Biratnagar

Anusha and I have spent the past 3 weeks in Biratnagar at Anuraj's parents home. Anuraj was here with us the first week, we were on our own the second week, and this week and next week we're all here together. Tomorrow we head to Ilam, famous for it's tea, for a 3 day mini-holiday. We'll return in time to finish cleaning the house for Diwali, which is next Tuesday. Speaking of house cleaning, we've been tearing this place apart. I'm the "cleaning consultant" -- and with the help of my partner, Raj, we've been making sure this entire place is cleaned from top to bottom. (Anuraj and his parents have been building a house...they've been so busy building that they've neglected to clean.) Since this is my forte, I've been enjoying doing it and seeing other people do it too. Anuraj and I worked on the car yesterday and today to get ready for our trip.

Anusha is thoroughly enjoying her time here -- playing with Laxmi and Lucky -- the 4 and 2 year old children of the couple who live here and help out Anuraj's parents. They play out in the yard, pester the cows and goat, and play in buckets of water. Anusha and Laxmi get along great, Lucky on the other hand has become the source of her bullying. I didn't know she had it in her. But we're seeing the best and worst of her social interactions!!

So, pictures to be posted when we return to Kathmandu in a week and a half. Until then, Happy Diwali (or Dipawali as they say here in Nepal).

2nd set of photos

Here is the link to a 2nd set of photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/JillLandisJha/AnushaSept08?authkey=7pTBQA82spQ#

Anusha, Anuraj's dad and I will travel to Biratnagar tomorrow for Dessera (or Dushain). We'll be there for 1 week and are trying to secure tickets to come back for a week before going back there for Diwali for 2 weeks. This will be our first Dessera and Diwali in Nepal, and Anuraj's first time celebrating after 3 years of being in the U.S. He is especially excited.

I lied...

We're not leaving tomorrow, which means I have time to finish some updates! So, what I know my mom has been waiting for . . . pictures. I have two batches. This is the first.

http://picasaweb.google.com/JillLandisJha/AnushaAugSept08Ktm?authkey=kuAJa4u56KA#

Enjoy!!

Leaving for the holidays

Here's a little photo of Anusha looking quite scholarly.

I'm finally back in touch with the virtual world. You'll find a few long posts from earlier (August). I'm working at catching up by posting what I've been writing the past 2 months.

It only took Anuraj 8 hours yesterday and 5 weeks total (working on and off with the telecom company, computer store, etc) to get this thing hooked up. Oh how I miss the convenience of the US. I would gladly pay someone else $60 or $100 to hook up internet within a few days of requesting it!!!

Anusha and I will be traveling to Biratnagar tomorrow (Anuraj's parents home) for Desserah which is next week. We'll be back the middle week of October then will head back there for Diwali. These are 2 of the most major holidays here - comparable to Christmas and Thanksgiving. I'm not sure what the internet connection will be like there but I'll try to post some things and photos as much as possible. It takes about 5 minutes to post one picture - but at least I can post them!!

Anusha is calling "maam" -- little stinker was supposed to sleep longer!!!

Cousin Kirsten Came (August 25 – September 13, 2008)

One of the reasons I hadn’t written for 3 weeks (besides no internet) was that I was actually busy! My cousin Kirsten (my mom and her dad are brother/sister) came to visit. Kirsten grew up in Phoenix and has been living in San Jose, CA the past 6 years. We hardly saw each other growing up (except the pictures her parents sent us) and a few years ago we spent one or two weeks hanging out in Goshen, IN and Grand Marais, MI together. Short version of how she ended up in Nepal: she had 3 weeks of vacation and wanted to go somewhere far. New Zealand didn’t work out so she called me! She arrived just a few weeks after I returned to Nepal and just a few days after we moved into our new house.

Some of the highlights of having cousin Kirsten come:

Gerber’s Freeze Dried Apples
(for Anusha . . . this is what made Kirsten Anusha’s friend. And true to our word, Anusha polished her two bags off just as Kirsten was at the airport ready to go back to CA)

Stories
Kirsten hung out with us most of the time, but took a few day trips. It was fun to hear stories and see video of her taking a bath with an elephant in Chitwan (National Forest and Game Park), watch the “sunrise” and hang out with a holy man in Nagarkot (an hour outside of Katmandu in the peaceful hills with great views of the mountains), and remove leaches from random German and Japanese friends that she met in Pokhara.

Wandering Around Katmandu Together
Kirsten is the reason I can now say that I appreciate this city. Kirsten, Anusha and I spent a considerable amount of time wandering around Katmandu.

Teej: One of the major women’s festival here – all married women (and would be married women) get decked out in red sari’s and have the day off work (their children get the day off school too. And how is that a holiday for the women?? Go figure!) We decided to go to Pashupati Temple – one of the most revered temples in Nepal, not realizing that there would be thousands upon thousands of women standing in line to get into the temple. We spent out time seeing if we could find 2 saris that were exactly alike and sang “Woman in Red.”

