**This entry took me a whole three days to finish. I started placement on Monday, and it's been a fairly big change from our first week here. The first two days have been rough and frustrating. No matter how much I had prepared myself for all of it, to actually face it draws up emotions that I could never have fully prepared myself for. So that's part of the reason why this has taken so long, I simply feel drained after placement to write. Since this has taken me so long, it's also gotten longer; a lot of it is probably boring since it's more so that I don't forgot things I've done. :) **
My first week in Nepal began with a week long of orientation activities, which included everything from Nepali lessons each morning to lots of sightseeing and cultural activities.
We - the 6 July-starting volunteers - began each day with a three hour session of Nepali language lessons taught by our super-energetic guru (teacher), Anjala. I can't say that I've even come close to mastering the language, but I've acquired a couple of key phrases including "how much does it cost", "too expensive", and "please stop!" - the first two are very handy for bartering and the last one helps me get off the local transportation. Now and again I can even pick up a few Nepali words from other people's conversations! When we first began our lessons I was more than ready to become fluent by the end of my 6 weeks here, but by mid-week my enthusiasm had waned. It's pretty easy to get around with English in most of Kathmandu, and where I can't get around with English, my sign language skills definitely outshines my broken Nepali - and I imagine the former will be my "language" of choice once my placement starts!
Outside of language lessons we've also visited some of the temples/stupas in the Kathmandu area. Our first visit was to Kathmandu Durbar Square, which literally means royal palace square. Surrounding the royal palace are various Hindu temples - most notably the kama sutra temple. At Durbar Square is also where one can visit the living goddess, Kumari - but only outside the hours of 12-4pm. The story behind the Kumari is that she is a young girl chosen through an extensive mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durba. One of the crazier selection criterion is that she is placed within a dark temple with live animals being slaughtered, if she can withstand this environment without fear, she is capable to be the Kumari. She lives within the Kumari Chowk, which is a temple that she cannot leave other than during religious festivals, and holds the title until her first menstrual period. Our tour of Durbar Square ended around 4pm, so just in time to visit the Kumari. Her being a goddess and all, I was expecting perhaps a smile and a wave, or maybe even a blessing, but all we were greeted by was a very sour-faced 8 year old, who disappeared almost as quickly as she appeared. Disappointed as we were it was understandable since she was just 8 and probably very spoiled. There is apparently a human rights group speaking out against the Kumari being confined to the temple. Which I find ironic because there are so many street-children in Nepal without food or shelter, and yet this group is fighting for the freedom of a child who is likely very well taken care of in the confines of the temple...
Next we visited Swayambhu, aka monkey temple, which is located at the top of a hill that's directly accessible by climbing 365 steps (almost on a vertical incline at some points). Since there were so many steps to climb we woke up extra-early (5am) to make our way up before the heat and humidity kicked in. The unique thing about Swayambhu is that you can find both Buddhist stupas and Hindu temples at the top of the hill. From the top of the hill you can also get a lovely panoramic view of Kathmandu. Being monsoon season the fog tends to be heavier, clouding much of the scenery, but every once in awhile the sun will peak in to shine over patches of the city. Despite being dubbed the monkey temple, there actually very few monkeys around - I think I saw around 2! More could be found at Pashpatinah, a Hindu temple East of the city. Since only Hindus could enter Hindu temples we could only view the temple from afar. Before arriving at Pashpatinah I was told of cremations that occurred out in the open along the river, but I wasn't sure what to expect.... We found a spot along the river to view the cremations occurring across the river from us. Cremations happen throughout the day, each one taking about 4 hours. There is a bridge that divides the river, with one side for lower class cremations and the other for higher class/royal family cremations. The latter would b fancier, but there were none occurring that day. In contrast, on the lower class side there were line ups of family waiting to have loved one cremated. To a certain extent I was expecting a religious ceremony, but observing from afar it felt more like a ... marketplace (?). On top of the cremation there was a line of people (men) getting their head shaved as it is tradition for the males in the family to shave their head when someone dies. Then there is a religious reading done over the speaker-phone on what appeared to be a repetitive cycle. What really drove this marketplace feeling home was the Cornea Excision Centre right behind where the cremations were occurring. I completely understand how useful cornea transplants are, but to have that juxtaposed cremations just didn't feel right.
