Politely Eating with my Hands

I woke up much later today, which was good because I needed the sleep. Unfortunately I think I was overzealous and overslept, which made me feel kind of sick all morning. That could potentially be me just getting some sort of cough, or the air pollution, but I’m hoping I’ll feel better by tomorrow. I’ve been taking vitamins regularly to ward off sickness, but being exposed to all new germs is pretty hard on an immune system.

For breakfast my Aamaa had made scrambled eggs and toast, which was delicious. I almost confused the scrambled eggs for cereal because they were in a bowl and very scrambled, but the cooking Didi helpfully corrected me before I put milk on them. One of the nice features about living in Nepal is the fact that most houses have a Didi, who is basically a housekeeper who comes every day to help cook and clean. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship because job prospects are very limited in Kathmandu, especially for uneducated women. In some houses they’ll actually live with the family and actually sort of be adopted, as is the case with Yanik’s Didi who has been working for them for something like fifteen years.

The language class went fine, although because I went out the night before I didn’t practice as much as I should have. Still, I kept up with the lesson pretty well and remembered a surprising amount from the earlier lessons. I learned some helpful phrases like ‘I am hungry’ and ‘I am tired’ but am still too shy to try them out in public. Maybe next week.

I got to RHEST a bit late, but no one seemed to mind. While I was waiting for my work I wandered around the office for a tad and spotted a picture of Bill Clinton with the founder of RHEST. How cool is that? Also one of the girls I was helping told me I might get to go out into the field sometime next week. I'm really hoping that things will work out! Because I was a late I ended up finishing my work late, so the language class got postponed to tomorrow.

Considering how much I’m dreading it I did not mind at all. But I think there are only going to be six people in the class, and one of the women seems to have a clear idea of what they want from me, which is a relief. Mostly it seems like they want to have conversations and then have me correct them. Whew! That is much easier than me coming up with lesson plans.  I’m a little apprehensive, though, because usually they will say things just fine but it just won’t be how people would normally phrase something. Should I correct them?

After RHEST I wanted to go out and explore the area but it was still raining heavily. Oh well, I guess I’ll try tomorrow.  I really want to get to know this place, people keep telling me that there are a lot of good shops and restaurants but I haven’t seen that many.

 
Tomorrow is my bhaai’s last day before he has to go back to boarding school in India so we all went out for his favorite meal, traditional Nepali food. It was quite yummy and I got to try eating with my hands for the first time. Traditionally that’s how you eat Nepali food, and I must say it was extremely satisfying. It’s basically like you’re expected to play with your food. I’m not the best at it, but I’m sure I’ll get better with time.