On a lighter note...

...I taught myself to play chess. And I am awful. But hey, it's not like I don't have time to practice. haha.
Also, I learned to make naan. And I'm awful at it, so I'll leave it to the natives.
I also want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Not that I celebrated :(
But there will be plenty of time for turkey and gravy over the next hundred years I plan on living.
Peace, Love, and Dal Bhat.

A Rare serious moment...

The English newspaper here drives me crazy. The stories are so poorly written, the pictures never relate, and the grammar is just plain wrong. It runs the strangest stories--yesterday I read about a Polish heavy mental band that disbanded in 2005 after the guitarist was killed in a car accident. They don't have a new album coming out, they aren't come to tour in Nepal, they have been dead for 3 years, yet on November 28, 2008, The Kathmandu Post ran a story about them. They run full page stories on new restaurants in town, but place protests that shut down the city in small boxes on the 3rd page. Regardless, I read the paper every morning.
Today however, was not such a good day to read the paper. The headlines this morning were, for once, all relevant:
"Terrorist Attacks Rock Mumbai: 125 Killed, 300 Injured"
"Gunmen target Americans, Britons"
"Emergency at Thai Airports: Rumors of Coup Swirl"
It's like the world around Nepal is crumbling. Meanwhile, I'm back under house arrest (as I have been the last two weeks, hence no posts) after the city is shut down AGAIN due to another protest. The bodies of 2 teenagers were found in the Thankot jungle and the people are protesting the police force's complete lack of competence in tracing the teens after they were reported missing on Nov. 16th. They are protesting in Kalimati, Teku, New Road, basically everywhere. So one more weekend where I am not going anywhere.
This strike began yesterday. Usually, we go pick up Binod from his school bus stop in Kilanki, about a 30 minute walk from the house, at 3pm. Yesterday, I decided not to go since I was finishing up a proposal I've been working on. Jasmin, who didn't have school since she found out that morning her bus was on strike, went to pick him up alone. She left at 2:30 and didn't come back until 6:30. After waiting at the bus stop for half an hour, she heard someone say that protesting had begun. So she had to walk across the whole city of Kathmandu to Lalitpur, where Binod's school is, to pick him up and then the two of them-a 7 yr old boy and a 17yr old girl-had to walk 2 hours home through the city at night during protests.

I don't care if there are divisions between the "hardline" Maoists and the "Establishment Factions." I don't care if they can't agree on the "People's Republic" or the "democratic republic" wording. I don't care if they are arguing about electing a woman or a minority party leader to the Constituent Assembly. All I know, is that when the government is spending too much time figuring out how to become a government, the city and the people in the city are losing valuable time. In the 2 months since I have been here, the kids have missed more days of school due to strikes than I have fingers to count on. I can't imagine how much income is lost to the shops that have to close down for days on end, or the food that expires while the trucks shipping it sit on blocked highways for hours and hours. I have walked the dead highways during strikes and I have seen the baffled white faces of tourists scrambling to make their way to the airport or understand what is going on--I know that is nothing compared to teenagers opening fire in hotel lobbies, but it sure doesn't look good.
The problems with power supply and water coverage, lack of teachers in community schools, even rural poverty, are all symptoms of a developing country that I think Nepal can one day overcome. But when I see a government that neglects its people to the point that daily life is consistently interrupted in the nation's capital, I have to sit and think, "If things are this bad here, how are they ever going to get better out there, in the rural, extremely impoverished areas?"

So many firsts...

So I have quite a bit to talk about, all involving first times...

