April 2002
Namaste from Nepal


Namaste! (That's Nepali for hello, or literally "I salute the divine in you.")

We spent our first week here in the medireview-looking town of Bhaktapur, just outside of Kathmandu. It's an amazing place:  Hindu temples around every corner, narrow alleys with women in colorful saris, broad squares with potters and woodcarvers, incredible atmosphere.  Our first night here, we saw a wedding procession (with marching band and decorated old white car) in one of the squares.  The next day, we happened upon a funeral with wailing Newari women down by the river.  The body was wrapped in a simple white sheet -- we left before they set it on fire.

We also watched the daily progress of men carving giant wooden wheels for the annual New Year's Day chariot festival (next weekend.)  We tried some tasty new food like strange cheese squares covered in spinach sauce.  And we participated in a holiday called Holi or the Festival of Water and Colors (to celebrate the end of the dry season and the coming of the monsoon.)  This involves turning the whole town into a battleground for fights with water balloons, water guns and eventually big buckets of water thrown from the rooftops.  In addition, people smear each others' faces with colored powder.  Just try and imagine what we (and our clothes) looked like at the end of this day!  It was especially amusing to see unprepared tour groups get a surprise shower.

On a slightly sour note, we were scammed by two charming 12-year-old boys named Deepak and Phrabin, who became our friends and later asked us to buy them an English-Nepali dictionary to help with their studies.  Thinking it was a nice idea, we stupidly agreed.  A couple days later, we figured out they returned it to the bookstore and split the money we paid with the bookseller (this is a widespread tactic for tricking kind tourists -- and volunteers who come to the country to teach without pay!!)  So we busted them by pretending we wanted to write a note inside the bookcover.  When we asked to see the dictionary, they brought us their brother's big hardcover, claiming they had exchanged the one we bought them.  We got them to admit the scam and gave them a lecture on how bad they made their people seem by doing something so rotten.  They said they would never do it again... anyone want to come and test them?

After spending a few days learning Nepali (there are four different words for "you") with our project coordinator, we are now in the village of Sankhu, where we will be teaching.  We were originally supposed to teach in rural Lumbini, near the Indian border, but we have been reassigned.  We are relieved to be in a slightly more pleasant climate (the Lumbini area is extremely hot and known to have malaria.)  Sankhu is a quiet cluster of old brick and wooden townhomes at the edge of the Kathmandu Valley.  The terraced hillsides are covered with crops like wheat and potatoes.

The school seems very good -- children start learning the English alphabet in nursery school and take all their classes in English (math, science, social studies, etc.) starting in first grade.  This will be a much different experience than Ecuador, where we taught the children their very first English words.

Our host family is lovely and we are very comfortable (except for the squat toilet, and eating rice with lentils and curry vegetables for breakfast, lunch and dinner.)  Today is Saturday, the day of rest here.  So we were woken at 7 a.m. by the two youngest daughters who jumped into our bed, pulled off the blankets and yelled "time for tea!" and "come play!"


PS - Oddities of the Developing World


The house we are staying in has no running water or heating, but it does have cable television, a phone, and a computer with Windows 98 and Office 2000.  No joke.

Despite the squat toilet, this placement has been our most comfortable and modern so far.  The schoolchildren are very bright and we are enjoying our time here.

This weekend is the Nepali New Year and our host family sends warm greetings to all of you.
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