Christmas!!

First of all, although I am a day late, I would like to wish you all

You can be glad I didn't wish you a "Marry Christmas" (or is it wish you TO Marry Christmas?). I was going to, but by the time I brought my camera to the store that had that one hanging up, someone had changed it to "Merry." Too bad!

Christmas this year was, as one might expect, different than any Christmas I've experienced so far. But I had a blast. I discovered that as much as I have not, in the past, been particularly attached to the way my family celebrates Christmas, here I have wanted some of those things. It might also have something to do with the fact that I actually had TIME this year to do them! So I found myself baking the Swedish gingerbread cookies and Lucia buns that my mom always makes (which I think I wrote about when I did it). I also made cardamom bread, which is a family favourite for breakfast at Christmastime. It took me awhile to figure out how to get the dough to rise in my very cold apartment (it seemed instead to be shrinking before my eyes!). I tried a few tricks: putting it outside in the sun, which had worked with a previous loaf of bread I'd made but didn't this time; putting the bowl on top of a hot water bottle, which also didn't work; and then finally I boiled a pot of water, turned off the burner, and stuck the bowl on top of the pot. Then the bread rose beautifully.

The other thing that I discovered I'm quite attached to is Christmas music...the kind of Christmas music I'm used to. They do have Christmas songs here in Nepal, but they're all totally different than the ones I know. (See link for an example that I found on You-Tube of a Nepali Christmas song, if you're interested) Anyways, while I have never really owned any Christmas music in the past, this year I "needed" to hear it. So i-tunes got a lot of my paisa ($)! I guess when you're not hearing it everywhere you go from October onwards, you kind of miss it :)

I ended up going to a few different Christmas celebrations - mainly Nepali ones, but also one bideshi party on Christmas Eve, where we had a mish-mash of Christmas type foods. That was fun. But what I want to tell you about is Christmas Day itself, because it really was the highlight for me.

It started with my getting up and leaving at around 8 am to catch the bus to go to the children's home. It was my first time taking the bus there, but I knew which bus I needed to ask for, and was praying that I would find it. Conveniently, I had also learned during my language class last week how to ask for the bus going to wherever you want to go. So I was all set. But when I got there, despite the fact that there were probably 50 buses sitting in the bus depot, none of them was the one I needed. I asked multiple people, and they all pointed me to an area where there was no bus, and indicated that that's where the bus should be. So I waited...and waited...and waited. I had been warned that this happens sometimes. The place that I was going to isn't such a popular destination, and so there aren't many buses going there. Theoretically there should be one every half hour, but sometimes you can end up waiting a couple hours for it to come. Well, I waited one hour, during which time I had plenty of people coming up to me and asking if I was okay, where I was going, etc. Which was nice. Though they did all decide in the end that I was exactly where I needed to be, and the bus just wasn't there.

Eventually it arrived, and I got on. Then we sat there for 45 more minutes, while the bus filled up. I'm not just talking about all the seats being taken. I mean, the bus was FULL. Not even standing room left. Only then did the driver leave the bus depot. It makes sense...they don't get a good income if they only take a few people each time. And there is apparently a fuel shortage (one of the other joys of winter, I hear), so there's no telling when the next bus would arrive. But it meant that despite the fact that it should only take 45 minutes to get the children's home, and I had left 3 hours early, I got there just in time for the program to start at 11. But at least I made it. And I was proud of myself...my first bus ride to the children's home by myself!

About 30-50 (I'm bad with numbers) people had come to the home for the program. The kids did a great job. There was singing...

Dancing...

And a drama, which I didn't understand much of, but which the audience loved. There was a lot of laughter. That first photo is of a woman being taken by ambulance to the hospital!

There was even confetti at the end, which the children had put into balloons hanging from the ceiling. They went through the room and popped them, and we were showered in hand-made confetti. The following two hours we had great fun collecting confetti and throwing it at each other. The kids seemed to take special delight in coming up behind me and dumping it into my hair!

Then we ate our special Christmas meal. It was what I like to call "daal bhaat on steroids." There was rice, but it was made yummy with cashews and coconut. And then there was the daal, but also a curried meat dish, and some other veggie dishes. One of the older boys tried to tell me it was a turkey dinner, but I just couldn't quite picture it!

In true Nepali fashion, the visitors left as soon as the meal was over. I do not include myself in that group, because at the children's home they have told me repeatedly that I am not a guest...I am family :) So I stayed and spent the night, as usual. The "family fun" began after the guests left. We spent a lot of the afternoon throwing confetti at each other and laughing. They had music playing and there was singing and dancing going on. Then a more structured family dance party began. We all sat on the ground and sang, while one person at a time, beginning with the older kids and ending with the youngest ones, would get up and dance. It was great fun! Then, of course, they couldn't let the adults get away without doing it, so we all had our turn, as well. I loved watching the house parents yesterday. They were SO happy and so excited, and clearly so proud to be able to give their children a great day for Christmas. The kids were also very excited and happy. Apparently they'd all been awake from about 4 am because they were so excited. And there weren't even presents to open!

After the dance party there was cake and chiya (tea). Then I handed out cards that I'd made for each of them, with photos that I'd taken of them, and some personal words of encouragement for each one. You should have seen their faces as I called them up individually and showed them the picture and talked to them. They were just beaming! Here they all are with their cards.

After that, it was about 8:00, and everyone was exhausted, so it was bedtime. I took that opportunity to phone my family, who were celebrating Christmas with my extended family in the USA. I was proud that I remembered the phone number there (I didn't have it in my phone), and it was lovely to talk to them all, as their Christmas morning was just starting.