First, I had my first encounter with Nepal's medical facilties. Specifically, a bench behind a curtain in a Pharmaceutical shop. I had to go because I had my first encounter with hives which have broken out all over my body and are itching the absolute shit out of me. The pharmacists tell you what meds you need, so there is no need for doctors I guess, and I was given a blue pill to take every night at bed time and some calamine-zinc lotion that looks like pepto bismol that I have to rub all over my body all the time. So apparently I encountered something that I am allergic to, which would be my first official allergy. Problem is, though this is my first encounter with hives it will probably not be my last because we have no idea what caused them. Seeing as how I have encountered quite a lot of new things lately, I could really be allergic to any of them. So there is no way to know and/or avoid what caused the hives. And they suck.
My second first would be my first political protest. I walked to the internet cafe I am sitting in because the road is shut down because there is a strike and there are trucks strewn perpendicular on the highway blocking the road. Apparently, from what I gathered, 2 people were killed and now there is a protest in Kalanki Chowk (the square where the buses and trucks are blocking the road)and the political party they were a part of is the cause for the commotion. Not that it is that much of a commotion, just lots of stalled trucks and lots of people hanging out in the middle of the road. The shops are all closed too. I had to walk WAY out of the way to find a place that was open.
I also had my first encounter with the orpanage foreigners. Well, not really encounter... I saw a tall blonde man playing with the children this morning while I was on the roof. Yes, I said tall blonde man. YOUNG man. Cha Ching.
I also made a friend who is my age. Though not blonde, he is tall and young. And he is Min's nephew, Anup. And he wants to take me out Saturday. And he spent a lengthy while asking me about being single and making sure I don't have a boyfriend back home. So while I agreed to sight seeing on Saturday, I am starting to get the feeling it is in a date context. Not that they date here, they just meet and get married...

So for now that is all I have in terms of firsts... But this won't be the last post, so maybe there are more firsts to come (bc I totally haven't had anough already, hah).

I wrote this last Saturday...

...But naturally it took me a week to find internet. And the keyboard I am using is AWFUL so bear with me...

So I am sitting in a hotel room in Pokhara-we left Myagdi this morning-and I am watching "The Daily Show: Global Edition" on CNN. Paul Rudd is on promoting Role Models which I am so sad I don't get to see... he is talking about Wet Hot American Summer, which I LOVE (" You taste like burger, I don't like you anymore") I am obviously starved for comedy considering I spent yesterday laughing at Rambo skinning a bear in First Blood.
During the commercial break there was a quick segment where they interviewed an Indian scientist about gobal warming. He was saying, "there is definite proof that global warming exists and the climate is changing quickly and if we don't do something quickly there will be HUGE consequences." My reaction to this caught me quite off guard. You see, the first thing I thought was, "just because we are the first generation of humans to scientifically prove that the climate is changing doesn't mean we have a right to stop it and avoid extinction." I had no idea I was such a fatalist. But I mean, suppose cavemen had the technology to foresee the ice age, would they have been able to do anything about it? What if global warming was the cause of Noah's flood? Who is this Indian dude to question the Almighty about wiping us sinners out?

One last thought... Talk Asia interviewed Daniel Carter of the All Blacks after the Daily Show. Holy hotness. I would let him spin kick a ball between my posts any day.
Totally inapropriate? Maybe. But do yourself a favor an google his Jockey ad. You'll see why my "R" rated innuendo is totally justified.

GOD I love people who say, "Eh!"

