Dear Friends,
Here you will find four new posts for your pleasure reading. I’ve been in Kathmandu for 2 weeks (you’ll read later why) and was without the laptop the first week. A number of random set backs happened everytime I tried to get on and write. So, here, finally are some updates for you. I tried posting a pic again . . . Now that I’ve turned in a writing assignment that I had been working on, I feel like I have some time to experiment with this picture stuff. I’m going to try Picasa again and see if that might work. At this point, it is wasting too many of my cell phone minutes (it’s dial up through my cell) while I wait to see if one picture will upload.
Read on, and forgive me if there are spelling errors, for those of you who notice. I forgot to do spell check!
Love to all there, from all of us here…
Friday, March 28, 2008
Our Computerized Baby (March 27, 2008)
Anusha’s Aunt refers to Anusha as the “computerized baby.” Apparently, when Anuraj and I were running errands the other day, they were trying to feed her some rice and lentils or cereal and she wasn’t taking it. Finally, Anusha’s grandfather noticed that they weren’t using “her” spoon. They ditched the metal spoon they had been using and got one of her plastic or rubber coated baby spoons and she gobbled that stuff up. This evening, Anusha and I accompanied the whole family (sister in law, brother in law, 2 nephews and mother in law) to the homeopathic doctor. We were still sitting in the office at about 7:00 p.m. and Anusha was getting fussy. She usually gets ready for bed around 7:00 and is out by 7:30 p.m., so I knew she was tired. I did my best to try to get her to sleep, but to no avail. Finally, we were all back in the car by 8:00 p.m. and my sweet little girl fell asleep on my shoulder as we were bumping down the road to home. After I put her to bed, her aunt says to me, “that’s why I wasn’t sure you should come with us. She’s a computerized baby and likes to go to bed after 7:00 p.m.” Computerized or not, she’s mine and that baby girl is feisty, but sweet!
About Anusha
(written March 26, 2008)
Yesterday Anusha turned 11 months old. It’s hard to believe she’s only one month away from being a year old. Just today I was thinking about a year ago, and how I was going to baby showers for her!
So what has Anusha been up to? A few weeks ago she was into her “ladle” kick . . . she would say “ladle, ladle, ladle” with her tongue sticking out (try it!). She did that for a good four days. Around that time, she learned how to brush her hair and do “namaste” (putting her hands together at her chest). Those two things she learned within one day of each other, after only showing her a few times. I was shocked. Now, if only she could apply that intelligence to listening to us when we tell her not to scratch or pinch (two of her favorite things to do to her papa in the morning when she tries to wake him up).
I am also happy to report that Anusha can now walk around with the assistance of only one adult hand. So, this has provided great relief to my back. My stamina is much greater now for her marathon walks (often in circles) around the driveway or house.
--------------------------
Since we arrived in Katmandu (Sunday, March 16), she has been enjoying her time with her two little cousins, Shubum (pronounced Sue-bum) who is 3 ½ and Parth who is almost 7. Shubumb warned their grandmother that she better protect her eyes because Anusha likes to poke eyes. Anusha scratched Shubumb a number of times on the face and enjoys grabbing at him, which he doesn’t enjoy so much!
Anusha met her Nepali grandparents for the first time on Thursday (March 20). She wasn’t sure what to think of her grandfather, but went to her grandmother fairly easily. Since her grandmother has come, I haven’t seen much of Anusha. She usually takes Anusha in the morning and gives her back when she’s ready to take naps. Their mission (her grandparents and Anuraj’s sister) is to fatten her up. Apparently they were worried that Anusha wasn’t fat enough. So they’ve been feeding her kitcheri, a smooth mix of rice and moong lentils (a special, easy to digest lentil that is given to babies), soup and her Cerelac (Nestle’s version of Gerber baby cereal. Let me quickly insert that Nestle should be banned from making baby food. This Cerelac has wheat as its main ingredient, followed by milk solids and a variety of preservatives. Not something I really want to be giving my baby!)
On Sunday, Anuraj and I left Anusha for the first time since we’ve gotten here. She did fine. Apparently, when I’m gone and she’s with her grandmother and aunt and cousins, she enjoys herself and only complains when she’s hungry or needs to walk around. It’s when I come back or come into the room that she “goes to her mama like a magnet,” as her grandmother says.
One of the most exciting things is that Anusha took a few steps on her own today! We were outside on the driveway, walking around, and I let go and she took about four steps before she nearly toppled over (it might have been the momentum that she was riding on, but still!). She did that a few times and even stood by herself for a few seconds. Parth is predicting that Anusha will walk in two or three days, and Anusha’s grandmother says that she will walk while she’s in Katmandu. Let’s see!!!
Yesterday Anusha turned 11 months old. It’s hard to believe she’s only one month away from being a year old. Just today I was thinking about a year ago, and how I was going to baby showers for her!
So what has Anusha been up to? A few weeks ago she was into her “ladle” kick . . . she would say “ladle, ladle, ladle” with her tongue sticking out (try it!). She did that for a good four days. Around that time, she learned how to brush her hair and do “namaste” (putting her hands together at her chest). Those two things she learned within one day of each other, after only showing her a few times. I was shocked. Now, if only she could apply that intelligence to listening to us when we tell her not to scratch or pinch (two of her favorite things to do to her papa in the morning when she tries to wake him up).
I am also happy to report that Anusha can now walk around with the assistance of only one adult hand. So, this has provided great relief to my back. My stamina is much greater now for her marathon walks (often in circles) around the driveway or house.
--------------------------
Since we arrived in Katmandu (Sunday, March 16), she has been enjoying her time with her two little cousins, Shubum (pronounced Sue-bum) who is 3 ½ and Parth who is almost 7. Shubumb warned their grandmother that she better protect her eyes because Anusha likes to poke eyes. Anusha scratched Shubumb a number of times on the face and enjoys grabbing at him, which he doesn’t enjoy so much!
