Tuesday, June 24, 2008

No more UN

I talked to Robel for quite awhile the other day about International organizations and their effectiveness against global problems like poverty, or hunger, or other "development issues."

I don't really know what to make of it. This afternoon I had a meeting with an INGO who specializes in water quality and sanitation. Peace corps-like providing rural marginalized communities with access to water and education about basic health issues. This meeting followed close on the heels of another meeting with one of Nepal's government ministries, their Ministry of Health and Population's Health Research Council. Yesterday I met with a woman who works as a professor / researcher for Nepal's Institute of Medicine. So, in the past 24 hours I have talked to people from 3 sectors of international development - and it would seem that these three sectors together could solve any international problem, right?

I don't know. That sounds awfully idealistic, and not really what I was trying to say at all.

Robel's point was that he rarely admits what he is doing in Nepal when he meets people. I asked why, I mean, I think the UN is the shit. He shook his head, "no mon, no" (he looks and talks like Bob Marley, seriously). He said when you are out of America or Europe (basically the "developed countries") never admit if you are working for an international organization, or any non-profit in general. Again, why? "Because they don't do shit mon. Not really. Naathing. And the people know it."

Well hell.

I walked a couple of miles back to BNMT from this water policy group this afternoon. Strikes are in full force, so no cars. Or, I didn't want to ride in one because of the dangers of rocks or guns fired at them. My walk went past the American Embassy - you remember my thoughts on that one - as well as the Japanese embassy, the Indian Embassy, and one of the UN office buildings. So, tons of official cars zooming around.

(and they are all WAY nicer than the average car here - but in prospective really bad cars at home)

Since we had that conversation, I have noticed that Robel is right about people not admitting what they do, if indeed they work for any non-profit, INGOs especially. He is also right about the people thinking INGOs are useless. If I introduce myself as a student people react very differently than if I introduce myself as "working for an INGO." Even Arya's fellow caste members who think themselves way above the development sector react very favorably if I say "student" as opposed to "INGO." So, the people must know it.


View of KTM exactly how it looks, I took this early in the morning before the city woke up.


I don't know what this means, but I guess it points to something being very wrong with the application of the international development sector. And, I really hope this doesn't offend anyone, that was not my intention. I only meant to speculate.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Work

I just realized I have told you lots about hanging out, but not much about actually working, what I'm actually here to do. I will just give you a little bit, because talking about it becomes overwhelming.

I think the main thing I need to do is go back to Biratnagar and visit a few more program districts. What I have gathered from lots of sources kind of says that yes, there are lots of broad adaptations that you can apply regionally, but if I really want to submit an actual, workable, plan it needs to be very site-specific.

I have talked to people from a few organizations, but they have been sort of dead ends. This afternoon A lady from the Institute of Medicine of Tribhuvan University (the big college here) is meeting me in my hotel. - She's nice to do this, there has been an ongiong "bandha" or stike for the past few weeks... pretty much since I got here. Travelling around the valley poses a problem unless you have a motorcycle. Striking men everywhere throw rocks at cars who dare to drive on the roads.

Anyways, she should be super helpful. Tomorrow I am going to try to get across the valley to talk to a man from the Nepal Health Research Council, which is part of the Government Health and Population Ministry, then later in the day a man from the Government Department of Epidemiology. Wednesday or Thursday I will meet with another man from World Health Organization- Nepal, Department of Environmental Health.

I want to wait to talk to INGOs who focus on either climate change, or health because I do not want to be that specific yet. So, for now, broad organizations. Actually though, because this is such a big issue here, in the past few years different people and organizations in this field have been having lots of conferences about climate change and / or health. What I mean is that it's great for this part of the world that people are starting to look at what's going on, because I think really soon a lot of people here are going to suffer from the effects of climate change. Already summer famine has started. The monsoon rain already comes too fast and too hard a to grow rice - the obvious food staple around here.

So, these people should get me somewhere, then maybe back to Biratnagar next week. I really don't want to go alone though. Maybe I can arrange to go when Vivek and Dr. Subedi go back for another Tuberculosis conference.

I realize some of this must sound ADD, but I have been thinking about it too much to write about it clearly I guess.


My "office" at BNMT. Third floor, sick view.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Monkeys, Models, and the "Fete de la Musique"

I was really sad Friday, I'm not sure why... I just got uncontrollably homesick. I think it may have had to do something with remembering weekends at home, or at Sewanee, and missing my Friday night friends. Anyways, bad situation turned great as soon as I left work. As John Ruzic told me, friends and a little booze can sometimes be the "Rathleen Remedy" for being sad.