So I know this is going to sound like a stupid, dim-witted thing to say but I never really understood why people of the same race stuck together and felt like they had a bond.I mean, I respected it and I accepted it, but I never really quite got why black people always feel like other blacks are their brothas and whatnot. I'm sure it's because I am a little white tenth generation American who considered her cultural education to be truly complete when she learned both the Macarena and the Electric Slide. So like I said, I never really understood the whole "brotherhood" complex.
Until now.
There is something about seeing another Caucasian person when you've been living in a village and traveling on local buses and you haven't seen another white face in ages. You immediately are drawn to them in hopes that they might share a little bit of whatever it is that you've left behind or whatever it is that you are used to feeling. It's always a bit of a let down when you realize they are actually Swiss or German, but yesterday I met my first Canadian!
Her name was Christina and she was fantastic, she was from Otawaaaaa and thankfully she only spoke English, not french (hehe, inside joke but I had to slip it in there). She was on a tour through India and Nepal and they had just come from Chitwan (side note: Locals pronounce it like Chi-tone, tourists say Chit-wAAn. It's funny) and she liked Nepal way more than India. Another guy on her tour was from Eagle so I talked to him for a while about Colorado. They were both totally shocked when I pulled out my nalgene and took a swig ("You drink the WATER!!") but then I assured them that i carried a steri-pen in my purse. I do not have intestines of steel.
I was so nice talking to people who were on a first-tongue basis with English and telling them all about living here. I never wanted to leave them, but naturally soon my bus driver was yelling "Bitikaiiiii!!!!" so I had to leave them behind.But I was smiling the rest of the bus ride. It's moments like that that you are searching for when you approach a similar face... even though sometime they just look at you and say "spraken se deutsche?"
So now I can say that I have a totally new respect for the different bonds people share from culture. Next time I'm rolling through the hood and a brotha flashes me the black power fist I can respond appropriately. Lol.

The Life of Li

There are a few matters I wanted to share--Matters as opposed to events because I have come down with a nasty cold and the only events that have been going on since I returned home are sleeping and light reading. And drinking this thick, soupy liquid that is apparently Nepalese medicine that makes my snot taste like garlic as it runs down the back of my throat. I'll let that imagery linger with you for a bit...

In case you are wondering, I don't have a fever yet so I don't think I have malaria. Shocking given the mine-field that are my arms and ankles from mosquito bites. Even more shocking is that I haven't started coughing at all so I might get out of the cold without contracting pneumonia. Needless to say I did not make it to school today so my first official lesson plan will have to wait until next week.
So as I said there are some matters that I have been thinking about...
First, I wanted to mention something about my dreams. I am somewhat known by my ridiculously active REM cycles and my vivid recollections of my dreams, I think. I always dream no matter how short or restless or deep my sleep is and I usually remember all, if not most, of the details of my dreams. (Jess, I really quite miss your room being directly above mine. I have no one to share my dreams with every morning here). Anyway, since I came here my dreams have been even more vivid than usual. A strange note about every single dream that I had up until Sunday, they never take place in Nepal. Nepal always exists in the context of my dreams, I am often on hiatus in the States for a weekend or for Christmas. Earlier today I dreamed that I was just about to leave for Nepal, one dream took place about a week before I was leaving and one took place as I was packing up to leave the following day. Sometimes it's as if I know Nepal is there, lurking somewhere in my logic, saying that I must be dreaming since there is somewhere I am supposed to be, but never has my being in Nepal actually occured my dreams. With one exception, and that is Sunday- my last night of traveling. I didn't sleep well at all that night and I don't think I fell asleep until past 2 and I woke up right before the sun rose. I did have time tog et one dream in and I barely remember any of it. I have murky recollections of an Indian princess and a temple in Patan Durbar in Kathmandu. But that is all I really recall... aside from that one dream, I have never dreamed of the people or the things that I have come to know since being here. I have dreamed a million times of people back home that I haven't seen or thought of in years, yet everything that has been in my direct line of sight for the past month has escaped my subconscious completely. I don't really know why I am talking about this or why any of you should care, but it's an interesting little tid bit of information. I wish I could relay to you the specifics of all my dreams but they are far too many and involve a lot of details that only a select few readers would even understand. I will tell that I just woke up from a dream that took place in Sleazy's apartment back in Boulder (he was not present) and I was making French Toast sticks for my little sister and a red headed child named Piper. Mr. Chilton, my favorite high school teacher, walked in and asked me when I was leaving and I told him about a week and then went on to share how much I dreaded being without him and how much I will miss him when I'm gone. I have no clue when the last time I saw old Chilt was. I think it was sometime last January...