Anusha met her Nepali grandparents for the first time on Thursday (March 20). She wasn’t sure what to think of her grandfather, but went to her grandmother fairly easily. Since her grandmother has come, I haven’t seen much of Anusha. She usually takes Anusha in the morning and gives her back when she’s ready to take naps. Their mission (her grandparents and Anuraj’s sister) is to fatten her up. Apparently they were worried that Anusha wasn’t fat enough. So they’ve been feeding her kitcheri, a smooth mix of rice and moong lentils (a special, easy to digest lentil that is given to babies), soup and her Cerelac (Nestle’s version of Gerber baby cereal. Let me quickly insert that Nestle should be banned from making baby food. This Cerelac has wheat as its main ingredient, followed by milk solids and a variety of preservatives. Not something I really want to be giving my baby!)
On Sunday, Anuraj and I left Anusha for the first time since we’ve gotten here. She did fine. Apparently, when I’m gone and she’s with her grandmother and aunt and cousins, she enjoys herself and only complains when she’s hungry or needs to walk around. It’s when I come back or come into the room that she “goes to her mama like a magnet,” as her grandmother says.
One of the most exciting things is that Anusha took a few steps on her own today! We were outside on the driveway, walking around, and I let go and she took about four steps before she nearly toppled over (it might have been the momentum that she was riding on, but still!). She did that a few times and even stood by herself for a few seconds. Parth is predicting that Anusha will walk in two or three days, and Anusha’s grandmother says that she will walk while she’s in Katmandu. Let’s see!!!
Holi and Holy Week (Sunday, March 16-23, 2008)
(written March 26, 2008)
Well, first my apologies for you faithful few who check this magnificent blog on a daily or weekly basis. I have been in Katmandu since Sunday, March 16, and was without my laptop until Friday. I came thinking I would take care of my Nepali immigration business, only to find out that I needed Anuraj to be with me to apply for my non-tourist visa. So, I basically hung out here for a week, played with Anusha and her little 3 ½ year old cousin during the days and helped Anuraj’s sister get ready for Anuraj and his parents to arrive.
Anuraj’s parents came on Thursday, for Holi – a Hindu holiday – and Anuraj came on Friday. When Anuraj came, the nephews and I had conspired to throw water balloons at him upon his arrival. They hid around the corner with a bucket of plastic bags that we had filled with water, and I had a small bucket with water ballons hidden. When he came, I said hi and yelled, “Happy Holi,” the code word for “ATTACK!” The boys darted out throwing water balloons and I threw my own. Anusha was terrified! She was sitting on my lap and had just seen her father walk through the gate after not seeing him for a week, and here he was hollering and jumping and getting hit with water!
After that settled down, we went to go inside and Anuraj’s mom came at us with colored powder and wiped it on our faces. Besides throwing water balloons, or squirting water or dumping buckets of water on people, Holi is also for “painting” each other’s faces with colored powder. After five minutes, everyone’s faces were coated with fuscia, yellow, red and green. Poor Anusha was terrified again. This time she buried her face in my chest and neck, crying, wondering what happened to her mama and papa and everyone else who all of a sudden looked like they belonged to some native dance troup. It took her a little bit to calm down!
My thoughts on Holi: it gives adolescent boys an excuse to put on “war paint” and attack each other. The children love this holiday, and I can see why – who wouldn’t love being given permission to dump water or throw colored water balloons at your neighbor. I can’t tell you what the holiday is about – Anuraj couldn’t remember and the explanation given in the paper went on some weird tangent that I didn’t understand. So, if you want to know, check out wikipedia.
One of the cool things about last week was the intersection between Holi week and Christian Holy Week. It was actually kind of cool for me, since I wasn’t really celebrating Easter with anyone, to at least have some celebration happening that was the same word! Speaking of Easter, On Sunday morning, I went to a Catholic church. I had read an article in the paper earlier in the week about a special ceremony that had happened there and thought, “that would be a cool place to go for Easter.” Since I’ve been to a number of Catholic churches and services, I thought it would at least be somewhat familiar. I thought the English service was at 5:30 pm on Sunday, but found out at 8:30 am on Sunday that there was a combined English/Nepali service at 9:00 am. Anuraj, Anusha and I rushed to get there. It took a half hour to get to the approximate vicinity of the place, then another 10 or 15 minutes and stopping at least 3 or 4 times to ask people where it was. When we got there, we walked into a gate, past a number of “stalls” that were selling Catholic-ish art, nail polish, lotion, and prayer beads (I assumed it was for Easter, but now I’m not sure). We walked up to the entry of the sanctuary, looked in and looked at each other. Anuraj captured the moment, “it’s a Hindu/Catholic church!” Outside were about 200+ pairs of shoes stuck in shelves and lined up on the cement. Inside, everyone was sitting on rows of pillows. It seriously reminded me of a Hindu temple, except that a crucifix of Jesus was at the front. As I was preparing to walk in, the alter boys and priests came walking down the aisle towards me. Yes, folks, I missed the Easter service. I could have cried. I was so much looking forward to this service – partly because I would be celebrating Easter in Nepal for the first time, and also because I would get to experience a Nepali Easter! At least I know where that church is now (or should I say Anuraj knows where it is). Probably the neatest thing was meeting a PhD candidate from John Hopkins University who has some Mennonite friends. It is a small world after all!
Well, first my apologies for you faithful few who check this magnificent blog on a daily or weekly basis. I have been in Katmandu since Sunday, March 16, and was without my laptop until Friday. I came thinking I would take care of my Nepali immigration business, only to find out that I needed Anuraj to be with me to apply for my non-tourist visa. So, I basically hung out here for a week, played with Anusha and her little 3 ½ year old cousin during the days and helped Anuraj’s sister get ready for Anuraj and his parents to arrive.
