You say goodbye, I'll say hello...

OMG worst sleep ever! I had to get up at 5AM this morning, as Jo and I wanted to go to Kopan to see a Puja at the Kopan Monestary. This is the second time I have had to get up early and both times I hardly get any sleep because I’m worried about oversleeping. I am going to buy an alarm clock today so that I can settle my overactive brain!  The Puja if you read my earlier posts is a puja is a ceremony (by monks) in which prayers are offered to the Buddha’s to request their blessings or invoke their While there the monks offered us breakfast, pulau, it was rice mixed with raisins, coconut & nuts and then some kind of tea which was more like a broth of some kind. Afterwards we looked around the monastery, took a tour around the prayer wheel then slowly made our way back to the house.

Tomorrow we leave for Mahadebbesi it is about 40Km away. We will be staying there until Thursday morning. This is a rural posting so that we can experience what it is like to work in the hospital and school in the rural community. We will not have access to Internet.

We were going to leave first thing in the morning but apparently it is a religious holiday again which means there is no school and therefore no real rush to get there to teach. There seem to be a lot of religious holidays and festivals here and as a result the schools get closed. I can’t remember what this one is and I’m not sure why nobody seems to know about them in advance?? Actually I think this time the question is whether it is on Sunday or on Monday, I guess it changes every year??. It is the Muslim Eid. Muslims all over the world mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Saturday‬. It is a festival of sacrifice to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a sheep to sacrifice instead. Now having read a bit I realize that this is marked on the lunar Islamic calendar which I would imagine not everyone is familiar with.

Six of us went into Thamel for the afternoon to spend time together, pick up last minute things for the people that will be leaving etc. Charlie and I totally mastered the bartering routine. Shop barter, get your base mark then shop some more, eventually you will get what you want without feeling totally taken advantage of.  We got some more mindi (also spelled mehndi) and experienced a small flood after yet another rain storm.

We are having a little celebration tonight to welcome the three newest arrivals (Alex, Cashem?, and Thomas) and say goodbye to those that are moving on. Michael is leaving to go back home tomorrow; Amelia, Joanna, Charles and Thomas are all going trekking. Hailey and I are heading to the rural community until Thursday and Rachel leaves on Thursday. 

Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day.                        By Dalai Lama

Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.

We arrived home from Nargarkot to find the house empty. Everyone was already out seeing the sights, as Saturday is the one and only day off school and work. We took advantage of the sunshine and did some laundry.

Hailey and I went to a local restaurant for lunch. Momo’s are not what I thought they were and I won’t be ordering them again – Yuck! Hailey’s pasta had bacon all through it so it was a pretty unsuccessful meal. Our first so far I think.

Our evening was spent in Thamel, we booked our flight to Pokhara, the hotel and some entertainment. I’ll let you know about it when the time comes if I don’t chicken out.  

We have only been gone for two days and one night but it was like a grand reunion when we came home from Thamel. It was fun to hear about everyone’s adventures and to share our own.  One of my meditations was about family. It defines family as two or more people that reside together whether they are related or not. For this month these people are our family. We eat together, we work together, and we share our experiences together. It is a unique experience and it will be quite a change when we start going our separate ways.

Yesterday's missing post - we were at the end of the Universe

Hailey went to a place called Mother Theresa this morning. It is an elderly home for people who do not have families and/or are less fortunate. She and one of the other volunteers spent the morning doing laundry by hand, cleaning dishes etc. We have been told that this is one of the most rewarding volunteer jobs as you really feel like you are helping someone. Without the volunteers the small staff that work there would have to do it all themselves.

After a morning at work we took the public busses to Nargarkot to go to The Hotel At The End Of The Universe (One bus from Maharanjganj to Bhaktapur then a second from Bhaktapur to Nargarkot). It took 2 hrs 45 min hours on the way home vs. almost 4 hours on the way there. It is about 32Km away from Kathmandu.

On the first bus on our way to Nargarkot the bus got so crowded that there was standing room only. A lady put her grocery bag on my lap. The bus attendants collect the money as you get off the bus but they also continually yell at people to move back so that they can squeeze more people on. He got in quite the yelling match with this particular lady because she was blocking people from moving back. She of course did not want to go back any further because she was quite happy to have her bag sitting on my lap. LOL well at least I didn’t have to stand for the hour and a half.