Monkey Attacks: We headed to Swayambouh one day – a revered Buddhist temple area. We stopped first at the site of the three golden Bouddha’s where we admired the statues and stupas. While there, we witnessed a monkey “attack” a man – it was a light attack, more like a gentle assault. I actually got it on film (which I didn’t realize until days later). Half and hour later, we were heading through the woods to Swayambouh, eating some some slices of coconut we had just bought, when a monkey jumped out in front of Kirsten. Stunned, we quickly realized it wanted her coconut. “Give him your food!” I hollered. She clipped off a little piece and threw it 10 feet away. A bit perplexed, it pounced off in search of the treat. I hid my coconut in Anusha’s carrier and we kept walking only to have another monkey jump from a tree right in front of Kirsten. She broke another piece off and threw it. “Hide your coconut!” I begged. We booked it, looking back and laughing at our funny fortune and scanning the trees for any other potential coconut stalkers.

Shopping: What more can I say except that we did a lot of it. It’s quite fun to shop with someone who is buying things to take back home and sure beats plain old window shopping. Now I know some good shopping places around the city.

Discoveries: So many little discoveries we made . . .

- “Lazy Gringo – Arizona Style Mexican Food” Restaurant. Anuraj and I went after we dropped off Kirsten at the airport and met an American couple with a girl Anusha’s age.

- The American Embassy is only a 20 minute walk from our house (now if only I could come up with excuses to go sit in their waiting room and use their bathrooms, talk about a trip back to America!) Standard Chartered ATM (Anuraj’s bank) and a little café with a view – across the street from the American Embassy

- Tibetan Refugee “Camp” – where they make the famous and beautiful Tibetan rugs

- Patan Museum & Café -- This is on my list of things to do some week when Anusha and I need to do something. We ate at the café but didn’t have time for the museum but I hear that it is really good.

- Temples : We saw quite a few though we actually went to more Buddhist temples.

- Taking Public Transport : I wouldn’t have had the nerve to try this by myself. But with Kirsten and Anusha, everything became an adventure. Now I feel much more confident finding my way on the buses and vans here.

- Hanging out at the House : When we weren’t wandering around the city, we were hanging out at the house. Kirsten helped me figure out a fabulous arrangement for our furnished pad. She also didn’t mind watching Anusha when I was doing other things or running up to the store with or for me. It was fun to welcome her back from her little jaunts outside of the city and sit on the front porch and here her stories. Anusha was also super excited whenever she would come back and even gave her some great squeals of excitement upon her returns.

Our New Digs (August 21, 2008)

Well, we finally settled on a place to live. It’s a very nice and spacious apartment, freshly painted (windows and security bars included). This means it feels clean! The landlords both speak proficient English, actually lived in Canada for a while and have relatives in the U.S. too. They are an older couple, probably in their 60’s (sorry all you 60 year olds out there!).

As for the place: 2 bedrooms (master bedroom has changing room and attached bath), 2 bathrooms total, living room, dining room, large kitchen with tons of cupboard space and shelves, and some bonus space in the dining room area. It’s furnished, which we were wanting. We might have too many chairs at this place! It comes with a huge (king size?) bed and 2 night stands plus a little changing table and armoire in the master bedroom. The 2nd bedroom has a bed and desk. We have a dining table with 6 chairs, and the living room has 4 whicker chairs (like the ones we got in Nepalgunj), a large whicker table and a whicker chase that we will use as a sofa. The apartment even has curtains and a sewing machine!!! It is so nice to have a place that is move-in ready – in nearly every sense (i.e. furniture, cleanliness, etc.). It has lots of windows and is supposed to get good light. In the front is a garden (little grass yard, about 8x12?), a large paved area, and a little place that we hope to put a sandbox in for Anusha. There is also a small temple, which I haven’t seen anywhere else. There is a back patio area for hanging laundry. We’ll make the move on Saturday, August 23. Oh, the best part is that Anuraj is trying to line up a high speed internet, which means I’ll be able to post updates – and pictures – on a regular basis. Cross your fingers!

For those of you who are curious, the apartment is in Bansbari, outside of Ring Road, the major road that circles Katmandu. It is close to Maharajgunj – a prominent section of Katmandu, which is due north (and a little west) of center city. We are around the corner from Thailand Embassy and are just a 10-15 minute walk from the US Embassy. (Look up Bansbari, Nepal on Google Earth and you'll find us!). It’s a pretty quiet area. And Anuraj claims it is one of the nicer and safer areas in Katmandu. We’ll spend some time exploring the neighborhood this weekend and next week. The only downfall is that it is far from Anuraj’s work: at least a 20-30 minute drive.

Wasting Time in KTM (Aug 21 '08)

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!