Anuraj’s parents came on Thursday, for Holi – a Hindu holiday – and Anuraj came on Friday. When Anuraj came, the nephews and I had conspired to throw water balloons at him upon his arrival. They hid around the corner with a bucket of plastic bags that we had filled with water, and I had a small bucket with water ballons hidden. When he came, I said hi and yelled, “Happy Holi,” the code word for “ATTACK!” The boys darted out throwing water balloons and I threw my own. Anusha was terrified! She was sitting on my lap and had just seen her father walk through the gate after not seeing him for a week, and here he was hollering and jumping and getting hit with water!
After that settled down, we went to go inside and Anuraj’s mom came at us with colored powder and wiped it on our faces. Besides throwing water balloons, or squirting water or dumping buckets of water on people, Holi is also for “painting” each other’s faces with colored powder. After five minutes, everyone’s faces were coated with fuscia, yellow, red and green. Poor Anusha was terrified again. This time she buried her face in my chest and neck, crying, wondering what happened to her mama and papa and everyone else who all of a sudden looked like they belonged to some native dance troup. It took her a little bit to calm down!
My thoughts on Holi: it gives adolescent boys an excuse to put on “war paint” and attack each other. The children love this holiday, and I can see why – who wouldn’t love being given permission to dump water or throw colored water balloons at your neighbor. I can’t tell you what the holiday is about – Anuraj couldn’t remember and the explanation given in the paper went on some weird tangent that I didn’t understand. So, if you want to know, check out wikipedia.
One of the cool things about last week was the intersection between Holi week and Christian Holy Week. It was actually kind of cool for me, since I wasn’t really celebrating Easter with anyone, to at least have some celebration happening that was the same word! Speaking of Easter, On Sunday morning, I went to a Catholic church. I had read an article in the paper earlier in the week about a special ceremony that had happened there and thought, “that would be a cool place to go for Easter.” Since I’ve been to a number of Catholic churches and services, I thought it would at least be somewhat familiar. I thought the English service was at 5:30 pm on Sunday, but found out at 8:30 am on Sunday that there was a combined English/Nepali service at 9:00 am. Anuraj, Anusha and I rushed to get there. It took a half hour to get to the approximate vicinity of the place, then another 10 or 15 minutes and stopping at least 3 or 4 times to ask people where it was. When we got there, we walked into a gate, past a number of “stalls” that were selling Catholic-ish art, nail polish, lotion, and prayer beads (I assumed it was for Easter, but now I’m not sure). We walked up to the entry of the sanctuary, looked in and looked at each other. Anuraj captured the moment, “it’s a Hindu/Catholic church!” Outside were about 200+ pairs of shoes stuck in shelves and lined up on the cement. Inside, everyone was sitting on rows of pillows. It seriously reminded me of a Hindu temple, except that a crucifix of Jesus was at the front. As I was preparing to walk in, the alter boys and priests came walking down the aisle towards me. Yes, folks, I missed the Easter service. I could have cried. I was so much looking forward to this service – partly because I would be celebrating Easter in Nepal for the first time, and also because I would get to experience a Nepali Easter! At least I know where that church is now (or should I say Anuraj knows where it is). Probably the neatest thing was meeting a PhD candidate from John Hopkins University who has some Mennonite friends. It is a small world after all!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Furniture – At Last! (March 11-16, 2008)
(written March 26)
First of all, thanks to all who wished us “Happy Anniversary.” We celebrated by going out and buying two wicker chairs. That brings our furniture count up to 4 – if you count the mattress (that smells like fish, which Anuraj got for free from a co-worker) and the armoire (that the people before us left)! In April, we hope to purchase a wicker table or end table. Thanks too for the prayers of one my friends – she was praying for the hot water / shower situation and furniture. I am happy to say we got both on the same day (the same day I read her email, in fact). I am thoroughly enjoying our new chairs and will someday show you a picture of these fabulous pieces of furniture. It has provided great relief to my back already!
First of all, thanks to all who wished us “Happy Anniversary.” We celebrated by going out and buying two wicker chairs. That brings our furniture count up to 4 – if you count the mattress (that smells like fish, which Anuraj got for free from a co-worker) and the armoire (that the people before us left)! In April, we hope to purchase a wicker table or end table. Thanks too for the prayers of one my friends – she was praying for the hot water / shower situation and furniture. I am happy to say we got both on the same day (the same day I read her email, in fact). I am thoroughly enjoying our new chairs and will someday show you a picture of these fabulous pieces of furniture. It has provided great relief to my back already!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Weather and Yoga
I just emailed a friend and thought a few of the things would be interesting to post.
Some of you might be wondering, does Jill have friends? Good question! Luckily, there is a great international community here, most of whom I met through Anuraj and his UN work. I’m doing yoga with a few of the women on Sunday’s at 3pm outside in the garden of the “teachers” compound. It’s lovely and refreshing and gives me a break from Anusha. After our 1 and a half hour session (this british teacher is hard core!) we have green tea and chat. So, that is one of the highlights of my week. (That and when Anusha takes one to two hour naps and I have time to write.) So, Anuraj is my friend, Anusha is my friend. These ladies are people I say hi to and we meet up with for weekend brunch or lunch on occasion.
The weather is gorgeous. Virginia springtime or a Florida winter at it’s best. Warm during the day, cooler in the morning and evening. Within a month it’s going to start getting hot, and people here say it gets hot (I’m thiking Florida in the summer without AC) – Our purchase next month, besides some more furniture, is a window AC.