At Pashpatinah we also had the opportunity to chat with a yogi, Hindu monk. Once again my preconceptions were corrected. For some reason I didn't think we could talk to yogis - real ones that is, there are a whole lot of fake ones who are very willing to take pictures with you and tek-ka you for several hundred rupees! Here we also saw lots of monkeys - perhaps this should be dubbed the monkey temple - and pretty feisty ones as well. We had to be pretty quick with a photography skills; a couple of times the monkeys would hiss at us and the mothers would even come towards us to chase us away!
From Pashpatinah we headed to Budnath passing through windy roads and rice fields, very uncharacteristic of the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu. It was an absolute delight to walk through this area. (I'm working on picture posting, but the connection is just a tad slow :( ) Budnath is another Buddhist stupa, which is suppose to be one of the largest in the world. It is this massive circular structure, and if I had to choose I think this would be my favourite stupa thus far. Sitting on top of the stupa there is this mixed sense of isolation and peace as I stood above the business of the streets of Kathmandu.
The rest of the week was filled with a fairly eclectic range of activities. As mentioned in the previous entry I visited a Nepali jail - one thing I never though I'd do anywhere, let along Nepal! Friday, on a whim, we went to the movie theatre - a very nice theater at that - to catch a Bollywood flick called "Jhoom barbar Jhoom". As typical of Bollywood films it's a love story, with a modern music video flavour to it. The sheer cheesiness of these films make them hilarious to watch. I've definitely brought myself a copy of it (along with several other quality Bollywood films), so we'll definitely have to have Bollywood nights when I'm back!
The week was rounded off with sari night and Amazing Race.
Sari night was on Saturday where we got all dolled up in our saris (yes, I'm a proud owner of a lovely purple sari) and headed out for dinner at Nepali Chulo (kitchen) and dancing at Dhori.
Nepali Chulo is a pretty fancy Nepali restaurant where we were served traditional fare and treated to a cultural dance show in between courses. The dances were amazing. The dancers were dressed in different costumes for each dance and all were very colourful. In addition to the dancers, there was a peacock puppet that came out that greeted all the guest. Most of the guests gave him money, but we gave him a napkin - which he was equally happy to take in. The finale was performed by the infamous Yeti (Nepali equivalent of the Sasquatch) who did his own variety of choreography and scared a customer or two. Once the show was finished, we got up and did a bit of Nepali dancing ourselves with the dancers and live band. This had to be my favourite part of the week! Great food, great dancing, what more could you ask.
We rounded off the evening at the Dhori which is another bar/restaurant that had live Nepali folk music and dancing. Our time at the Dhori may have been better without the excessively drunken men on the dace floor, but it was an experience to hear Nepali music and see them dance - and by them I mean Nepali men! In Nepal men are much more affectionate with each other then in Western culture, thus it's completely normal for men to hold hands, hug, and, of course, dance with each other. At the Dhori it was solely Nepali men up on the dance floor while the Nepali women sat and watched. So a bunch of badeshi (foreigner) girls up there dancing caused lots of stares from the locals. On our way out, the women sitting even asked us to stay and dance some more!
Sunday, our last and final day of orientation, was capped off by a game of Amazing Race. Like the game show we had tasks we had to complete and navigate to different locations for the next clue. We were split into 3 teams of 2 and in pairs ran around Kathmandu taking pictures for the photo scavenger hunt (aka challenge 2), shopping for food in Nepali (challenge 3), and we even made our very own music video to Nepali folk music at one of the CD stores we came across. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of it (it took about 4 hours), but in retrospect it was a fantastic idea to get us to navigate Kathmandu on our own and put some of the Nepali we've learned into practical use.