Arya called exactly as I walked into my hotel, "Cathy Cathy I am coming to get you, ok ok." He is pretty bossy, but I've learned just to boss back. The International Festival this weekend, "Fete de la Musique," sponsored by a French organization an INGO, was pretty much a huge music festival in which all the proceedes went from the French INGO to charity. Everything from traditional Nepali music to Pink Floyd punk covers.

In true form, Arya wanted to see it all Friday night. He has become a good influence because he refuses to drink until later in the night, because "you have to enjoy the city and music during the evening without being pissed (drunk). Get pissed after dark" We saw a little bit of a more traditional number, then back to his restaurant for dinner with some of his family, then ended up spending most of the night at "Tamas" listening to a Nepali techno DJ.


Techno at Tamas



(Again, more pics on Picasa web)


-Have I told you how both Vivek and Arya are in the royal family? Their "caste" is the Shahs, or late kings of Nepal, the dynasty ending the day after I got here - when the Maoists ousted the King from the Royal Palace. So these "family times" Arya insists that I sit in on are quite interesting. His house is ridiculous lavish for Nepal, and there are pics of him and the Crowned Prince in the jungle hunting tigers and stuff together.... Crazy.-

Anyways, he has a younger girl cousin who is really fun, party girl, who we met at Tamas. Then, later back to his restaurant to watch the Croatia / Turkey game on a huge projector they set up.

The next day, I planned to work but ended up going to Durbar Marg (King's Way) early in the afternoon for the big Fete de la Musique street festival with Vivek, Arya, Kiman, and some other kids. This was awesome. Again, kids are the same everywhere. They all definitely like to rock out with their friends.


Durbar Marg with Vivek, Arya and Kiman. Check out the helmets, they all ride motorcycles. Way fun.




Arya. Also, everyone here is ridiculously short. Sucks, Ruth.


- One other thing I do not think I have mentioned yet is just how much I stick out here, way more than a sore thumb, like an enormous, multiple-fractured thumb. It was really evident at this festival with me, and about 600 Nepali people. This is the "off-season" due to the monsoon, so there are almost no westerners (up from the few there are in other seasons). Seriously. They call me, and other white people, "monkey" because apparently when explorers first came to Nepal, the only other animals Nepalis had seen with white hair were monkeys. Actually, they keep talking about my visit to my "cousins" at Swyambunath last weekend (you know, the "Monkey Temple.")

I have never before felt how people with different skin colors in America must feel. Really, to be uncontrollably and irreversibly marked, everywhere, all the time, subject to immediate judgment. I am solemnly pledging to myself to try to never make those judgments again.. And I thought I was a pretty liberal, accepting person before. In changing positions, I see now that no matter what I thought, I really was not. Think about it, ok if a person with a different color skin walked in to go to dinner with one of your friends, you immediately categorize even little things, like their hair color, and texture, and the way they wear their hair. How they speak. How they greet you. How they sit down. How they talk to your friend. How they order food. How they eat their food. How they answer your questions.

In many ways these judgments are not intended to be malicious, I mean I do not think they were in my case, or when I was the one making them. But malicious or not, they are judgments that people make. Point being, I really am going to try to stop, because it sucks being on the other side.

Arya's pic from the stage. Look at all the brown skin and black hair. See what I mean?


Sunday, I was working on another project for Vivek - they needed help with the English - when Robel, the UN photographer from Eritrea, called. I forgot I had promised this Russian girl I would model for her clothes line she is exporting from KTM. Oops. God, I REALLY did not want to do this as soon as I remembered. At the time I had thought that it was something you say in passing, like "yeaaa, suuure, I'll do it," but don't really think they are going to take you up on it. WRONG. So, I went with her, Robel, some other Nepali guys, another girl from Finland, and Arya tagged along to carry my stuff (and he and Robel are best buddies).

I really have no desire to be a model. EVER. I don't like the camera. Oh well, it was funny and now it's over with. We went to the roof of this house right outside of Thamel and I had to put on all these jackets and pose funny ways. I just realized this could sound sketchy, but I trust Arya and Robel - who shot the pics. This girl really just needed a person. I wore all my regular clothes, and just put different jackets over them. I'll post a pic Arya took while it was going on.


Laughing about this with Robel.

Friday, June 20, 2008

I cannot write today. I feel really sad, I don't really know why. The weather is pretty bad, but clearing up. It's Friday and I think there is some international festival here this weekend.

I don't know what I am going to do. I really just want to talk to a westerner I think... oh well. I am homesick.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Pics, more in Picasa web



Monkeys at Swyambunath, "monkey temple." They run around free and have quite the relationship with the buddhist monks.



Tibetan prayer flags, you can see Swyambunath's height above the valley. It's an ancient place of worship, supposedly over 3000 years.



View of Kathmandu valley from Swambunath. Pretty dramatic monsoon working across the still sunny valley. I got drenched about 30 minutes later, and had used all my rupees on a necklace so I ran out of rupees to get a cab home. Took the "public transportation" through the monsoon... interesting.