Finally, for those of you who are wondering how I'm really doing, the short answer is, good, until yesterday. Where I was on the verge of crying in the middle of the market. I cannot communicate and this is frustrating. Yesterday, the vegetable seller sold me 1 kilo of bananas instead of 3 bananas! It is also frustrating at home, where I have people working for me and I can't explain that I want the rugs shaken out every day (yes, I tried today, even with some Nepali cue words). If I can learn this language, I’ll be fine. If not ... let's just assume I will! :)
Anusha is good, for all those wondering. She is now officially a chatterbug. She has discovered all sorts of new sounds -- as of last week -- and she is doing here, "th" "fuh" "gujubuga" types of sounds all the time -- when looking at books, when she's frustrated or tired and trying to tell me something! It's really cute and I wonder what in the world is going on inside that little head of hers sometimes!
If anyone can post and tell me how to reduce the size of photos so I can try to post some, please comment!
Some of you might be wondering, does Jill have friends? Good question! Luckily, there is a great international community here, most of whom I met through Anuraj and his UN work. I’m doing yoga with a few of the women on Sunday’s at 3pm outside in the garden of the “teachers” compound. It’s lovely and refreshing and gives me a break from Anusha. After our 1 and a half hour session (this british teacher is hard core!) we have green tea and chat. So, that is one of the highlights of my week. (That and when Anusha takes one to two hour naps and I have time to write.) So, Anuraj is my friend, Anusha is my friend. These ladies are people I say hi to and we meet up with for weekend brunch or lunch on occasion.
The weather is gorgeous. Virginia springtime or a Florida winter at it’s best. Warm during the day, cooler in the morning and evening. Within a month it’s going to start getting hot, and people here say it gets hot (I’m thiking Florida in the summer without AC) – Our purchase next month, besides some more furniture, is a window AC.
Finally, for those of you who are wondering how I'm really doing, the short answer is, good, until yesterday. Where I was on the verge of crying in the middle of the market. I cannot communicate and this is frustrating. Yesterday, the vegetable seller sold me 1 kilo of bananas instead of 3 bananas! It is also frustrating at home, where I have people working for me and I can't explain that I want the rugs shaken out every day (yes, I tried today, even with some Nepali cue words). If I can learn this language, I’ll be fine. If not ... let's just assume I will! :)
Anusha is good, for all those wondering. She is now officially a chatterbug. She has discovered all sorts of new sounds -- as of last week -- and she is doing here, "th" "fuh" "gujubuga" types of sounds all the time -- when looking at books, when she's frustrated or tired and trying to tell me something! It's really cute and I wonder what in the world is going on inside that little head of hers sometimes!
If anyone can post and tell me how to reduce the size of photos so I can try to post some, please comment!
Indulgences
(written March 5, 2008)
Today I am partaking in my one indulgence: Coke. Our water “geezer” still doesn’t work and the electrician still hasn’t come by, so that means no morning hot water indulgence. So, this nice cold glass of coke will do. Amazing how one can savor Coke, making one plastic 20 oz. bottle last for three or four days.
Today I am partaking in my one indulgence: Coke. Our water “geezer” still doesn’t work and the electrician still hasn’t come by, so that means no morning hot water indulgence. So, this nice cold glass of coke will do. Amazing how one can savor Coke, making one plastic 20 oz. bottle last for three or four days.
Multi-Tasking
(written February 28 ’08)
This is the first time that I have utilized items is such multi-functional ways. Our towels double, make that triple, as bedroom curtains and Anuraj’s pillow. The small feather blanket served as Anusha’s covers during her naps and my pillow at night, until our bed sheet/bedroom curtain got washed, so it’s currently serving as a curtain. One small, carry-on sized Docker rolling suitcase is serving as Anusha’s dresser and occasionally as my backrest when I need something other than the wall to lean up against. And the list goes on: Anusha’s baby blankets double as pillows and backrests, the steel cups I got have not been used once for drinking but are our silverware holder and drainer. And Anuraj’s Swiss Army pocket knife, gifted to him by my father this Christmas, has served more purposes in three weeks than we could have used at home (U.S.) in a few months! We are definitely getting more use out of all these things, and it kills me to think about buying pillows, I mean what will we do with that blanket and towel?
This is the first time that I have utilized items is such multi-functional ways. Our towels double, make that triple, as bedroom curtains and Anuraj’s pillow. The small feather blanket served as Anusha’s covers during her naps and my pillow at night, until our bed sheet/bedroom curtain got washed, so it’s currently serving as a curtain. One small, carry-on sized Docker rolling suitcase is serving as Anusha’s dresser and occasionally as my backrest when I need something other than the wall to lean up against. And the list goes on: Anusha’s baby blankets double as pillows and backrests, the steel cups I got have not been used once for drinking but are our silverware holder and drainer. And Anuraj’s Swiss Army pocket knife, gifted to him by my father this Christmas, has served more purposes in three weeks than we could have used at home (U.S.) in a few months! We are definitely getting more use out of all these things, and it kills me to think about buying pillows, I mean what will we do with that blanket and towel?
If you want to be in Solidarity . . .
I wrote this the week of February 25, just before the situations in Katmandu and Nepalgunj improved.
If you want to be in solidarity with the people of Katmandu, turn off your electricity, every other day, from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m., at least one, sometimes two mornings a week from 6:00 – 9:00 a.m. and once a week in the middle of the night. This “fasting” from electricity promotes quiet living as you abstain from television, early bedtime where it’s warm under the covers (since the space heaters aren’t on and it’s dark anyways, after the generator turns off). There is a certain level of annoyance about it, but it is also somewhat refreshing. In one newspaper, people were surveyed and said that the electricity cuts were actually promoting more quality family time. The next time I’m in the states for Lent, I might try giving up electricity for at least one day a week.
If you want to be in solidarity with the people of Nepalgunj, imagine that all the shops in your town, except for the grocery stores and ATM’s, are closed for two weeks. You can get the necessities, but not much else.
