It's been a month and two days now since I arrived in Nepal. And I absolutely cannot believe how quickly time has flown, in a lot of ways I feel like I just got here. And yet… a ton has happened. So here’s a quick recap of the past couple weeks in Kathmandu.
The first week I lived in an apartment very close to Lazimpot and began intensive Nepali Language classes. And calling it intensive feels like a bit of an understatement. After stumbling around in Nepali for five hours, my grasp on language generally was beginning to slip. But the Nepali teachers, Geetaji and Prabaji (ji is a suffix added to denote respect... similar to "Mr." or "Ms."), are really great. Funny and patient and put up with us ETAs begging for chiyaa chuttiharu (tea breaks). Despite those tea breaks, we learned a lot of Nepali quite quickly And the hours upon hours of language classes with my fellow ETAs meant we all got to know each other pretty quickly. It’s been a lot of fun to study/work with all of them.
That first weekend I also attended Teej, a Hindu festival in which women don their bright red and gold wedding saris and gather at temples to pray for their husband’s long life and success. For more information about Teej, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teej . Below are a few pictures of the festival.
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| Teej Festivities in Durbar Square |
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| Women in their red wedding saris waiting to visit the temple |
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| Henna from the festival |
At the end of week one I moved in with my Kathmandu homestay family. Mero Nepali pariwarma amaa, baa, ra tin jaana bahini chha. (I have a mother, father, and three younger sisters in my Nepali family.) They live in Dhumbarai, on the first floor of a bright green house with a big garden out front. They also babysat for a five-year-old neighbor named Manika. She was adorable, and her English was at about the same level as my Nepali, so we bonded over picture books and clapping games.
The family was very kind, welcoming me into their family and making every effort to make sure I was comfortable. I met a lot of their family and friends, did a lot of singing (badly), played a harmonium, enjoyed a lot of tea and ate some delicious Nepali food. Dahi (yogurt) and homemade rice pudding are definitely my new favorites. Learning to live in a Nepali household definitely required a lot of adjusting, though. Independence and privacy are both very highly valued in US culture, and I hadn’t realized until now to what extent I appreciate both of these things. In the very communal culture of Nepal these things aren't considered to be of much importance. With essentially no “alone time” I spent a lot of time talking and a lot of time learning. It was challenging at times, but in the end a very good thing. It would be difficult to develop any sort of real understanding of Nepali culture without insight into the workings of Nepali families and households. So my small glimpse into one very loud, very loving, family was a small step toward better understanding. Plus, it was an opportunity to get to know some great people and I did have a lot of fun. Below are some Thapa/Duplechain family pics.
During this week I also attended Indra Jatra festivities. Indra Jatra is a festival to celebrate the living goddess Kumari. The Kumari is a girl who is believed to be a goddess incarnate until her first serious loss of blood. To learn more about Indra Jatra and Kumari see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari . Below are pictures of the festivities in Durbar Square!
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| The Kumari |
Over the course of the two weeks the ETAs began Teacher Training courses and continued Nepali Classes. We also visited a couple schools in the area in order to better understand Nepali teaching traditions and styles. We were really busy, so there wasn’t a lot of time for site seeing. The first Saturday I spent with my family, though, my sister Khusbu took Natalie (an ETA buddy) and I to see Pashupatinath, a temple compound on the sacred Baghmati River. This is complex where funerals and cremations are held. For more information on the Pashupatinath, click
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashupatinath_Temple . A few pictures are below.
Sunday, September 3 we left our homestays in Kathmandu and moved to our villages. I am living in Harisiddhi, a Newari village about a 45 minute bus ride from central Kathmandu. I really am not far away from the city, but it feels worlds away from the hustle and bustle of the metropolis. I spent the week observing Harisiddhi School, the government school where I will be teaching, and I have fallen in love with this little town. My homestay family, my school, and my fellow teachers have all been so kind and welcoming. I am really looking forward to the next nine months in this place. But that means I have nine more months to write about Harisiddhi, so more on this later.
I am back in Kathmandu for the next few days for Fulbright meetings. So I’ll update in more detail soon!
