Old Kingdoms & Holy People

On Sunday my husband and I had a wonderful day. We ventured out and visited Patan Durbar Square, previously the Palace for the Kingdom of Patan (in Kathmandu there used to be 3 kingdoms). Beautiful architecture and a little bit of peace despite the beggers and tourists running around like mice beind their guides.

We were glad to discover a hidden oasis behind all the kaos which was a small cafe/restaurant hidden behind the 2nd palace surrounded by beautiful gardens...I do believe this was the best find by my husband and I since our 2 months living in Nepal. We actually had a normal meal and felt incredibly satisfied afterwards. So satisfied we barely batted an eyelid to the 2 Nepali women shouting and pushing each other - fighting over beaded necklaces or something!
A downer to the day was getting ripped off by a 'holy man'. We paid him $5 to take 2 pictures with him!!! I could put on his outfit and say I was holy too...

Climbing mountains to high villages

On Friday I finally got to get out of the office and venture into the wild! We went and visited a rural village observe a women's cooperative meeting. I thought we were observing, but then I ended up being a special guest all the way from 'Australia', crowned with flowers and given a special seat. I need to somehow tell these villagers that I am learning just like them!

From recent posts...

Here are some pictures I have been meaning to post. Up first is the man and his bike/wheelchair thing that I wrote my first post on, and then my puppy friend who I seem to see around so often!! He loves waiting with me for work in the mornings...

The most exciting part of my day is...

the 5-15mins I spend waiting by the side of the road, waiting to be picked up for work. If I was left waiting for so long back home in Australia, I would probably be incredibly frustrated. But this morning I was loving it! I wish the work car was always late! So much happens, and here is a quick list of everything that went down this morning...

• firstly I saw the guy who rides in the wheelchair/bicycle thing, he had already dropped his son off at school...
• then I watched the guys at the motorbike repair shop...who were watching me...
  
• the sidewalk cleaner came by and wanted me to move so he could clean the scraps of rubbish in the dust (not sure why they bother!). He looked like a Sherpa, the types of people that live in the Everest region - probably came to Kathmandu with promises of a fantastic paying job...
• I watched all the 'white' people riding their bikes furiously to the Department for International Development in Nepal office. 5 of them were late...and 2 of them were wearing the exact same thing - khaki pants, blue button up shirt and a brown blazer!
• a massive truck went by that looked like it should've had animals in it (dead or alive), instead it was filled with chicken feathers - so I tried not to breathe in, i don't really feel like catching bird flu...
• I noticed that the British must be really patriotic, they put their flag on their vehicles and drive those old school landcruisers. they must think they are going on a safari or something...
• a mummy dog was searching for food for her baby puppy and was running from shop to shop to find scraps. the puppy was following her slowly trying to find food too. it was the same puppy that tried to come to work with me last week. he wandered down my alley, but the mum came back with some food but couldn't find him, then she sniffed him out and found him and made him follow her to feed him half a piece of bread...
• the korean man that lives in my building was waiting to be picked up too, he was probably thinking the same things about what we were seeing, just in korean...
• a young mum pulling her preschool aged son to school, like literally pulling because his tiny little legs couldn't keep up with her! he was only about 3 or 4 and fully dressed in a uniform with a cute beanie on his head...
• a man hammering wood, up on the third floor of a half constructed building. he was standing on bamboo scaffolding that looked like it would move when he moved...

wow i think thats enough for now, will add when i remember more. i will also add some pictures, i need to make you feel like you were there too!

Guilt. warning...this is pretty long!

Today I’m suffering from guilt. Well, its either guilt or utter confusion. Having been to some of the poorest countries in the world, you would think that I would know what to do when coming across a beggar. But yet yesterday, I was confronted with the same issue that I thought I could keep avoiding. Do I go ahead and give them money? Or do I stand by the principle of development work where it is better for them if we do not encourage begging? Hence not giving them any money?

When I was younger I remember being afraid of beggars. They would put their hands out in front of you, making sure they were in your way and then there was little me, clinging to my mother to make sure I wouldn’t get ‘pulled’ into their ‘world’. In the Philippines they were often very dark skinned, dirty, smelly and sitting on cardboard. It turns out that they don’t really differ between countries, or even through the years.

