Home help

Hmm, a 'didi' moved into the flat today. Didi is the word for older sister and is basically someone who lives in and helps with cleaning and cooking. She has been appointed to help me turn over the bedroom each time someone moves in and out of the spare room (a volunteer moved in for 2 weeks yesterday). She seems very nice and doesn't speak any English which is good for my Nepali (although my Nepali is such that at the moment things are just a bit awkward as I try to explain things). I had said that if I was on my own I didn't want her to cook for me, and I thought that she would only clean the communal areas like the office and kitchen (which everyone uses during the day). However I went to my room after work to find that she had made my bed and cleaned and neatly arranged everything. She has also cleaned the whole house which is kind of mortifying because I made real efforts to clean up yesterday before my temporary flat mate moved in but there is a significant improvement in the level of cleanliness now so I must look like quite the slob. Which wouldn't be far off the mark, its just embarrassing when other people realise.
I feel uncomfortable that she is cleaning up after me. Obviously I will tell her not to clean my room anymore and I hope this prompts me into tidying up after myself a bit more. But lets not get carried away. I still haven't been to the gym after all. But on that note I spotted a sports shop today that sells hula-hoops! I'll be getting one as soon as I can.

48 airports, ten of them with paved runways.

This (post title) is one of my favourite facts about Nepal, courtesy of Wikipedia. Today I took my first internal flights as Philip and I flew to Bhairahawa where several other EBT projects are located. The town is further East and on the border with India and much hotter than up here. I can happily report that its airport is paved and I had an enjoyable flight. I flew Yeti Airlines which is just the best name (there is also a Buddha Air).
The sticker above was attached to the seat in front of me and the statement in the middle made me chuckle. I can't really work out what is intended by it - any suggestions please let me know.
There is a refuge out here which is much smaller, and for younger children and another mosaic workshop. There are two British artist volunteers out here and they really have a free rein to develop new designs and products and tackle much larger projects than the tourist-oriented work in Kathmandu. At the moment they are planning to cover a life-size statue of a cow in mosaics - I'll post a photo once it's completed.
I'm now planning an early night to try and go to an aerobics class at a near-by gym tomorrow. It starts at 6.30. I'm not hugely optimistic that this is a realistic goal.

Tihar - Part 2

Following 'Day of the Dogs' on Saturday and 'bailo' on Sunday, today was 'bai tikar' day where sisters worship their brothers and shower them with gifts. There is no equivalent 'bahini tikar' day for brothers to demonstrate their appreciation of their sisters so you can imagine my opinion of this tradition! But it was another lovely day up at the refuge. My boss gave a presentation to a group of Americans who are currenty visiting several projects in the country. Following this we went up to the refuge where the children gave a repeat performance of their repertoire which I feel like I have seen countless times now! The children were tikared and received some sweets and gifts. Above is another picture of me and my tikar and marigold garland which smelled lovely. One of the staff spent hours making over a hundred of the garlands. You cannot really see but the tikar was a lot more intricate this time with various colours dotted down a central white line - it was really beautiful.
Afterwards I finally got to visit the mosaic workshop up in the hills of the town. Several of the older resuced girls have been trained to make mosaics to give them the ability to be self-sufficient and earn a good wage. Several professional mosaic artists have visited and trained the girls involved and the results are stunning. I don't think you can really tell from the photos above so you'll have to take my word for it. To finally give you a bit of context to the work out here please have a look at this clip from a television programme explaining the reasons behind the charity and its early days (although this is quite old), there is also a newspaper article in the Nepali times chronicling the most recent rescue mission along with the current website for more information.