Here are a few other photos that were taken yesterday. I would like to point out my new Nepali outfit (called a kurta suruwaal). It was quite a hit with everyone (and is actually quite comfortable to wear).

This morning I could see the mountains off in the distance much more clearly than I've been able to see them in a long time. Beautiful! Then I came back to Kathmandu, on a bus that was so crowded that even the Nepalis were laughing about how crowded it was! I would have counted how many people there were on it, but I couldn't move an inch! I had other people's "parts" digging into many different "parts" of me, and it was rather uncomfortable, but we made it. And then I was back to language class this afternoon.

This week I have language classes Monday to Thursday, and I have my first guitar lesson on Wednesday morning....my new hobby (since the keyboard requires electricity and is not very portable, I decided to learn guitar). Friday will be a holiday in lieu of New Year's, so I have another 3-day weekend coming up. New Year's won't be a big deal, though, because Nepal follows a different calendar than we do, and their New Year isn't until sometime in April.

I'm doing my best to stay warm, and am thankful that it's not raining yet. I'm told that in the past you could almost count on the winter rains starting the day after Christmas, and then it's cold and wet and miserable for awhile. Well, today was nice and sunny. Hopefully it'll stay that way...

Good for the environment, not so good for the economy

So today there was (is) another bandh (strike). Only this one is nationwide, apparently. The one that I wrote about a couple weeks ago was only in my immediate area. So this is a much bigger deal. It actually started on Saturday, and then was on hold yesterday but is back on again today. We'll see how long it lasts...they can go on for several days sometimes. It was called by the Nepali Congress (one of the political parties) in protest after the death of one of its members who was a prison guard. I guess there was a riot in the prison, and this guard was injured, and subsequently died in hospital. They are protesting his death and demanding compensation.

It has really affected everyone, at least in Kathmandu, and probably across the nation (at least in accessible areas). My language classes were cancelled because the teachers couldn't make it in. I only found that out after I arrived, which was a bummer, because I'd been considering calling in sick anyways. Just a cold, but I feel a bit miserable. Oh well...I at least got my cultural education for the day, and this is, after all a "Language and Culture Orientation Program" that I'm doing.

For the last bandh I was a chicken and avoided the main road. Today I decided to brave it, because I was curious about what was going on, and I've been assured that it's safe for pedestrians as long as you mind your own business. So here's what I saw:

1. NO civilian vehicles...cars, taxis, buses, motorbikes. Okay, I did see maybe 2 motorbikes away from the main road, but that was it. It actually made the walk to class (or non-class, as it turned out) quite pleasant. No dust, no worries about getting hit by a car or motorbike (on the road or the sidewalk!), no honking and other noise.

2. I did see several ambulances (yes, there are ambulances in Kathmandu, though I'm told that most days you'll get to the hospital faster in a taxi than if you wait for an ambulance). There were also police cars here and there, most carrying armed police officers to their posts. I saw a few UN vehicles travelling in convoy. And there were a couple press vans, which I presume are allowed because they give a voice to the reason for the demonstrations.

3. Almost no shops were open. Definitely none along the main road, and very few, even along the smaller side/back roads.

4. Bicycles are sort of allowed. Along side roads and even the main road away from where people were demonstrating, people were riding their bikes. As they got closer to the demonstration area, most people got off their bikes and walked them. I did see one person riding his bike into the area where they were demonstrating, and several guys with sticks chased him down until he got off.

5. Bicycle rickshaw taxis are something I have not seen in Nepal until today. Apparently there are some but they usually hang out in the tourist area. I saw several on the road today. Most of them, however, were walking the rickshaw, and had no passengers. But further away from the demonstrators there were a few that were carrying passengers and the "driver" was riding the bike.

6. I saw one tourist bus. These have recently been included in the vehicles that are allowed to travel during a bandh, to prevent people from missing flights or being stranded at the airport. If you are a tourist, you can get the tourist bus (it's a big orange bus that says "TOURIST" in big letters on the front window) at the airport, and it will take you to a downtown hotel. From there you have to find your own way (with your luggage). I'm glad there wasn't a bandh the day I arrived! You can also pick up the tourist bus at the hotel if you need to get to the airport.

7. There were lots of police officers out in riot gear, standing mostly in groups at the major intersections. But there are also police officers stationed here and there along the back and side roads. I saw one officer, obviously bored, who was playing hackey sack with some children in one of the out-of-the-way areas. It was kind of cute!

8. At the Bagmati bridge, where a lot of police officers are stationed, I noticed a big grey armoured vehicle that looked like a jail truck. But when I got to the front of it, it said, "Nepal Armed Police Mobile Restroom." That's handy! I'm guessing it goes around to each area where they're stationed and hangs out for awhile.

9. I saw a guy with a big pole with bags of pink cotton candy at the top of it walking in the area where there were a lot of police officers. That made me laugh! I don't think anyone bought any :)

10. There were lots of kids out in the side streets playing soccer or basketball or badminton. You can NEVER play on the streets, so this was a novelty. I'm guessing they also got the day off school.

11. There was a group of demonstrators - no more than 40 or 50 where I saw them - holding red and white flags (which I'm guessing are the party flags) and chanting. That was also where I saw the guy on the bike get chased down.