Aside from my dreams, I have been having some other interesting conversations with myself. I do that a lot now, since there aren't too many other people to talk to and I'm quite a talker. I have to entertain myself somehow... I came across "The Life of Pi" while I was in Chitwan and I decided to pick it up and read it again. I figured I would have a whole new appreciation for it given my current situation. I was reading today and I got to the part where Pi is discussing the different things he started eating while he was stranded at sea. How he never could have imagined a turtle's kidney and liver could be a magnificent ten-course meal to him until it became truth. Then he went on to talk about the meals he dreamed of and the foods he yearned for from back in India. I was thinking about foods that I was yearning for at the instant, and I was amused that I didn't think of anything that I had been yearning for just a week ago. I didn't have a single thought about milkshakes or chicken salad or cheese of any shape or kind (though now that I write that I am starting to have twinges of remorse). I thought of the chai I had at the pit stop our Micro Bus took back to Kathmandu. It was even better than any I had drank before, not quite as sweet but not too strong either. So good. And then I thought about the rasbasari I had for breakfast which is this bread with sugar water inside, not a lot of sugar water, just a tiny little bit like a funnel cake that is trying to be a jelly donut. Funny how quickly things like food urges can change...
Tonight at dinner Min was saying that he thought maybe part of my sickness was all the different foods I was eating and things I was doing. He said that as impressed as he was with how well I was taking to the culture, he thought maybe in Pokhara (we are going on Wednesday) I should dabble more in tourist food so that I don't get any sicker.
I was touched the other day when we were sitting at a little cafe overlooking the Rapti River when Min and I were talking about all sorts of things and he said he never imagined he could be so impressed with one person. The night before we had spent at Hira's farmhouse and he apparently had been up late into the night talking with her parents in-law about me after I had gone to bed. The mother-in-law, who I said before seemed to adore me even though I couldn't understand her, couldn't believe that I was traveling alone and trusting Min to be my only translator. They were shocked when he told them that I had eaten every thing people had put in front of me and never complained about the buses or the hotels or expressed remorse at being completely alone.I guess people don't often give Americans, or foreigners in general, much credit when it comes to adjusting to new situations. I told Min that I was thankful he felt that I wasn't trouble and I wasn't as impressive as I seem. I can't say that I've loved every minute, but I'd rather suffer silently than make him or the family feel like they weren't providing for me sufficiently. Not that I've really been suffering by any means!!!
I was thinking about that conversation when I was reading the Life of Pi today and thought how funny it was that so many times in life we can be put in situations that resemble being stranded at sea with a tiger in your lifeboat and how differently every one handles it...
p.s. Another fun fact, the rupee was at a historical high against the dollar (80Rs=$1) then the second Obama was announced as the president elect the rupee fell to 72Rs. I'm glad I exchanged my money before the election :)

My week in review... feces, farmhouses and elephant butts.

So I spent all last week travelling around Nepal... the most memorable part, I must say would be the various hotels we stayed in. I remember laying in bed at one guest house after the toilet had decided to spit up on me and someone else's feces were decorating my right foot, and I was laying there thinking, "wow. Never again will I have a complete stranger's feces on my foot. I hope. Aaah, memories." Luckily, I had just finished watching a movie on Star World (India's premier english movie channel!) where Queen Latifah finds out she has 3 weeks to live and decides to just live it up and go crazy. Naturally, it turns out that she was misdiagnosed, but she learned a damn good lesson in the mean time. So as I was saying, luckily I had just finished watching this movie so I really wasn't too freaked out about the whole hotel situation. I was just amused. I mean, you are only young, alone and in Nepal once. I cherish all the awful awful dirty beds I slept in last week (and the one very decent one at a farmhouse belonging to Min's colleauge). I also think that when I leave here I will miss the food very very very much. I am really sick of rice, but I drink about 6 cups of milk tea (chai) a day and I freaking love all the different breads and curries. The one thing that I really have to get used to is the idea that you literally have to lick your plate clean. If you don't lick your plate clean people think something is seriously wrong with you. And they give you A LOT of food. And the meat is very bony and fatty and while I am getting used to eating the fat, the idea that the bone is "soft bone" so you can chew it and swallow it still scares me. I dreamed the other night that I chocked on a mutton bone and I really think my digestive system is paying dearly along with my conscience for my bone ingesting. For being such a poor country, the population as a whole is not very skinny. These people eat a lot. I mean, I can eat and these people out eat me every single meal. Last night I was almost in tears my stomach was so full. But the naan I was eating really was fantastic and I didn't want the cook to think I didn't like it. So I ate. And ate. And ate. And Katie thought I was going to starve here, ha!

