As promised, here is a tour of my home here in Tansen.
The kitchen is the first room you come to when you walk in. I spent quite a bit of time after I first arrived trying to figure out the stove. I didn't realize that you need a lighter to light it, and I was wondering why I kept turning the knob and no flame came...and why the kitchen was smelling more and more like gas! I eventually figured it out.
Next is the bathroom - my least favourite room of the house. Water shortage is a big issue here, so you do everything you can to conserve water. Thus, there is a bucket under the sink, and the water in the sink drains into it. You also stand in a bucket to shower, so that you can collect the water you use. The final common pathway? The toilet. Yes, it's true that there is no back to the toilet, and that it appears to be smack in the middle of the floor. And there is no flushing mechanism, other than pouring water down it.
As for the shower, it took me quite awhile to figure it out. There is an electric water heater, which works when there is proper electricity (and not just generator electricity). There hasn't been proper power the last couple days, so yesterday I skipped the shower, and today I opted for a cold one. The first day, there was electricity, so I turned on the heater about 30 minutes before shower time. Then it took me a good 10 minutes to figure out which knob you turn to get the hot water, which one gets you cold water, and which one makes it come out of the shower. And then getting the balance between hot and cold was quite a challenge, so I decided I might be best off just leaving the hot and cold knobs exactly as they were and just turning off the shower. Bad idea, as it turns out. A few minutes later I could hear the sound of running water, but assumed it was the guy next door showering. About 30 minutes later, someone knocked on my door and informed that that water was pouring off my roof. He came in and promptly closed the knobs that I had left open, and that solved the problem. I guess I'll be fighting with hot/cold issues every day.I think I would like the bathroom much more if there was a shower curtain. The problem is that Nepalis don't use them. Few even have indoor showers (most shower outside at a local public tap, or they do bucket baths), and those that do have showers don't seem to mind that the entire bathroom gets wet when they use it. So despite my best efforts to find a shower curtain in the Tansen bazaar yesterday, there was none to be found. Fortunately there is a couple I know coming for a visit next week from Kathmandu, and they have kindly agreed to buy one for me and bring it along.
I really like the living room, but I really DON'T like the "couch" at the moment. It is a bench with a really old, ratty piece of foam on it, and a ratty piece of cloth covering it. I'll be replacing both the foam and the cover, which will make it more comfortable, and more colour-coordinated.
There are two bedrooms, both quite spacious and with good amounts of storage space. Feel free to come for a visit if you're in the area!
This is the house from the outside
If you turn 180 degrees from where I was standing to take the outside house photo, you can see the hospital. It won't be too far for me to go if I get called in in the middle of the night!
Phul Kumari is my wonderful house helper. Daily life takes a lot more work in a place like Nepal than it does back home. Laundry is done by hand, cooking is always from scratch, groceries are purchased daily at the market or little shops, and there are other things too that make it pretty much impossible to both work full-time and keep house. Phul Kumari works for me two days a week, and is doing a great job so far. She cooks both Nepali and some western dishes, and is lovely to have around. She also is great for practicing Nepali with.
