Its quite strange to be a tourist again - quite lonely being on my own again - but nice to be in charge of my own time! My sightseeing has been somewhat marred by the exceedingly heavy rain to hit the Manhattan Island the last couple of days... seeing the drizzle on Thursday I decided to opt for a museum day, I should however have checked the weather forecast and realised it was going to get worse and save museums for today. Oh well hindsight is a wonderful thing, right?!?
Thursday morning I set off across Central Park towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Central park is actually surprisingly small, in fact Manhattan is surprisingly small, very walkable if you have the time. After racing the joggers (some of whom were jogging slower than I was walking) I made it to the Met, which is a caviverous maze of a building with lots of different wings and three floors each dedicated to different areas of art and design. Armed with the Lonely Planet, I checked out the Egyptian collection which is probably the most famous collection at the Met. Sorry to all the Egyptologists out there but Ancient Egypt just doesn't do it for me. Its amazing to look at all the statues and the mummification's are cool (if not a little gruesome), but there just isn't the wow factor for me... or at least that's what i thought until i reached the Egyptian jewelry section. Wow! I didn't realist how much gold, beads and intricate jewelry the Egyptians had, some of it is just stunning and its amazing how alot of the pieces wouldn't seem out of place if worn today. Another impressive part of the exhibit is the Shackler wing which house a temple donated to the Americans to save it from being flooded, it was quite surreal to be walking through an Egyptian temple housed inside a very modern (very beautiful) glass exhibition room complete with its own moat to surround the temple.
After making my way haphazardly through the Egyptian collection I found myself in the American rooms exhibit. This covered three floors and involved walking through living rooms from famous houses through the ages of America. Again i am showing my ignorance, but I didn't realise how wealthy some parts of America became so quickly. Some of the interior design was incredible and wouldn't of looked out of place in the palaces and gentry homes of Europe. Although it was interesting walking through all these rooms and quite impressive looking at wealth of these early American, it would have been quite nice for the exhibition to show more variance. I am quite sure that not all Americans lived in such opulence! I'm also quite certain that alot of the immigrants to America brought alot of their own culture with them and it would have been nice to see more on how these people married their own culture with the American one in their homes. The high point (for me anyway) was the open storage at the end of the exhibit, this consisted of a huge room with rows and rows of glass cases each containing hundreds of chairs, clocks, chests, dolls houses etc all lined up. This represents the part of the collection that couldn't be placed in the exhibits. Its nice to see it all on show, I know lots of museums lock away the non-permanent collections in the vaults, it was quite nice to see some of it on display - although to be surround by all these cases was a little disorientating.
Next I headed up to the Model as a Muse exhibition, which is sponsored by Marc Jacobs and details the rise of the super model and how models help designers change the face of fashion. This was a really well put together exhibition, there were some incredible exhibits showing some beautiful dresses ( I sneakily took photos of loads to see if I can recreate them at home - although just how many Galliano, and Dior imitation ball gowns does a girl need?). It was particularly interesting to note how the ideas of what a model should look like changed through the ages, and also to chart the fame of the super models...
It then took me 15 minutes to find the exit to the museum as I skipped through European painting (interesting but...), suits of armour (not that interesting), photography (really good, but I was hungry at this point!) and eventually the gift shop (which seemed to be larger than most exhibition halls...)
I then finished my stroll through central park along 5th Avenue, stopping for a hot dog and pretzel from a street vendor. I then reached the the end of Central Park and Millionaires row, complete with the De Beers, Bulgari, Gucci and Armani shops to finally reach the Rockefeller center my next port of call.
The Rockefeller center land was originally intended as the home for the Metropolitan opera, but then the Great Depression hit and the opera pulled out. Rockefeller decided that he still wanted to build something on the site and decided to fund the project himself. The resultant 70 floor building is now home to part of NBC studios - I saw the end of the 'Today Show' being filmed - the Rockefeller music hall (home to the Rockettes) as well as being a business and shopping complex. My destination is the 'Top of the Rock' observation deck on the 67,68 and 69 floor which afforded some stunning views over the city.
I ended the evening at a Belgium themed jazz evening, complete with moules et frites! A half of Belgium beer cost $8! All in all quite a good night though and I was defiantly ready for bed by the time I climbed off the subway at 11pm.
Today I decided (rather stupidly) to brave the rain and check out Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty and then the original plan was to walk back through Soho, Little Italy and into Greenwich Village (the 'hip and arty' areas of New York). However as the rain got worse and my shoes began to leak I called it a day and decided to head back after seeing only Wall Street and the site of the World Trade Center (now just a big building site). I've decided that sky scrappers are distinctly unimpressive from under an umbrella!
Tonight I'm heading to the Lower Eastside to hear a New Orleans DJ doing something new with 60's dance tunes.... could be interesting!