12. My didi phoned to say she wasn't coming today. It was an interesting phone conversation, because I knew what she was trying to say, but I couldn't quite figure out how to communicate to her that I understood and that it was fine for her to stay home. We eventually figured it out (probably when I said, "See you tomorrow" in Nepali). Just as well that she didn't come...I didn't have anything for her to do anyways. It's a bit difficult finding things for her to do every day. I'm one person and she's here (theoretically) 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. And when she cooks a meal she cooks enough for about 3 meals. She's lovely, though, and a good person to practice Nepali with. And when the couple (soon to be family) that I'm house-sitting for comes back in February with their new baby (at which point I move upstairs) she will have plenty to do, so I'm not too worried!

What I didn't see, but apparently it was happening in a few places in the city, was vehicles being vandalized and set on fire. Kind of glad I missed that sight! I did see one car parked at the side of the road, and its owner had covered it completely with a cloth cover, presumably to show that it wasn't being driven that day. Pretty serious stuff!

All in all, it was quite fascinating to watch/experience. But I can see how this could get old pretty quickly. One of my friends (also a doctor going to Tansen after language study) pointed out that bandhs are probably good for the environment, because of the lack of vehicular traffic. This is very true. On the other hand, the taxi-drivers, bus-drivers, shop-keepers, etc, lose their source of income for that day. And so do a lot of the people (if not salaried) who depend on vehicles to get to and from work. It's no wonder Nepal is still classified as one of the poorest countries in the world (ranked 157 out of 187 countries on the UN Human Development Index Score). It certainly makes it difficult to advance economically when the whole country can be shut down like this.

On another note, apparently load-shedding (lack of electricity) will be increasing to 11 hours/day this week (from 6 hours/day). As the winter progresses it may increase to 16 hours/day or more. Still very thankful for the inverter system here, so that I can have some light even when there's no power.

For my part, given my somewhat miserable state, I'm now ready to do what I was considering doing this morning...staying in comfy clothes, and curling up and watching a movie. Or maybe several movies. And my didi isn't even here to make me feel self-conscious about it. It's not all bad...

Christmas Party

So I was more or less correct about the plan for tonight. I went to my didi's friend's house, and they had been cooking all day. It was rice, but mixed in with coconut and other yummy things, and then served with the usual vegetable curry, some fried chicken, hard-boiled eggs, beans, and some other things. I made it to her house after about 5 phone calls between her and the taxi driver, who got totally lost. Once I got there, she asked if I was hungry. I said, "A little bit," which was what she wanted to hear. I was thinking she might come out with a snack or something, but instead it was a HUGE plate of the above food. I laughed and said, "A little??" She laughed too, but didn't seem to think there was anything strange about it. So I ate it, and then, of course, she offered more rice, more veggies, more beans, and it would have been extremely rude to say no, so I said yes, and was given a heaping serving of more food, which I ate. It was all delicious, but a little too much for my stomach to handle. I ALMOST lost it right there, but didn't. Phew! I did think it was a bit strange that nobody else was eating, and that we hadn't sung any carols yet, but I figured maybe it was because I was the guest that they were letting me eat first.

Then people started arriving. That was a detail I had missed in our conversation yesterday. I was under the impression that this was a small gathering of 2 families, but it was much bigger than that. We were in this person's bedroom, and about 20 of us were crammed in there, sitting on the bed, on the floor, wherever there was space. They were all excited to meet me, and I got to practice the little bit of Nepali that I know. It seems that these were people from the nearby church. One had brought a hand-drum, and one had brought a guitar. We sang a bunch of Nepali Christmas carols. They were having a GREAT time of it, singing very rousing renditions of all these songs I didn't know. I was having a great time clapping and humming along as best I could. Then the dancing started, but it wasn't like a group dance. It was one person at a time dancing while the rest of the group sang. Again, lots of fun. They started trying to convince my didi to dance, and she kept refusing. Then they asked me to dance! I said I would only dance if my didi danced with me. That suggestion was met with lots of approval. So we both got up and danced away. Now, those of you who know me will know that you don't get me to dance very easily. But somehow in this context, even though in some ways it was MORE intimidating because I was dancing while everyone else was watching, I figured that if (when) I was really bad at it, they would just figure it was because bideshis don't know how to dance anyways, so it was alright. And we had fun. They all seemed thrilled that I would join in. And I was thrilled to be there.

Then came dinner time! It was less than an hour since the 2 large plates of food I'd already eaten. I figured I'd be excused from eating this time, since I already had eaten. But no! Despite my fairly vigorous protests (I really was still VERY full!) I was served another plate of food. This one was smaller, at my insistence, but still a pretty decent size. I did manage to finish it, but just barely. I refused seconds of anything. In Nepal food is very important, and if you don't eat the food that they serve you, AND ask for seconds (especially of rice), they get really hurt and think you didn't like it. In my brain it makes perfect sense to say that I really like the food, but I can't eat anymore. Those 2 statements don't seem to go together in Nepali brains. It makes it a bit difficult sometimes, and I haven't quite figured out how to navigate this situation yet. I might have offended them tonight - I'm not sure. But I really didn't know what else to do. Ke garne.

Overall, though, I had a great time. I enjoyed meeting people, and it certainly was a much more lively carol sing than I've ever experienced before. I'm trying to picture people singing, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" in a lively way and dancing to it, and it's not quite happening! I would have taken photos, but there was no electricity and it was dark. We only had 2 candles to light the room, so it wasn't light enough to take photos.

