Even when you know that they're supposed to be kissing they always work in some trick of the camera or introduce a prop or a shadow. You can tell that the media has been heavily influenced and sexualized (like there's always a lot of undertones) by the West, but obvious images of anything you're never going to see. Homosexuality is a huge taboo as well. People don't even talk about it all. Ever.

Summer Vacation

So this either shows that Nepal is totally crazy (in case my past entries aren't evidence enough) or it proves just how little I really know what's going on. . . some of my older students took me on a little excursion yesterday and they were like, did you know it's summer vacation now? (!!!) Um, no! I supposed I missed that little memo? The older grades get a week off and then the rest of the kids get 2 weeks.

It actually works out perfectly because I have an opportunity this very week to go stay with a family in a village for a few days and learn all about their way of life, hike in the hills, learn their cultural dances, etc., and then I can go to Chitwan National Park, where essentially I go on safari and ride elephants and fight big bugs (apparently it's blazing hot and humid there) and stuff. So it's perfect!

I'm so glad some child thought this might be a little detail I might need to have and said something. Thankfully, I'm not as totally clueless as I feared I might be: the students said that the school had just decided that day that it would be summer vacation. What the ???

The First Born Son

Last Monday night we celebrated the 8th birthday of Anish, the little boy in my host family. We even got a little Mountain Dew (and for all who would care to know, I haven't had a Coke in 2 weeks!) and special "mystery" meat for dinner. Nepali cuisine is mostly vegetarian, with the exception of Friday nights when we seem to get chicken and other times like this when we ate goat! It grossed me out for a just a second, thinking of all the goats I see walking down the street, but once I realized that it was the same thing as mutton (which I've never had, but it just seems a little more civilized) and that I had already had several bites and that in all actuality it was very good, I got over the goat thing.

I love the little kid---he is so darn cute---but I will be the first to admit that he is spoiled. For example, he received portions of 2 different cakes from a local bakery. I guess normally 1 big cake would be ordered from a shop but something happened (like the bakery was closed or something). Well when Anish realized that there were just 2 little cakes, he flew into this huge tantrum. Manisha and I were laughing because it was so ridiculous. She said that she and her sister don't ever get any cake for their birthdays. When I asked why, she said it's because he's the son (in this case he is the first born and the one and only).

A few days earlier he had accompanied his father to a party where his father was honored for donating blood so many times. (When I was telling the dad that I donated from time to time, he said that he would take me in about a month. What do you think? Should I trust myself donating blood here? They probably actually need it so much more here than in America, even though I think so many people that truly need health care never receive it. FYI: Nepal has the 3rd highest infant mortality rate in the world and there is 1 doctor for every 12,000 people.) Anyway, Anish returned from the party in this beautiful traditional costume/dress. I couldn't believe that it was still clean or that his mother would have even put it on him in the first place. I asked Manisha if she and Anisha had traditional dresses like that too and she laughed like, "What a silly question," and said no. She didn't go into the whole "son favoritism" thing that day, so I was just left to wonder how weird it was.

This kid is a total monkey, but since he is the only son, all preference is given to him. And no effort whatsoever is made to disguise the fact that he is the favorite and preferred child. Already it is just assumed that he will take on the all the household and financial responsiblities (as well as receive all blessings attached to that) once his parents begin to age. If only I could post a picture right now: it so humorous to look at him and think about that. All duties of religious ceremonies will also fall to him, like at his father's funeral it is only he who can light the funeral pyre at the cremation. Manisha was telling me that since the culture is so male dominated society, there is intense pressure on women to give birth to a son, and to continue bearing children until a son is born. And because there is not adequate prenatal or medical care in the country, many women have poor health for the rest of their lives after having given birth to a few children.

Manisha, to her credit, didn't really seem bitter at all, but just resigned to that's the way things are handled here, and that if you are a girl, you kind of get the shaft. However, she has told me a few times that she never wants to get married because of the hardships that wives and mothers go through; I'm sure now that this her little way of bucking the system. So sad.

God Bless Elementary School Teachers

Yesterday, after having taught the Class 7 English grammar class, the school accountant (because he has the best English in the school, which is not saying a lot) pulled me up to the primary grades building and asked me to teach English grammar classes for 4th and 6th grades. I was totally pumped because I was hoping to get a little elementary experience in while I was at the school.

Essentially the accountant took me up to the room because the class had already "started" and said "Kids, this is your new teacher. Learn English!" and left me with no book, no idea of what was going on. I was encouraged initially that the students were so adorable and their first few sentences of English seemed to be right on. Since I wasn't prepared with any of my first day of school in Nepal devices (constuction paper, gum, photos of my family, and a camera---I take pictures of them on my digital camera and then go home and memorize their names, which, I might add, has been no small feat!) I asked them where they were in the book and we just started there, reading a story.

The students read pretty well for 9 and 10-year olds with English being their second languge. They had NO CLUE what they were reading about though. That was fairly obvious from the get go. So after every paragraph, just try to imagine me reinacting the story through charades and my quickly degenerating English (I am going to be so thankful to speak English normally and for real when I come home. Talking slowly and without using slang is exhausting!). I think after my little shows the students began to understand even less. And of course it then started to pour; being in the second level of the building with nothing but a sheet of corrugated metal about 6-1/2 feet above the floor (this room is tiny---I must look like some kind of monster to these poor children, the sound was distracting to say the least. And the kids are totally entranced by the rain even though it rains everyday because they don't understand me and they don't understand the book and they're just getting so squirrelly. Man, elementary teachers are awesome. At the end I gave up trying to teach them anything and just tried to learn a few names. I am still totally excited about teaching them, but it is going to be so much work considering the language barrier. Those little demons are dang cute though.