And in both places, there is a fuel shortage. People are standing in line for gasoline in Katmandu for up to a day. In Nepalgunj, all the shops had run out of propane, the small tanks are necessary for heating the dual burner cook stoves – like we have.
If you want to be in solidarity with me, turn off the hot water heater. Learn to appreciate how refreshed and awake you feel after a cold shower. Be thankful for the large pot that heats up water for cleaning and the baby’s bath. Walk for at least one hour every day hunched over – to give a little kid who can’t walk by themselves, the pleasure of moving around “freely.” Remove all your furniture, except for a few area rugs and your mattress, but enjoy the commodities of a gas stove, microwave and fridge. Keep your windows open to hear the sound of the birds, goats, kids playing and tractors honking (unless you have thin windows in which case you can hear this anyways). While you’re at it, hire someone to come in and clean your floors and do some laundry every day. They can also wash dishes, clean your bathroom or even clean your windows. And find someone else to come in four days a week at noon to make a delicious meal (which turns into two meals with leftovers). (See, it’s not all that bad! :)
If you want to be in solidarity with the people of Katmandu, turn off your electricity, every other day, from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m., at least one, sometimes two mornings a week from 6:00 – 9:00 a.m. and once a week in the middle of the night. This “fasting” from electricity promotes quiet living as you abstain from television, early bedtime where it’s warm under the covers (since the space heaters aren’t on and it’s dark anyways, after the generator turns off). There is a certain level of annoyance about it, but it is also somewhat refreshing. In one newspaper, people were surveyed and said that the electricity cuts were actually promoting more quality family time. The next time I’m in the states for Lent, I might try giving up electricity for at least one day a week.
If you want to be in solidarity with the people of Nepalgunj, imagine that all the shops in your town, except for the grocery stores and ATM’s, are closed for two weeks. You can get the necessities, but not much else.
And in both places, there is a fuel shortage. People are standing in line for gasoline in Katmandu for up to a day. In Nepalgunj, all the shops had run out of propane, the small tanks are necessary for heating the dual burner cook stoves – like we have.
If you want to be in solidarity with me, turn off the hot water heater. Learn to appreciate how refreshed and awake you feel after a cold shower. Be thankful for the large pot that heats up water for cleaning and the baby’s bath. Walk for at least one hour every day hunched over – to give a little kid who can’t walk by themselves, the pleasure of moving around “freely.” Remove all your furniture, except for a few area rugs and your mattress, but enjoy the commodities of a gas stove, microwave and fridge. Keep your windows open to hear the sound of the birds, goats, kids playing and tractors honking (unless you have thin windows in which case you can hear this anyways). While you’re at it, hire someone to come in and clean your floors and do some laundry every day. They can also wash dishes, clean your bathroom or even clean your windows. And find someone else to come in four days a week at noon to make a delicious meal (which turns into two meals with leftovers). (See, it’s not all that bad! :)
Idyllic Landings OR A Long and Detailed Description of this Place we Call Home
(written last week of February, 2008)
It’s idyllic what I’m experiencing right now. That’s the only word for it. I’m sitting in a room that over looks the flower garden to the north and vegetable garden to the west. The carpet is green, which just adds to the outdoor feel of this room. Laxmi is cooking some paneer (cheese-like substance) and aloo (potatoes), saag (spinach) and dhal (lentils) in the kitchen – which my husband and I will gratefully enjoy for lunch this afternoon and dinner later this evening. Nisha is walking with Anusha in the dining room, giving my back a break. This is what I needed when I was 6 months pregnant until my daughter was at least 6 months old. But, I’ll take it now.
This place is called Nepalgunj, which literally means, Nepal “place.” Candy, the American lady who owns the Travellers Village – a local hotel – reported that her brother said if Nepal were to get an enema, Nepalgunj would be the place that it would be inserted. I haven’t found it to be that bad, not yet at least. But what do I know? I’ve only been here for one and half weeks and haven’t ventured much past my own luscious gardens.
When I do leave my compound, what I find is something out of National Geographic. Trash along the dirt road, cows contentedly grazing on grass or hay, dogs lazily napping, people staring as I walk down the road with my ten month old daughter in my American baby carrier, happily staring back.
What also makes this idyllic is the type of lifestyle we are living right now. I call it Gandhian. I really believe he would be proud. Our living quarters are relatively large for a three person family. When you enter our home from the front door (porch/patio), you find a living room to the left, complete with windows on three of the four walls. There are built in shelves with sliding glass doors. These look bare with only a dozen or two books on half of the shelves. There is a ceiling fan in the middle of the ceiling – this is the quietest and least frightening of all the ceiling fans.
In the hallway, you proceed into our dining room, a baby blue dungeon of a room. You are greeted by a “Putumayo” calendar, with colorful graphics and marking of holidays from all over the world. There are no windows and no natural light except for whatever manages to pour in from the front and back doors and the rooms that surround it. On our dining room wall is a calendar from United, the pressure cooker company Anuraj bought our lovely pressure cooker from. You’ll find another built in shelf with more sliding glass doors. Here you will find odds and ends, a guitar pick – for which no guitar can be found, an empty Nepali picture frame, a picture of my mother’s family (nine children and her parents) from nearly 50 years ago, a UN report, and a pad lock. In the corner is our washing machine which is still in its box. In the middle of the room is a square carpet, red, blue and yellow, which my husband bought at a Gandhi cotton store in India, 15 minutes from our house.