I do realize, however, that a blog post without photos is incomplete, so instead I'll show you some pics I took on the way to class this morning. One of my favourite things about going to other countries is looking at their signs and how they word things. Here are some signs that I have found so far. I particularly like the vegetarian ice cream sign! There is another shop where there is a sign for a "Human tailor." I've seen it a few times but can't remember where it is - otherwise that one would be here, too. There is also the "Lovely Dry Cleaners" near my home, and oh, so many more. But this is probably enough for now!

Okay, so that last photo isn't a sign. It's that bridge that I mentioned I have to cross on the way to class (and yes, that's my shadow). If you look closely in the bottom left corner, you can see a pile of garbage, which is EVERYWHERE in the water. Lovely! Maybe you should add prayer for protection from bridges collapsing under me to the list. I'm only sort of kidding!

Finally, I am proud to announce that I have now been in Nepal for one whole month. In some ways the time has gone really quickly, and in other ways it feels like I've been here MUCH longer than that (in a good way). But I didn't feel that I could let the day go by without announcing it. Congratulations to me!

Miracle Oven

It would seem that for people living overseas a blog post about their Christmas baking is a must. So here's mine...

I decided that today was the day to try my Miracle Oven for the first time. Is there such a thing? Yes, absolutely. It was invented by some smart person in Nepal for baking on a gas stove, since most people in Nepal don't have ovens. The electricity is so hit-and-miss here that having an oven would probably not be useful a lot of the time anyways. Pretty much everyone has a gas stove. Hence, the miracle oven.

Now, I realize that this may not look very miraculous to you. It didn't to me either. But it does a pretty good job. It's basically an iron ring that sits right on the gas burner, to keep the rest of the oven away from the direct flame. Then there is a circular pan and lid, and an aluminum liner that is removable. You bake things with the lid on, as in the photo. You can do a lot with the miracle oven...pies, cakes, bread, cookies, casseroles, etc. They do end up round with a hole in the middle (like a bundt cake...is anyone else having a flashback of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" right now, or am I the only one who loves that movie??), but they taste alright. I've eaten things that have been made in the miracle oven, but hadn't yet tried it myself. Until today.

Today I decided that the 2 essential baked goods around Christmastime for my family are Swedish gingerbread cookies, and these Swedish sweet buns called Lucia buns (for St Lucia Day, which is Dec 13 in Sweden). My mom ALWAYS makes them at Christmas, and Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without them. So I got the recipes from my mom, and decided to give them a try.

The first challenge was getting the ingredients, although in the end pretty much everything was available at the nearby supermarket that is as close to a western-style grocery store as they come. I don't think there is shortening in Nepal...I couldn't find any, anyways. And the cookies don't roll well with butter or oil, apparently. In India they use a lot of ghee, which is some kind of fat product, and we have that here, too. It's quite fattening and rich. I decided that might be a decent alternative to shortening. And then I had to go on a hunt for yeast and corn syrup (I eventually settled for honey instead), but I found both. And I also stumbled across icing sugar. Perfect!

All in all, I'd say things turned out pretty well. They don't taste QUITE like they do at home, and I don't think the yeast was very "active," so the buns are a bit dense, but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Can you tell that those are stars and Christmas trees on the cookies? (The correct answer is yes, by the way!) Yup, roughing here in Kathmandu!

And there you go! My first Miracle Oven experience. I'd say it was a success. The other first for today was that I got up the courage to stop at a little roadside stand and buy a deep-fried dough ring that they sell everywhere. Okay, so maybe that doesn't seem like a big deal. But let me explain. As a westerner, the kind of shopping I'm used to (likely the kind of shopping that we're all used to) is the kind where you go into a store, prices are nicely labelled for you, you go down the aisles, put things into your cart, and then go to the cash register where they ring it all in, and you pay the set amount. That's what's normal and comfortable for me. Fortunately for me (or perhaps unfortunately), at the supermarket near my apartment, the shopping is pretty much like that. It's easy, and it's comfortable. Great! The problem is that then it becomes really easy to just keep doing that, rather than venturing out and shopping the way most people shop in Nepal - at roadside stands, and in smaller shops, where you have to talk to the shopkeeper or person at the stand, ask the price, maybe bargain a bit, etc. I have done that in other countries, but here it was just so easy to not do that, and it made me a bit nervous, so I wouldn't do it.

But that's not how you adapt to a culture! The key to adapting is to dive right in and do it, rather than withdrawing into what's comfortable and familiar for you. For the last few weeks I've noticed all these stands where they sell deep-fried dough rings, and other treats, and have kind of wanted to try them, but have been too chicken. It doesn't help that the numbers in Nepali have no pattern to them, so you have to learn each one's name individually. It's not like once you can count from 1-10 you can count to 100. At this point I can still only count to 35! So I was nervous to go and ask how much something cost, and then not be able to finish the conversation. Which is silly, since pretty much everyone in Kathmandu speaks English anyways. But yeah, it was one more thing stopping me. Anyways, yesterday I decided that I needed to get over that and just force myself to do it. So today on the way home from class, I stopped at one of those stalls, asked how much they cost each (a whopping 5 rupees, or about 7 cents), and bought one. It was very yummy! And that was that. A small thing, but I was very proud of my accomplishment!

After an attempt at a conversation in Nepali with my almost-non-English-speaking house-helper this morning, I THINK that tomorrow afternoon I'm going over to her friend's house, where she and her friend will be cooking all day for a little Christmas party that evening. I'm pretty sure that what we decided was that after my language class was done, I'd get in a taxi, phone her, hand the phone to the taxi driver, and she'd tell him where to take me. From there, I will join in with her and her friend and their families, for some yummy food involving rice and coconut milk, and we'll be dancing and singing Christmas carols. Nepali Christmas carols, mind you, are NOT the same as English Christmas carols, so I won't be able to even hum along for most of them. I know 2 at this point. But it should be fun. As I say, based on our very broken-up conversation, I THINK that's the plan. I'll let you know how it goes!