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Thursday, 4 June 2009
NYC...
Its been awhile since I've updated my blog - hopefully with better Internet and 24 hour power supply I should be better. I left Nepal on Monday evening - the trip to teh airport was in itself quite an adventure. The Newari community of the Kathmandu Valley had called a general Bhanda (strike) for the 1st of June. Apparently one year ago the Newari petition to the government to have the Newari language taught in schools and to have Newaris more involved int he leadership of the valley was rejected (the Newaris are the traditional inhabitants of the valley and are famous for their fantastic metal work skills and tired temples). The Newaris have now moved on to asking for the Kathmandu valley to be a semi-autonomous area run by a Newari government. This is one of the main sticking points in the Nepali constitution at the moment - part of the peace agreement is that he government should set up different administrative districts in Nepal but there is disagreement whether this should be done along ethnic lines or geographical lines. I suspect that geographical lines is the best option if Nepal is to be divided (although why such a small country needs to be divided is systematic of how far from cooperation the Nepali people have come) - the ethnic communities in Nepal are now so spread out (due in part to refugees from the Maoist conflict and in part from economic migration to teh Kathmandu Valley), that borders drawn on ethnic lines will mean that some ethnic groups are alienated in their adopted home... This doesn't look good for the future peace of Nepal! Anyway the general strike meant that all the roads, shops etc were closed (think burning tyres and young boys with guns and no brains!). I was left with two options - my personal favourite of walking the 40 minutes to teh airport and the schools favourite (driven by a desire to look after the volunteers) to carry my bag on the back of a motorbike and sneak round to the airport via the small roads... needless to say I lost the walking argument (they were worried that the quickest way to walk was on the main roads and they didn't want me to see the blockades) Oh well I eventually reached the airport and made it through to Abu Dhabi for a 12 hours stop over - very very boring!
Now I'm in New York -immigration that I'd been so worried about (horror stories abound in the back packing community) was easy. A case of how long are you here, what are you doing? Ok enjoy your trip! I reached my hostel at 6pm and set about exploring Broadway to try and keep myself awake for a couple of hours. I enjoyed my first hot shower in too long - I'd forgotten how nice it is to not have to brace yourself for a shower - ate bagels (yay!), drank some wine, had a hair cut (4 inches off and hair now looks acceptable again) and went to a beauty parlor for a facial to try and remove some of the ingrained dirt from Kathmandu.
Yesterday I went shopping - ok i should probably be more touristy and see the sights on the first day, especially as it is now pissing it down so i'm forced into a museum day today! But I'd run out of clothes - in my bag were two kurtors, sari material, wrap round trousers, 5 pashminias (presents), a Nepali flute (gift for me) and some Nepali hats (gifts for brothers)... however my bag only contained one pair of western style trousers and 2 western style t-shirts... Shopping completed (well at least to a passable level of clothes now) I looked round Times Square and ate more bagels (when in Rome).
Its been quite a culture shock (as expected). Mainly I am amazed a the sheer quantity of food on other, I have yet to get close to finishing a meal. Also I'm amazed by the number of obese people walking the streets. I suppose it is more evident after Kathmandu, where a serious number of the population suffer from malnutrition, but really...
Oh well today I go to the Met. and then hopefully the rain will have stopped! I need to walk only small distances as my feet are now unused to shoes and I have hideous blisters (but beautiful new shoes!)
Now I'm in New York -immigration that I'd been so worried about (horror stories abound in the back packing community) was easy. A case of how long are you here, what are you doing? Ok enjoy your trip! I reached my hostel at 6pm and set about exploring Broadway to try and keep myself awake for a couple of hours. I enjoyed my first hot shower in too long - I'd forgotten how nice it is to not have to brace yourself for a shower - ate bagels (yay!), drank some wine, had a hair cut (4 inches off and hair now looks acceptable again) and went to a beauty parlor for a facial to try and remove some of the ingrained dirt from Kathmandu.
Yesterday I went shopping - ok i should probably be more touristy and see the sights on the first day, especially as it is now pissing it down so i'm forced into a museum day today! But I'd run out of clothes - in my bag were two kurtors, sari material, wrap round trousers, 5 pashminias (presents), a Nepali flute (gift for me) and some Nepali hats (gifts for brothers)... however my bag only contained one pair of western style trousers and 2 western style t-shirts... Shopping completed (well at least to a passable level of clothes now) I looked round Times Square and ate more bagels (when in Rome).
Its been quite a culture shock (as expected). Mainly I am amazed a the sheer quantity of food on other, I have yet to get close to finishing a meal. Also I'm amazed by the number of obese people walking the streets. I suppose it is more evident after Kathmandu, where a serious number of the population suffer from malnutrition, but really...