Needless to say it was a jam-packed week. I've seen a lot, done a lot, and experienced a bit of the culture. In the next few weekends I'm really looking forward to get out of the Kathmandu and see what the rest of Nepal is like. Everyone keeps telling me how fresh the air is, so I'm definitely looking forward to getting away from all the smog and pollution.
My first week in Nepal began with a week long of orientation activities, which included everything from Nepali lessons each morning to lots of sightseeing and cultural activities.
We - the 6 July-starting volunteers - began each day with a three hour session of Nepali language lessons taught by our super-energetic guru (teacher), Anjala. I can't say that I've even come close to mastering the language, but I've acquired a couple of key phrases including "how much does it cost", "too expensive", and "please stop!" - the first two are very handy for bartering and the last one helps me get off the local transportation. Now and again I can even pick up a few Nepali words from other people's conversations! When we first began our lessons I was more than ready to become fluent by the end of my 6 weeks here, but by mid-week my enthusiasm had waned. It's pretty easy to get around with English in most of Kathmandu, and where I can't get around with English, my sign language skills definitely outshines my broken Nepali - and I imagine the former will be my "language" of choice once my placement starts!
Outside of language lessons we've also visited some of the temples/stupas in the Kathmandu area. Our first visit was to Kathmandu Durbar Square, which literally means royal palace square. Surrounding the royal palace are various Hindu temples - most notably the kama sutra temple. At Durbar Square is also where one can visit the living goddess, Kumari - but only outside the hours of 12-4pm. The story behind the Kumari is that she is a young girl chosen through an extensive mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durba. One of the crazier selection criterion is that she is placed within a dark temple with live animals being slaughtered, if she can withstand this environment without fear, she is capable to be the Kumari. She lives within the Kumari Chowk, which is a temple that she cannot leave other than during religious festivals, and holds the title until her first menstrual period. Our tour of Durbar Square ended around 4pm, so just in time to visit the Kumari. Her being a goddess and all, I was expecting perhaps a smile and a wave, or maybe even a blessing, but all we were greeted by was a very sour-faced 8 year old, who disappeared almost as quickly as she appeared. Disappointed as we were it was understandable since she was just 8 and probably very spoiled. There is apparently a human rights group speaking out against the Kumari being confined to the temple. Which I find ironic because there are so many street-children in Nepal without food or shelter, and yet this group is fighting for the freedom of a child who is likely very well taken care of in the confines of the temple...
Next we visited Swayambhu, aka monkey temple, which is located at the top of a hill that's directly accessible by climbing 365 steps (almost on a vertical incline at some points). Since there were so many steps to climb we woke up extra-early (5am) to make our way up before the heat and humidity kicked in. The unique thing about Swayambhu is that you can find both Buddhist stupas and Hindu temples at the top of the hill. From the top of the hill you can also get a lovely panoramic view of Kathmandu. Being monsoon season the fog tends to be heavier, clouding much of the scenery, but every once in awhile the sun will peak in to shine over patches of the city. Despite being dubbed the monkey temple, there actually very few monkeys around - I think I saw around 2! More could be found at Pashpatinah, a Hindu temple East of the city. Since only Hindus could enter Hindu temples we could only view the temple from afar. Before arriving at Pashpatinah I was told of cremations that occurred out in the open along the river, but I wasn't sure what to expect.... We found a spot along the river to view the cremations occurring across the river from us. Cremations happen throughout the day, each one taking about 4 hours. There is a bridge that divides the river, with one side for lower class cremations and the other for higher class/royal family cremations. The latter would b fancier, but there were none occurring that day. In contrast, on the lower class side there were line ups of family waiting to have loved one cremated. To a certain extent I was expecting a religious ceremony, but observing from afar it felt more like a ... marketplace (?). On top of the cremation there was a line of people (men) getting their head shaved as it is tradition for the males in the family to shave their head when someone dies. Then there is a religious reading done over the speaker-phone on what appeared to be a repetitive cycle. What really drove this marketplace feeling home was the Cornea Excision Centre right behind where the cremations were occurring. I completely understand how useful cornea transplants are, but to have that juxtaposed cremations just didn't feel right.
