language lessons

nepali language lessons continue. i've managed to bargain my way into an extra week of lessons (all the two-year volunteers get eight weeks of training, but that's a little excessive for a six month placement).

i've decided to make a real effort at learning how to speak and read nepali. even now, it's pretty cool that at this point i can actually have a conversation with someone off the street. ok, so it may be limited to how many people are in my family and who they are, but still...

also learning to read devanagari script. the writing is a linguists dream: every single consonant has a specific symbol. in fact the script is broken up into where and how it's pronounced in the mouth.

there's a bit of a drawback, devangari has 36 consonant symbols, 15 vowel sounds. we've learned 19 consonants, and if this was the alphabet we'd be pretty much done, but in devangari that's only halfway through the set. still, i'm having fun walking down the street, figuring out what signs say.


for instance, nothing in devangari in this picture says 'coca-cola'. i have no idea what it actually says (i only know half the syllabary!

in country training

so the training right now is taking place in the Hotel Shanker, which is a far cry from the VSO training office in Ottawa. Hotel Shanker is apparently where Sting stays when he comes to Nepal.

It'll just have to do, I suppose.



All of the vols have come in across the country for some security updates, earthquake prep, etc. all that kinda emergency evac kinda stuff you need to worry about as a volunteer in nepal. although foreigners are explicitly not targeted, the settled vols have stories of being asked to make 'contributions' to maoists, offices being bombed, etc.



Also learning to read and write Nepali, which is far, far easier than Divehi (Maldivian). "Chahaidaina. Ma tourist hoina." ("I don't need it. I'm not a tourist") is gold for getting rid of hustlers, hash sellers, etc.

Another important phrase is "what's that smell?" Kathmandu has lived up its reputation.

support VSO!

if you're checking this blog regularly, or even on a irregular basis, please donate to VSO.

you don't have to "purchase" a month, you don't have to buy a photo (by buy, i mean donate: i get nothing) but please support the organisation that is supporting me over here in Nepal. VSO is involved in doing good things around the world and they really do have their act together.

all you have to do is print out this form, donate something as small as $5 and send it into VSO Canada HQ in Ottawa.

When I have time I'm going to put up some progress bars along the side, to show how much (little) money has been raised by both of the fundraising schemes i have going on this blog:

Buy a month:
Goal: $600
Raised : $200

Photos by donation:
Goal: $100
Raised : $10

some actual pics:

the connection is a lot better in the morning when the internet cafe here (beside the Pacific Guest House) isn't overrun with school kids.

durbar square:




kathmandu:

the courtyard of the Pacific Guesthouse:

there's a lot more i'd like to say; BBC articles about torture in nepal. why on earth didn't the doctor give me my japanese encephelitis shots? but i am already late for training, so i've got to run.

kumari devi

finally made it out to explore a little yesterday. wandered around thamel, which is kinda the tourist/tekker area of kathmandu. it's strange how you can get used to soldiers so quickly: kids with guns. it's still unnerving to walk past their streetcorner pillboxes, past the end of machine gun barrels.

flashed my VSO card and got deals on everything i tried to buy: shampoo, a map and sandals.

saw a living goddess down in durbar square. what did you do yesterday?

her name is the kumari devi. she was out the day before and i was too ill to go down then. she doesn't actually come out all that often, so i didn't think anything about the crowd that was down in the square yesterday. it's the indra jatra festival right now so there's a lot going on. i pushed my way through just as this big burly man carried her past (because her feet aren't allowed to touch the ground). huh!

by tradition, she'll be the living incarnation of some diety until she hits puberty (or spills blood by a major cut), and then the selection process begins again.

in country training began today but that's another story.

still trying to upload some photos...

impressions of kathmandu

this place is so photogenic it's amazing. poignant, sobering, enlightening.



for the most part i've actually been cooped up (as everyone else goes out for late pub nights, has major life experiences down at durban square etc) because of a nasty head cold. feeling better now and i've managed to snatch a few shots.

we've been warned which areas of town to stay away from because of the daily student protests. the veteran volunteers have stories about maoist bombings, getting bricks thrown at them during riots, typical stuff.

i guess i was prepared for the more ascetic lifestyle i had down in the Maldives, but i don't think it's going to be quite the same. there's fresh fruit here! there's outfitting shops on every corner down in tamel, all with the latest northface gear. there's pubs open until 3 in the morning.

i could get used to it here.

(ok, i've been trying to post pictures to this entry for three days now. i'll just post it as is and get photos up here when i find a decent connection...)

touchdown

it's a thursday morning here in kathmandu, a little hazy but there's familiarity: beeping traffic, wandering cows, bollywood advertising.

my stay in heathrow was a bust, i ended up passing out on the bed and never made it into london. in fact, i've been pretty much in a sleepy daze since i left. oddly enough, i already feel somewhat adjusted to the time difference even though it's 10:30 at night out on the West Coast.

there was a whole host of british VSOs on the flight out from heathrow, and now we're all lodged at the Pacific Guesthouse (which sounds a little dodgy considering Nepal is landlocked, but it isn't that bad). i have to get back into speaking british. if i want a candy from someone, i should ask for a sweet.

outta here

i fly out this evening around 5ish.

a special thanks to everyone that helped out this summer, offered me odd jobs etc. and my extended family, the christensen clan: Dane (for putting up with me), Jana (for printing everything out for me) and Mo & Jo, for pretty much being everything. thanks to Mercer for editing and commenting everything i've ever written. And also all the disc players and miscellaneous party ninjas who make nanaimo a good, silly place.

And a special thanks to Justin for letting me take that cannon ball when we stormed the hill at st-jean sur richelieu.

when you're a nomad it's easy to lose touch, to forget where you're from or to feel like you're from many different places. it's a real phenomenon to lose your place, to not actually have home anymore.

there's lots of people out there who have seen more of the world than i have, but then again i haven't lived in the same place for longer than six months since, uh, high school (with two exceptions). it's been good to reconnect with my hometown. it's good to know what your answer is when someone asks you where you're from.

VSO prints

ok, so, keeping in mind i have absolutely no photographic training at all...

still trying to raise funds for the group that's sending me around the world, VSO. they're good eggs and they could always use some more money, so what i'm going to try and do is sell some photos online.

i've posted all the photos that i think are printworthy at webshots. you can browse through there and, if you're cool with one of them, uh, let me know!

all you have to do is make a donation of $10 CDN to VSO (donation forms here) + the printing and shipping fees. the photos will be sent out from shutterfly, shipping costs in Canada are $2.99 but the first 15 prints are free so it's only $12.99 total.

You can even order frames and special sizes, it'll just be added onto the total. here's the price list.

the first 15 prints with a new shutterfly account are free, so if you feel like a bargain order away!

if you have any questions about how to order, drop me a line.

(realistically, i figure i've done good if i get one order and it's not from my mom)

basements

why do canadians have basements?

the other day i was on the phone with a friend of mine, emma, from australia. she asked me why canadians have basements and i had no good answer. apparently there are no basements in australia.

why do canadians have basements?