Hello,
Another busy two weeks it's been. Started shadowing two weeks ago, then took over classes last week by myself, although the transition has been pretty slow. The very first day of shadowing was a holiday actually, so we didn't go to school. Kind of weird to have the first day of school off. Spent four days meeting the students and slowly taking over. Then on the second week, we had Tuesday off for another holiday, Indra Jatra, Wednesday was a half day because the king came back from London (I'll explain later) and then I was sick Thursday and Friday. So it's been a bumpy transition, only going to school half the time. My fourth graders are in the midst of preparing for Parent's Day (a program combining skits, dancing, and singing), and that combined with the school wide spelling bee is leaving me sort of confused as to when I teach class and when the kids will be off practicing. I think in all I taught two lessons last week. It's kind of frustrating, cause you're not really told until the last minute when you'll have the kids or when someone will be taking them to practice. The school has so many programs and special events that they often interfere with classes, so I guess I should get used to this.
The Tuesday we had off for Indra Jatra was fun. The computer teacher, Rabin, took us into town to watch the festivities. Not really clear on the exact purpose of the three day festival, but the big deal, the reason we went, is because it's one of the few times when the Kumari is displayed to the public. The Kumari is a living goddess, chosen as a young girl from a particular caste of Newari gold and silversmiths. She must meet 32 strict physical requirements, like color of eyes, shape of teeth, and sound of her voice. Then all the candidates are put in a dark room while men run around with masks and make loud scary noises, and the girl who doesn't cry or become frightened is chosen as the next Kumari, because a real goddess would not be scared. So her family moves into a house in Kathmandu Durbar Square, and she's basically isolated from the public with the exception of a few occasions, like Indra Jatra. Her blood is believed to be of milk, so whenever she bleeds her reign as Kumari ends. It's then considered bad luck to marry a Kumari, and the life afterwards is said to be pretty tough. So anyways, we went to the Durbar Square, and then after a few hours of waiting ambassadors from different countries started arriving to the Royal Palace, and then there were some ceremonial dances, like good vs. evil and the dance of the god Ganesh. Finally a loud canon shot and from around the corner this giant chariot comes racing out with people all over it. The whole chariot was decorated with ornaments and designs, and on top, in her own little compartment sat the Kumari. She's not allowed to laugh or show any emotion, so she just sat there, looking at the crowd in all of her makeup and ornaments, as the chariot was raced through the Square. It was a little anti-climactic, as the chariot portion only lasted about 2 minutes, but I ended up with some great footage of it all. My video camera was able to zoom right in on her face, even though we were sitting pretty far away. So it was worth it.
Before that Rabin had taken us to a Newari Restaurant for lunch. The food was really good, and he surprised us by ordering buffalo tongue. We had all put it in our mouths before he started laughing and broke the secret to us, but I thought it was good and kept eating. My mistake. Woke up early early Thursday morning and couldn't get back into bed for a few more hours. Spent the next two days dying in my bed, waiting for the bug to pass. Man that sucked. Colleen had it bad too, but Geraldine, upon learning the nature of the meat, decided not to eat any more, and was therefore fairly healthy. We're all sort of still recovering. I'm able to walk around and stuff, so that's nice, but still don't feel 100%. Perhaps I'll start taking Cipro.
Hmmm, what else. Oh, the other day it was my turn to cook, so I walked to the market to get some vegetables, and on my way home I decided to stop in at one of the Mala tents (the food stands here for the month long celebration) to get these bready desert things called (sounds like) jerry's. I was ordering, and this guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I was Hindu, I said no, and told him that I lived just down the road. We started talking more, and it turns out he graduated a few years back from the school I now teach at. We started talking about music, and then he invited me into the tent for tea and snacks. It was great, really random, but that seems to be the custom here. See someone you know or want to know, and invite them in for tea. So we sat and chatted for a bit, he sang me some Elvis songs, and we drank tea and had this other bready desert thingy. Every time I see him now, he insists that we have tea and snacks. It's pretty fun, and nice to run into someone familiar. He knows pretty good English, helps a little with my Nepali, and we talk about music and Nepal and America. Today, as I was walking home from Parent's Day practice, I ran into him, we had tea, and traded off singing Cat Stevens, CCR, and Simon and Garfunkle. Oh yeah, his name is Deenase.
So, tomorrow, Monday, my language classes start up again. There only for an hour a day, three times a week though, so it will be nice to get that going again. We have another short school week again, because the Maoists have called a bundh, which means closure. Who are the Maoists? The Maosits are a group of terrorists or rebels, whatever you want to call them, who have been involved in a civil war here in Nepal since 1996. The extremist party is fighting for a communist republic instead of the current constitutional Hindu monarchy. There had been a cease fire called last January, and peace talks were going forward, although with little progress. A few weeks ago, the talks dissolved and the cease fire ended, and there have been incidences of violence throughout the country since. In the past, all of the violence was taking place in the extremely rural parts of the country. Recently, they've moved some of their targets towards the Kathmandu Valley area, but please know that Godavari, my village, is still a good 45 minute drive from the capital. We feel very safe up here, and if it wasn't for the newspapers, we wouldn't know anything was going on. Foreigner's have not and are still not a target, and we're always in communication with the D.C. office as well as out In-Country Coordinator. So anyways, the Maoists have called a Bundh starting Thursday and lasting through Saturday, and that basically means everything must be closed. Schools, shops, public transportation. Kind of a weird concept, but whatever. I think we're going to have a retreat at the local retreat center since we can't go anywhere anyways.
Ok, that's about it for now. Oh yeah, the knee is good. Got my stitches out last Tuesday and a new batch of exercises. Have to do them for another month before I go in and get more.
Have a great week.....
Love Kvin