Horking or Head wobble

The holiday today was in celebration of Krishna’s birthday. Krishna is the gentle and much loved incarnation of Vishnu (who played a roll in the creation of the universe). 

The celebration was in Patan, not far from Kathmandu. Two of the girls that work in the house took us there and we had to find our own way back. I was a bit nervous about this because we took two separate busses to get there and the bus system here is like nothing you have ever seen not to mention my not so perfect navigation abilities. The busses we took today were different than the one I have been taking to work they were three wheeled mini trucks. Again they some how managed to squeeze twelve people into the tiny three wheeled cube! One passenger squatted on the floor in front of me and pretty much fell asleep leaning on my legs. It was quite an experience.

Five of us (volunteers) from the house decided to hang out at the festival and then head back to Thamel to do some shopping. We managed to communicate efficiently enough to get on the right busses and have seriously improved our negotiating skills. After an evening of bartering for our purchases we negotiated a great rate for the taxi ride back.

Horking was a big thing in India when I was there and apparently it is in Nepal as well. I think this may be a skill I will have to learn in order to truly fit in – NOT! We have decided to perfect the Nepali head wobble instead.

New friend Sagun :)

Last night we visited the Monkey Temple and then went to Thamel. That may have been a bit much to try and fit in before dinner but we did it.

The Monkey Temple was amazing. Hailey took a few pictures of the Buda’s and the temple but then a few hundred of the monkeys LOL

I bought a singing bowl. I wasn’t planning on buying it here but as we were leaving the vendors were all packing up their tables and I just wanted to get an idea of price so I asked (actually I made Hailey ask haha). The poor vendor followed us all the way out trying to make his last sale of the day. He lowered his price so much we could not refuse. I guess this one was just meant to be ours.

Thamel was very busy. It is a touristy shopping area in Kathmandu. Hailey and I plan on going back after work tomorrow. We could both use some clothes because half of what we brought is inappropriate for work.

There was suppose to be a banda again today but when I went to walk to work thinking I would be safe from the traffic but the busses and taxi’s were all over the road. It took me almost an hour to get there dodging cars, busses, low hanging and random unattached hydro wires.

We had our first Nepali language class this morning but I’m not sure anyone understands me. I was in a class with 20  2 & 3 year olds so they got to be my guinea pigs haha I also developed a list of words that I need translated (Down, start here, careful, slowly – perfect for the daycare environment)

I made it back home by bus but not before getting on a bus going the wrong direction first. Will I ever get this right! Oh well, I had a young girl keeping me company. Sagun is an 8 year old attending the school. Her parents are both away/sick and therefore she has been staying at the house with the volunteers on holidays and weekends. Tomorrow is a holiday – yeah!

Power & banda's making life more challenging!

Power outages are pretty regular so I am having a hard time keeping my computer charged. Apparently there is not enough power for all of Kathmandu to be powered up at the same time so they rotate the power in segments so it can be off for a couple of hours at a time and we are never certain when that will be. Our first night the power came on at 2AM, we know this because all of our lights came on. As when we went to bed it was black. We were very happy to have been given two small flashlights from Nancy just before we left.

Transportation strikes – called banda’s are also very common. The political party mandates the strikes, usually as a means of disrupting either work or school. I’m not really sure why yet. This can essentially cripple the city. Today there was a banda until 10AM, which means anyone going to work will be walking or waiting until 10.

I was told that the walk to the orphanage/school is about an hour or there is a short cut that only takes 35 minutes. I’m OK with this but am not familiar enough with the route so I waited until 10 and took the bus. I waited for a half an hour while about 8 busses stopped with so many people crammed onto them I couldn’t even imagine trying to squeeze myself in. Finally I squeezed myself onto one, as did about five other people. I was let off at what I was told was my stop but did not recognize anything.  I walked for a minute or two in one direction and still no luck so started walking in the opposite direction. By the time I started to recognize things I figure I was about half way back to our home. So two hours later here I am back at the house. Shit. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it.

Time to learn a few Nepali facts:

• ·      Average annual income $400/year
• ·      Population in Nepal 29 million, 15% of that is in Kathmandu
• ·      47% of children under 5 suffer from malnutrition
• ·      Women are treated very poorly in Nepal.
• ·      There is a 17% suicide rate in women in child bearing age
• ·      There is significant power shortage, gas shortage and transportation strikes are common

The Orchid Garden

Today Hailey and I went to my placement. The Orchid Garden Pre-School. There were about 200 children ranging in age from 20 months to 11 years. The majority of them were very young. They were orphans or children with parents who are laborers.  The children were loads of fun to spend time with and there English is surprisingly good.

We took a local bus – they can squeeze about 35 people onto a bus about the size of a large minivan. I have heard that as a female foreigner we have to be careful as some women get groped on the bus. That would be an amazing accomplishment to be able to squeeze your hand anywhere between the mass of bodies and/or manage to stay standing without holding on with both hands. I was impressed that I managed not to fall off the bus and that I didn't get lost anywhere.

Forget about everything your forgot...its in the past.

Since leaving Ottawa I have done nothing but think of the half dozen items I forgot to do or pack before I left. It seems like no matter how organized you think you are, the moment you take off your realize you really weren’t. Oh well…

After 38 hours of travel we arrived safely in Nepal. My suitcase decided to hang out in London for a couple of extra hours and catch a different flight so I had to go back to the airport in the evening to pick it up but it arrived. Hailey and I were grateful that we are the same size. if we had to we could share our clothes. We are both also glad that it did not come to this because I would be as uncomfortable in her jeans and tank tops as she would be in my tie-dye sun dresses and old lady clothes.

The traffic, the driving and the volume of people here is much like India. It is sensory overload. The driving is utter chaos and the honking of horns makes a steady stream of noise. I don’t know how they do it but if you can some how manage to relax in the back seat of your cab, you will arrive at your destination in one piece.

The  Mountain Volunteer organization owns three homes, they are all together. The handful of volunteers and staff we have met have been very welcoming.

At the moment all I want to do is sleep so that tomorrow I can stop feeling like I was hit by a bus.

Today is the day!!

For those that have asked, I have finally looked at my ticket… we fly out at 11:30PM on an Air Canada flight. Travel to Heathrow in London then to Doha on Qatar Airways and the last leg of our journey will be to Kathmandu in Nepal.

While I did look at this information quite carefully when I booked the flight(s) it very quickly escaped me and have been unable to answer questions people have asked. Not knowing did not make me any more or less nervous and did not change the plan in any way. Haha.

Doha (because I didn’t know this either) is the capital city of Qatar. Looking on the map it is between Iran and Saudi Arabia. OK I probably didn’t want to know that!

There is a 10-hour time change. When it is morning here in Canada it is evening in Nepal. The flights are 7hrs + 7hrs + 4 1/2 hrs. What all of that means is that we leave Canada Friday evening but don’t arrive in Nepal until Sunday morning. Now that is a full day of travel!

There are over a million people in Kathmandu. The population density is 19,500/km sq compared to Ontario at 14/km sq. Very crowded! The city’s elevation is at 1,400m (4,600ft). Our elevation is 200m – I didn’t know that either.  This could cause us to have problems breathing as we adjust and/or get ‘mountain sickness’ which would be like a hangover without the drinking.

I am currently downloading the song Kathmandu by Bob Segar because Derrick says I have to play it everywhere I go. Listening to it now hahaha!!