5 Things to Know About Winter in Nepal

1. Temperature: In Kathmandu today the high was 17 degrees Celcius, and the low is going to be 2. Over the next few months the lows may go a little lower than that, but probably not by much. Don't let the numbers deceive you. It's COLD here! Sure, in Canada the outside temperatures get much colder, well into the negatives. So what's my problem? Nepalis are asking me that, too. The difference is that while in Canada it may be -20 degrees outside, inside it is 20 degrees. Here in Nepal, when it is 2 degrees outside, it is also 2 degrees inside. And in the afternoon when it is 17 degrees outside, it's still 2 degrees inside (or maybe 5). That brings me to point number 2.

2. In Canada you go inside to get warm. You bundle up when you're going outside, but inside you take off your jacket, hat, scarf, mittens, and maybe some of your layers. Here in Kathmandu, at least during the day (on days when the sun is shining), you go outside to get warm. Inside you're wearing multiple layers, a jacket (or possibly 2), hat, scarf, shawl, etc. Outside if you're in the sun you will likely take off (or at least unzip) a few of the outer layers. A few weeks ago I was in a t-shirt outside and about 3 long-sleeved layers inside. Now it's not so warm, even in the middle of the day, so I'm definitely not wearing a t-shirt. But it's still warmer than inside. It is not at all uncommon to see Nepalis on their roofs, or in their front yard - or wherever they can find a patch of sun - during the day. It's the warmest place there is. I'm told that in a few weeks it will start raining and then it won't be warm inside OR outside. During those weeks, everybody is just miserable.

3. Showers are overrated. Okay, so I haven't QUITE convinced myself of this yet, but this morning I was getting close. I do have warm water, because there is a gas heater (known as a geezer) that heats up the water when you turn it on, and you get a nice hot shower. But as soon as you turn off the water...BRRR!!! I think I'm going to at least change my showering time to the afternoon when I get home from my language class. Washing in the afternoon is actually a very Nepali thing to do in the winter anyways. Mornings and evenings are just too darn cold for a shower!

4. Hot water bottles and shawls are underrated. The hot water bottle is an amazing invention. I have a couple with me. I boil some water on the stove, pour it into the hot water bottle, wrap it in a towel, and put it in my bed under the blankets while I'm getting ready for bed. It makes the bed much warmer. And then I put it at the foot of my bed and it really helps to keep the bed toasty for a lot of the night. The water is actually still warm in the morning when I pour it out (into the bucket of toilet-flushing water, of course...not to be wasted!). It makes a huge difference! The other thing that makes a huge difference is a shawl. Pretty much every Nepali woman (and some men) that you see these days is wearing a shawl. The traditional shawl is made of yak wool. I have one, and it really helps to keep you warm. I've taken to wearing a scarf around my neck, and then actually wrapping the shawl around my waist when I'm in my apartment. I might look goofy, but at least I'm warmer!

5. Layers, layers, layers! I never owned proper thermal underclothes when I was in Canada, but I bought a whole bunch to come to Nepal. Layers are key, both to keep warm, and to help deal with the fact that when you go outside you might get warmer. Today my language teacher was wearing 3 shirts and 2 jackets/coats. Yup, it's not just us bideshis that get cold! My only dilemma with the thermals has been (up till now) whether to wear them or not, because I get really sweaty in them when I walk to my language class during the day. But then they make a huge difference once I'm there. Today for the first time I decided it was worth it, and it definitely was. It seems to be getting a bit colder every day, and even the sun is less warm every day. I'll be thankful for every extra piece of warm clothing I brought.

Finally, on a totally unrelated note, I want to share my 2 favourite Nepali words that I've learned so far:

1. Things = cheej-beej

2. Colourful = rungee-chungee (make sure you roll the "r," pronounce each "g" as a hard "g," and bob your head from side to side with a happy smile, and you'll get the effect)

Ke garne!

Today there was yet another situation for which "ke garne" ("what to do?") was an appropriate expression. I was at the children's home again this weekend (have I mentioned that I love it there??!!), and the plan for today was that I was going to go with the house mother to buy some kurta suruwaals, the traditional clothes for Nepali women. [As a side note, I did end up buying 2 such outfits, but I don't have photos at the moment, because I bought the non-pre-made kind, so they won't be ready until Dec 22. Stay tuned...]

Anyways, the plan was that we were going to leave at 10, catch the bus into Kathmandu (about a 45-minute bus ride), and go shopping. Well, true to "Nepali time," we weren't really quite ready to go at 10, so we decided to take the 10:30 bus instead. Which was fine, until the 10:30 bus didn't arrive. We waited for awhile, and then decided to walk to a place where more there is more traffic and you are more likely to be able to catch a bus...about a 30 minute walk away. To be honest, I didn't mind the walk. It was SO nice to be out walking in fresh air, where you are not worried about being hit by a car every 2 seconds, and there isn't constant honking at you. It was quite relaxing, I thought. But you can see how if you are living every day with the uncertainty of whether or not the bus will actually come it can get a bit tiresome. It's especially a challenge for kids who usually take the bus to school. No wonder school attendance is a bit unpredictable!