Oh well today I go to the Met. and then hopefully the rain will have stopped! I need to walk only small distances as my feet are now unused to shoes and I have hideous blisters (but beautiful new shoes!)
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Dang
I haven't wrote for awhile. I returned from Dang at 11pm on Wednesday, and have spent the last couple of days writing and marking class tests for over 200 students! I've really been enjoying the teaching thing but don't think I'm cut out for all this marking! But as promised i will give the story of my trip to Dang.
Two other volunteers, Head Sir, the drivers wife and one of the kitchen girls set off at 4am in the morning on Saturday. Dang is only 400km away but the quality of the roads leaves alot to be desired and there are some quite significant hills in the way meaning that our estimated journey time was over 12 hours. As it happened we completed the journey in a little over 13 hours but we stopped lots for food breaks. Driving out of hte Kathmandu valley we followed one of only 2 roads out of Kathmandu towards the south west of hte country. The first part of the road winds round the edge of an incredibly steep hill while avoiding the river raging below in the valley. This is the most dangerous road in Nepal and we saw the wreckage of a couple of trucks and a bus as we travelled down the valley. At Mugeling the road spilts and you can either keep in the mountainous region and head towards Pokhara (the start of most treks) or head into the plains, towards India and the Terai (the bread basket of Nepal), we choose the later. In Mugeling we saw a group of Spanish game show contestants who were trying to get around Nepal spending no money. They climbed on our roof for 20 minutes of the journey until reaching Gorkha (the town from which the famous Gurkha regiment gets its name). From Mugeling onwards the scenery starts to change from breathtaking hills into never ending plains, the rivers that rushed down the valley start to slow down and join up with others to head on their way to India and to joint the Holy Ganges. At a junction of three of these rivers we stopped to pick up head Sir's mother -Ama.
The Nepalese belief that the junctions are holy and so the junction of three rivers all heading to the Ganges is an incredibly holy place. At this junction is what can best be described as a Hindu home for the aged. As the elders of the family increase in age, to lessen their contact with the family and hence their connection with the world, the older people spend more and more time on retreats and in meditation centers. It was from one of these centers that we picked up head Sirs mother from. We were greeted by tens of very old ladies stuffing bananas and sweets into our hands and placing tikas on our head as blessing. The village itself had an incredible atmosphere - not like the slightly sad and desperate atmosphere that is so prevalent in Western old peoples homes. Each and every person was approaching old age with such serenity and peace, having accepted that they will leave behind the body that they now occupy and will go on to another life ( Hindus believe in cycles of birth, death and rebirth). That is not to say that the folks were resigned and waiting for death more that they were enjoying their moments in these bodies but were not scarred or anxious about the next stage.
Moving onto the next part of the journey (rather uncomfortably wedged between Ama and the kitchen girl - with Ama stroking my arm as she couldn't believe skin could be so white!) we reached the Terai area. We were slightly nervous about this part of the trip, in teh last couple of months the Terai area has been paralysed a number of times by strikes which stop all movement on the roads and could have left us camping in scorching hot, humid weather until the boys (definately immature boys rather than men - more later) decide that they have had their fun and allow normality to resume. Although I am scaving of the strike perpetrators they actually have a point. The Terai area used to be occupied only by The Thauru ethnic group as this was the only group of people that were immune/ had herbs that cured malaria. However once malaria was eradicated from teh incredibly fertile land people moved in from the surround hills. The largely uneducated Thauru people were ejected from their homes and many ended up in a cycle of bonded labour... The strikes are part of the campaign for land rights, education rights and the rights to used their language. However a good cause does still not justify the means!
Finally we reach the area of Dang and the city of Gorahi where the Hindu Vidyapeeth school, Dang is situated. A couple of miles outside of the town is the small village of Parsa, home to the Children's Peace Home who were our hosts for the next 3 days. The CPH is a home for children from disadvantaged communities or orphaned children. They provide a secure environment and teach valuable life skills like organic farming, sewing, cooking and basic building skills. Never before have i been in such a place which has such a peaceful atmosphere. The children all work like a large family (despite some of the horrible stories that some have associated with them). There is such a sense of hope and gratitude for the opportunity they have been provided with. Each evening they get together for singing hymns (Hindu hymns) and dancing (Hindu hymns have a bit more life than the majority of English ones!). The buildings themselves are incredibly simple mud huts surrounded by farmland ( had a go at ploughing the land using the Ox's!). The children are all sponsored through HVP-UK and attend the local HVP school Dang. The CPH is still in its infancy (2 years old). I worry what will happen to the kids when they leave school as they have no family, so will rely on teh schools contacts to try and get scholarships to college or to find a small patch of land on which to farm. One of the students Sagar is just finishing his school leavers certificate and dreams of studying engineering. He's incredibly clever but will probably have to give up on his dream as he doesn't have the money to study in Kathmandu or apply for a visa to the US or UK (which would cost around 500 pounds) I promised him i would look into ways to help him but i think he is slowly giving up on his dream and accepting that maybe a teacher in the local school is as high as he can aim...