But anyway, we went to Chitwan National park and it was AMAZING. We saw rhinos and monkeys and crocodiles and I saw twin baby elephants that were born THE DAY BEFORE. And I rode an elephant. And I actually have a rather large bruise from a baby elephant that was angry at a man trying to force feed it a banana so it went AWOL and head butted me. Elephants are not soft or cuddly. They are rather wiry and rough. And their heads are very very hard. It was not pleasant.

The night before we went to the park we stayed at Min's collegue's house that was about half an hour from Chitwan. It was a farm house with no power or indoor plumbing but it was pretty cool. I got the best night's sleep I've had since getting here that night. Hira's (collegue) mother in law was this little old lady who spoke no English but she just adored me. She kept grabbing me and hugging me and pinching me. And saying things to me which I couldn't understand but seemed very endearing. Her grandfather in law slept on a bed on the porch. It was very Charlie and the Cholocate Factory. I have so many pictures I'll post a couple in a little bit... oh man, what a week!

Blonde Bushes

So I shed a lot. I am always losing hair, and I think since coming to Nepal the problem has gotten worse. Furthermore, since I am the only blonde person in sight, when I lose my hair it is very very obvious that it is my hair and I simply cannot deny that I am balding. So when I was on the bus the other day and looking around I realized that my hair was everywhere. There was a blonde hair hanging off the seat in front of me and a blonde hair on my neighbor's bag. As the man standing up next to me got off the bus I has to reach out and grab a blonde hair sticking to the pocket of his trousers. It got me thinking, imagine if strands of hair were like seeds. Wherever they landed a large tree would grow. I would single handedly be responsible for blonding the Nepalese landscape. All the blonde bushes you saw, you could attribute to my locks. It's heartwarming really. But since my shedding hair does nothing but decorate mens' trousers, I suppose I will have to shed in vein.

Another random thought: Nepal smells like bbq pork. Except on occasion when it smells like goat poop.

Playing Catsup

Hiii everyone. So I know it seems like I died, but I'm still very much alive. We ran out of internet time at the house and I haven't had anytime at all to go into town so that is why I haven't been writing anything. I have a TON to say, so I figure I'll probably write like 8 posts at once so if you don't really care about something you can just move on (like I used to do everytime Perez wrote about Lindsay or Hannah Montana. Which is why towards the end I was never reading any posts of his period. Man, I just realized how much catching up on Perez I will have to do in April.. or maybe by then I'll be weened. Hmm... anyway...)
First let me say that I am in Chitwan in the only hotel on the planet without CNN or BBC so I have no idea what is going on in the states with the election. Tragic, I know. Slighty relaxing though.
We went to this little fast food place for dinner and Min got Chowmin (which is basically chow mein) and he put catsup (ketchup?) on it. Lots of catsup. It was disgusting.
Anyway, like I said we are in Chitwan and I am going to the national park tomorrow through Saturday. I get to see tigers and elephants and stuff so I'm pretty excited. The drive here was crazy. We took this 4-wheeler microbus (like an izuzu trooper car) and it was like a 5 hour drive through the mountains on dirt roads. Not too pleasant but really beautiful. This little girl that we dropped off in a mountain town about half way spent the whole ride puking though so it wasn't the most attractive car ride, but beautiful nonetheless.
Other than that, just wanna say HAPPY ELECTION DAY. It's like 7am in the states right now so it's the perfect time to remind everyone to go vote today.
CNN World taught me a fun trivia fact this morning, by the way:
Why is election day on a Tuesday? Because way back when it was assumed that people needed a day to travel to the polls via horse and carriage in order to vote so they figured that everyone would go to church on Sunday, travel to the poll Monday, vote Tuesday and travel home on Wednesday. And in the name of tradition, that is how it still is today.
so GO VOTE.

