Dahl baat

Being at the refuge for a few days straight meant that I ate with everybody and had my first taste of dahl baat - the meal which is generally eaten by Nepalis twice a day. It is rice, a lentil dahl and vegetables. I like it. Which is just as well as I have eaten it for breakfast (and tea) three days in a row. I have also tried momo's which are small boiled dumplings - a favourite with the children but resticted to once a week as they are time-consuming to make.
I have also spent some time helping out peeling garlic. As you can imagine the refuge gets through a lot of it and the garlic used out here (for reasons of flavour) are much smaller than what I use in the UK and therefore fiddly to peel. First whole garlics are split up, covered in oil and left to crisp in the sun. Then the skin comes off much more easily. Today S was making pickle which the children love. This involves layering chillis, garlic, salt and vinegar in old coffee jars which will reduce down to a very hot pickle in about a week.

On to Tika day

Yesterday was Tika day when adults apply tika to childrens heads and give them money. Tika is the red paste which is put onto the forehead as I am demonstrating above. It is made of rice, red powdered dye, water and mashed up banana. It can happen several times throughout the day by different adults - parents, relatives, friends, mentors. P (the director) was meant to give Tika but was stuck in India due to a pilot strike.
For me (and F and M from the trust) the day started by accompanying 5 of the children to the central jail to see their parents. This was a really interesting (and emotional) experience.
Security was mixed. Showing a ridiculous lack of awareness of prison protocol I had turned up (unsurprisingly) with a chemists supply of various drugs and supplements. Unintentionally I was also carrying a stupid amount of money. Despite 4 bag checks and a pat down though this didn't seem to be a problem and I was allowed in to the women's section of the prison. Although the conditions didn't look particularly nice (but not terrible) there was a real effort to make everyone feel welcome and create as nice an atmosphere as possible.
We were shown into an alley way area where we waited for the children's mothers. When they came out they brought food with them and sat down to eat and drink. The women were very hospitable and keen for us to eat and drink with them - they also insisted on giving us money. It was very moving to watch the reunions. They generally visit two or three times a year - during major holidays. We stayed for about an hour during which time we were tika'd a few times before leaving to visit fathers in the men's section. I was also handed what seemed to be pieces of grass which are put behind the ear, or worn in hair - another form of blessing or good luck.
A guard for for the men's section then discovered my drugs haul and prevented me from going in. To be honest I was quite happy with this decision and waited for everyone outside.
In the afternoon there was more tika'ing and a leaving party for a staff member.

The weekend I witnessed two animal deaths - one planned, one not

This weekend has been really busy because of the Dasain festival. It lasts 15 days and a lot of the city is shut down during this time. I have spent most of it up at the refuge helping out with the children and taking part in the festivities. It was also my first solo trip up there involving a short walk and two buses. I failed at the first hurdle (I blame the lack of buses) and took a taxi to the bus station. After finding the right stop I was really pleased to be put in the front seat since there is a bit more room, although I still shared it with a woman and her baby who got on afterwards. I may have mentioned before how manic the driving is. Everyone drives as fast as is possible (which depends on the traffic). There is a lot of overtaking and continual beeping horns. All the time. There are no demarcations on the road but people generally stick to the left. There is very little giving way although I sense some deference from drivers of smaller or older cars. Basically it is pretty hairy at times.
Bearing all this in mind the dog didn't stand a chance. The driver did beep the horn a lot. But there was no slowing down. It just looked up confused before hitting the bumper right under me and being taken under :(
That was number one. The accidental one.
At the refuge I was met by a lovely brown goat (hope to have a photo soon - camera had no battery). He was looked after well by the children and the boys took him into their house for the night, keeping him well fed and watered. The next day was 'pujar' (I think that's what it's called) when animals are sacrificed to bless motorised vehicles. The school bus, 4 x 4 and two refuge motorbikes were the subjects of the day and a long time was devoted to making up 'tika' (no idea about spelling) and decorating the bodywork and engines with fruits and other items. Above you can see the hubcaps decorated with yellow and red tika mixture and the engine of the car with a banana and coconut, pieces of sugarcane and more tika mixture.
I had intended to be present for the goat sacrifice but was in an upstairs room when I heard a commotion. I didn't hear the goat and it seems to have been really quick, the bus driver (the 'pundit' trained to carry out the deed) had a long sword and took the head off in one. I did see a whole bowl of blood being carried past which I understood would be used to cover the vehicles but that didn't seem to happen. I also saw a lot of small boys holding the goat head aloft!
Apparently over this weekend hundreds of goats and buffalo are sacrificed in the main square in Kathmandu.
However it was maybe less of a big deal than I thought. A few hours later I walked back towards the office and did actually get to view the slaying of a goat by the next door family. It was witnessed only by two small children (and me) and this time after slitting the throat a little the beast was dragged around each hubcap to bloody. This time it seemed a little drawn out.
It should be noted that not all vehicles are blessed in this way. BK from work asured me that his motorbike had a vegetarian blessing!

My Friendly Bedroom Gecko

Cooking Update

I just put the weird cauliflower soup in the freezer (thus delaying any feelings of guilt I have until I finally throw it out months from now). Inside I discovered the half a dozen eggs I bought on my first day here. The security guard (who I'll call B from now on until I have discussed the blog with him, hopefully eliciting full and informed consent - data collection course was evidently time well spent!) put them in there and they are now frozen and cracked. Is there anything I can do with frozen eggs?

Since I arrived at the flat there have been nightly power cuts - usually at about 7pm. At the moment it doesn't really affect me as there is a back-up generator which lasts for a couple of hours - mainly to support the office in the event of cuts during the day. After learning the ropes the first few times it mainly involves me flailing around to find the indispensable head torch then popping downstairs to flick a few switches. It happened twice tonight though which was precisely the number of times it took me to connect me switching on the kettle with a black-out.