The next couple of days we attended a couple of programs in the local area. One day we were blocked from reaching our venue by one of the impromptu strikes set up on the road. Head Sir still wanted to go so we had to get some of the villagers to give us a lift on their motorbikes across the fields. It is considered immodest for a girl in this part of Nepal (quite a conservative area) to ride a motorbike the proper way - so we had the comical image of three white girls, dressed in saris trying desperately hard to look elegant while riding a motorbike side saddle fashion! I nearly fell off two times much to the amusement of the local children who chased by bike for the whole 5km journey... Oh well perhaps a career as a dare devil is not the best path for me!
In addition to the programs we were also privileged to be invited into teh Yogi temple in Ghorahi. Non-Hindus are normally not allowed inside the temples so this was a great honour. The head priest spent well over an hour explaining the Yoga philosophy to us which was really interesting and made a lot of sense... I particularly liked the willingness of the priest to admit when his religion did not have an answer for something - rather than resorting to answers which sound ridiculous in the light of modern science.
Finally it was time to head back to Kathmandu, this time the journey took 17 hours due to strikes and a visit to Lumbini - the birth place of Buddha. More on that in another post!
In other news a bomb went off in Kathmandu today, the target was a Christian church that had been converting Hindus. Two people dies including a 16 year old girl. It makes me so sad that in a country which is famed for its religious tolerance such acts can happen.
Also if anyone wants to make a donation to support the good work for the Childrens Peace Home they can do so by contacting HVP-UK http://www.hvpuk.org.uk/ .
Two other volunteers, Head Sir, the drivers wife and one of the kitchen girls set off at 4am in the morning on Saturday. Dang is only 400km away but the quality of the roads leaves alot to be desired and there are some quite significant hills in the way meaning that our estimated journey time was over 12 hours. As it happened we completed the journey in a little over 13 hours but we stopped lots for food breaks. Driving out of hte Kathmandu valley we followed one of only 2 roads out of Kathmandu towards the south west of hte country. The first part of the road winds round the edge of an incredibly steep hill while avoiding the river raging below in the valley. This is the most dangerous road in Nepal and we saw the wreckage of a couple of trucks and a bus as we travelled down the valley. At Mugeling the road spilts and you can either keep in the mountainous region and head towards Pokhara (the start of most treks) or head into the plains, towards India and the Terai (the bread basket of Nepal), we choose the later. In Mugeling we saw a group of Spanish game show contestants who were trying to get around Nepal spending no money. They climbed on our roof for 20 minutes of the journey until reaching Gorkha (the town from which the famous Gurkha regiment gets its name). From Mugeling onwards the scenery starts to change from breathtaking hills into never ending plains, the rivers that rushed down the valley start to slow down and join up with others to head on their way to India and to joint the Holy Ganges. At a junction of three of these rivers we stopped to pick up head Sir's mother -Ama.
The Nepalese belief that the junctions are holy and so the junction of three rivers all heading to the Ganges is an incredibly holy place. At this junction is what can best be described as a Hindu home for the aged. As the elders of the family increase in age, to lessen their contact with the family and hence their connection with the world, the older people spend more and more time on retreats and in meditation centers. It was from one of these centers that we picked up head Sirs mother from. We were greeted by tens of very old ladies stuffing bananas and sweets into our hands and placing tikas on our head as blessing. The village itself had an incredible atmosphere - not like the slightly sad and desperate atmosphere that is so prevalent in Western old peoples homes. Each and every person was approaching old age with such serenity and peace, having accepted that they will leave behind the body that they now occupy and will go on to another life ( Hindus believe in cycles of birth, death and rebirth). That is not to say that the folks were resigned and waiting for death more that they were enjoying their moments in these bodies but were not scarred or anxious about the next stage.
Moving onto the next part of the journey (rather uncomfortably wedged between Ama and the kitchen girl - with Ama stroking my arm as she couldn't believe skin could be so white!) we reached the Terai area. We were slightly nervous about this part of the trip, in teh last couple of months the Terai area has been paralysed a number of times by strikes which stop all movement on the roads and could have left us camping in scorching hot, humid weather until the boys (definately immature boys rather than men - more later) decide that they have had their fun and allow normality to resume. Although I am scaving of the strike perpetrators they actually have a point. The Terai area used to be occupied only by The Thauru ethnic group as this was the only group of people that were immune/ had herbs that cured malaria. However once malaria was eradicated from teh incredibly fertile land people moved in from the surround hills. The largely uneducated Thauru people were ejected from their homes and many ended up in a cycle of bonded labour... The strikes are part of the campaign for land rights, education rights and the rights to used their language. However a good cause does still not justify the means!