Tihar - Part 1

The last few days have been Tihar over here which is the Nepali equivalent of Divali. This has meant that houses and shops are decorated with fairy lights and garlands of flowers (usually orange). There are lots of candles and fancy lights along driveways and around gates to welcome goddess Lakshmi, goddess of welath, into your home. It all looks beautiful. I was at the refuge on Saturday for the day which was fun. Competitions and games were organised for the children and there was a great atmosphere. We ate popcorn for lunch. Just popcorn. Does popcorn count towards the 5 a day?
It was also 'Day of the Dogs' which I discovered when I arrived in the village to find all manner of waifs and strays had been 'tika'd and given a flower garland. Above is a picture of one of the refuge dogs 'Bikkie'. You can just about to make out the red mark on the top of his head. As I write this I am really wondering where and when this ceremony originated. Considering the appalling way many dogs are treated it seems strange to honour them in this way. The blessing of the machines I can understand since people are dependent on them but dogs? I guess it's nice that they get one day of guaranteed (friendly) attention.
On Sunday I went round to my bosses house where the children came down in the afternoon for a programme of singing and dancing. Over the last few days children visit local houses to perform for sweets and money. It's a bit like trick or treating but there are no tricks which makes it a much less stressful situation. Although this should be tempered with the torment of firecrackers and fireworks going off all through the night. Disappointingly there is no organised fireworks display. I have been up on the roof a few times but apart from spotting the odd one or two there is nothing to see.

Mathilda in the office.

OK - one of these photos was posed but basically Mathilda spends her working week wandering between people, alternately nuzzling at hands or licking feet until she gets attention. Or she sleeps.
She is a perfect dog and follows me about everywhere. My boss says I should research how to get her back to the UK. I'm not sure if he was joking but I love the idea! (Also this post is not intended to denigrate the memory of Molly, who, while not being the most well-behaved creature, did her best and is sorely missed by at least 3, maybe 4 people).

List of Recipes from my New Nepali Cookery Book That I will not be Trying

• Fried viscera of buffalo or goat
• Fried lungs of goat
• Solidified blood (Recipe starts: Use the plasma blood lying in a fluid state in the interior part of the body after the stomach and intestines are taken out).
  

On the subject of meat it is not uncommon to walk past a butchers ('meat shop') and hear the sound of chickens awaiting their fate. Also buffalo meat is really common here, I haven't tried any yet but will let you know what it's like when I do. I'm not sure when this will be as last weeks Kathmandu Post had the headline "Valley Meat Products Declared Unhygienic" - it doesn't make for pleasant reading and means the buffalo experiment is some way off.
- Check out my first link!

Wash day blues

A new washing machine arrived at the flat today which was brilliant. I have only been able to handwash things since I got here and I wore my tracksuit bottoms to work today! I already had some washing powder but was told that my brand would create too much lather and I had to buy a very specific product (Henko-matic). I had originally purchased Henko-oxy and I can only imagine the havoc that might have been wrought had I gone with this. Unfortunately I am saddened to report that the machine has failed to work and is down stairs mocking me with it's little red light beaming at me as it steadfastly refuses to perform.

My food woes continue unabated. There's no way I've managed my 5 a day since I got here which is a bit distressing. It's just as well I have so many vitamins or I would have got scurvy by now. I haven't really got into the swing of cooking yet. I do most of my shopping at the nearest supermarket which I can walk to (so I can get receipts for work), but then have to get a taxi back so I haven't been getting fresh food everyday. There are shops near me selling vegetables (I never see much fruit) but they are things that I have no idea how to cook and I am scared to buy too much again and then end up throwing it all out, like the cauliflower incident. Also I found out that anything that I can't peel needs to be soaked in iodine for half and hour before cooking it - even if you boil it. So the cauliflower curry in the freezer is definitely going out now. And I need to buy some iodine.
Instead, mortifyingly, I have been eating boil in the bag meals if I'm not out for dinner. I had a nice Tarka Dahl earlier. I also have a large collection of miniature tins of fruit to up my nutrient levels. I've just had a fruit cocktail which was 14% aloe vera. I never knew this was an edible item!

Mero nam Megan ho, mero ghar Edinburghma Leith ho

I had my first Nepali lesson yesterday (Monday). I have been booked in for two two-hour lessons a week so I hope I will be able to say more than just Dhanyabad (thankyou) and Namaste soon. It's amazing how words sound alike in different languages, (such as name and 'nam', and 'ma' for me) even those which I didn't think were related at all. I will have to ask Cristina about this. Although don't let this fool you - the majority of words are not so easy and there's the written side of things to conquer. We focused a lot on names this week. We only used mother, father and friends as subjects so after naming Mum, Dad and some friends I had to name some friends of Mum and Dad and then it got trickier. I had to name all my grandparents and then some of their friends names!

