A Change in Me

I realized now that it has been over 3 months since I last posted and I am terribly sorry about that. When I last left you I was about to embark on the adventure of my life during the holiday season here in Nepal (which occurred in October). I decided to do the most classic trek in Nepal, the Annapurna Circuit. Although it feels like so long ago since I left the impression the trip has made on me is astounding. For more information and photos about my trip in the mountains please check out the youtube site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa_5k90Zuj8

Everyone will tell you the mountains are beautiful, breathtaking, miraculous, but after coming bacl from this trip I didn't predict the change I would feel in myself. I guess I feel...older maybe more confident, more independent more ready to embrace reality. I don't quite know how to describe it. Returning to Kathmandu, I now see the city with new eyes. It has made me really question my future. What do I really want to do for my vision of change the status of public health and how am I going to do it? Could I live the life of an Expat in Nepal? I need mountains and cities and excitement which Nepal has but is it the right place? COuld I really live her working for a big NGO with my healthy paycheck surrounded by abject poverty? Can I deal with the lack of time and quality that is put into work here?...Yes I am working to change these things but is it too late for me having grown up in western society to be able to relate to the Nepali people in order to bring about effective sustainable change?

To run or to strike?

Rounding the corner of the ring road a huge billowing truck narrowly darts inches from my face puffing a huge black cloud into my lungs. A few seconds later a motor bike nearly cuts me off but I can just see the person in yellow in the distance with his white flag waving me in the right direction. SO I discovered that running a half marathon after not running in the last 2 weeks let alone training is very difficult. I probably picked the worst place to run my first half marathon as Katmandu is one of the most polluted places I have ever experienced.  I did it in 2 hours 24 minutes and thought I was going to die at about oh kilometer 15. But I did it!....and I am still recovering. I also joined in a basketball tournament that has been pretty fun. I never make plans here but I always seem to be busy busy (as Enu Ama, the woman I am living with always says). I feel like the connections I am making here are just unending. There are so many opportunities and I am meeting so many people doing such amazing things with their lives.

 

You may ask how I have so much time at the moment? Yes…well among the many things I am still adjusting to are the strikes. I have a specific course load I need to get through and it is often complicated by the multitude of school holidays and closures. Although there is school on Sundays there are over 55 national holidays which the school take off for and they don’t seem to be listed anywhere. The director will generally tell me a few days before that “oh hey school is closed for 3 days this week”….ok cool. But then there are the strikes that randomly occur at any moment for example. On Friday I was told hey so the Maosts called a strike so it will be difficult for the students to get home this afternoon so your classes are cancelled (however it was only my class that was cancelled everyone else seemed to be studying). Then for the afternoon class one of the teachers in the school (without notifying me) told half of my afternoon class that I said there was no class this afternoon so half of my students went home. Then a little later my director told me that the strike was going to be for 4 days so he was canceling school for the next week. So I am on vacation a little early. I now have the next 6 weeks off…and I need a break so I am taking off for the mountains.

 

I think the monsoon clouds might break for me I hope I hope. The air is getting dryer and hotter and the kites are soaring from every roof top and the moths are out which are all good signs that the monsoon is over.

 

In other good news my research is finally coming along. I had my first site vist yesterday, which was surprisingly exhausting. The road to get to where I am working is pretty rough but I learned so much from just a 1 day. The organization I will be working with Medicine du Monde is a pretty cool organization though it seems they are donating most of the time/ effort/ and supplies and while it seems like it is making a huge difference I wonder what will happen when they complete the project. I am learning about how a project is run for a major organization and the tiers of management in place to cover an area servicing 5,000 women. It seems to be very well managed and their isn’t much room for corruption to leak through which is good. They are trying to set the project up to be sustainable when they leave by creating these groups and using microfinance to generate funds from productive loans locally to pay back social/health or non productive loans. In doing so they also create these groups of women that come together from different areas of the region to be apart of something greater. The most amazing part of this so far is seeing the look on these women (volunteers) faces when they feel they really have a huge role in the communication and delivery of their healthcare.