At Bhaka Nadi with Rabindra.. the field officer / translator / facilitator from BNMT. This is the river that floods and covers the whole village with Himalayan sedimentation. You can see all the river rocks are metamorphic washed down from the mountains, even though the bedrock here is purely sedimentary. Cool. And, I don't think I've ever looked that good in my whole life. Very long day.



Hasandha farm pond. This was basically as close as I came to taking pictures of the area, no pictures with people I felt potentially disrespectful



Thamel, Aryo in one of his many restaurants. Not happy with my pictures. "pssh cathy why you do that? Give me that camera." He's a very good friend, even though super bossy.



Sunset from my balcony



"Freak Street" in Thamel, big hippy draw in the 70s

Biratnagar

Well, I'm finally back from Biratnagar. Very wild ride. It is almost too overwhelming to begin to separate and categorize what happened.

I have tons of photos to upload, from sick temples, and rural RURAL nepal, but I can't export photos from iphoto to picasa anymore. Do you have any ideas? Is there some other way? AND when I try to do it takes almost an hour for a single photo. What is wrong?

Anyways, I left for Biratnagar pretty down about leaving Kathmandu, I've become quite attached to this place. I got so lost in their airport. The domestic terminal is apparently about a mile away from the international terminal (as with all here using "terminal" very loosely).

The hotel we stayed in way something akin to the New York subway station, if you can imagine - smells and all. The temperature was well over 110 while I was there, except for the day the monsoon hit full force and flooded the town. No airconditioning, and a fan that worked about 30 minutes out of the day. No electricity. Lizards all over the walls. Mold everywhere. We were about 2 miles from the Indian border, and I think I may be about one of 6 westerners to ever visit Biratnagar. The mosquitoes were about the size of half my thumb, (this is in the Terai which is highly endemic for malaria and Japanese encephilitis) and I forgot my mosquito net, and raincoat. Oh, and I did not bring any long pants or long sleeve shirts to protect from mosquitoes because I only thought about the heat. oh, and I forgot my water filter. oh, and I messed up my encephilits series.

So, all that being said, the Biratnagar trip was one of the best experiences of my life. The poverty strikes me afresh each time I face it, but this was different again. I went about 3 hours away one day - this is 2 hours on "pavement" and one hour on a dirt road, away from the already VERY rural Biratnagar. We had community empowerment sessions with the Hasandha Village Development Committee. I mean, I sat and listened and understood very little, I had couple of translators who are field officer and health correspondents for BNMT who were awesome.

I wanted to go see this river that is subject to torrential floods from Himalayan sedimentation and outwash plain. We went, and met up with another kid / man/ who really wanted to go to his home and have some sort of afternoon treat. (I was like, oh GOD this is not going to be good I am going to be so sick) Rather than pass out from dehydration, I had to drink the local water from their contaminated wells... obviously water bottles or filters have NEVER seen this part of the world. I mean these people have absolutely nothing. But, it was awesome. They literally live exactly like we do. I mean, they are people, they talk about the same things, do the same things, interact the same way, even though they live on dirt floors and have seen about three cars in their whole lives. They totally don't have plastic, or phone wires, or raincoats, or tennis shoes. Their homes were in worse condition than my treehouse growing up. They were so completely normal though. We ate mangoes and yogurt stuff with squash and water (I was really thinking I was going to become very ill).

It was cool.

My presentation was awesome. Both the people from BNMT Kathmandu and BNMT Biratnangar are really excited about this work. They are right, that if this can be pulled off, it will put them on the forefront cutting edge of this issue in Nepal. Dr. Subedi is thrilled about this, and has become a huge advocate.

I had another interview today with the Environmental and Public Health Organization in Nepal. INGO from Italy. The CEO was a little bit of a dead end, but I think I am going to the Epidemiology and Disease Control office of the Nepal Ministry tomorrow. Should be exciting.

The night-life in Biratnagar was obviously non-existent, but Vivek was there. He knew I really can't stomach the food somteimes, so we had dinners of Kit-Kat bars and Nepalese whisky.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Petrol Riots

I don't have much time to write, I just finished my presentation and got my plane ticket to take to Biratnagar tomorrow...

The presentation is pretty decent, I am just worried about the audience. I mean it is difficult to make a presentation without knowing basically anything about the audience.

I went to Swyambunath Sunday, which is a really famous temple on the highest hill overlooking the valley. It has tons of monkeys all around it. I have lots of awesome pictures, but I forgot my camera cord, so I will have to wait to download them until next Monday when I get back to work. Maybe I could do it in Biratnagar?

Anyways, next time I will have news from the Terai!