Move to the left and you’ll enter our kitchen. This is one of the most substantial rooms, and the one place that proves there is life in this otherwise empty house. The fancy stainless steel microwave/oven/grill combo sits on the corner of one of the counter tops, two feet away from the double burner gas stove top. A rice cooker (that also doubles as a vegetable steamer, which we have yet to use) sits between these. The small shelf above the microwave sports Anusha’s baby cereal and bowls, a sippy cup and bottle, bibs and a washcloth. One tin cup holds our six piece silverware set and our new wire basket holds the rest of our ladles, wooden spoons, our one cutting knife, peeler and three FBCU tablespoon/teaspoon plastic measuring spoons. Three spotless glass containers showcase loose leaf black tea, iodized salt and raw sugar. Underneath the counter is a cardboard box filled with a few odds and ends that are waiting for a home. Plastic containers hold rice, lentils, cashews, almonds, spices and cookies. Our new small red waste basket sits in the corner where we hope a refrigerator will soon be.
On the opposite wall, our steel sink sits in the corner with a Styrofoam plug that my husband made from our rice cooker packaging. Hand wash, dish soap, plastic dish cleaners, glass cleaner, Lysol (spelled “lisol” here) and Fantastic – my favorite cleaning agent which I was lucky enough to find in Katmandu – sit in the corner of the sink and counter. When clean or dirty dishes aren’t occupying the precious stone slab counter space on the wall opposite the sink, it’s empty. Another small shelf above holds juice, some fruit, cookies and my Purle Pura drinking water. Underneath the counter is a shelf where I’ve placed our Teflon cookware – the nicest cookware I’ve ever owned – some warming pots, yellow microwave safe containers in various sizes and a set of white plastic bowls with blue lids and flower accents. Another Gandhian rug also graces this floor, and currently serves as our “dining rug” until we get a table and chairs.
Straight across from the kitchen (through the dininr room) our bedroom has the only two pieces of furniture in the house, a mattress and an armoire. If it wasn’t for the people before us who left this two closet, three shelves, three drawer armoire, we’d have no place to hang our clothes. Our mattress has a sheet and my feather comforter, which by now is detestably dirty. A built in shelving unit – perfect for an entertainment center – is keeping our towels, lotions, contacts, glasses, and a random assortment of things. There is one calendar on the wall. It’s from the Harrisonburg Children’s Museum and the pictures remind my of my former Shenandoah Valley hometown. It’s February, so a picture of Bridgewater College covered in snow is what we’ve been looking at. There is a ceiling fan in this room too, but this ceiling fan scares me. We started turning it on at night, but it makes so much noise, it sounds like it’s going to come unhinged and kill us all with its twirling blades. Two mismatched bed sheets cover the windows – the only “curtains” in the house. This is where Anusha naps, where I usually feed her, where we go to get dressed.
The second bedroom, just next to the first, serves as Anusha’s play room. It has bright green carpet that looks like artificial turf and the walls are a dusty pink/peach, just like the other bedroom and living room. This is the room that overlooks the lawn/flower garden to the north and the vegetable garden to the west. This is one of my favorite rooms in the house. The shade of the palm trees and guava trees cast a nice shadow in the morning and afternoon. This room is bright and alive and makes me feel like I’m in one of the glass enclosed rooms in a botanical garden. Here you find our family calendar – pictures of Anusha and her cousin Adria grace the entire calendar, along with other family members. In one corner of the room sits Anusha’s potty, a gift from her Aunt Shilpi, which she has used at least once a day for the past week. Her walker, which I call her “bumper car,” also is in this room, ready for use whenever I need a break from hunching over and walking with her! Anusha’s toys are in a basket which I had never seen in the states. It’s made out of the wood used for making those cheap little wooden drying racks and has two orange baskets with a Japanese looking dog that’s saying “Hi.” Anusha also has a built in shelf (the same entertainment center looking kind of shelf as is in our room). Her books and blankets are just within her reach, to give her something to pull off the shelves. Bags of 12 and 18 month clothing are in space saver bags at the bottom of this built in, and lotions, diaper stuff, baby carriers, The Baby Book (aka my Baby Bible) and one of those little “Baby’s First Year” books are on the other shelves, along with Anuraj’s puja (worship) things and my Irish Celtic cross. Anusha’s clothes are in a suitcase, until we can get some shelves bought or made. Our electronics sit in a corner of the room, underneath a funky corner shelf that has a picture of Anusha.
There is one more little room, just beside Anusha’s playroom, which we are using for storage. It has our landline telephone, LG vacuum cleaner, suitcases, empty plastic bags and Space Saver bags, and all the boxes, Styrofoam and plastic that our appliances came in. This room also has a little space above the door that looks like the kind of hiding place someone would have used during the Nazi regime.
In the very back of the house, right before you go outside, is a small hallway which connects to the bathroom. The bathroom is a pretty typical Nepali bathroom: a shower and faucet (with no shower curtain, no bathtub, and no type of enclosure for that shower water – it goes all over the floor). The water “geezer” (i.e. heater) is attached above head on the wall. But right before I came, it stopped working. This is the reason for my cold showers in the morning. A very nice pedestal sink is next to the shower and a chincy mirror is hanging above this. An old toilet, with cement poured around the base (to fix the leak, which is still leaking) is in the corner, next to another faucet which is for “washing” (i.e. bidet) – this faucet, we hope, will be the water source for that washing machine which is sitting in the dining room. You might be surprised to find Marnier Fructis shampoo and conditioner sitting on the sink (I was surprised, and quite pleased). There’s also a mini bottle of Pantene (which my sister in law thought might be a duplicate – i.e. fake – but I know my Pantene and is definitely not fake!). My electric toothbrush, some toothpaste and the cheapest toilet paper you can imagine finding is on a shelf next to the toilet on the wall.
Out back, there’s a pump, a clothes line, the “guards” outhouse, a separate house (which is the size of our living room) and an outdoor covered cooking area. Above us are our landlords, whose space is laid out pretty much the same as ours except they have stairs that lead to the roof on top.
So that’s it . . . the place I call home. The surroundings are mostly idyllic and our living space is Gandhian, (with a few electronic exceptions). And it is all home in this little place in Nepal.