 

I remember having a conversation with the head of the health program at the world bank and he told me that they had these health volunteers but had a very difficult time retaining them but couldn’t figure out why. In talking to these women who used to volunteer for the public program they said they weren’t committed to it because they felt the program was ah hem….bull shit. The meetings weren’t regular but absoutley random so they didn’t know when to show up and they didn’t feel like they were learning anything. I mean would you want to volunteer your limited time for an organization that didn’t have their act together? Of course not. This program with MDM is highly organized and the women feel like they have an extremely important role (which they do) and in 1.5 years have not missed a meeting. I would say that’s a pretty big difference. So anyway I am super excited to do this assessment I think I am going to learn soooo much and it will be fun. Ok for now I am headed off to the mountains for an adventure of a life time. Stay tuned for some crazy pictures and stories.

The Bad the Ugly and… the Good

The road to Talupani where the hot springs await

This is the wonderful woman, Enu and her dog that I live with

BAD:

I am not sure you can imagine 24 hours of hell but I can tell you about it. Imagine you decide that some students come up to you and tell you they want to go bungy jumping…..I said sure lets do it limit it to 15 people. Well overnight (the day before we left) 15 people turned into 50 and the 3 staff members I was supposed to have come with me turned into zero and I was stuck in the middle of the mountains with a monsoon soaked list of 

names I couldn’t pronounce and 2 bus loads of 15/16 year old students I could not control. There was definitely drinking and I spent the entire 24 hours yelling at people. I quickly realized that making students of a higher cast do dishes for punishment is a culturally inappropriate thing to do (they looked at me with utter shock that I would ask them to do this). I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the overnight and experiencing bad dehydration and stomach problems on top of it all (but when you are the only staff member you don’t have a choice you can not be sick).

 

UGLY:

So has hellish has this trip was on my mental and physical state, I did finally get to experience my first out of Katmandu trip, which I am sad to say was not a good first trip. When people say the roads are BAD BAD BAD they are way under exaggerating just how bad the roads are. So I had to quickly get over the fact that when the buses are too crowded people sit on top of them which doesn’t seem that safe….but on consultation of 

the guide book it recommended to take your pick as when the bus rolls off of the cliff you can jump off the top and survive. There are car accidents everyday here not from fast driving but from such bad roads. I mean driving on these roads (the kids must have thought I was crazy) but I really thought I was going to die. We were cruising on the windiest roads you can imagine….but wait hold that thought….you have the windy roads now had a ton of huge trucks and buses carrying people and supplies to and from the border to China….and oh wait did I mention its monsoon season and this “highway” is made of two feet of deep mud, is a single lane, and has a 800 ft drop inches from the car tire as the trucks blast their horn around every curve. I am not sure my photos do it justice.. Anyway thought I did make it home safe despite walking one section of the road. I guess I better get used to this though I will probably need to do it again soon.

 

The Good:

On a high note I think class went well today. We started our second unit of Poverty this week and I think this is going to be really interesting for the students. I did something I needed to do for a while which was split the students up into assigned seating which cut some of the chatter and the gender divide but we will see if it lasts. I realized that while these kids clearly know what poverty is and how to define it I am not sure if they see it in the lives of the people around them. I think this will finally be my time to get them to think. I think they no what poverty is but not what it is like to feel poverty. We talked a bit about the Caste system today and how they expect to “improve” the poverty situation if people live by 

the caste system. They need to be the generation to overcome this if they want to cause change. Anyway, it was the first time in the A class I got a variety of people talking and some really good conversation. Gave me some hope J

I am not sari?

