Anusha is napping and I realized that now would be a good time for updates! We’ve been here in Katmandu for 3 weeks now and it’s been about 3 weeks too long. Only because we have been without a place of our own. I think once we move into our new apartment (see blog below for update on that), things will look a little brighter. Anusha is adjusting, she is quite adaptable. But I will be ready to get into a schedule and situation more suitable to us (i.e. eating dinner at 6pm rather than 9 or 10pm, having a wider variety of food choices for Anusha, having free reign of an entire apartment). Further, Katmandu is mostly cloudy with a little bit of sunlight. Not the sunny Nepalgunj that made my spirits soar. So will take some getting used to.
My days have been spent at Anuraj’s sisters place wandering around outside, taking morning walks, putting Anusha down for a morning nap, maybe taking a nap with her, lunch, more wandering around, reading books, afternoon nap for Anusha (and sometimes me), wandering around some more until Anuraj relieves us with his familiar face and much needed company. I thought I was more creative than this, but frankly, it’s been boring. So as not to depress myself or you too much, I will share with you …
The highlights of the past two weeks:
Staying at Anuraj’s older sisters house – a quiet and green neighborhood where you hear birds and crickets chirping at night rather than incessant barking
Watching a baby chimpanzee at the Katmandu Zoo – the most hilarious part was when the mom chimp, out of the blue, tears the baby chimp down from the rope that it’s been swinging on. The baby chimp tries to bite its mom, and then gets back on the rope. A few more tries by mom, a few more protests by baby, and baby is eventually swinging around again, next to a disgruntled mom. While I couldn’t understand the logic behind the mom chimp suddenly stopping the baby from its harmless play (except maybe she was annoyed??) I could appreciate that baby chimps and baby humans alike will bite and protest and insist on their own thing if they feel that what they are being asked/told to do is unreasonable. (Anusha, the reptilian part of your brain works just fine!)
Going to Fire and Ice: a restaurant in Thamel, the touristy section of the city. REAL, and I mean REAL Italian pizza! Oh my, I didn’t know it existed in this country. It made me so happy. Anusha was delighted because she got a bowl of REAL ice cream!!! I think we might need to make weekly trips to that place! What made it extra special was the fact that I hadn’t had “American” food in about 2 weeks.
Buying (and eating) cheese and bread from Herman’s German bakery. It caters to the foreigners and is so delicious. You don’t appreciate delicious bread and real cheese until the only thing you have is airy, stale bread and processed cheese. And while we’re on food: I had a really delicious donut – it was a plain cake donut cut in half, slathered with cream and put together like a sandwich. Heavenly. The double bonus was that we bought it off the street and I didn’t get sick. (Anuraj said it was from the oldest bakery in the city.)
Claudia: Anuraj’s former colleague from Nepalgunj. Anusha and I took the taxi to meet Claudia and spent the evening and night with her. Besides the fact that she and her boyfriend have the coolest flat in Katmandu, it was nice to see a familiar face and hear her lovely Italian accent.
And, what we’re looking forward to:
Friday Night (August 22): Dinner at Walton and Ruth McClaslin, MCC (outgoing) country reps for Nepal. The new MCC program coordinators (MCC has a new system so Nepal will have program coordinators instead of country reps) and a SALTer arrived last week and have orientation. Anuraj is going to share about Nepal’s political situation and have general discussion about the “New Nepal”. I’m just pumped to go to someone’s house, meet Walton and Ruth again and meet these new MCCers (potential friends? Let’s hope.).
Saturday (Aug 23): Moving into our new apartment. Finally!!!
Monday (August 25): Kirsten, my cousin from Phoenix, AZ/California, is coming to visit us for 3 weeks! She had vacation time and wanted to go somewhere far. We haven’t seen each other in years, but I am so grateful she invited herself to Nepal to see us. She will give me a good excuse to explore the city and an excuse for us to get out of Katmandu at least one weekend to show her some other parts of Nepal. Yeah, Kirsten!
So that’s it for now. Lord willing we will have internet which will make contact via email and blogs (and even facebook?) easier. I’m hoping it will even be able to handle Skype. Until then, please email me. Anecdotes to make me laugh are most welcome. Ramblings about your life are equally appreciated!
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