OH- one more thing though, I woke up this morning and today the petroleum prices rose from 80 to 100 rupees (esentially a US dollar, but really cheap because it's subsidized by the government - which is currently falling apart) There were road blocks all over Kathmandu with men protesting the fuel prices this morning. They were burning tires in all the roads, throwing stones through the windows of any cars that got on the road, and causing tons of destruction to the "medians" (I use that term very loosely- remember the non-existant traffic regulations)

The Maoists were there with their big red flags and loud speakers yelling communist mantras. Tons of soldiers in full on camo (which is blue here) with night rods and those big fiberglass shields and helmets and machine guns etc. It was quite exciting. This place is seriously Les Miserables style right now.

Anyways, I went with Aryo down to see the protesters. We didn't get in it, but it was right by my guest house, so easy to watch. Again, he knows everyone, so I got to talk to the police/soldier in charge of the whole Thamel, Lainchour, Lazimpat area. She was a woman which rocked, but super intimidating. She told us briefly about the petrol queue and the rioting since dawn, until more fighting broke out down the road and she had to go.

I know this sounds super dangers, but I promise I would never have gone alone (I realize that probably still doesn't sound assuring, but you have to be here)

It's really cool to see a revolution in action.

The woman soldier had a good point though. She said, she didn't know why these people and the Maoists before them try to wreak havoc, and end up doing it on the infrastructure, which throws the country backwards. I don't know what to make of it, not my revolution, but I though it was interesting.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Star-Struck

Saturday night was by far the coolest night of my entire life. Hands down.

I was planning to do just sit on my balcony and read, because I was pretty exhausted. Aryo - "Prince" boy - and another guy came by later in the afternoon to say hello, and convinced me to have a beer with them- just for a minute. Robul- this other guy - is in his early thirties and looks like Bob Marley plus Malcolm X.

Robul is actually an Eritrean photographer employed by the UN to document the Nepalese elections (this past April), disarmament of the Maoists, and ousting of King Gayendra and the last of the Nepalese monarchy. He stays in Nepal for about a year and then moves on, he's covered Ethiopia, Eritrea, Australia, Libya, Somalia, and on and on. He is bidding to go to Iraq around the same time I leave for home.

We went to hang out on the porch of his flat in Thamel, and his friend came over, an Australian-born woman in her 40s, who also works for the UNIM (I think United Nations Instance Monitoring) doing radio programs. She also has worked in every corner of the world doing god knows what. These people are absolutely facsinating.

Listening to them talk (with only candles because the electricity was out- as always in Kathmandu) was very humbling. The two of them with Aryo -who is Nepalese, but has also lived Australia and China for decades, was incredible. I can't begin to describe how it felt to be on this porch in downtown Nepal with people from Kathmandu, Eritrea, Australia (and I guess Texas) who work for the UN, have lived all over the world, have seen and lived in places we only hear of through National Geographic. And the cool thing was, they acted totally normal, I mean SO nice and interested in everyone else. They were all super attentive to each other (kind of a big thing here) and just easy going, happy to be there, even though none of them really knew each other- and definitely didn't know me. And the things they talked about, like we would talk about the weather... I mean they spoke easily about news leaks in disarmament plans, and the Maoists stealing keys to military lockers, and the Chinese cultural contingent in Ethiopia, and how that impacted revolution in Kenya.


I felt so so young.


But they talked in such a personal manner about these, what is for me "text book subjects." They had ownership of the conversation because that is where they lived and saw and felt and breathed. Like when we speak of the new construction on the science hall in Sewanee (new classroom additions), I have ownership of it because I have lived and breathed and seen and smelled all the stages of that construction. I have actually seen the impact of that on the people of Sewanee, and felt the impact on myself. I knew Sewanee before the construction, and I will know Sewanee after the construction.

That was the way they were able to talk about "foreign policy" "genocide" "religious war" "taliban" "de- colonization" "globalization" "living in the global south" (global south being developing world) and on and on.



I felt star-struck. All I wanted to do was listen to them talk forever.



But, the fun didn't stop there. We left Robul's flat and went to a really small bar with a funk-jazz band downstairs and the European soccer cup game (don't know) upstairs. Again, ridiculous nationalities everywhere. All these people were from 24-34, super hip young kids from Switzerland, Jamaica, UK, Venezuela, and on and on talking about soccer, the UN, King Gayendra, the latest dope, whatever.



Again.. I didn't think it could get any better and it did. I had kept on begging to go home, because I was trying to "stick to my original plan" of reading Chronicles of Narnia -alone- on my balcony. Thankfully, in retrospect, Aryo basically told me to shut the **** up, stop being American, and have some fun.