Yes where should I start its been a little too long since I last wrote sorry it is difficult to keep up with these things. So I moved to my final home here in Nepal. I now live in an area called Pulchuck with the sweetest woman, Enu, and her dog who just had puppies. I am putting a photo of them both up here. When I first moved in I had some reservations and I thought Enu didn’t like me. What the people who dropped me off failed to tell me was that she had just lost her husband a few weeks before I moved in and now that understanding more I think its good that I am living here and it gives me a chance to learn some Nepali and really get a feel for the culture. One of the first days that I moved in it was the Taij, one of the over 60 festival here. I decided to partake and dressed in red and migrated with the thousands of women to Pasupati temple for singing and dancing. I can’t believe women can comfortably wear saris around everywhere to do daily chores. To me it felt like wearing a ball gown. I guess it just takes some getting used to.

 The purpose of the festival is to fast for the long life of your husband and it is the only women’s festival. This should paint an image of the gender disparity that they are trying to change here. That’s right 1 woman’s holiday… to pray for a long life for the husband.

 Classes are going ok. Up days and down days. Sometimes I think they understand other days not so much. The motivation factor is really difficult for me. So far 30% of the class does the work I assign and more than half the class is failing but based on what they tell me in class an what they make me believe that some of what I say is getting through. I am trying to remember that this is new for them too and while I am still adjusting to the culture they are adjusting to my style of teaching to. Most teachers here teach from the book so they can pass their exams and the kids write it down, memorize it, and forget it. While I like to think that I am trying to get them to think and act outside the box its going to be much more challenging than I initially thought. I have huge problems with plagiarism in the class and pretty much 80% of the class when asked to write a paper will look something up and copy and paste from Wikapedia something that wasn’t even close to the assignment. I think I need to set more realistic goals for my class or take more time to explain things better.

The Good and the Bad

So I believe I am starting to settle in at this point. I have had good days and bad days and draw backs and giant steps.

Bad day: yes so I am still trying to figure out my living situation so as I move my bags all over the place it also means that I need to figure out the public transportation system from that location to school. The other day I jumped on a tempo (these little 3 wheelers) and was sent in the opposite direction of my school to land at the tempo hub where I was supposed to get on another tempo to school. This is when I realized that somewhere in the move I forgot by wallet map and cell phone and now had no idea where I was. I asked around the tempo stand for about 30 minutes before jumping on one that landed me somewhere on the ring road (the highway) . The driver was nice enough to forgo my fee and after about an hour of walking around aimlessly getting sent in multiple wrong directions I found the school though I was 2 hours late.  I also found out that only about 50% of the students in my class want to learn while the others ruin it for everyone else so I am trying to find a way to deal with this.

Ok enough of the bad.....

Good Day: Yesterday I figured out what I want to do for a research situation and every thing sounds perfect. I will be working with the organization Center for Microfinance and help them do an assessment of the health education program they have been piloting now for 2 years. While I am really excited I realized I have never done a program assessment before so this may end up being more difficult then I first imagined. I am trying now to get in touch with as many professionals as possible to try and give me some advice. So if you have any advice.....let me know. Also I am going to start coaching the girls basketball team tomorrow at 7 am in the mornings so I am super excited about hopefully getting some b-ball going. I have also been thinking of some fun things to do for the students. While this school advertises a lot of activities there aren't that many programs in reality. If I can get a number of programs started here before I leave then I think I can be successful. The students are super bright and some of them are really motivated they just need the guidance....which I decided I will be able to provide. Lets see how it goes....

Second Impressions: Traffic, Hashing, and Julia Roberts

My first week here in Katmandu has been an adjustment process. I have already visited the hospital....apparently I am more allergic to cockroaches than I thought and my room is crawling with them.  So I had a huge reaction one day and I was absolutely covered with hives and went to the hospital. I was surprised I was in and out in less than 5 minutes. They didn't take my patient history. They asked me what was wrong I told them I thought I had an allergic reaction. Then without gloves they gave me a shot swabbed the wound with alcohol (they had no receptacle for the bloody swab so I through it in a card board box) and sent me on my way. I then got some medication from the pharmacy next door. The whole thing pills and all cost around $.75....not so bad.