Odds and Ends

It seems like a long time since I wrote and I'm not sure where to start - although I haven't really done that much. On Saturday I went exploring in the neighbourhood a bit. I wanted to check out a few of the places I had seen but a lot of them were closed. I don't know if this is because I went at the wrong time, or because it was a Saturday. I think Saturday is the only day off for a lot of people (thankfully not me) because children start school for the week on a Sunday (with Friday being a half-day). Anyway I found a German bakery where I bought some coconut macaroons and then had a Ginger Cooler at the New Orleans cafe which is a lovely garden cafe/restaurant. In the evening a volunteer from the refuge came down to stay for a few nights so we went to a near-by restaurant for dinner which was nice.
On Sunday we went back to Baktapur since the tickets are validated for a week. I didn't really do anything except sit on a roof top terrace, enjoy the views and read (Malaloi Joya, Raising My Voice if anyone would like a recommendation, she's amazing - also if anyone has any suggestions for me, let me know). Anyway, then went on to Thamel for some shopping where I picked up my first new clothes - very exciting.

My Growing Dislike of Bus Transport

I had to get over to the refuge yesterday evening after being in the office all day. I knew I would be cutting it fine by leaving at about 5.45pm since buses stop sometime before 8pm but things started well as I managed to hail a bus immediately for the bus station (a first as I usually take a taxi). Then it all went wrong at Lagankhel. The sun was beginning to set and the buses were already low on frequency. There were a couple in the first 15 minutes that I couldn't get on - at least three people hanging out of each bus and several hundred inside. Then there was nothing for about 20 minutes. It was getting dark and a power cut took out the light from the lamp-posts. Just at the time when I was about to get a taxi a bus arrived. I didn't think I would get on it but a man who I had been talking to couldn't get on with all his family and propelled me forward in a (sorely misguided) act of generosity to make sure that I got a space. And a very small space at that. I was standing. Well, trying to. Often Nepali's can stand in the buses with a mere tilt of the head or a slight bow. I was bent double. If I tried to lift my head I could only see the floor as my head and shoulders were jammed against the roof. This was pretty uncomfortable. And I think I must have looked ridiculous as I got a lot of sympathetic/puzzled stares. Still we set off and I was thinking "it can't get any worse". Then we stopped and 3 more people got on. I could no longer hold on to any part of the bus but there was little chance I could fall over due to sardine-like set up. If parents with babies or little one's get on they seem to just pass the child to whoever has lap space. After about 15 minutes I did get a seat although it was hardly less busy and by that stage I was panicking in case I passed my stop since it was now pitch black and I could hardly see outside. Thankfully this didn't happen but I have learnt my lesson about getting evening buses.

The reason for my trip to the refuge was to help out on a day trip today. So begins part 2 of my problem with buses. We were going to Nargarkot in the hills to watch sunrise. We were to get up at 3am to make it there for 6am. I was vaguely enthusiastic but it's the kind of thing I would prefer to do without 30 children. Anyway, for the second time I was happy to get what I thought was a good seat at the front of the bus. (From now on I will seek out what appears to be the worst seat on any public transport because at least I won't be disappointed). After I got on the picnic was loaded on. Onto the bench seat in front on me. The food was a soup-y curry in large vats with no air tight seal. Just a plate covering it. (The picture above is from after breakfast so you just have to imagine the large pot with a plate on the top). Predictably the combination of shuddering bus, sharp swerves and steep inclines meant that within the hour my (best) jeans and pale sandals were stained yellow with turmeric and I spent the rest of the day picking pieces of onion and tomato from my clothes. Oh, and the small girl on my lap was sick from the moment we set off until we arrived so as well as trying to curtail the steady stream of food from my knees to my ankles I was doing my best to direct her head into a sick bag.
Other factors adding to my bus-phobia were the fact that I realised I was sitting next to the emergency exit only when it slowly started to swing open and I nearly lost the bottle of water next to me. I spent the rest of the trip tightly gripping on to the handle.
And finally the on-the-spot maintenance which consisted of taking a hammer to various parts of the engine/wheels when unusual noises were heard.
But I have posted the photo above to show that it wasn't all bad - this is the mountains at sunrise.