Finally we reach the area of Dang and the city of Gorahi where the Hindu Vidyapeeth school, Dang is situated. A couple of miles outside of the town is the small village of Parsa, home to the Children's Peace Home who were our hosts for the next 3 days. The CPH is a home for children from disadvantaged communities or orphaned children. They provide a secure environment and teach valuable life skills like organic farming, sewing, cooking and basic building skills. Never before have i been in such a place which has such a peaceful atmosphere. The children all work like a large family (despite some of the horrible stories that some have associated with them). There is such a sense of hope and gratitude for the opportunity they have been provided with. Each evening they get together for singing hymns (Hindu hymns) and dancing (Hindu hymns have a bit more life than the majority of English ones!). The buildings themselves are incredibly simple mud huts surrounded by farmland ( had a go at ploughing the land using the Ox's!). The children are all sponsored through HVP-UK and attend the local HVP school Dang. The CPH is still in its infancy (2 years old). I worry what will happen to the kids when they leave school as they have no family, so will rely on teh schools contacts to try and get scholarships to college or to find a small patch of land on which to farm. One of the students Sagar is just finishing his school leavers certificate and dreams of studying engineering. He's incredibly clever but will probably have to give up on his dream as he doesn't have the money to study in Kathmandu or apply for a visa to the US or UK (which would cost around 500 pounds) I promised him i would look into ways to help him but i think he is slowly giving up on his dream and accepting that maybe a teacher in the local school is as high as he can aim...
The next couple of days we attended a couple of programs in the local area. One day we were blocked from reaching our venue by one of the impromptu strikes set up on the road. Head Sir still wanted to go so we had to get some of the villagers to give us a lift on their motorbikes across the fields. It is considered immodest for a girl in this part of Nepal (quite a conservative area) to ride a motorbike the proper way - so we had the comical image of three white girls, dressed in saris trying desperately hard to look elegant while riding a motorbike side saddle fashion! I nearly fell off two times much to the amusement of the local children who chased by bike for the whole 5km journey... Oh well perhaps a career as a dare devil is not the best path for me!
In addition to the programs we were also privileged to be invited into teh Yogi temple in Ghorahi. Non-Hindus are normally not allowed inside the temples so this was a great honour. The head priest spent well over an hour explaining the Yoga philosophy to us which was really interesting and made a lot of sense... I particularly liked the willingness of the priest to admit when his religion did not have an answer for something - rather than resorting to answers which sound ridiculous in the light of modern science.
Finally it was time to head back to Kathmandu, this time the journey took 17 hours due to strikes and a visit to Lumbini - the birth place of Buddha. More on that in another post!
In other news a bomb went off in Kathmandu today, the target was a Christian church that had been converting Hindus. Two people dies including a 16 year old girl. It makes me so sad that in a country which is famed for its religious tolerance such acts can happen.
Also if anyone wants to make a donation to support the good work for the Childrens Peace Home they can do so by contacting HVP-UK http://www.hvpuk.org.uk/ .
Thursday, 14 May 2009
More on Politics
You may remember I posted some time ago about the political situation in Nepal, in particular I used the example of the Chief of the Army Staff Katawal. Since that last post the situation has rapidly worsened. The prime minister (Maoist) forced Katawal to resign and put in his place a man more sympathetic to the Maoist cause. The President of the country then rang up Katawal and reinstated him. The President of Nepal according to teh terms of the peace process agreement signed last year is really only a ceremonial role and there to rubber stamp the constitution as it goes through parliament - understandably the Presidents intervention caused great anger in the lower house, ultimately leading to the resignation of the Maoist prime minister. So Nepal is now left with no prime minister and hence no government running the country! Interestingly as soon as the government fell the strike which was crippling food and duel supplies into the Kathmandu valley was called off, leading some commentators to suggest that the country would be better off without a government...
So where does this leave Nepal now? The main political parties are all canvassing support to form new coalitions to lead the government and the people of the city are sporadically organising protests in favour or against the main parties. What surprises me the most is the lack of interest that most Nepalis now seem to have in the whole political process. the politicians wrangling over issues that are just irrelevant to most people whose daily life revolves more around a struggle for clean drinking water, safe food and basic health care. the really sad thing is that all the political arguments and games have caused some of the major NGO's who invest in improving the lives of ordinary Nepalis to pull out or reconsider funding. Indian companies who are involved with a number of infrastructure improvement works have just announced that they wont be investing anymore due to the disruption caused by government interference. I was talking yesterday to a lady who runs a charity that educates women about the dangers of HIV who is also considering closing the branch of the charity on Kathmandu because she can't keep up with the ever changing regulations from a government which chances every 2-3 months.