I knew she was there, I saw here while we were walking to the ATM, but I didn’t want to make eye contact or even acknowledge her because once I did I was putting myself in the awkward situation or either saying ‘sorry no money’ or realizing that I only had big notes and didn’t really want to part with them. My husband and I lined up like good citizens at the ATM only to find out that it was not working. We wondered what we were going to do next, and that’s when she swooped. She saw the opportunity of two foreigners standing still for more than a minute. She screwed up her face like she was in pain, wrapped her face up with her shawl and put out the tin bowl in front of us which had a 5 rupee note that she held onto with her thumb to make sure no one would snatch it. She didn’t really use words, more little noise in between pleads of “please”. I said we didn’t have any money, which was semi true. The money on me was $6, all we had until the ATM was working again which we had no idea how long it would be. My husband and I patted ourselves down looking for spare change but had none. She didn’t seem to take that as an excuse and persisted with her noises, until my husband dragged me a few meters away.

We decided to have a bite to eat with our $6 and sat in a nearby restaurant. That was when I saw about 5 or 6 beggars running around after foreigners with tin bowls. I thought it was weird that they were all out on a Sunday and also that I had never seen them before in the 2 months of living in the area. There were 3 teenage girls begging, dressed like the lady at the ATM. Except unlike the ATM lady, the girls still had their youthful happiness shining through, which didn't make them look so desperate. It looked like they were doing it more for the sheer thrill of the whole experience.

After all this, my husband saw me pull out a 5 rupee note to pay for our meal and this is the conversation that broke me...
"Oh you do have small change. Why didn't you give it to the lady?" My husband said.
And I replied, "I don't want to encourage begging. If they were so desperate they would want to make something of their lives that was long term...like a shop or something."
"But you don't know their situation?"
"But that lady looks able bodied, she could be working somewhere?"
"But you still don't know their situation, and why they are doing it."
Then I started my big spiel about development and if they are desperate we are there to help them help themselves etc...

Of course after this we had another encounter with this lady much to my dismay. On our way home I started to battle it out in my thoughts:
"gosh Beryl it wouldn't hurt to give like 2 or 5 rupees to them"
"but then if I give one lady 5 rupees, I'll end up giving all the beggars 5 rupees and there goes all my money!"
"those girls should've been in school. I'd rather pay for them to go to school for a whole year than only give them 5 rupees"

I do believe my husband is disappointed in me which makes me feel even more guilty! Anyway, this is what has completely confused me...I'm still left with no idea what to do...hopefully I'll figure it out while I'm here! At least I have 2 whole years to think about it...

More Pics

Just some random images that I have been meaning to upload! Shaka Laka Boom are a brand of instant noodles from India, and the top photo is of Lang Tang mountain which is about 7500m+ tall...we can see it when we grocery shop!

Not another Bandh!

Today the Indigenous Student Union are having a bandh. Not sure if anyone is really aware, but Nepal is known for its bandhs, also known as a strike. Whatever group of people for whatever reason, regardless of the day or time, will randomly protest about something they are passionate about and block roads for who knows how long. It is obviously a massive inconvenience and out in the rural areas it has caused problems with getting food supplies to very poor villages. In the Kathmandu Valley it just makes it real difficult to get to major parts of the city, making it take 1 hour to get to the airport which is less than 10kms away.
Anyways, bandhs are such a problem that some smart Nepali has created a website to keep track of it. Nepal Bandh even has a calendar which shows that this month there was only 1 day without any bandhs across the country. Gosh!

Life is Good

Life is good, and so is God! It has all hit me at how well we are living here in Nepal. It is definitely going to be hard to go back to civilised Australia. But today we payed our power bill which was a whole of $8 for last month - but I guess that's what you get when you only have on average 8 hours of power a day! Last month my lunch bill for work, including a few of Jimmy's meals as well, came to $12. Now that's eating every single working day! Crazy! And what inspired me to write about this was that we are lucky enough to have a landlord that has his own shop so we get discounted food making bread that cost 80 cents only cost 60 cents! Let me just add that he already gives us free cable tv and water! This has all made it so much easier to settle in over here!

Went to the Zoo on Saturday for Jimmy's birthday...there's a quick pic!

The mighty moon

The moon was so bright the other night. The light from it bathed our alley way and looked like the sun. Was awesome.

The Wind in my Eyes

I just got back from my first ride on the back of a motorbike here in Nepal.

When I got told we were going to the bank, I thought we would have the work van and driver! But no, instead I was presented with a small space of black leather on the back of a motorbike. I held on so tight! And we hadn't even left the compound yet. I was imagining the roads, getting weary about the pot holes and of course...the traffic! They weave in and out and too bad if someone is coming towards you! Either you or them had to stop first.

My eyes got watery, my palms sweaty and my hair went everywhere. I was so not prepared for this! But you know the traffic wasn't so bad, it turns out that since there is so many cars, trucks and bikes on the road you have to go slow anyway. If only we took the main road and not the back alleys where going fast was the thing to do!