It’s idyllic what I’m experiencing right now. That’s the only word for it. I’m sitting in a room that over looks the flower garden to the north and vegetable garden to the west. The carpet is green, which just adds to the outdoor feel of this room. Laxmi is cooking some paneer (cheese-like substance) and aloo (potatoes), saag (spinach) and dhal (lentils) in the kitchen – which my husband and I will gratefully enjoy for lunch this afternoon and dinner later this evening. Nisha is walking with Anusha in the dining room, giving my back a break. This is what I needed when I was 6 months pregnant until my daughter was at least 6 months old. But, I’ll take it now.
This place is called Nepalgunj, which literally means, Nepal “place.” Candy, the American lady who owns the Travellers Village – a local hotel – reported that her brother said if Nepal were to get an enema, Nepalgunj would be the place that it would be inserted. I haven’t found it to be that bad, not yet at least. But what do I know? I’ve only been here for one and half weeks and haven’t ventured much past my own luscious gardens.
When I do leave my compound, what I find is something out of National Geographic. Trash along the dirt road, cows contentedly grazing on grass or hay, dogs lazily napping, people staring as I walk down the road with my ten month old daughter in my American baby carrier, happily staring back.
What also makes this idyllic is the type of lifestyle we are living right now. I call it Gandhian. I really believe he would be proud. Our living quarters are relatively large for a three person family. When you enter our home from the front door (porch/patio), you find a living room to the left, complete with windows on three of the four walls. There are built in shelves with sliding glass doors. These look bare with only a dozen or two books on half of the shelves. There is a ceiling fan in the middle of the ceiling – this is the quietest and least frightening of all the ceiling fans.
In the hallway, you proceed into our dining room, a baby blue dungeon of a room. You are greeted by a “Putumayo” calendar, with colorful graphics and marking of holidays from all over the world. There are no windows and no natural light except for whatever manages to pour in from the front and back doors and the rooms that surround it. On our dining room wall is a calendar from United, the pressure cooker company Anuraj bought our lovely pressure cooker from. You’ll find another built in shelf with more sliding glass doors. Here you will find odds and ends, a guitar pick – for which no guitar can be found, an empty Nepali picture frame, a picture of my mother’s family (nine children and her parents) from nearly 50 years ago, a UN report, and a pad lock. In the corner is our washing machine which is still in its box. In the middle of the room is a square carpet, red, blue and yellow, which my husband bought at a Gandhi cotton store in India, 15 minutes from our house.
Move to the left and you’ll enter our kitchen. This is one of the most substantial rooms, and the one place that proves there is life in this otherwise empty house. The fancy stainless steel microwave/oven/grill combo sits on the corner of one of the counter tops, two feet away from the double burner gas stove top. A rice cooker (that also doubles as a vegetable steamer, which we have yet to use) sits between these. The small shelf above the microwave sports Anusha’s baby cereal and bowls, a sippy cup and bottle, bibs and a washcloth. One tin cup holds our six piece silverware set and our new wire basket holds the rest of our ladles, wooden spoons, our one cutting knife, peeler and three FBCU tablespoon/teaspoon plastic measuring spoons. Three spotless glass containers showcase loose leaf black tea, iodized salt and raw sugar. Underneath the counter is a cardboard box filled with a few odds and ends that are waiting for a home. Plastic containers hold rice, lentils, cashews, almonds, spices and cookies. Our new small red waste basket sits in the corner where we hope a refrigerator will soon be.
On the opposite wall, our steel sink sits in the corner with a Styrofoam plug that my husband made from our rice cooker packaging. Hand wash, dish soap, plastic dish cleaners, glass cleaner, Lysol (spelled “lisol” here) and Fantastic – my favorite cleaning agent which I was lucky enough to find in Katmandu – sit in the corner of the sink and counter. When clean or dirty dishes aren’t occupying the precious stone slab counter space on the wall opposite the sink, it’s empty. Another small shelf above holds juice, some fruit, cookies and my Purle Pura drinking water. Underneath the counter is a shelf where I’ve placed our Teflon cookware – the nicest cookware I’ve ever owned – some warming pots, yellow microwave safe containers in various sizes and a set of white plastic bowls with blue lids and flower accents. Another Gandhian rug also graces this floor, and currently serves as our “dining rug” until we get a table and chairs.
Straight across from the kitchen (through the dininr room) our bedroom has the only two pieces of furniture in the house, a mattress and an armoire. If it wasn’t for the people before us who left this two closet, three shelves, three drawer armoire, we’d have no place to hang our clothes. Our mattress has a sheet and my feather comforter, which by now is detestably dirty. A built in shelving unit – perfect for an entertainment center – is keeping our towels, lotions, contacts, glasses, and a random assortment of things. There is one calendar on the wall. It’s from the Harrisonburg Children’s Museum and the pictures remind my of my former Shenandoah Valley hometown. It’s February, so a picture of Bridgewater College covered in snow is what we’ve been looking at. There is a ceiling fan in this room too, but this ceiling fan scares me. We started turning it on at night, but it makes so much noise, it sounds like it’s going to come unhinged and kill us all with its twirling blades. Two mismatched bed sheets cover the windows – the only “curtains” in the house. This is where Anusha naps, where I usually feed her, where we go to get dressed.