On the 2^nd bus I sat beside a lady with a young child. She was sitting a bit sideways which I realized when I sat down because there was barely enough room for me to squeeze my big hips into the seat which I normally fit in quite easily. Eventually when she decided I wasn’t so bad she eased up and gave me some space. Her son was very cute. At one point she gave him a bag of cheeseys to eat.  When he was done she just dropped the bag out the window. This is not at all uncommon in Nepal (or India for that matter).

We arrived in Nargarkot which has a significantly higher elevation 2,195 meters than Kathmandu 1,400 meters and the view of the mountains is amazing, that is why we chose to go there. The hotel was only 1,500Nrs (about $17) and included breakfast and dinner. Breakfast and dinner included means there is a restaurant where you can buy your food! The sunrise and sunset here are suppose to me amazing however it was rainy in the evening and foggy in the morning so we were unable to experience either. After breakfast the fog cleared and we were able to see the peaks of many of the mountains for the first time. We have been seeing ‘mountains’ all around us however the Nepali’s have told us that those are not mountains, they are hills. Now that we have seen the snow peaked mountains I understand.

We spent the evening relaxing and reading ‘The Kite Runner’ which I had brought on my Kobo (Thanks Nancy). The bed was very comfy, there was a hot shower and we had our own bathroom with a real western toilet. 24 hours of heaven.

Leprocy & TB in the air but that won't get us down.

Hailey went to the Leprosy hospital today. Leprosy is completely curable if it is caught and treated early. Unfortunately most of the people in Nepal cannot afford to go to a doctor. Out of all of the cases of lepr0cy all over the world, 60% of the cases originate in India.

TB has been the other major topic in the volunteer house “In the mountain kingdom of Nepal -- one of the poorest countries in the world -- almost half of the over 20 million population are infected with TB. Of these, up to 90 000 people have active TB and there are 44 000 new cases of the disease every year.” Scary!

Cost of Living:

I know I’ve mentioned the bus and the taxi’s I have been taking while I’m here but I haven’t really talked about the cost. We pay 15Nrs (Nepali Rupee’s) to take the bus, this is equivalent to about 17 cents Canadian. We pay 250Nrs to take a taxi most places of course this varies depending on how far we are going, what time of day/night and how good our haggling skills are but this is equivalent to about $3Cdn.

My friend down here from Perth asked me why I’m not just taking a cab everywhere because it is so cheap and I would be spared being squished onto a bus like a sardine. To say that I enjoy the bus would be a lie but I can say that I came to Nepal to experience Nepal. I didn’t come here to be a tourist. People don’t come to Nepal because the air is clean or the beaches are beautiful (there are no beaches). I can’t speak for everyone but I came to Nepal because in the face of everything these people are dealing with, the dirt, the poor living conditions, the overcrowded everything, the insane government, they are happy. They take care of each other and the people around them. If I tell the bus driver where I want to get off, he will go out of his way to find me on the bus and make sure I get off at my stop (OK with the exception of my first day but that was as much me not knowing where I was). One of the ladies in our house wrote on her fb “The smile on my face doesn't mean my life is perfect ..It's means I appreciate what I have and what god has blessed me with .“

Fun Facts:

-It is Fathers Day in Nepal tomorrow. Happy Fathers Day Dad!

The value of Personal space

Did I mention that the water I use to make my tea is slightly off color? I usually put the tea bag in first but the other day someone passed me a cup of hot water so that I could make my tea and we all realized that the water we are using for our coffee and tea in the morning is not clear. Hmm… wonder when that’s going to start affecting the internal system? (I spoke to soon…today was the day!)

As I walk down the streets of Nepal I notice there are holes in the paved road. I am assuming that this is some form of sewage or drainage system for the roads. Nobody seems to know what it’s for or where it leads LOL

Today was another crazy day at the Orchid Garden. I am getting use to the routine and the teacher and I are somehow managing to work one on one with the kids despite the incredible amount of noise and fighting that the remaining 20 kids can generate.

Hailey is now (or maybe always was) completely independent of me down here. She has a great group of friends that work with her at the hospital and they have now taken to going out before and/or after work without me. I’m now wondering if it is me who needs her more than she needs me.  The good news is while she was out shopping she bought me a beautiful new top and left it on my bed as a surprise. The girl has great taste!