Obviously I have made it back in one piece from this experience, and too bad my tough-girl facade was completely seen through. When I got back, one of the admin guys said, "when you left you were so scared, I could tell." Gee thanks, Arjun.

Motorbiking in crazy Kathmandu - not recommended for pregnant women or people with high blood pressure.

Before I forget...

So random...
Yesterday I was buying fruit at the market and this Nepali guy drives up in a nice car, dressed very well and was buying grapes. He pushed in me in the line, mainly because he was speaking Nepali.

But then he asked me if I was a teacher at some school. I was like "no I work for an INGO called ADRA, have you heard of it?"
He replied yes, but that he didn't know what it stood for.
I explained that it was the Adventist Development & Relief Agency.
He didn't know what Adventist was. So I told him it was Christian.
Then woosh! Change of subject..."Are you from the UK or US?" He asked.
"Ummm...I'm from Australia actually."
Then he said, "Oh, I've been to Australia when we scouted where to have the Sydney Olympic Games....I'm on the Nepali Olympic Committee...."

WOW! I did not expect that...I hope I witnessed to him well enough!

I just want to Understand

Lately I have been struggling with not being able to speak or understand Nepali. It has been so frustrating because all I want to do is bust out in it when someone asks me something.

I think the thing that triggered this was on the Holi Holiday last Tuesday (to celebrate colour by throwing water and coloured powder at each other) our landlord asked us to celebrate with them on the rooftop and gave us a tikka. We were going to join in, but the festivities were over in like 20 minutes, so by the time we went up to join in, everyone was gone! Then they came down and shared with us some milky rice porridge with sultanas, which Jimmy absolutely loves (he polished off the whole bowl). And during all this we couldn't even communicate how grateful we were that they even remembered us! I mean, all we are are tenants - not family. But their kindness was so grately appreciated and I wanted to tell them that in their own language instead of all this awkward smiling and nodding because they had no idea what we were saying.

So today I have gotten onto the receptionist to find us a language teacher. So hopefully soon I will at least be able to bargain at the vegetable market because I swear they charge me double just because I speak english!

Le Pics

Now that I've started this blog I can't get away from it! But here are some pictures from our recent work Team Building Workshop to tourist town, Pokhara. We climbed one mountain to see the sun wake up the sleeping Himalayas, then climbed another mountain as part of a treasure hunt...they sure know how to work us hard! Was so much fun getting to know my fellow work mates, I think we're more like family now!

Kathmandu, Nepal

Originally written 11/02/2009

Arriving in Kathmandu was surreal. Surprisingly the first thing that has stuck in my head since we arrived was the off loading of 3 or 4 brand new UN labeled Toyota Landcruiser’s from shipping crates. It made me feel like I was in a war zone.

I would have to say that Dhaka, Bangladesh was more intense - the people, the rubbish everywhere, the small streets, the unstable buildings, and did I mention the people?! They just stared at you with burning eyes! I've heard someone describe it before as a 'leering' look. But perhaps Bangladesh prepared me for Nepal. So far the worst thing is the pollution, preventing us from seeing the beautiful mountains surrounding Kathmandu. And the hocking and spitting! Have I ever heard such a horrible noise that just makes me want to dry reach?! Walking down the street is like a game of hopscotch, don't stand on the spit or you're out of the game!

Perhaps things haven’t really sunk in yet. The fact that I am living in Kathmandu, Nepal. However today I was reminded as to why I am here. Everyday I get picked up by an ADRA vehicle and while I was waiting today, I could see a man on a wheel chair/bicycle sort of thing coming towards me. The closer he got, I realized that there was a small boy next to him. The bicycle had a winding handle that enabled the man to turn the wheels. It was very slow and could've been faster walking. The man's legs were like jelly, it was like he had no muscle or bone in them, and they were tucked up on a part of the bike. The little boy must have been his son and had his dad's arm around him to keep him from falling off. The boy's backpack was hanging off the back, so they must have been going to school. Seeing this absolutely stole my heart. The determination of a father to take his child to school? The boy could've walked and gotten to school faster.

But it made me think of hope, and how despite peoples' predicaments, there is always hope. Whether it be to be healed, or trying to make the best of a situation. And I guess thats how I see development work. We're not coming in to just "give new legs", but to work with communities to see how we can help them, what is it that we can provide for them? If its nothing, then we will leave them alone. But if they just want some vegetable seeds, then we will help provide some.

I think I have become a bit obsessed with this man. I'm already thinking of waiting for the ADRA bus a bit later in hope that I can see them again tomorrow. We will see.