In other news on Saturday i will be travelling with the Head Master to visit his family in the west of Nepal in Dang. We will also be visiting the Childrens Peace Home which is an orphanage for the children whose families were torn apart by the Maoist insurgency. the Orphanage is attached to teh HVP school in Dang - should be quite interesting and it will be nice to see another less touristy part of Nepal.
So where does this leave Nepal now? The main political parties are all canvassing support to form new coalitions to lead the government and the people of the city are sporadically organising protests in favour or against the main parties. What surprises me the most is the lack of interest that most Nepalis now seem to have in the whole political process. the politicians wrangling over issues that are just irrelevant to most people whose daily life revolves more around a struggle for clean drinking water, safe food and basic health care. the really sad thing is that all the political arguments and games have caused some of the major NGO's who invest in improving the lives of ordinary Nepalis to pull out or reconsider funding. Indian companies who are involved with a number of infrastructure improvement works have just announced that they wont be investing anymore due to the disruption caused by government interference. I was talking yesterday to a lady who runs a charity that educates women about the dangers of HIV who is also considering closing the branch of the charity on Kathmandu because she can't keep up with the ever changing regulations from a government which chances every 2-3 months.
In other news on Saturday i will be travelling with the Head Master to visit his family in the west of Nepal in Dang. We will also be visiting the Childrens Peace Home which is an orphanage for the children whose families were torn apart by the Maoist insurgency. the Orphanage is attached to teh HVP school in Dang - should be quite interesting and it will be nice to see another less touristy part of Nepal.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Festivals, parties and ceremonies
I am just back from 6 days trekking with Philipp which explains the long time with no posts! The trekking was beautiful again, we were lucky with some fantastic views and also got the chance to visit a hot springs, which was great for those aching trekking muscles... the only down side was after a whole month feeling very smug at having no illness I came down with food poisoning on the first day trekking - believe me climbing up mountains with food poisoning is not an experience I want to repeat or wish on anyone. I am all better now and looking forward to my last month in Nepal.
Upon arriving back with Philipp we have been invited to 2 ceremonies with friends and family of the school. First we attended a baby feeding ceremony. At 6 months of age the Newari people (traditional residents of the Kathmandu Valley) hold a big party to celebrate feeding a child his/her first solid food (this is usually rice pudding). We walked to a massive party palace on the other side of Patan filled with an amazing collection of colourfully dressed people. There we were treated to a feast of Newari traditional food which included Buffalo meat, various sweet pancakes and some lovely home made yoghurt - as well as teh traditional Dal Baht. The baby girl herself seemed a little bemused with teh whole event and was more interested in chewing the wrapping paper from presents than eating any rice pudding or greeting guests. It was however a great opportunity to meet some very influential people in Nepal, including a business women who organises loans for Nepali men to go work in the Arab Emirates (where they are usually treated appallingly but at least earn enough money to support their family back home) and various doctors who having all trained in Britain were keen to talk about their student days in Edinburgh or London.
The next day after a full days sightseeing we were invited to a ceremony to remember the one year anniversary of the death of the vice principals grandma. The Nepalis believe that one year is the same as one day for a soul, so every year on the death day anniversary they have special food to feed the souls. We all congregated in a marquee type construction in the families courtyard and ate (most gatherings seem to revolve around food). I suspect there is more to this ceremony that we didn't see... the heavens opened half way through with massive thunder storms and hail which made the last part of the event quite interesting (Nepali marquees are not waterproof!)
Oh well back to teaching now, class 7 English is calling - more soon.
Upon arriving back with Philipp we have been invited to 2 ceremonies with friends and family of the school. First we attended a baby feeding ceremony. At 6 months of age the Newari people (traditional residents of the Kathmandu Valley) hold a big party to celebrate feeding a child his/her first solid food (this is usually rice pudding). We walked to a massive party palace on the other side of Patan filled with an amazing collection of colourfully dressed people. There we were treated to a feast of Newari traditional food which included Buffalo meat, various sweet pancakes and some lovely home made yoghurt - as well as teh traditional Dal Baht. The baby girl herself seemed a little bemused with teh whole event and was more interested in chewing the wrapping paper from presents than eating any rice pudding or greeting guests. It was however a great opportunity to meet some very influential people in Nepal, including a business women who organises loans for Nepali men to go work in the Arab Emirates (where they are usually treated appallingly but at least earn enough money to support their family back home) and various doctors who having all trained in Britain were keen to talk about their student days in Edinburgh or London.
The next day after a full days sightseeing we were invited to a ceremony to remember the one year anniversary of the death of the vice principals grandma. The Nepalis believe that one year is the same as one day for a soul, so every year on the death day anniversary they have special food to feed the souls. We all congregated in a marquee type construction in the families courtyard and ate (most gatherings seem to revolve around food). I suspect there is more to this ceremony that we didn't see... the heavens opened half way through with massive thunder storms and hail which made the last part of the event quite interesting (Nepali marquees are not waterproof!)
