pics from the pad

it's been hazy the last few days, so i haven't yet seen the himalayas since i moved in. pattan is a different city from kathmandu. there's a feel, an unobtrusive history in the architecture, the roads, the people.

one drawback: the 'load shedding' (read power cuts) have been increased to 17hrs a week. 3 hours in the evening, sometimes in the morning as well. it's nuts. this morning, with no power, i sipped my coffee and did a crossword from the little bench in the picture (actually on the other end, but the light wasn't good enough for a pic).

banda today

which means most shops are closed and no vehicles. this one was called by the seven party alliance (the politicos).

walked to work via the tiny pedestrian bridge over the Pattan Ghats. Khatmandu is a different place when there's no vehicles: the roads were full of people but the loudest sound was that of conversation, not roaring trucks and insufferable horns (all of which are based on an amplified, mechanized version of Jim Carey's 'most obnoxious sound in the world' from Dumb and Dumber. i swear).

got caught in a batton rush on the way home. that's about it.

a day in the life

I am now, for better or for worse, a Pattanian (to coin a phrase from another Sila). With all of the stuff that's been going on, I've been more stressed about getting this move over than anything else. I've been transient since September and it's going to be so nice to have a HOME!

Six o'clock, was up and packing my old dera. The truck actually showed up early, which if you've been in Nepal long enough you know is unnatural, let alone unexpected. It's amazing how much ceezbeez (nepali for stuff) you pick up in only four months, but we made it over in one trip. Pretty much everyone and their dog helped me unpack. Going up the stairs passed this cute little goat once or twice, and then someone moved it out of the way.

Enjoyed a few minutes of contentment once all was moved. Kay smelled something burning, and when we went to check it out there was the same goat, or at least its head on a tarp, while they burned the fur off the body and cooked it over a fire in the courtyard. It was a very brief friendship.

Walked to work, but then pretty much as soon as I got there they cut the power (they've increased the load shedding this week to daytime hours as well as two evenings a week). No power? No computer work.

Walked to the bus station since I'd left my bike and some cleaning to be done at my old flat. No busses, because instead I walked into a small protest. It wasn't much: ten students or so throwing rocks at about twenty police done up in their riot gear (some of the police were throwing the rocks back). Unlike the prudent vol that I am, I watched from behind a wall (Nepalis were standing on bikes to see, I was on tiptoes). The wall was postioned perpendicular to the action. It was like a tennis match. With bricks.

Then suddenly (of course), along the road people began running my way, peeling off the wall and sprinting. Rocks were flying over the wall, on the roofs. I couldn't see who was throwing them. Police came out of nowhere, herding the crowd (more like stampeding them). The whole scene kinda lost its charm when they caught one of the students and an officer beat the shit out of him with a bamboo stick.

Hopped on the next bus out of there.

And that is what life in Nepal is like these days.

curfews and power cuts

as it turns out, not much happens during daytime curfews. the curfew was in place in order to stop this big protest that had been planned by the political parties (who also have a loose alliance these days with the maoists).

rutti (who lives above me) and i sat on the terrace, soaked up the sun and got excited whenever we saw anyting that looked like a car or a pedestrian out on the streets. most of them, it turned out, were soldiers or military vehicles.

the only real excitement happened during the hour break break between the daytime curfew and the evening curfew. i hopped on my bike, on my way down to rosemary's and peter's place for dinner and an evening in. unfortunately, i took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere- i don't know where- i couldn't remember the name of the chowk that P&R lived by, didn't have their phone number and there was only half-an-hour before curfew came back on.

anyway, i found their place and all ended happily. last night was pattan's turn for load shedding, so we played cards in the dark for a while. now there's load shedding up in lazimpat, so here i am, cutting my my time between when the power will come back on in my place and when the curfew will be in effect.

what's going on?

VSO is having a security meeting this afternoon. they get briefed by all the major bodies involved here in nepal, including the British Embassy, and I guess from there VSON is going to decide what we're going to do.

I found out yesterday that Kay was actually caught in the crossfire at Thankot. She had to run for cover and actually took shelter in someone's house. I haven't heard this directly, of course, but from the word-of-mouth network among the volunteers (remarkably efficient considering there's 57 of us here). What a frikkin scary thing (the shooting, not the network).

