Advances in Nepali

I’m not sure if it was the time off from the class, or being surrounded by people who were constantly speaking Nepali, but something clicked over the weekend and my language class was much easier. I had somehow absorbed most of the verbs and did a pretty good job answering my teacher’s questions.

Before going to RHEST I stopped by the tailor to get my kurta made. The first place I went to when I stepped inside the two women totally ignored me. I said ‘namaste’ and tried to catch their eyes, but they didn’t even look over. Whatever, it was there loss of business.

The second tailor I went to went well. They didn’t seem to speak any English but I was able to communicate pretty well with a mix of Nepali and hand gestures. There were these two adorable little girls were there with their mother, who was also buying a kurta. The older one spoke English surprisingly well, and I practiced my Nepali with her, pointing to colors and naming them and talking about the kind of fruit I like(by the way my language teacher keeps asking me what fruit Kristin and Mom like, for Kristin I say all fruit and for Mom I say none)

I felt very accomplished when I finished my purchase and the day was made even better when I saw two bunnies in a restaurant courtyard. One was a very tiny baby bunny, and I kicked myself for not taking my camera with me. The other was big and white, but I couldn’t catch either of them to pet.

I had made plans to meet Hayley in Thamel so she could get her hair straightened and I could get my hair henna’d. I felt accomplished with my Nepali for the second time when I asked for the price in Nepali to the cab driver and he answered in Nepali. I also got 25 rupees less than what I usually pay. Success!

When I got to the Korean hair place I ended up getting a facial instead, I’d never had one and was curious as to what it was like. It was quite relaxing, but she put a lot of moisturizer on my face. I wanted to be like, um that’s not what I need, but whatever. Hayley got her hair straightened which looked amazing, and next time she goes I think I’ll get the so called ‘face cleaning’.

The day had been awesome, but the night seemed to be less inclined to be kind to me. After Hayley got into a cab I was almost immediately accosted by street children. One of them was blatantly huffing glue, and I was reminded about how even though Thamel is the tourist area, it still is very poor. I told them to go away in Nepali, and many of them did, but there were two boys who began grabbing at me. I escaped into a nearby store, and the girls who worked there luckily got them to leave me alone.

I was not in the best place to get a cab I guess, because guy didn’t stop for very long and wouldn’t negotiate prices until I got inside. Because I was rushing I hadn’t been looking down, so I stepped in ankle deep mud and trash. That was awesome, my feet smelled great in the taxi cab. I actually felt sort of guilty for the driver, although he looked even younger than me.

The night luckily got better when I got to the Attic, this bar that is actually located in the attic of a house. I was able to wash off my feet, and got some A.F.C which is like KFC but much better. I stayed there for awhile before meeting up with my Aamaa at Shisha, which had live music. In total, I’d say it was a good day. 

Cows and UNICEF

The language class actually went better today. I think Sushila tried a different approach with the verbs, only giving me about 15 to go over and mostly making sentences with them. It was much less frustrating than trying to straight memorize them. RHEST was fine, but what keeps happening is that they will give me a job to do and then halfway through they’ll be like ‘oh I forgot to tell you about this part of it, now you have to go back over all your work and change it’. It’s not super terrible, just very frustrating. And they seem to think I’m slow because I didn’t do it right the first time, so they’ll explain things extremely slowly over and over again. It’s satisfying work, though, because I know how important it is to keep good records.

After RHEST I was walking home from work when I got hit by a cow. Yep, you read that right, a cow. They have herds of them walking down the backalleys that can barely fit one car usually around the time I get off of work, and generally I’ll just step around them. This time however, I was stuck between the wall and the cow, so I tried to quickly step around him. He had decided that he really didn’t like me for some reason, and rammed me with his head, with enough force to actually lift me off my feet.

This hurt like hell, but wasn’t that bad except where I landed happened to be in the path of a taxi. Luckily it wasn’t going very fast so they were able to stop in time. I was shaken, and my stomach still kind of hurts, but mostly I find it funny now. Cows are holy in Nepal, so my friends were joking that I’ll become wealthy.

After that experience I meet Trishna for a beer. Trishna is the reporter I’ve mentioned before, and a really interesting woman. Because she works as a criminal investigator she's gotten threatening phone calls and messages from people who don't want her to run a certain story. It's dangerous work, and from what I understand women don't usually do it, but she seems pretty unflappable. She was surprised when I told her many of the girls that RHEST gives scholarships to have six or seven siblings, and is thinking of doing a story about the organization. 

After the beer Hayley and Oz came and picked us up and took us to dinner. We were having dinner at his Aunts house, and I didn't realize this beforehand, but all of his Uncles from that side of the family were also attending. It was such a big affair they actually hired a live band to play, and this man sang amazingly beautiful Hindi and Nepali songs. The snacks were amazing, momos and chicken and vegetables and french fries. I thought that was supposed to be dinner so I filled up on them, although the huge portions of rice and dhaal came later.