So, we went to another bar - absolutely the coolest few hours of my life. This bar was all outside in a big garden with a river running through it, and crazy fountains and stuff everywhere. They had a really big live band set up, a really funky number from Australia and New Zealand. I really liked the music, sounded more like a jammy scene I was used to rather than the Hindi techno that is going on everywhere. The bar tenders were Nepalese, the DJ was from Gabon, two beautiful ladies from Phillipines, an older man from Granada (we spoke spanish and I felt so cultured after not knowing a thing in nepalese) Robul from Eritrea, two women from France, one lady from Kenya and on and on... and those were only the people I met...

It was so cool to see the Filipinos dancing their native Hawaiian-looking hippy dances to the New Zealand funk, right beside the Kenyan ladies' native dance with all the arms and turning - again to the New Zealand funk.

And all of these people were doing SUCH cool things in Kathmandu and Nepal- mission work, sustainable development, the British Examiner, integrated English for elementary education, United Nations monitoring, Morroccan Ambassador.... and on and on.....

Again I was star-struck.



I didn't dare to take any pictures, So, no pics to post from that night, but maybe soon.

Prince of Thamel

I haven't posted in awhile because it was our weekend. Internet is very hard to find / most places still use dial-up/ in Kathmandu when I am not at work.

Anyways, Friday I went out with a guy from work, the "James Dean" sort of one. He's pretty awesome, he wears a gold chain, rhinestone studs in both ears, streaks his gelled hair with orange dye, and drives a motorcycle (actually most people here do- they are "motorbikes" which seem to be a mix between a motorcycle and a mo-ped.) "V" is his name.

One of his best friends is who they call the "Prince of Thamel." (Thamel being the happening, night-lifey tourist district) Together, these two with another man called "Santos" run the tourism board for Thamel, Lainchour, Lazimpat, etc. So, apparently - it took awhile to figure this out- but they pretty much mob-style run Thamel, but in a philanthropic way. I know that seems like an oxymoron, but what I mean is that these boys (in their early thirties) are way above the police in the social hierarchy. They do the law-enforcing, or rather they have say as to what cases the law can be enforced. But at the same time, they do it in a manner that aims to mobilize the "raggy" nepalese (their name not mine) to get jobs, find houses, just get off the streets in general etc. Not getting them in trouble for crime that is really based on starvation... I don't really know how to explain it. It seems to be a complicated situation that's way over my head- especially because I am not Nepalese. A Nepalese who went to Sewanee once described Nepal bureaucracy as "one of those ugly creatures in A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." I like that image...

Anyways, point being, these are pretty awesome buddies to have around. We went to a few bars, and it was pretty fun. I rode in my first rickshaw, which is the Kathmandu version of the Horse and Buggy in Central Park. Actually that's helarious. Google image search "rickshaw nepal". They are pretty filthy little bikes driven by a man in front with a tiny seat on the back over 2 wheels where two people can fit. I guess with an open mind they could be quite romantic.... Usually they have some sort of very dingy fake flowers hanging from the front, and old strings of beads hanging from the back. Actually I am going to take a photo and post it soon. They are awesome.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Southern Cooking in Kathmandu

After Janish's family hosting so many times, Mrs. Irwin (from Birmingham) decided to cook a Southern dinner for them. Mashed potatoes, ham (for those who could eat pork), black-eyed peas, cornbread, creamed corn, grits, fried okra, margaritas and mint julips. I went to hopefully help a little- even though all I have really done with any of those items is "stir."

Anyways, those poor Nepalese people, I think they absolutely hated the food. Compared to their normal cuisine, ours seems very bland and starchy maybe? And the margaritas, oh god. BD made them with almost pure sugar and triple sec. SO sweet, horribly sweet. It's their culture to finish whatever is put in front of them, or you seriously offend the cook. They tried so hard to force it down with a smile for the sake of Mrs. Irwin.

By the time the meal was over, Mrs. Irwin had had about 3 of these triple sec concoctions and was getting a bit loopy, so what better time to save the party with a handle of Jim Beam? (yes, we found Jim Beam!) I put "mint julips" on the BAC map last night. After a few rounds, of almost pure bourbon (Nepalese surprisingly love them some whisky) they were quoting Sweet Home Alabama lyrics.


Mrs. Irwin trying to figure out how to cook these dishes with no oven, a 2-eyed stove, little milk, and home-made corn meal.




We tried to help and "mashed the potatoes" with our hands.


Mitgha loved three things: the camera, the peace sign and that scarf I was wearing. She speaks perfect English, which was exciting for me.




Teaching Tigyna how to dance ballet.

Tie-Dye

Yesterday evening I went to dinner with a Newari family. And I was wrong before, the Newars are not only musicians or artists, they are the artisans of the entire Kathmandu valley.