So are we leaving? I have no idea. I definitely don't want to. All of my projects are just starting to get interesting and I've invested some intensive time and effort to become more than just conversant in Nepali. All this so I can fly back before I'm even finished six months? No thanks.

Of course, things are getting worse. And more unpredictable. Today the government announced a curfew in Ktm, 11pm to 4am which will be enforced with a 'shoot on sight' policy. not so friendly.

and for a complete non sequitor, I'm in complete agreement with faye on tank man, he was a total badass!

Boudinath by Moonlight

Boudinath Stupa by moonlight is something to see. It’s breathtaking even in the daylight, but every full moon the Buddists light up the Stupa with candles and strings of lights. As you make your clockwise circuit around the base of the temple there’s drums playing, tourists taking pictures and chanting monks wrapped in crimson robes.

After my third tour around I decided to sit down, put away my camera (I’m a tourist too, after all), and soak up the incredible atmosphere. I hadn’t been there for more than five minutes when my meditative frame of mind was broken by this deep, low intrusion of a sound that you felt as much as heard. It sounded like this: BOMB. Not BOOM and definitely not KA-BOOM.

The drums stopped. After that there were just a few ‘pops’, and if you hadn’t already heard the first sound you would have thought they were firecrackers. Around the stupa there didn’t seem to be much of a panic, so I finished my final circuit then left. There were three or four more pops as I did this.

Out on the street everyone was looking towards where the sound had come from. Being the prudent VSO volunteer that I am, I took my bike and left the opposite direction. All along the road people were out on the sidewalks, out of their shops, looking down the street. A truck with a canvas back came roaring towards me, sirens blaring but no lights. In the back I assume were military personel.

Later, once I was on the Ring Road, another truck with sirens and red flashing lights overtook me, speeding away from whatever was going on. An ambulence.

12 police officers were killed last night in synchonized attacks around the city outskirts. Plenty of the other volunteers based outside Kathmandu have stories like this, but it's the first time anything like this has happened in the capital. Still, it’s part of life in Nepal. As Bideshi we have a special “Get Out of the Crosshairs Free” card that we can play on both sides.

I guess now I’m a veteran volunteer. But if the violence really is moving into Kathmandu, I wonder how long it’s really going to be before VSO calls us up and tells us to go to our evac points. It’s the British military that’ll be helicoptering us out. Sweet Krishna I’d be really scared if we were being flown out by Canadian Sea Hawks.

elections pack

check it out, i can track the progress of my Elections Canada pack as it moves across the world.

the best part is that there's three up to date (exciting!) entries, and the package hasn't even left ottawa.

I (of course) registered late at the Consulate and got in trouble from from one of their thulo manches (big men, literally). since i have until the 16th to get the package and submit my vote to the consulate, we can all watch and find out if i'm going to vote in the 35th federal election...

Mid Term Report

VSO Canada requires a mid term report from all of its vols out in the field. It's a 20 question report, each question requiring about a 100 to 500 word essay response. It's a pretty important document in terms of letting VSO know what's going on, but by the 17th question you're a little sick of providing all the essential details:

6. Describe the work environment at the organization and your working relationship with your supervisor and colleagues.

Fantastic and fascinating. None of these organizations are flush with money: DHRC is on the bottom floor of a house, the network and electrical wiring they have turns the rooms into some giant, coaxial cable-spinning spider’s den. NAPD is even smaller, with only three rooms and two computers (which always seem to be on the fritz). NFDN , the disability network, is a social club with people constantly coming and going. I have no idea who any of them are.

7. Please provide information on any insights on governance issues (as defined by Canada Corps) that have arisen or been developed through your placement:

One of VSON’s long term goals is to promote a unified voice for all of the different areas of governance. NFDN is, officially at least, the centre of disability activity but a long history of internecine politics has led to a fracturing and splintering of the groups. Without any unity I see a ridiculous amount of redundancy among disability NGOs: publications, ‘central’ websites, advocacy strategies.

We have only started on this in the last month or so, but a lot of discussion and thought has already gone into how to bring together the myriad NGOs that work for people with disabilities. VSO interns on the ground can try to get these groups to work together but I think the real motivation has to come from above, from the groups that are providing money.