At the dinner I met one of Oz's Uncles who works for UNICEF. We got to talking, and he actually works for their education department. It is so amazing to meet and get to talk to people who have the job you want. I really want to work on the education side of development as well, so learning how important before school education is was very interesting. Most of the children in the developing world haven't seen a book or even a  pen before going to school, which can make it much harder for them to learn. He's working on ways to support before school education in those areas.

What's even more amazing is that after inviting me to visit him in New York, which is where he works, he said that if I email him he can set up a meeting with the head of education department of UNICEF in Nepal. Just to ask questions and get a feel for the organization. What an incredible opportunity, it's amazing how easy it is to meet people and network here!

Going to the Field with RHEST

It was quite difficult to wake up in the morning after all of the partying the night before, but I grabbed some coffee at the European Bakery down my street on the way to work. It was amazing, as usual, and at around fifty cents an awesome price. I had to miss my language class because I was going out into the field with RHEST, and we were leaving at nine, which was a bummer.

The ride was quite beautiful. We were going to an area of the valley where most people subsist at least partly off of agriculture. The road was ridiculously bumpy, but I enjoyed listening to the Nepali music on the way.

The school

After we got there we went to one of the schools that RHEST works with and distributed the materials. Each of the students on the scholarship program receieved an umbrella, a backpack, books, and school fees. The school was depressing enough with the lack of facilities, but there also only seemed to be one teacher who rotated through the classes, so most of the time the students are studying by themselves.

RHEST teaching the children and women about trafficking

I was there when one of the RHEST employees was conducting interviews for new participants in the program, and he told me some (shocking to me) stories. Apparently it’s not uncommon for children to live with their grandparents or an aunt and uncle because their parents will get divorced and both marry other people. Instead of the children going with one parent or the other they’re just abandoned unless a relative takes them in.

It’s also not uncommon for a family to have six girls and one boy because the parents just kept having children until they got a boy. This is why providing scholarships to girls in rural areas is so important; because they’re valued so much lower than the boys in the family. It was a good trip, and I feel more inspired to work for RHEST now, but it’s also difficult to think about the hardship these children face.

After being stuck on the road due to a truck that had sunk in the mud(hooray for monsoon season), we made our way back. The most frightening part of the drive was when we had to go down the road backwards because there was no place to turn around. The road was pretty narrow and there were a few large drops, but everything went fine. I was dying of hunger by the time we got back to Kathmandu, as I hadn’t eaten in nine hours and had only had a cheese croissant for breakfast. I was hungry enough to try the ‘American’ Sour Cream and Onion chips from a convenience stall, which were shockingly different to the American ones.

 
After I got home Hayley called me and invited me out to dinner with the group from the night before. I had had an awesome time hanging out with them, so I readily said yes. I was super tired from the trip and the fact I hadn’t gotten any sleep, but I’m glad I went. The food was amazing, and they had some crazy stories. Growing up in a national park will do that, I guess. The people you meet have had so many amazing experiences, hopefully I’ll come back with some great stories of my own.

New Road and Hayley's Welcome Back Party

Sunday was spent with a trip to New Road, a shopping district of Kathmandu. Thamel is where all of the tourists go to shop, but New Road is sort of the Nepali equivalent. You can find pretty much everything there, and for a pretty decent price. Megan needed to find a charger for her batteries, which was easily discovered at the first shop we tried.

I had come mostly to purchase some sandals, which I desperately needed. You take your shoes off when you go inside of a home, so only having sneakers was quite obnoxious. They’re pretty comfortable too. We went for lunch at this roof top café that had the best pasta salad I may have ever had. After lunch I purchased a new sky blue kurta, which was more expensive than I was hoping but I’m still very excited to have. We also got a few movies, which they sell for fifty cents each, and went back to Yanik’s house to watch them.

Monday was a fairly standard day, beginning with my language class and RHEST. Afterwards I hung out at the house until later in the night. Hayley, one of the girls who did the Passage program with me four years ago, had flown into Kathmandu that morning and was having a welcome home party. It was amazing to see her again, she hasn’t changed a bit. The party was also pretty crazy, and I met a lot of interesting people.

Shristi and actually not her boyfriend

I seem to find myself around people a lot older than me, so meeting Shristi was really nice. She’s 19 and goes to college in Kathmandu. She’s done some modeling before, but was very down to earth. Our birthdays are actually a day apart(hers is September 12^th) so maybe we can have a joint celebration. Her boyfriend was also a very chill guy.

Trishna is on the left

Trishna works as a criminal justice reporter for one of the papers around here. She’s fiercely intelligent, and you tell that everyone at the party really respected her. She clearly cares a lot about Nepal, and wants to improve the country.

After the party Kishan picked me up and we chilled for a bit with his friends before heading home. It was a great night, and it was amazing to see Hayley again.