Anyways, we got to the bigger road, and there was actually a bus waiting there, which wasn't full, and we were able to get on right away. That in itself was amazing. Last week we had encountered the same situation, and waited for a long time while several full buses passed us (more on full buses in a minute), and there didn't seem to be any hope that we'd be able to get a bus. That is, until my Nepali friend recognized one of the bus drivers driving in the other direction and asked him to turn around and take us, which he did. Great for us...not so great for people waiting for a bus to come in that direction :) Ke garne!

So we got on the bus, and started driving. About 5 minutes later, we stopped behind a truck that seemed to not be going anywhere. I couldn't see what was going on, except that I knew we weren't moving. We sat there for quite awhile, and I could see that motorbikes were passing us, but we were stuck. I eventually found out that a truck up ahead had run out of gas (or petrol, as they call it here), and it couldn't move, which put all traffic except for motorbikes at a standstill. Roads in the Kathmandu area (and maybe in the rest of Nepal as well) are VERY narrow. There really isn't space for 2 vehicles to be side-by-side in a lot of places along the road. This, apparently was one of those places! I have seen people try to pass each other in those narrow places, and it's not pretty. They get alarmingly close to each other! Sometimes they manage, and sometimes they give up. I guess there was no hope of success here, so there we sat. A few people decided to get off the bus and walk, and others (including us) did the typical Nepali thing: shrug, and say, "Ke garne?"

Eventually (it actually wasn't that long, maybe 10 or 15 minutes), traffic started moving again. I never saw the vehicle that had run out of petrol, but something must have happened to it. First the traffic coming in the opposite direction got through, and then we were also able to go. And we did eventually reach our destination. My friends took me to a hole-in-the-wall shop, where you can get the same things you can get in touristy areas for about half the price. Thank the Lord for Nepali friends!

A word about buses. Picture a nice big spacious bus, with enough seats for everyone, air-conditioned in the summer, heated in the winter, well-kept, etc. That is NOT a Nepali bus! Nepali buses, for the most part, are actually called micro-buses. They are really large vans (probably would be a 15-seater van in western countries), and some are in better shape than others. Their horns work well, though. There is a driver, and then a guy who usually looks to be in his teens or early twenties, who works the door and collects the money, and who stands at the door as the bus drives along the road and announces to everyone the bus's final destination. To someone who doesn't understand Nepali, it sounds very much like an auctioneer doing his thing at the top of his lungs. There does seem to be some sort of system for where the bus does or doesn't stop, and sometimes they stick to the system, and sometimes they don't. I haven't quite figured it out yet. The other job that the boy has is to cue the driver on when to go and when to stop. He does this by banging on the side of the van, or by doing a funny whistling sound that I can't imitate.

So you get on the bus, and then if you're lucky there will be a seat available. They have the usual seats that a 15-seater van would have, and then have added some benches along the side and wherever they can, to cram as many people as possible onto the bus. It is not uncommon for there to be 25-30 or more people in one of these micro-buses, and when it's really full, they might actually be kind of hanging out the door, holding on for dear life. I can imagine that it wouldn't smell very good in there in the summer! There is an old joke about how many people you can fit on an African/Indian/Nepali/whatever bus (one more). That is definitely true here. Unless the bus is packed full in the driver or the boy's opinion, they will keep picking up more people and then order you around, telling people where they can squash one more person. If the bus driver is in a hurry, he might not actually fully stop for you to get on or off, so you have to run and jump a bit.

That is the public bus system here. You do usually feel like a sardine, and sometimes you're not sure you'll make it out alive, but it's actually quite efficient. And cheap. The 45-minute ride from the children's home to Kathmandu costs 20 rupees (about 25 cents). Can't really argue with that!

This is a photo I took of a little roadside shop - pretty typical shop for Nepal. Not a great photo, but gives you a bit of an idea. There are LOTS of these little shops around. I wish I could show you a picture of a packed microbus, but I haven't figured out how to take one discretely yet.

Back to Nepali lessons this week. They've been going well, and I'm enjoying them. I can now conjugate verbs in the present and future tenses (same for both), and probably will learn past tense this week. And I have some more vocabulary. Going to the children's home is GREAT practice for me. The kids speak English, but they are very excited to help me learn Nepali. They have taught me several Nepali songs, as well as some vocab. And yesterday one of the 9-year-old girls made me read her a children's book in Nepali (which I could read painfully slowly but couldn't really understand), and then she was quizzing me about it, and making me write words down, etc. It was great! The house mother speaks some English, but is also great to practice with. They are all very patient, and also rather relentless with me, which is good. Sometimes I have to tell them that my brain can't handle any more Nepali and I need a break! My didi (house-helper) is also a good one to practice with. I've been trying to have some semblance of conversation with her every time I see her. She is also very patient, which I appreciate.

Well, I'm off to a Christmas concert in 15 minutes. There are some Christmas things going on around here, though for most of the country Christmas is just another day. It was declared a national holiday a few years ago, though, when Nepal was declared a secular country (as opposed to a Hindu Kingdom), so they do get the day off. I will be spending Christmas Eve with other bideshis (foreigners), and then on Christmas Day I will go to the children's home and join them in putting on a big program and celebration for their community. Should be fun.