I can't find a way to describe the traffic situation so I am adding this video aid (hopefully it works). One of the many things I am trying to adjust to here. I walk to get everywhere but its difficult to see the world around you when you are constantly dodging cars, cows and people on motor bikes. The pollution is horrible horrible and when you see photos of people wearing a mask....now I understand why. This will be my next purchase.

Classes started last week and so far are going well. Only about half the kids did their homework so I am trying to figure out an incentive system. I really like teaching though. As long as I have enough games to play and I did enough preparing for the class it goes well. I am not sure how many of the students can understand me since only 3/4 of the class completed their in-class quiz. Its a slow process but its coming along.

During the times I am not teaching it is quite lonely. I just spend my time walking around. I visited the Boudatha stupa about 45 minutes from where I am staying. Its amazing. You cross the gates and the bustling polluted streets fade away as this temple surrounded by an old tibetan village fills you with a sense of calm. Monks circling the stupa spinning the prayer wheels and singing in the monasteries. The videos again do it more justice than the photos.

I told Sagun (the head of the household of the family I am staying with) that I was interested in running which is when he told me about Hashing. Ray you would be so proud of me. This is one of the most dynamic trail running tracks I have ever done in my life. Around 2 o'clock I was picked up by a man driving a 69' beetle and headed into the mountains just about 45 minutes outside of the city to find about 30 people (a mix of brits and Nepalis) waiting in this tiny village. So the purpose of this hashing is someone has laid out this trail marked by tiny pieces of paper but you have to try and find the trail. At every junction the person puts in false trails so you could be going the wrong direction for a while until you come to a piece of paper marked in an x. So its this crazy 3 hour long scavenger hunt of a trail with people yelling "on on" every few minutes as it winds its way through rice patties and over mountains and through temples. I absolutely collapsed with exhaustion afterward, but it was so good to get out of the polluted Katmandu valley.

All in all its been an interesting week. I am really liking the family I am staying with. Maluna the wife of Sagun took me to the beauty parlor across the street where I got a facial, my eyebrows done, and dyed my hair with henna all for a mere $6. I returned and she said wow has anyone ever told you that you look like Julia Roberts (which people tell me all of the time). So here we have it no matter what country I am in I will forever look like Julia Roberts. I hope you enjoy the photos and video and more to come soon.

Nepal: First Impressions

let me break this down from that good to the bad:

The people: are so amazingly kind. This is such a contrast from some of the other places I have travelled and I feel so comfortable here. I have been here just two days and I have made so many friends already. The tourists areas are very distinct as there are no westerners anywhere and then in this one section in the center of town where everything is dolled up and there is only foreigners, nice cafes and a plethora of outdoor gear and trekking stores.

The food: I don't know why people said was bland. I love it so far. Other than cheese (so sad) you can find just about anything here and although I was going to be conservative in the last two days I have eaten everything from chicken to shrimp to pork to Tofu....anyway I am sure it is not representative of how the rest of the country eats...if they eat I have just been treated really well so far.

The roads: SO I was thinking before I came here I was going to get a bike to travel around.....hell no. I have never been so scared ever in a car. It takes 40 minutes to go 4 miles with no traffic on a good day. With traffic maybe four hours. To go the distance to the mountains of about Colorado Springs to Boulder (a friend was telling me) takes about 5 hours. 

The Government: Well as always with politics I have only heard complaints. It sounds really bad. I mean really bad. People tell me taxes go only to pay the salaries of the government officials. Roads are horrendous and everything else that comes standard in the 3rd world.

Healthcare: I have to say this has to be the worst situation that I have ever heard. So here is the deal there is no private health insurance AND no public health insurance. Even at the government hospitals you pay before you play. This means if you come to the hospital writhing in agony with a severed limb you are promptly sent to bills and if you can not prepay you are not see. AT ALL. oh my god. Kenya or Uganda wasn't even this bad.

We will see I have a lot to learn yet and I will let you know how the first day of class goes. Oh and the cockroaches...not so fun.