Tihar and the magic tikka dance

So Tihar is like Halloween, Fourth of July and Christmas all rolled into one. Every night of the festival kids light firecrackers EVERYWHERE. And I don't mean little wimp firecrackers. I mean legit rockets being lit on roofs with sparks landing all over their neighbors' crops. The fireworks started right when the sun went down and last all night long. Mye ars are still ringing from the sounds of roman candles. Everyone decorates their houses with christmas lights and candles. We settled on one string of lights around the door, but the backdoor neighbor strung lights from roof the floor all the way across the front of the house. It was like the neighbors were competing with Tribuvhan International Airport for air traffic control.
Groups of little boys go from house to house at night singing songs for roti and money. Binod pulled in like 250Rs one night. The songs are really funny, the kids make them up as they go. The only rule is that at the end of every line they all shout "dosuya."
I went with Min to his friend's house one of the days and the men were all doing the same thing. They were standing in a circle singing and at the end of each stanza someone would go in the middle of the circle and start dancing while everyone would clap in rythym. It was only for the men but Min insisted I join in on the magic tikka dance. When I entered the circle, a little girl followed me. When her sister freaked out she grabbed onto my belt loop so say that she was standing her ground. Soon enough all the little girls joined in despite their mothers' protests. It was like I started a mini revolution. Susan B. Anthony, watch out!
The last day is devoted to brothers so Binod sat on the floor of the kitchen while his sisters drew tikka marks on his forehead in all different colors. Then we ate roti til we wanted to puke. I am still bleeding pure starch.
Halloween came and went and I tried to get the kids to trick-or-treat with me but they didn't catch on. I dressed up as a big lobster with stuff I found around the house and they still didn't get it. I ended up finishing off the last of my ginormous Toblerone in a completely depressed state. Now I am out of chocolate. Must go buy more...

Miss Alicia: Teacher Extroidinaire

So yesterday I went to Dhading and taught for the first time. I spent the morning watching classes and then I taught Class-3 (third graders. ADORABLE)
I taught them the meaning of "I can" and "I can't." It was highly amusing. None of the English teachers at the school actually know English except one so I have my work cut out for me. But I think it will be fun. I'm making a game for next week that is a hybrid between Bingo and Simon Says for my class-5 (5th grade) next week. I also sat in on class-6 and learned about George Stephenson who invented the first engine or something like that. You would think I would know more about him since the teacher for the class thought the best method for teaching was to read the short biography from the text book a HUNDRED times. But all I really caught on to was the George Stephenson was born in 1881 and he watched a rich man's cows til he was 12. Oh, and his son's name was Robert and his wife died in 1905. It's pretty ridiculous that of all the things I heard a million times those are the facts I retained. Note to self: If I ever become a history teacher, teach the important stuff, not how many kids an inventor churned out. I was thinking something along those lines when the teacher asked the class what George Stephenson is famous for at the end of the story and I started cracking up when I realized that I had no idea what the answer was. Naturally, the girls next to me started cracking up too and I created mayhem. Woops.
I don't have any good bus stories since I managed to avoid the bus home by catching a ride on one of the teacher's motorcycle. Not so safe, but let me tell you. You haven't lived until you have sped along himalayan cliffs on the back of some guy's motorcycle with AC/DC blasting on your iPod.
So that was my first teaching experience. Binod says he will help me learn Nepalese to help the kids if I teach him Spanish. I think that is a decent trade off.
Can I teach english to a bunch of 7yr olds? YES I CAN. hah. I hope.