Bandh

Today there was a strike (bandh) in the part of Kathmandu where I live. It was called by the local chamber of commerce in response to the murder of someone at a Goldsmith shop the other day. What does this mean? Well, it means that no vehicles (cars, buses, motorbikes, even bicycles) are allowed on the road(s) where the bandh is taking place. Any vehicle that disregards this is very likely to be vandalized...rocks thrown at it, tires set on fire, etc. Bicycle tires may be slashed, and you may very well be mobbed and forcefully thrown off your bike if you're on it. There are no issues for pedestrians, though it certainly is best to keep a low profile and avoid crowds/mobs. If it's a transportation bandh that is the main restriction. If it is a general bandh then it also means that shops are shut down, and you really can't get anything done. A bandh can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. The longest one that I know of was in 2006, just before the king agreed to reinstate parliament. That bandh was 21 days long (I think), and was very violent, full of demonstrations, etc. You can imagine that with 21 days of closures of shops, etc, it became a very serious situation for people. There were severe food shortages at that time, and there were days when the restrictions were lifted for a few hours, but a bag of rice cost 100 times what it usually cost, and the supplies were extremely limited. It was a very difficult time in Nepal's history! But out of it democracy was born...

Anyways, most bandhas these days are fairly short, and as long as you respect the restrictions and don't do anything stupid you're fine. It takes longer to get places, and some shops are closed, but overall it's not too serious.

So today, as I said, there was a general bandh (which meant that shops were closed as well as roads). I should also mention that there are often rumours of upcoming bandhas, and they don't all materialize. So we'd had warning about previous potential ones, but this was the first one that actually happened. I knew about it because there is a great security guy who works in the office where I do my language classes who sends e-mails about things like this. So I knew that it was best to avoid the main road. Though I suppose it would have been one of the few times you can actually walk along the main road without encountering heavy traffic! But I avoided it and took the back way. At each major street leading to the main road there were several police officers in riot gear, and anyone on a motorbike who tried to go up the road would be stopped and told they couldn't go there because of the bandh. Other than that, where I was walking, there wasn't much sign of anything going on. I'm told by one of the other language students who did venture to walk along the main road that there were multiple people marching with placards, shouting loudly whatever message they were trying to communicate. And he did see a mob almost run down a guy on a bike, but they stopped when he got off his bike.

I had heard about these bandhas, but after having seen one today it left me with some questions, so I started asking around a bit, both foreigners who have been here awhile, and Nepalis. It seems that anyone with enough manpower behind them (which doesn't have to be all that much) and some sort of cause they want to stand up for can call a bandh. And they decide how restrictive it will be. They do have to notify the police ahead of time that they'll be doing it, so word does get out. And then there are always police there enforcing it, though I wouldn't necessarily say they always support the cause. It seems to be more out of self-preservation, and also to protect the public that they enforce it. But I'm told that they will sometimes just stand by and watch while protestors burn cars, etc. I'm not sure if that's because of indifference, or because of fear of getting hurt in the process. It's often political parties that call them, but not always. Today, for instance, it was a group related to finances and gold that called it.

I was asking several Nepalis how they feel about these bandhas. To me as a westerner, and as a newcomer, they seem like very negative things. But most people here seem to shrug their shoulders and say, "What else can they do?" Granted, that is a VERY common attitude in Nepal. "Ke garne" is an expression that means, "What to do?" and it is used A LOT in all kinds of circumstances, usually accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders or some other similar gesture. It's something that is encountered in health care too. There is in general a much more fatalistic attitude about things here, much of it rooted in the Hindu belief system.

So yes, I get the idea that people here think that bandhas are an inconvenience (sometimes a big one), and that they can be dangerous at times, but that they are really the only way for people and groups to be heard. I'm not sure how much good it does, but it does give them a voice, albeit a somewhat violent one. And, as my language teacher pointed out today, it really was not a good thing that someone murdered that Goldsmith, and so they SHOULD protest what happened. Sure, the police may be looking for the guy who did it, but it's good to make a public statement as a group that this is not okay. At least that seems to be the type of conversation that goes on between locals here. I think they see these bandhas as a necessary inconvenience. I'm probably way oversimplifying things here, but that's the general sense of things that I got today. And certainly the demonstrations that happen these days sound like they are much tamer than they were in previous years. It can be pretty disruptive, though, because there are all kinds of groups who want to be heard, and these things apparently happen with some regularity.

As I was reflecting on it, it occurred to me that it's not really all that different from the strikes we have back home...people making a statement when they don't feel there's any other way to do it. And things can get nasty if people try to cross picket lines, etc. It's really a similar thing, just on a larger scale. It was good to get some Nepalis' perspective on it to balance out my more negative point of view. Not that they're saying that bhandas are a good things, but they're not entirely negative either.

If you're interested, here is the link to the article about the bandh in the Himalayan Times (also a great online newspaper in case you're fascinated by Nepal news!).

On another note, we have now started into "load shedding" time. Which basically means that there is not enough electricity to go around, and so it gets shut off for so many hours each day to conserve it. As of today, there are 6 hours per day of load shedding (no electricity). I haven't quite figured out what those hours are yet, but that's the deal. Fortunately, there is an inverter system in my apartment that kicks in when the general power is off, so there is always some power here...lights, computer, etc. Just nothing that produces heat (microwave, kettle, coffeepot, hairdryer, space heater) ...it would blow the system. It is pretty early in the load shedding season, so the hours per day will likely increase as the winter progresses, but we'll see. It depends a bit on rainfall. The more rain there is, the more water in the rivers, and the more power we have. There are usually rains in late December/early January (which makes for a miserable few weeks, because it's cold and wet, and you can never really get warm), and that sometimes brings more hours of power for awhile. So we'll see what happens this year.

