Fourth of July in Kathmandu

My homestay family left around noon to take my bhaai back to India. They’re going to be gone until Saturday, but Kishan will still be around. It’ll be really nice to have the company; otherwise I might be sort of lonely in this big house. He’s a really chill guy too, so it’s cool to hang out with him.

I got my phone today, which is already proving useful. Megan, the girl who had done a Passage program four years ago, wanted to go to the Fourth of July celebration with me so Yanik called and arranged it. Phora Durbar, where it was being held, was within easy walking distance so I set out to find it. I was feeling adventurous so I decided to not check the map Yanik had drawn for me and just try to find my way on my own, which went about as well as expected. I love wandering around Kathmandu, so I didn’t mind getting lost and taking a taxi to the party. I got to see some neat shrines and trees, so I would say the journey was a success.

Things here just seem to work out almost eerily well. I got out of my cab at a pretty random spot, but immediately bumped into Megan who was asking a guard for directions. We could see where the event was happening, but had to walk around for a bit before we could find the entrance. After showing our passports and having them write down the number(I now sort of suspect that the celebration was a ruse to keep track of Americans in Kathmandu) and went inside. We checked the prices of the food, which were pretty expensive(read four dollars for a sizable burger) so we decided to just get a drink and eat elsewhere. We saw Amy, the girl who works for USAID, sitting at a table and she invited us to join her. We met John, another person who works for USAID but was just visiting for a few weeks, a guy who works for the foreign service and seems to be in charge of giving visas, and Rob.

Rob has been here for seven years, and originally came to Nepal when working for the Peace Corps. After falling in love with the country he started an organization that teaches victims of rape and abuse massage therapy, and then finds them employment in spas. It works to both provide the girls with a means of supporting themselves, as they are usually shunned by their families, and as a way to council them. It’s amazing the people you meet here.

After finishing our drinks and saying goodbye, Megan and I had pizza and she showed me a really neat bookstore called Pilgrim’s Books. It’s pretty famous among the tourist community and has a café in the back. The place was surprisingly huge, and had a lot of neat stuff. I’ll probably go back there to get my postcards and some souvenirs, but for now I’m saving purchasing gifts until a bit closer to when I leave.

We checked out the Garden of Dreams before walking home. Everyone raves about how beautiful it is, but we both found it sort of small. It was gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, but not as amazing as everyone says and more expensive than what I’d want to pay for something that size. It was really nice to have someone to go exploring with, Megan is a really awesome person. Besides having a love of Nepal in common we get along really well, and I felt very comfortable being myself around her. The last time I was here I had five other people to explore with, and I hadn’t realized how much I had missed having a traveling companion, not that I don’t like exploring by myself.

After a successful walk home without getting lost we shared a cab to Upstairs Jazz for some drinks and some chicken momos. The momos were delicious, and the live jazz was pretty good. The drummer was rocking out, but I sort of missed the saxophone guy. It’s a different band that plays on Wednesdays than Saturdays, so it was nice to have a variety.

We actually ran into Ron, who lives down the street from Upstairs. He joined us, and we all had a good time chatting and hanging out. I casually mentioned I wanted to find a part time job and he said that it would be really easy for him to find one for me. How crazy is that?! I had expected to look for one but not find any, but he said he could probably find me several to choose from, “Within half a day” to quote him exactly. I think I want to get a bartending job. Learning to bartend in Nepal would be an amazing opportunity, and would probably help me practice my Nepali.

Day Two in Kathmandu

I slept surprisingly well, only waking up a couple of times and was able to get back to sleep pretty easily. Yanik knocked on my door around 10, and we went downstairs to wait for my language teacher to come by. I ordered a coke in the meantime, which ended up being complementary by the hotel. The soda here is really interesting; it tastes slightly different than the stuff in the US and is a lot more carbonated. It also comes in glass bottles which you return to the people when you’re finished drinking. It makes the soda a lot cheaper, because you’re only paying for the liquid itself. It’s also environmentally friendly, which is definitely a plus.

My language teacher is a very nice woman who seems like she’ll be tough but fair. After chatting for a bit she got out the book we will be using which caused me to double take. I had bought a Nepalese language book in the US to prepare me for my trip(I should have studied much more before I left but was lazy) from Amazon. Turns out, she wrote the book! I couldn’t believe it, out of all of the Nepalese language books on Amazon and all of the language instructors in Nepal I had ended up with her. The coincidences get stranger, it turns out she had taught a New College student a few years ago so New College was mentioned in the book! Our 800 student college mentioned in this Nepalese language book. It’s a small, small world.

New College!

My language teacher

After she left Yanik went to meet a friend to discuss a restaurant he’s planning on opening, so I went to a café to steal their wifi and drink some scrumptious coffee. I’m not much of a coffee person, but the stuff here is DELICIOUS! I’ve only had it this good in one other place, and that was in San Francisco with my sister. Everything is organic and done by hand here, no Starbucks or mass production. They were also playing football(soccer to you Americans) on a big screen tv which was fun to watch.

I managed to get myself lost walking back to the hotel because all of the stores in Thamel look exactly the same, so I got to enjoy the constant solicitations of merchants trying to sell me pretty much everything. Walking to the café I didn’t really experience that, but maybe it was the look of bewilderment on my face that was taken as a sign that yes, I really did want to by a knockoff North Face jacket. After walking up and down the street a bunch of times I finally found my way back thanks to a shop called ‘Black Pashmina Outlet’, which I remembered because I thought selling only one color of pashiminas was stupid.

Yanik came back and I hopped on his bike and we left for my homestay house. Driving in Kathmandu is kind of like a video game, but I’ll need to dedicate a whole post to the chaos to do it justice. My homestay house is really nice, and my homestay Aamaa is awesome. She’s super sweet and warm, exactly the type of person you’d want to take care of you for three months. Her partner seems really chill too, and her son is really cool as well. He enjoys watching tv and playing video games like God of War, so he’s totally my kind of kid. I’m bummed that he’s only going to be here for four more days; he goes to school in India and will have to return.

My homestay Aamaa's partner and son

After meeting them we went and met up with some of Yanik’s friends who are currently living at his house at a cool little restaurant in Thamel. One of them, Megan, is actually a fellow Passage alum as well. Her friend, Ruth, is 18 and has just graduated High School. They’re both from Maine and were super nice, and really down to earth. Ruth actually left the next day, but Megan will be here for another month. I ordered a mango lassi at the restaurant, to continue my quest to drink as many as possible while mangoes are in season.

After leaving we went to see Cars 2 in 3D with a few of Yanik’s other friends(Yanik, btw, seems to know everyone in Kathmandu). They had just built the mall around 5 months ago, and everything was still shiny and new. In Nepal when you buy your movie ticket you buy it for a specific seat, like when you go to a play. The screen went dark about halfway through the movie, which I thought meant that the projector had died, but was merely an intermission like they have for Bollywood films. Cars 2 is a pretty good film in my opinion, but has a lot less heart than some of Pixar’s other works.

To give you an idea of how cheap this is it's about 70 rupees to 1 dollar

After the movie we went to a bar called Jazz Upstairs and listened to some live Bluegrass music, which was really cool. I got to meet another girl doing a Passage program that has been here for about a month. Megan and Ruth were also there, and I had a great time hanging with them. At around midnight we left the bar, and I passed out in the hotel after watching the Britney Spears episode of Glee. Some things never change, I guess. I’m excited to move into my homestay tomorrow and get to go to the NGO where I’ll be interning.