The night before that, Wednesday night, after my laundry debacle I decided to walk into Thamel to just buy a skirt I could wear to work. Bd and Janish called while I was shopping and insisted on coming to take me back to Janish's house for dinner.

I didn't realize at the time that this "dinner" was part of the Newari ritual in which they reaffirm themselves to Buddha (Newars were the original inhabitors of the Kathmandu valley. They are an ethnic group that I can't tell the difference, but apparently to other Nepalese they are as "different" as one of our racial groups. Anyways, so this Newar family practices a mix of both Buddhism and Hinduism in this predominantly Hindu country)

So, I sat down and immediately the head of the family and his wife came over with tikka (red rice-based mix that Hindus wear on their foreheads), and the Buddhist prayer scarves and flower bouquets - I forgot the Newar names for these. So, the pics look funny with the prayer scarves, and that damn tie-dye t-shirt I was wearing -because I thought I was heading back to the hotel after shopping- and tikka. Cute.






Mom specifically said, "Please tell me you are not going to work the first day wearing jeans and that tie-dye t-shirt." I guess religious ceremonies qualify as not tie-dye appropriate also.



Thursday, June 5, 2008

Laundry

I had my first adventure with laundry. Nepal does not have laundry mats where you can wash your own clothes like the US. My hotel does have a laundry service, but I thought, seriously, how hard can it be to wash clothes by hand?

So, I put all my dirty clothes in a big mop bucket in the shower, and threw in some laundry soap -brought from home- then hung up a clothes line in my room, and gingerly stirred the laundry. It thought, seriously this is so easy! I don't know what people complain about.

Well, when I finally thought they had "soaked" long enough I tried to rinse them out, making a HUGE mess. In the spirit of perseverance, I thought, fine. I will make it work.. So, I put on a swimsuit and just went at it. I have never felt so sorry for the rinse cycle in my entire life!! The only reason my clothes may smell a little clean is that they are still COVERED in soap.

Next time, laundry service.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Pictures

I don't know how to upload pictures to a blog, so here is the link to the web album. I hope this works. And, most of them have captions to explain a little. Tell me what you think!


http://picasaweb.google.com/kpresleygrateful/NewAlbum06042008

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

OBAMA!!!!

OH AND OBAMA JUST WON THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDACY!!! SICK!!!

I have been prancing around the office telling everyone, and poor things, they are so nice but don't really care. They just nod their heads and smile and say, "Ok, Ok, tixcha tixcha." "Congratulations, Ok, Ok."

YES!!!!!!

Caretakers and Gurkhas

After work yesterday, I was supposed to meet my American friend from Alabama and his mother at their hotel to then go to a traditional Newari dinner. They are very good family friends with a kid from Nepal who was living in the states, but finally convinced the Alabamans to visit his homeland for a few weeks. Newari is one of the castes in Nepal- I think it focuses on something to do with music? Brahmen is the priestly caste, and Shah is the caste of royal blood, Newari is the music, or dance caste? Maybe something about the worship?

Anyways, Janish, the Newari boy, really wanted us to come enjoy a traditional Newari dinner complete with flutes, rice beer, etc. I met the Alabamans at their hotel (conveniently only a 5 minute walk from my new location). We sat down to have a cup of tea first - cups of tea are prerequisites to everything here- and I could not even keep the tea down. When Janish arrived to pick us up, I begged just to go back to the guest house, I felt terrible.

10 minutes after they dropped me off, as I was sprawling in bed in lots of pain, they were knocking at my door. Janish and BD from Alabama had bought a huge stand-up fan to drown out the noise from the streets and keep the room cool, so I would sleep better during the night while I was sick. SO ridiculously nice. I am beginning to think that is just the way things operate around here though. BD's mom called this morning to make sure I was not feeling sick alone, without fluids or a mother "to keep an eye on me." - heartachingly kind.

So, after lots of antibiotics and other medicine - products of thoughtful Dad and Uncle Steve - I am at work again, and feel lots better. I have been able to keep down a simple breakfast of toast and coffee from the hotel cafe. Actually, I am at work, and just looked at the time. I have to go to start working on this project before it piles up and I am in Biratnagar with nothing but blonde hair!!

Oh, and apparently I will have to speak REALLY slow - already a big problem for me during public speaking - because no one understands the American accent. Way too bourgeousie after the British accent.

That reminds me of something else, I told Dad this morning, Nepal was never colonized by any foreign power. The Gurkhas, or warriors from the hills defeated the British during their conquest of India. Presumably one of the only foreign entities to do so during the great period of British colonization. Pity we don't learn about that much in school. I wish I was a Gurkha.

Biratnagar

Moving into the new hotel proved pretty painless, besides the fact that it was so early in the morning. This hotel, actually called a "guest house," hosts kids entering into the British equivalent of the Peace Corps in Nepal, before they move on to their rural programme districts. There are quite a few young adults, although this time in Nepal, before the monsoon hits, is not exactly tourist season, so westerners are few and far between.