Oh well back to teaching now, class 7 English is calling - more soon.
Monday, 27 April 2009
A Typical School Day
Well I have finished my teaching for the day and as we still have power (a novel, brilliant event!) I thought I would write a quick post describing a typical school day.
5am Wake up and go for a 30 min walk. It is still quite unusual for Nepalese people to exercise, being chubby is considered beautiful and a sign of wealth. This attitude is slowly changing and in central Kathmandu and richer areas there are gyms and adverts for personal trainers. Balkumari has not seen this change yet, so the only time I can exercise is a morning walk with the junior maths teacher. Its actually quite nice to walk through the town watching everyone get up and go to the temples for their morning Pooja (prayer).
6am- 6:15am this is our allocated shower time. The water is pumped up to the roof when the electricity is running, we have to get in early otherwise the water is all used up by the boarders!
6:30- 7am Prayer and yoga time for the boarders. I often sit in on this, although i don't understand the prayers the Hindu hymns are really beautiful and its quite refreshing to do the yoga lessons
7-8: Study time for the boarders: I use this opportunity to finish off any last minute marking and lesson planning as well as helping the boarders with any homework trouble.
8-8:30 - get dressed in school clothes for the day. We are teaching wearing traditional Nepali tunics so i get changed out of my western clothes into the beautifully embroidered tunics. These are very comfortable, however I am still to find a way of arranging my scarf - it is considered immodest to be seen without it, but mine keeps falling off and getting in the way!
8:30 - Breakfast! My favourite meal of day :) Usually we have sweet tea, toast with mango jam and some form of curry or noodle.
9am - morning assembly. The children all stand in rows and do some exercises including standing to attention and about turning. The school song is sung and morning pooja done.
9:30-12:30 - Morning lessons. Each lesson is 40 mins long and there is a 5 minute break
12:30 - 1:15 - Lunch time.... Dal Baht (And I treat myself to a hob nob to satisfy my sugar craving)
1:15 - 4 pm - Afternoon lessons
4-7pm - Boarders study time. I use this time to volunteer at the Ashram which provides after school care and homework help to underprivileged children (usually from the Dalit, untouchable Caste - more on caste in later posts!)
7-8pm - More prayer and yoga, sometimes we do some dancing and singing.
8pm - Dinner - Dal Baht and curry. My favourite is potato curry and Aachar which is a spicy tomato pickle.
9:30pm - Bed...
In other news I am going to be a Nepali TV star! (Ok I will have a bit part in a soap opera) One of the ex-students has asked Sarah and I if we will take bit parts in a popular Nepali soap about college life (think Nepali Holyoaks). The program is broadcast on cable channels in 86 different countries. One of us will play a teacher and the other will play the part of a foreign student... very exciting.
5am Wake up and go for a 30 min walk. It is still quite unusual for Nepalese people to exercise, being chubby is considered beautiful and a sign of wealth. This attitude is slowly changing and in central Kathmandu and richer areas there are gyms and adverts for personal trainers. Balkumari has not seen this change yet, so the only time I can exercise is a morning walk with the junior maths teacher. Its actually quite nice to walk through the town watching everyone get up and go to the temples for their morning Pooja (prayer).
6am- 6:15am this is our allocated shower time. The water is pumped up to the roof when the electricity is running, we have to get in early otherwise the water is all used up by the boarders!
6:30- 7am Prayer and yoga time for the boarders. I often sit in on this, although i don't understand the prayers the Hindu hymns are really beautiful and its quite refreshing to do the yoga lessons
7-8: Study time for the boarders: I use this opportunity to finish off any last minute marking and lesson planning as well as helping the boarders with any homework trouble.
8-8:30 - get dressed in school clothes for the day. We are teaching wearing traditional Nepali tunics so i get changed out of my western clothes into the beautifully embroidered tunics. These are very comfortable, however I am still to find a way of arranging my scarf - it is considered immodest to be seen without it, but mine keeps falling off and getting in the way!
8:30 - Breakfast! My favourite meal of day :) Usually we have sweet tea, toast with mango jam and some form of curry or noodle.
9am - morning assembly. The children all stand in rows and do some exercises including standing to attention and about turning. The school song is sung and morning pooja done.
9:30-12:30 - Morning lessons. Each lesson is 40 mins long and there is a 5 minute break
12:30 - 1:15 - Lunch time.... Dal Baht (And I treat myself to a hob nob to satisfy my sugar craving)
1:15 - 4 pm - Afternoon lessons
4-7pm - Boarders study time. I use this time to volunteer at the Ashram which provides after school care and homework help to underprivileged children (usually from the Dalit, untouchable Caste - more on caste in later posts!)