Immediately after that class, I was to go to the Class 6 room to teach English. They were still with their teacher for math so the Class 5 class pulled me into their room and I talked to them for a few minutes. It was unbelievable to me the developmental jump from 4th to 5th grade. So much bigger and so much more mature. It sounded like they had the same teacher as the 4th, 6th and 7th grades that I'm filling in for (the teacher is at a training for the next month), so I might end up teaching them as well.

Then I went into Class 6, and can I just say, move over all other students. . . these are my golden children. I always loved teaching 6th grade in Las Vegas and I tell people all the time that I miss it, and now I know why. I just love how they are at this age. There's always a few know it alls (funny, because the middle child in my host family, Anisha, is in the 6th Grade and is a total know it all too), but they just are excited to be there and are practically fighting with each other, falling all over themselves to participate in class. And they're discipline is really good too. 7th graders can be like this too, and Class 7 here was initially as well, but then they crossed the line when some wouldn't stop talking in class the other day. They thought I was all fun and games and that we were just going to play and be best friends all day because I was the pushover American. Little did they know that I'm not scared to be mean. Yep, like 75% of the students in that class are still totally awesome and amazing, but the honeymoon is definitely over in that class, ha ha ha.

I am glad that I am getting to teach more and more, even though it is becoming less like a vacation and more like work. But that's good, because that's what I really came for. And besides, if they keep cancelling school they way they've been doing, I'll still have plenty of chillaxing time. I still don't have any preparation materials for any of my classes and so I am constantly wracking my brain for any shred of creativity that may still remain in the summer. If you have any fabulous ideas send them on my way!

A Day Off Thanks To Communism

So, in case you didn't know anything about the political climate here, let me clue you in with what little I know. Now, you do have to understand that most of my news resources are Nepali people who speak to me in what little broken English they have, but the stories always usually seem to line up pretty consistently so I trust that there is some amount of truth to what I'm passing on to you.

2 days before I flew out here, they declared Nepal a democratic republic, dissolved the monarchy, and told the king that he had like a week to get out of the royal palace. The people here have hated this king. . . in 2001, there was a bloody massacre of the previous beloved king and most of his family (10 members in all) that was pinned on the prince, who conveniently committed suicide after he supposedly killed his family. The entire investigation was extremely suspicious and practically non-existent. For starters, the entire royal family was creamated (as done according to Hindu tradition) before autopsies could be performed.

I've never seen a group of people so united on a conspiracy theory but everyone here thinks the king now (well, the one who was actually just overthrown) was the one behind it so he could gain the throne. It sounds like a story from the Book of Mormon, huh? I guess this king has been a really bad king anyway and the people were ticked that he dissolved the democracy a few years back so they kicked him out.

The main political party behind the revolution is the Maoist party, aka the Communist Party. Nepal is one of the only places to ever had actually voted a communist party into power in the past. Right now, the majority of the people here back the Maoist rebels---especially in the rural areas---even though they often resort to disruptive protests, violence and extortion. They don't target tourists, so I really don't have anything to worry about. They have been known to "hijack" (and I say this in the in the least harmful sense of the word) tourists trekking on the mountain circuits and make them pay 1000 rupees (about $6.50) each, only then to pose with the trekkers for pictures!

Well, the king left the palace a few days ago and really everything has been remarkably chill here, taking into consideration the gravity of what has actually happened. Then last night, I guess one of the Maoist leaders decided to lock one of the foreign ministers (or somebody like that) in the bathroom for an hour to send the message that reform in the government wasn't happening fast enough! And this, somehow (I've been trying to figure out the connection why this should naturally follow), meant that today was a holiday and that all of the schools were closed (I would assume buses weren't running, etc.)

What a country. Just last week, the kids didn't have school for 2 days because there was a bus strike (in protest of a taxi driver that had been stabbed). I didn't have those days off because my school is so close and no students are bused in. (The kids in my family I think go to higher profile schools in Kathmandu and have to take the bus.) No wonder everyone has to go to school year round---they're always cancelling it! I have to admit, and it's stupid I know because I actually came here to teach, but I was excited to have school cancelled. I think more than anything it was because of the fact that they would actually cancel it because they never cancel school in America! Never! This really must happen all of the time though because it really doesn't seem to phase anyone, not even the kids.

I guess further into town, the father (baa) of my host family couldn't even get into work on his motorbike because there were demonstrations in the streets (Funny, it has been as peaceful and as boring a day as possibly could be up by my house.) and the Maoists were letting out the air of tires of anyone who wanted to get into Kathmandu. Again, the dad was like, yeah, that's the way it is, no biggie.

I promise you all that I am very safe and there is absolutely nothing even resembling danger right where I am at. The thing you should probably worry about the most is the mosquitoes that are eating me alive, and maybe getting fleas from the innumberable homeless dogs that line the streets, picking through garbage in hopes of finding food. (I'm just kidding about the dogs: they are so very docile. They don't even try to come up to you. But I have wanted to mention the plight of the little doggies; I'm no animal lover anyone will readily tell you, and it even tugs on my little heart strings to see so many starving, obviously ill animals everywhere.)