Even though I felt terrible, I worked for a good while yesterday, trying to finish the outline for my project. I am approaching the project somewhat like a giant research paper. So, first an outline, then further literature research, followed by case specific interviews (from both educated and uneducated people), and then a plan of action for this organization based around field and literature evidence. When I finally felt AWFUL in the afternoon, I took what I had to Dr. Subedi to examine. He actually liked it so much, he asked me to give a 30 minute presentation in Biratnagar next week at the big Nepal Tuberculosis conference. God. I really don't know if I can do thirty minutes.

So, Biratnagar is in the far eastern Terai (lower Indian plain) of Nepal. Temperatures in the summer remain well over 100 degrees. As the second largest city in Nepal, the BNMT uses Biratnagar as a springboard to reach impoverished communities in the Terai - I think something like 80 percent of the Nepalese population lives in the Terai, hence the area constitues a main BNMT target.

After the TB conference (and this "speech") Dr. Subedi suggested that I stay a few extra days in the Terai and travel to several of their "programme districts" to interview village elders and gather information about climate change as perceived by those it directly affects. In the interest of safety, I will have one of the staff members of the BNMT with me as a travel companion and also to serve as a translator (still working on the Nepali- but it's coming SLOWLY).

Upon returning to Kathmandu, I will set up interviews with employees from several national and international NGOs, GOs, and INGOs to understand perceptions on the effects of climate change from professional perspectives. When all this is finished Dr. Subedi wants a plan that outlines "Health Adaptation to the Effects of Climate Change." whew, lots of work coming up.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Sick

On a less sardonic note than the previous post, I went to work early this morning and by 1, in true Nepalese fashion, I skipped out to explore some of the city.. Also, they had not yet set up the internet in my "office," so I was having some trouble with research anyways. I got a little lost, and wound up in a sort of dicey situation. I was supposed to call Jitske's buddy who lives in a really cheap guest house to ask if he would take me by, and show me his room - to see if I could potentially stay there. The cell phone the BNMT had given me wasn't working, so I decided I would find the damn place myself. Needless to say, I would up very lost a long way from home, wearing terrible walking shoes. I ended up introducing myself to a lovely British ex-pat and her son from Boise/ China who directed me to a hospital with directions.

Long story short, I found Kors (the boy staying in this guest house) and he was extremely helpful in getting me a room. This guest house is immensely less expensive than my hotel, and I really like it much much more. It is between Lazimpat and Thamel in an area called Lanichou which in Nepali sounds like "lunch hour." I move in tomorrow morning before work.

Thus far, I have poo-pooed Thamel as a stupid tourist destination. Thamel is the area in Kathmandu that supposedly caters to tourists, selling North Face jackets, ready-made Tibetan rugs, and Indian turquoise. In the spirit of exploration, I left Kors and the guest house and decided to give Thamel a go. Excellent choice. Thamel is where it's AT in Kathmandu. - I mean I only walked around for a few hours, but that is what I decided.

Explain more later- I made a few poor meal decisions today that I shouldn't have and now I think I'm getting sick... Damnit. I have to watch the meat here!!!

Also, had some Nepalese homemade liquor from a strange man in a corner store where I stopped to buy a beer and crackers for dinner. It tastes dangerously like tequila plus whiskey. Very strange. Apparently his mother brews it with mandarins or something. I think they could still learn a thing or two from Tennessee moonshine.

Definitely getting real sick real fast.

'Merica

So, did you know about the American Embassy in Nepal? Little Nepal whose average GDP is about 256$/year, a country about the size of Alabama, has a 75 million dollar state-of-the-art American Embassy. Beautiful, don't we love our cowboys. Protectin' us from all those craaazy intimidating Nepalese with pop-guns loaded with bananas and rice. Oh good.

It was built a few years ago in a super-covert operation in which Turkish people were imported, built one part of the facility, then exported before they knew too much. I know that Nepal is close to Pakistan and other "dangerous areas," but if you don't want people to pay attention to you, don't attract attention with a multi-million dollar facility. It begs the question, what are you hiding behind all that security and money?

Anyways, behind this all is the fact that Nepal is located strategically between India and China, two up-and-coming industrial giants. Still, it seems against all "good christian values" to build this huge facility in the middle of a destitute country. Literally, lepers, beggars, men without eyes or legs sit next to women shrunken from malnutrition as they nurse babies with flies in their eyes and mouths. It is like a city about to either explode into chaos, or implode from immense poverty. No law enforcement in Kathmandu. No sanitary system in Kathmandu- raw sewage runs in the streets, big "nice" streets. No water in Kathmandu not contaminated with all forms of typhus, dengue fever, yellow fever, hepatitis (any letter) ..and on and on.