7-8pm - More prayer and yoga, sometimes we do some dancing and singing.
8pm - Dinner - Dal Baht and curry. My favourite is potato curry and Aachar which is a spicy tomato pickle.
9:30pm - Bed...
In other news I am going to be a Nepali TV star! (Ok I will have a bit part in a soap opera) One of the ex-students has asked Sarah and I if we will take bit parts in a popular Nepali soap about college life (think Nepali Holyoaks). The program is broadcast on cable channels in 86 different countries. One of us will play a teacher and the other will play the part of a foreign student... very exciting.
Sunday, 26 April 2009
A Fragile Peace?
Some of you may know that Nepal is just emerging from a long Maoist insurgency that crippled most of the country and made travel around Nepal quite difficult. As part of hte peace process elections were held and a new constituent assembly has been formed to draft a constitution and develop a new government. However as with all these things, bureaucracy is slowing the process and fighting between the main political parties is causing problems. I thought I would recount one of these arguments that is being played out at the moment...
For the Nepali new year the 2nd National Games were held in Kathmandu. These games include every sport from swimming and athletics to football, badminton and chess! Each major group in Nepali society entered a team including the police, the armed police, the western states etc ect. However the games were shrouded in controversy as the Nepali Army (NA) refused to compete in events that had participants from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA - Maoist). They claim that the PLA, which should be being integrated in to the NA as part of the peace process, hadn't entered properly and thus were breaking the rules. In reality the NA have spent so long viewing the PLA as the enemy that them both competing on an even platform was probably never going to work. General Katawal of the NA withdrew all his contestants from events with PLA competitors and in doing so angered the Maoist led political party the U-CPN (I think this stands for unified communist party of Nepal). General Katawal has also angered the U-CPN by reinstating 8 army generals who had didn't have their contracts renewed at the end of the last year, this was part of a process to shrink the army to allow space for the PLA.
The situation escalated to such a point that on Tuesday both sides were reportedly planning minor coupes to regain control. The NA plan involved sending the UN monitors of the Maoist cantonments home and seizing all the PLA weapons before overthrowing the government. the U-CPN threatened that unless Katawal steps down, retires and is replaced by a Maoist friendly general they will quite the government and start the agitation (terrorism) that thwarted the country for so long. I wonder if the army will ever accept responsibility to the government (whatever colour) and whether the PLA combatants will ever be able to accept joining the army who they fought for so long?
This example shows just how fragile the Nepalese political process is. Everyday there is political demonstration of some sort in Kathmandu center and large parts of the country are brought to a stand still by strikes which stop all movement along the roads and the airports.
I do not understand enough about the previous conflict to comment on which party or process is the best for Nepal (although my gut says that a party which still teaches children as young as 5 how to soot and still threatens families with torture for not supporting their cause is not ideal), I just hope that the country manage to sort their political process out as there is no hope for development until the situation is stable.
For the Nepali new year the 2nd National Games were held in Kathmandu. These games include every sport from swimming and athletics to football, badminton and chess! Each major group in Nepali society entered a team including the police, the armed police, the western states etc ect. However the games were shrouded in controversy as the Nepali Army (NA) refused to compete in events that had participants from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA - Maoist). They claim that the PLA, which should be being integrated in to the NA as part of the peace process, hadn't entered properly and thus were breaking the rules. In reality the NA have spent so long viewing the PLA as the enemy that them both competing on an even platform was probably never going to work. General Katawal of the NA withdrew all his contestants from events with PLA competitors and in doing so angered the Maoist led political party the U-CPN (I think this stands for unified communist party of Nepal). General Katawal has also angered the U-CPN by reinstating 8 army generals who had didn't have their contracts renewed at the end of the last year, this was part of a process to shrink the army to allow space for the PLA.
The situation escalated to such a point that on Tuesday both sides were reportedly planning minor coupes to regain control. The NA plan involved sending the UN monitors of the Maoist cantonments home and seizing all the PLA weapons before overthrowing the government. the U-CPN threatened that unless Katawal steps down, retires and is replaced by a Maoist friendly general they will quite the government and start the agitation (terrorism) that thwarted the country for so long. I wonder if the army will ever accept responsibility to the government (whatever colour) and whether the PLA combatants will ever be able to accept joining the army who they fought for so long?
This example shows just how fragile the Nepalese political process is. Everyday there is political demonstration of some sort in Kathmandu center and large parts of the country are brought to a stand still by strikes which stop all movement along the roads and the airports.
I do not understand enough about the previous conflict to comment on which party or process is the best for Nepal (although my gut says that a party which still teaches children as young as 5 how to soot and still threatens families with torture for not supporting their cause is not ideal), I just hope that the country manage to sort their political process out as there is no hope for development until the situation is stable.
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