Finally, I am very amazed to report that the Christmas package that my mom put in the mail for me 10 days ago arrived today, untampered-with. Apparently that's a record for Nepal...both that it arrived in a timely fashion (or that it arrived at all, in some cases!), and that it hadn't been tampered with or opened in any way. I had been unsure if it would arrive at all last week, when I heard that there had been an issue between Canada Post and Nepal where some agreement between them had run out and they had forgotten to renew it! So nothing could get from Canada to Nepal or vice versa for a few weeks. I found that out after my mom had already put the package in the mail. I e-mailed the guys at the Canadian embassy to ask about the status of things, and they assured me that the situation had been resolved. Which meant that there was as much of a chance of this package arriving as a package from any other country (which is certainly not a 100% chance!). And it arrived in a very timely fashion, it seems. No guarantees that that will ever happen again, but I'm very happy to have this one in hand. Thanks, Mom!

As easy as ABC (sort of)!

I am proud to announce that I am now literate in Nepali. Which means I can, theoretically, read anything in Nepali that you throw at me. Of course, it will be PAINFULLY slow, and I almost certainly won’t have a clue what I’m reading, but I can read. I’ve been going around reading storefront signs, and everything else I can find to practice with. It’s kind of like when a kid first learns to read and is sounding out every word they see. Yup, that’s me! The interesting thing that I found yesterday as I was reading storefront signs, is that a lot of the words are English words just spelled in Nepali (using the Devanagari script, as it's called). I spent about 5 minutes reading the sign at the NMB Bank Limited, only to realize that the Nepali words said “Enembee bank, leemeeted.” Another one that I saw today said “Loreeyal byootee parlar.” And then there are the signs at the shops where you can buy recharge cards for your N-cell SIM card. They say, “Reesharj kard.” I know...I'm a language geek...but I think this stuff is cool! To give you an idea, here is a photo of the page of consonants from my language book. There are also vowels, which look different depending on whether they're standalone vowels or attached to a consonant. And then you can do half-letters, which are the consonant symbols basically cut in half. And sometimes 2 consonants combine to make a different one, which is another symbol. But, as I've mentioned before, it's not Chinese, and there is a finite number of symbols/characters.

There is also the fact that a lot of the sounds are similar, but distinct. Like there is the "k" sound, and then the aspirated "kh" sound, which is basically "k" with a puff of air. Almost all the consonants have their unaspirated and aspirated sounds. As for "t" and "d," there are 4 different ways to say them: with your tongue at the roof of your mouth (aspirated and then unaspirated), and with your tongue between your teeth (again, aspirated and unaspirated). So it gets confusing, but it actually really helps to know the symbol for each one.

Now that I have mastered (sort of) the alphabet, I am on to grammar and vocabulary. It’s interesting - I can be really struggling to remember a word or a concept, saying it over and over to myself, and then I leave it for a minute, and when I come back to it I can’t remember it for the life of me. I have had certain ones that I get hung up on and can't seem to remember. Then I get a good night’s sleep, and somehow in the morning it’s there in my brain. If that’s not a plug for getting enough sleep I don’t know what is.

In other news, I have now figured out (well, after being shown 3 times by someone else) the back way to where my language classes are. This means that I avoid walking along the main road, which is a really good thing. There is less dust/pollution (a lot of people in Kathmandu wear masks when they walk outside, or the women shield their mouths with the scarves/shawls they’re wearing). There is also MUCH less noise (I’ve just about had enough of people coming up right behind me and honking in my ear!), and it seems a lot safer. You’d think that walking on the sidewalk should keep you safe, but even there sometimes there is a motorbike or two that decides it would be faster to bypass the traffic and drive on the sidewalk. You also avoid the big Bagmati bridge, which crosses over the Bagmati river (which smells of rotting trash, sewage, and stagnant water…lovely!). So it’s nice to avoid all that. The trade-off is that you go along all these twists and turns in these narrow little streets so that you feel like you’re lost all the time. And the smaller footbridge that you use to cross over the river looks so rusted that it might drop out from under your feet at any time, and then you’d end up IN the river that smells of rotting trash, sewage, and stagnant water. But at least it’s a shorter distance to cross! The back way takes about 10 minutes longer (40 minutes instead of 30), but it’s worth it. And I’m proud to announce that I have walked it twice myself now and haven’t gotten lost. I’m not the most directionally gifted person in the world, so it feels like quite an accomplishment. The other challenge with getting around Kathmandu is that there are no street names. So instead you use landmarks…turn right at the temple that is after the motorcycle shop and across from the bank. And then turn left on the little dirt path that goes downhill instead of up. Look for the school with the gate that has Tom and Jerry painted on it and turn right after that. And so on…

I spent Saturday through Sunday morning at the children’s home again. I love it there, and come back to my apartment with a huge smile on my face! I’ll be spending Christmas with them. Yesterday I was playing hide and seek with the younger kids, and one of the 5-year-old boys (the one beside me with the red hoodie in the photo below), who is rather a dramatic child, was loudly yelling, “RUN, SISTER, RUN!!!” to encourage me to get away and hide in time. I laughed pretty hard! Here are a few more kid photos. And there was a lovely sunset last night, too.

Tomorrow I start back into language classes. 3 hours a day now of lessons, and then we’re supposed to spend 3 hours of time outside of class studying and practicing, so it’s pretty intense. I’m really thankful that I have a few languages already under my belt, and that I enjoy learning languages…it helps a lot! But it's still slow-going. Starting from zero means I have a long way to go. I just keep reminding myself that it's only week 3 and it really is okay that I'm not fluent yet :)