My first meal - a lesson learned

Today has been a mixed day. It's my second day in the office and after being shown the ropes by the person leaving yesterday I am kind of on my own (at least until my boss returns from the UK). At lunch time another member of staff kindly agreed to help me get some shopping and we walked to the nearest town centre. There is a large department store/supermarket where I wanted to buy towels. I had been there the day before and discovered that there are different sections to it. If you buy items in one area of the shop and want to enter another section you have to check your shopping into a pigeon hole and you receive a ticket to collect it on the way out. Obviously I promptly forgot it and returned home without my dried apricots and a melon. Luckily it was still there 24 hours later and nobody even commented! I also discovered there are lots of nice cafes, restaurants and bars near to me, as well as an English language bookshop and plenty of good shops - this area has been described as the Chelsea of Kathmandu!
This afternoon though I haven't been feeling well and went to bed straight after work. But i have just got up again to make some food. I'm really paranoid about throwing food out and wanted to use up some cauliflower that I bought a few days ago. This is partly because I got in a pickle at the market and ended up with 3 cauliflowers instead of 1. (I also have about 19 bananas which I'll have to start giving away soon). Anyway, in one pan I added some of the first (fairly small) cauli to a lentil dahl-ish. Then I carried on chopping up the other two much larger ones for a soup. I kept flicking away tiny specks of dirt until there just seemed more and more of them - and then I thought maybe the little specks were moving. Then near its core there were about 3 largish caterpillars, one of which I had managed to halve. :(
I have bravely struggled on picking them all out (and washing it well) but I'm not sure I can have got all of them, and there must have been loads that I didn't get from the first one (although I'm clinging to the fact that it was much smaller and presumably of less interest to a caterpillar family). So I have now made a revolting-looking bland cauliflower soup that I don't really want and a lovely looking dahl that I am a bit scared to eat. Still, I guess you can't catch much from a dead, well-cooked insect can you?

Mathilda!

I have inherited a dog - meet Mathilda! She is very friendly but a bit over-enthusiastic. If anyone is in the vicinity she spends her time on her hind legs pawing at them. And she licks a lot. Sadly she is not really allowed in the living quarters and spends the night outside but there are treats for her in the kitchen and I hope we will be firm friends.

My new home!

Garden area with fish pond
View from the roof top terrace
Living room with cable television!
Here are some photos of my new home. I moved in today with the help of one of my colleagues. I really love it. It is a 2 storey building in a little garden area. It is gated and a security guard lives in the small house by the gate. The Trust's office is on the ground floor and that is also where my kitchen is (which is used by everyone during the working day). Then on the first floor there are 2 double bed-rooms (my room has an en-suite although it seems pretty grotty compared to the main bathroom so don't know if I will really use it). There is also a nice big lounge. With wireless internet so I'm skypable!
It's about 6.15pm at the moment and I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic. The guard came in to show me all the security features about an hour ago and in the process closed all the windows, shut the curtains and encouraged me to lock myself in for the night which I have done. So while it's still light and bright outside I am in the living room with the light and fan on! And although I have been reassured that it is a very safe area there are an awful lot of locks and I have to put a great big wooden bar across the front door each night.

Thamel and Durbar Square

I'm into my second day here now and things are going well although I wonder how long it will take me to properly get the hang of things. The people that I meet keep saying that within a week I'll feel perfectly confident and know my way around the city. I'm sure this can't be true. I spent a few hours wandering through Thamel and Kathmandu Durbur Square this morning and could barely orientate myself. My sense of direction is appalling and there don't appear to be any street signs (or not that I can read) so even with a map I still didn't have a clue. I think I'm going to need a lot longer than a week!
Durbar Square was interesting. It has over 50 temples and monuments. I saw a 'living goddess' (Kumari) in her house. She looked to be about 6 or 7 years old and was dressed in finery with make up and lots of jewellery.
This is the one photo that is worthy of general release from my pottering about.

First impressions

I arrived at about 3pm and it is quite overwhelming! It's not like anywhere I've been before. There are just so many people and cars and motorbikes and rickshaws all driving at about 4 miles an hour because it’s so busy. The roads are atrocious. I have yet to see a pavement and cars drive down the narrowest of lanes.
The descent into Kathmandu was amazing. It’s a bit hard to make out from the photos but where it looks like the clouds ending before the sky, is actually the skyline of the Annapurna mountain range. It looked better from the plane! There was an awful lot of banking and twisting to land in the valley. Once the clouds clear the city itself is vast, sprawling for miles. Apparently the infrastructure is intended to support 500,000 but the owners of the hotel where I am tonight (which is gorgeous, with a lovely garden courtyard) reckoned that there were now about 4 million residents. I had a little snooze then went for a quick explore and something to eat. It was dark by this point and I’m in the middle of the tourist district so just streets and streets of shops and stalls really. But everyone seems really friendly and I had a delicious, if lonely, meal. I’m going over to one of the refuges tomorrow where the children are putting on a musical show, not in my honour I’m afraid but for the festival of Dasain.

Teach Yourself Nepali

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OK - this is my first post and if it is all going to plan you should be able to see a photo of my Nepali flashcards which I am endeavouring to learn before I touch down on Thursday. I was hoping for a few phrases but the book tells me I must learn all the characters first. I'm about two thirds of the way through now which is not too bad. Although from what I understand now the language is pretty complex with different characters (for the same sound) being used depending on the letter preceding it. And I think my handwriting will inhibit me somewhat - they're not exactly identical to the printed versions!