At Pashpatinah we also had the opportunity to chat with a yogi, Hindu monk. Once again my preconceptions were corrected. For some reason I didn't think we could talk to yogis - real ones that is, there are a whole lot of fake ones who are very willing to take pictures with you and tek-ka you for several hundred rupees! Here we also saw lots of monkeys - perhaps this should be dubbed the monkey temple - and pretty feisty ones as well. We had to be pretty quick with a photography skills; a couple of times the monkeys would hiss at us and the mothers would even come towards us to chase us away!
From Pashpatinah we headed to Budnath passing through windy roads and rice fields, very uncharacteristic of the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu. It was an absolute delight to walk through this area. (I'm working on picture posting, but the connection is just a tad slow :( ) Budnath is another Buddhist stupa, which is suppose to be one of the largest in the world. It is this massive circular structure, and if I had to choose I think this would be my favourite stupa thus far. Sitting on top of the stupa there is this mixed sense of isolation and peace as I stood above the business of the streets of Kathmandu.
The rest of the week was filled with a fairly eclectic range of activities. As mentioned in the previous entry I visited a Nepali jail - one thing I never though I'd do anywhere, let along Nepal! Friday, on a whim, we went to the movie theatre - a very nice theater at that - to catch a Bollywood flick called "Jhoom barbar Jhoom". As typical of Bollywood films it's a love story, with a modern music video flavour to it. The sheer cheesiness of these films make them hilarious to watch. I've definitely brought myself a copy of it (along with several other quality Bollywood films), so we'll definitely have to have Bollywood nights when I'm back!
The week was rounded off with sari night and Amazing Race.
Sari night was on Saturday where we got all dolled up in our saris (yes, I'm a proud owner of a lovely purple sari) and headed out for dinner at Nepali Chulo (kitchen) and dancing at Dhori.
Nepali Chulo is a pretty fancy Nepali restaurant where we were served traditional fare and treated to a cultural dance show in between courses. The dances were amazing. The dancers were dressed in different costumes for each dance and all were very colourful. In addition to the dancers, there was a peacock puppet that came out that greeted all the guest. Most of the guests gave him money, but we gave him a napkin - which he was equally happy to take in. The finale was performed by the infamous Yeti (Nepali equivalent of the Sasquatch) who did his own variety of choreography and scared a customer or two. Once the show was finished, we got up and did a bit of Nepali dancing ourselves with the dancers and live band. This had to be my favourite part of the week! Great food, great dancing, what more could you ask.
We rounded off the evening at the Dhori which is another bar/restaurant that had live Nepali folk music and dancing. Our time at the Dhori may have been better without the excessively drunken men on the dace floor, but it was an experience to hear Nepali music and see them dance - and by them I mean Nepali men! In Nepal men are much more affectionate with each other then in Western culture, thus it's completely normal for men to hold hands, hug, and, of course, dance with each other. At the Dhori it was solely Nepali men up on the dance floor while the Nepali women sat and watched. So a bunch of badeshi (foreigner) girls up there dancing caused lots of stares from the locals. On our way out, the women sitting even asked us to stay and dance some more!
Sunday, our last and final day of orientation, was capped off by a game of Amazing Race. Like the game show we had tasks we had to complete and navigate to different locations for the next clue. We were split into 3 teams of 2 and in pairs ran around Kathmandu taking pictures for the photo scavenger hunt (aka challenge 2), shopping for food in Nepali (challenge 3), and we even made our very own music video to Nepali folk music at one of the CD stores we came across. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of it (it took about 4 hours), but in retrospect it was a fantastic idea to get us to navigate Kathmandu on our own and put some of the Nepali we've learned into practical use.
Needless to say it was a jam-packed week. I've seen a lot, done a lot, and experienced a bit of the culture. In the next few weekends I'm really looking forward to get out of the Kathmandu and see what the rest of Nepal is like. Everyone keeps telling me how fresh the air is, so I'm definitely looking forward to getting away from all the smog and pollution.
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