I do not claim to know what to do to solve the problem, but I don't think the answer skirts around spending millions of dollars in the faces of people with nothing. If you want to make people hate you, rub your success in their faces that they already can't pick up out of the dirt. Not only does this embassy have a massive compound of government offices, they have an even more imposing structure for "recreation." Heated olympic pools, soccer field, workout gym, McDonalds (the only one in Nepal) basketball court, 9-hole golf, arcade, etc.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Pokhara

While in Pokhara, I unwittingly fell prey to several cultural lessons. As a much smaller city than Kathmandu, Pokhara was less intimidating. Dr. Anil ownes a house near Amar Singh Chowke- "chowke" being the Nepali word for junction. (Really trying to learn)

First I should qualify this by defining a typical house in which nepalese people live. All streets are lined with these garage things that sell anything: traditional saris, vegetables and produce, goats, gowns, knock-off American items (my favorite is their version of Lay's brand sour cream and onion chips, it is "LAYS. American Style, Cream, and Onion").

Anyways, the people in Nepal live above these garages, but the buildings are almost all decrepid and putrid, by western standards and would have been demolished by the health department a decade ago. Actually in Pokhara though, some of these dwelling things date back 400 years. People are still living in them, selling the same things. The only apparent change is old Jimmy Buffet t-shirts have replaced more traditional wear. So, Dr. Anil grew up in one of these, but went to college, earned a PhD, bought the entire complex, gave it to neighbors, and built a house behind it, facing in the giant "himalyas."

I was able to have awesome conversations with his daughter-in-law about their caste-system, marriage, hindu religion, patriarchy, and Nepali lessons. To highlight, the caste system is still thriving in Nepal. Kamala (the girl) said her mother went to America and hated it because she could not believe women did their own "house work" without the "help." When a Nepali girl marries, -first of all the ceremony is days long and highly elaborate- the marriage is still arranged by parents as to who and when, although in most cases the male still has input as to when. Following, the girl leaves her family entirely, and can never again call them her "mother or father" because they have been replaced.

I have never seen such hospitality as the way these women serve the males and guests. They (women, but Nepalese as a whole) remain at a constant state of attention to how everyone feels, tired, thirsty, happy, etc.

Dr. Anil took me to several Hindu temples in Pokhara, one on a island in a legendary lake, Phewatal. You can stand on the island and look across to the hills and the himalayas but if you catch the time right, the water from Phewatal reflects the hills and the himalayas, making the landscape seem even more epic.

Sardhi (Dr. Anil's wife) is a gem of a woman, a very very happy person. She doesn't speak english, but went to great lengths to show me everything "american" that I might know to make me feel more at home. We went around to every "aaavvvvocath" (avocado) tree in their garden. She also had a traditional shalwar kamiz - or the dress of unmarried Hindu girls- made for me to match the necklace I've been wearing.

Mailai Pokhara ekdam raamru laagyo.
-
literally: To me Pokhara very pleasing I feel.
(I'm trying)

Himalayas

If you ever travel by vehicle from Kathmandu to Pokhara, sit on the right side of the car and just look. Much more amazing than the mountains are the communities that spring up beside the road, clinging to the steep walls of the inner Ceti Nadi. These farming communities live, like most people in developing countries, in abject and total poverty. But more amazing than any "noble savage" myth you might make of this, was the practicality with which they used the scape they were given. This region is one of the most productive in Nepal, but without the benefit of flat land with rich soil as the case with the people farming in lowland Terai.

The central belt of Nepal was humorously named "the hills" as a midpoint between the Indian plain, or Terai, and the upper mountain belt, or Himal. "The hills" or pahad in Nepali are giant blocks of earth that shoulder upwards while jungle-like flora creep up their steep sides. I assume that they must look something like the mountains in British Columbia, enormous and green. They are tall enough to broach tree-line, but the Himalayas just miles north catch moisture moving upward from the Indian ocean and repel it back to these "hills" making them fabulously lush even at high altitudes.

I saw the Himalayas for the first time a few days ago walking around Pokhara with Dr. Anil and his family. It was raining, and at first I kept wondering why the clouds were so black in come places... but this was rock from the Annapurna massif in the distance. The height of these mountains are like absolutely nothing I have ever seen. As the rainclouds gapped for a brief moment, you could see the upper peaks in full daylight, above the clouds and storm, more than 5 verticle miles in the sky.

The next morning I got up around 5 am to see the full range from the roof of Dr. Anil's house. I seriously have never imagined anything like these mountains. Every time I turned around I knew they would be there shining high above the "hills," but each time I was freshly taken aback at just how high above these hills the mountains rose. They easily double or triple the size of the enormous hills.