There is a fierce competition for donor money in Nepal, and this leads to suspicion and even antagonism among disability NGOs. There is the story of how NGO A sourced the task of translating a large document out to NGO B. The second NGO then turned around and simply published the translated work. Why? A translated, published document looks much better for NGO B when it approaches donor orgs for funding.

If all of the donor groups involved in Nepal could make unifying various governance NGOs a priority, it would have much more impact than interns working in the field.

9. Is there any particular information about your work situation that might be of value to volunteers looking at posts similar to yours?

Same as before from the Maldives. WYEWBWYG (weeoo-bwig): whatever you’re expecting won’t be what you get.

11. Are your personal goals for the placement being met? If not, how do you think things could be improved so they are?

Personal goals? What, marry a Nepali princess and live happily ever after? I think my only real personal goals were to live and see the nation of Nepal on more than just a superficial tourist level. That’s not a hard goal to meet when you live here.

13. VSO finds it very useful to receive from volunteers detailed descriptions of their daily life at their placement and in the local community. Please use this space to describe the area where you work and live, your housing, local services including health care, your social life and availability of food and goods etc.

Right now I live in Lazimpat just north of the Royal Palace. The three organizations where I work are all over Kathmandu (Birkuti Mandap, Naya Bandeshwar and Pattan) but with a bike the city is small.

My flat is a very spacious four rooms. Rent is 6000 rupees a month. My only complaint is that the water is heated by a geezer (wheezer? I can never remember), which in the winter requires about an hour before it’s full of enough hot water to have a shower.

I buy my meat and vegetables from local shops just down the road, and there are two superstores within walking and five minute cycling distance. There is no end of fresh vegetables and fruit.

At the end of the month I am moving to Pattan for a top floor apartment, incredible view of the Himalayas and Kathmandu, five minutes away from Durbar Square and for the same price I’m paying here. The water situation is worse, though: there’s no hot water at all and it’s not potable even if boiled, apparently.

NIC, the Nepali International Clinic, is excellent. It’s quick, always available, and has a great staff. I’m now up to spec on my jabs (English for shots) and they took care of me during my one serious gastro-intestinal problem (I was so sure it was Giardia but it wasn’t).

Dial-up internet access from home is fairly common, but I live close enough to VSON that I use their cable connection.

Social life tends to centre in Thamel, the tourist part of Kathmandu. Thamel is unlike any other part of Kathmandu: it’s a strange, wonderful mixture of western and Nepali culture. There are dozens of different kinds of restaurants: Pizza, Thai, Mexican, Middle Eastern. I wouldn’t trust sushi in a landlocked country, though. If you’re starving for beef in a Hindu country there’s KToo, which serves up great steaks.

14. Is personal security an issue for you? If so how do you deal with it?

Nope. Not unless you count the Maoist situation. It’s a little unnerving walking past sandbagged pillboxes, past the muzzle of automatic weapons, but if you do anything enough times (and it doesn’t hurt too much), you get used to it.

i'm so excited

and i just can't hide it.

moving into a new flat this month. it's down in Pattan, about five minutes away from Pattan Dhoka and Durbar Square. It's on the top floor, with balconies coming off every room. The main area is an open kitchen/living area. through the bay window at the kitchen side, i watched the sun come up over kathmandu this morning.

the only unhappy thing about it is that i'm getting it because one of the other vols, Kay, is leaving. that's part of life as a volunteer, but she's a blast. last night she, her boyfriend Kancer and I went down to this small cafe/bar that overlooks Durbar Square and drank chang (rice beer, i think) until the power went out (the goverment's cut the power now two nights in a row, 7:30-9:00, due to low river levels, or if you're cynical it may have something to do with the maoists cancelling the ceasefire.) We found another bar and drank beer by candlelight.

Anyway, one of the main issues about taking Kay's place was that it didn't make sense to move if I was only going to stay for another two more months. So yes, I've extended my placement and I won't be going home until september. i'll miss the ulti season (and of course all the other great things about the west coast), but life in kathmandu is a pretty amazing thing and it's only going to happen once.