The second bedroom, just next to the first, serves as Anusha’s play room. It has bright green carpet that looks like artificial turf and the walls are a dusty pink/peach, just like the other bedroom and living room. This is the room that overlooks the lawn/flower garden to the north and the vegetable garden to the west. This is one of my favorite rooms in the house. The shade of the palm trees and guava trees cast a nice shadow in the morning and afternoon. This room is bright and alive and makes me feel like I’m in one of the glass enclosed rooms in a botanical garden. Here you find our family calendar – pictures of Anusha and her cousin Adria grace the entire calendar, along with other family members. In one corner of the room sits Anusha’s potty, a gift from her Aunt Shilpi, which she has used at least once a day for the past week. Her walker, which I call her “bumper car,” also is in this room, ready for use whenever I need a break from hunching over and walking with her! Anusha’s toys are in a basket which I had never seen in the states. It’s made out of the wood used for making those cheap little wooden drying racks and has two orange baskets with a Japanese looking dog that’s saying “Hi.” Anusha also has a built in shelf (the same entertainment center looking kind of shelf as is in our room). Her books and blankets are just within her reach, to give her something to pull off the shelves. Bags of 12 and 18 month clothing are in space saver bags at the bottom of this built in, and lotions, diaper stuff, baby carriers, The Baby Book (aka my Baby Bible) and one of those little “Baby’s First Year” books are on the other shelves, along with Anuraj’s puja (worship) things and my Irish Celtic cross. Anusha’s clothes are in a suitcase, until we can get some shelves bought or made. Our electronics sit in a corner of the room, underneath a funky corner shelf that has a picture of Anusha.
There is one more little room, just beside Anusha’s playroom, which we are using for storage. It has our landline telephone, LG vacuum cleaner, suitcases, empty plastic bags and Space Saver bags, and all the boxes, Styrofoam and plastic that our appliances came in. This room also has a little space above the door that looks like the kind of hiding place someone would have used during the Nazi regime.
In the very back of the house, right before you go outside, is a small hallway which connects to the bathroom. The bathroom is a pretty typical Nepali bathroom: a shower and faucet (with no shower curtain, no bathtub, and no type of enclosure for that shower water – it goes all over the floor). The water “geezer” (i.e. heater) is attached above head on the wall. But right before I came, it stopped working. This is the reason for my cold showers in the morning. A very nice pedestal sink is next to the shower and a chincy mirror is hanging above this. An old toilet, with cement poured around the base (to fix the leak, which is still leaking) is in the corner, next to another faucet which is for “washing” (i.e. bidet) – this faucet, we hope, will be the water source for that washing machine which is sitting in the dining room. You might be surprised to find Marnier Fructis shampoo and conditioner sitting on the sink (I was surprised, and quite pleased). There’s also a mini bottle of Pantene (which my sister in law thought might be a duplicate – i.e. fake – but I know my Pantene and is definitely not fake!). My electric toothbrush, some toothpaste and the cheapest toilet paper you can imagine finding is on a shelf next to the toilet on the wall.
Out back, there’s a pump, a clothes line, the “guards” outhouse, a separate house (which is the size of our living room) and an outdoor covered cooking area. Above us are our landlords, whose space is laid out pretty much the same as ours except they have stairs that lead to the roof on top.
So that’s it . . . the place I call home. The surroundings are mostly idyllic and our living space is Gandhian, (with a few electronic exceptions). And it is all home in this little place in Nepal.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
A few brief words
It's Sunday night here and I finally have some minutes on my cell phone to get online. The week went well...Anusha, I feel, has adjusted. She's gotten used to a few of the people here (including Nisha, who lives behind us and does cleaning and helps out with Anusha) and goes with them freely, which usually gives me just enough time to wash dishes, hop in the shower, pick up around the house, or even do some writing.
We got a fridge - a very cute, small, European looking whirlpool fridge. It's about half the size or small than the ones at home. This one has a freezer which I'm pumped about. We have been managing without this quite well for the past few weeks, but with the hot season coming up, this will come in handy. Our appliances now total a 2 burner stove, microwave oven (combo with grill, convection oven and rotisserie), and washer (which we're still waiting to have hooked up). Anusha finally got a proper bath in a little plastic tub which Anuraj picked up. And I'm still being thoroughly refreshed with cold showers in the morning. We're living very Gandhian . . . right now our furniture consists of three rugs and a mattress. I'm going to write a letter to the head of UNMIN to request that they give reallocation allowance to national staff. We're hoping to get some chairs, a bed, some shelves and curtains this month. I've been writing about this stuff, so maybe I'll post more about that and a lovely description of our place later.
Still can't post pictures. I'm sorry!
Situation in Nepal: Curfew has ended, most shops are open and there was an eight point agreement between the temporary government of Nepal and this political party who was protesting. Let's hope that settles things. : ) So this means, Anusha and I have gone to shops and gone for walks on our own during the days.
Well, that's it for now. More later . . . and thanks to all who have commented. I hear you and I thank you and I think of you all -- seriously. And I hope to write some individual replies at some point.
We got a fridge - a very cute, small, European looking whirlpool fridge. It's about half the size or small than the ones at home. This one has a freezer which I'm pumped about. We have been managing without this quite well for the past few weeks, but with the hot season coming up, this will come in handy. Our appliances now total a 2 burner stove, microwave oven (combo with grill, convection oven and rotisserie), and washer (which we're still waiting to have hooked up). Anusha finally got a proper bath in a little plastic tub which Anuraj picked up. And I'm still being thoroughly refreshed with cold showers in the morning. We're living very Gandhian . . . right now our furniture consists of three rugs and a mattress. I'm going to write a letter to the head of UNMIN to request that they give reallocation allowance to national staff. We're hoping to get some chairs, a bed, some shelves and curtains this month. I've been writing about this stuff, so maybe I'll post more about that and a lovely description of our place later.
Still can't post pictures. I'm sorry!
Situation in Nepal: Curfew has ended, most shops are open and there was an eight point agreement between the temporary government of Nepal and this political party who was protesting. Let's hope that settles things. : ) So this means, Anusha and I have gone to shops and gone for walks on our own during the days.
Well, that's it for now. More later . . . and thanks to all who have commented. I hear you and I thank you and I think of you all -- seriously. And I hope to write some individual replies at some point.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)