I heard from Douglas today. I’m not entirely convinced it was Douglas on his own as his message was very well written but if it took prompting I guess I should at least be glad that I heard from him. I do miss my boy :) After spending my days with 22 - 2 & 3 year olds I may never complain about him being loud again.

Five of us went into Thamel tonight. We all crammed into one cab. To put this in perspective, the cabs in Kathmandu are all Suzuki Maruti’s (google that), they are about the same size as Le Car, remember those. Anyway, so picture five of us plus the driver; that was still not near as packed as the bus during rush hour!

When I got back Hailey told me about her day. She was able to sit in on several surgeries and a birth. She was very excited about it and said “It’s just like Grey’s anatomy only dirtier.”  (Hey Sio, she is loving the births, we may need to talk to you when we get home :) )

I learned today that the reason the streets all seem to be under construction is because they are. Apparently very recently the government decided that the roads should be widened and everyone was forced to accommodate this at their own expense. I will post photo’s later but essentially the sides of the roads are full of bricks and sidewalks being constructed or possibly re-constructed. Many of the buildings look like they are part of a war zone. They literally took off the front section of many buildings and are re-building them in order to make the street wider. It is the equivalent of removing the living room from your house and re-facing it. The pictures speak volumes so now that I understand what’s going on I will take a walk tomorrow and post photo’s.

Garbage & Passover....

So further on the topic of garbage – someone came to the house yesterday to collect our garbage. I asked one of the girls about it and I was told it isn’t the norm in Nepal and that Scott, the man who runs the Mountain Volunteer Program is most likely paying a high price for this service. The sad part is that nobody knows what actually happens to this garbage once it is taken away. In all likelihood it ends up in the river with all of the other garbage. When I asked what other households do with their garbage I was told that most would burn it, all of it, including plastic bottles, bags, etc. What doesn’t get burned is out on the street, in the gutters and in the river. In fact when we were visiting one of the historical temples on Saturday we stopped to watch for awhile because there was a river beside the temple that is considered very holly and people come from all over to dip their hands in, wash in it, splash it on themselves etc. While we were watching someone emptied a bag of flowers etc into it as an offering but then threw the bag in!

Today was a good day at the school. For some reason the ladies decided to rip apart our classroom, take out the carpets, clean the floor and clean the one or two shelves in the room. This was right up my alley, I love organizing and cleaning. We also did the usual ABC’s and 123’s. I stayed at the school until 5PM tonight because Chimmi, the teacher that I work with wanted to bring me to her church. This was quite an experience. She is trying very hard to convert me, as she is very enthusiastic about her religion. She says she is Protestant but they practice Passover and they were trying so hard to convince me of their view/interpretation of the bible it was almost like being ganged up on by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Dust in my eyes, garbage all around :(

Every morning when I wake up now my eyes are swollen. My guess is it is from the incredible amount of dust and exhaust fumes in the air everywhere we go. Many of the roads are still dirt or have so much dirt on them that the traffic stirs it up.

They do not compost or recycle in Nepal. You see garbage everywhere in the streets and people won’t hesitate to just drop their garbage where they stand. There are areas where it appears the garbage has been collected on the road and yesterday we saw a truck and man collecting it (with a shovel). I’m wondering if this is their idea of garbage pick up?

The battery on my computer is not staying charged for very long. According to Hailey I have killed the battery by leaving the computer plugged in all the time or not letting the battery deplete completely before plugging it back in. In any event what use to last most of the day is now only lasting me an hour or so and given the constant power outages it is very frustrating.

Today was a slow day at the school. I enjoy my mornings with the younger children but my afternoons I do not feel very productive. I left early today as I felt I was just standing around while the older children worked on their Nepali printing.

Tonight a few of us met up with an acquaintance of mine from Perth, now that is a small world! He brought us to a Puja (this is an expression of honor, worship and devotion). It was a chanting and drumming ceremony by a group of buddist monks at a temple in the Boudha district.  Afterwards a group of us went out for a fabulous dinner, had some laughs and finally stayed out a bit later than normal.

More fun facts:

• - All women are referred to as Mam or Sister. The children at the school call me Mam and the other girls in the house call me Sister.
• - Charlie got lost going to the school yesterday. At least it’s not just me