mero naam laura ho. malaai nepal manparyo...

helloooo! i'm in the village of balkot just outside kathmandu. the program house is here and we have been living at the house of a generous brahmin-chetri family down the road (all ten of us!) so much has happened in two weeks, including the aquisition of basic nepali language. five of us are from pitzer (ziggy, jeff newman, alex kenyon, roxy and i) and five are from other schools... bodin, swarthmore, pomona, and two from colorado college. we all get along really well and support each other in the process. we've had some good times together but right now we are still at the touristy level. tomorrow we have a day off from class, and then monday we move in with our family. i'm excited and nervous at the same time.
classes are really effective... we are in a classroom with one or two other students and we rarely take notes, just repeat words and practice conversation with each other. literal translation into english is not advised. we're all suprised how much nepali we know already. everyday we wake up between 6 or 7 am, eat breakfast, have class at 9 till 12:30 or so, lunch, then a field trip or lecture, language review, dinner, and asleep by 10 or so. i've had ONE day of free time so far, but i have this afternoon off. it's busy but i like it. our langage teachers are great too: shovaji, soorjaji, sodhonaji, and sanjibji.
yesterday we went to pashpati(sp) which is a beautiful hindu temple. there were monkeeeeys! and we met a real sadhu. i could see cremation ceremonies from the top of the temple walls...
there are so many cultural differences that i'm finally getting used to. no toilets, just a "chaarpi" which is, essentially, a hole in the ground. no toilet paper. hindus would think toilet paper is dirty. instead we use water because it is pure. yeah so, that is... fun.
i eat dhaalbhaat (rice and veggies) for every meal. no fork or knife, just my hands. i don't even think about it anymore. except when my tummy says uuuuh... what's going on laura? haha. now more than anything i crave cold drinks (no fridge) and sweet things. i've never bought so much chocolate in my life!
everyone here is so friendly. last night we ate dinner with a village family and sang and danced on their rooftop. one girl i danced with, ramaila, was twenty years old and had a bhaai (younger brother) just like me... she said, "tapaai mero ramro saathi!" (you are my best friend) and wouldn't let go of my hands all night. i didn't know why i was getting all this attention. i almost wanted to cry just because she was so sweet.
children here are SO well behaved compared to american children. The family we are staying with right now has three kids: ranjun, ranjita, and sangita. they help us study our nepali (without teasing, of course) are always well mannered and speak english really well. they love all our "stuff." one day i turned around and ranjun was listening to my cd player, and ever since he won't go to bed without listening to erykah badu's "appletree" about five times.
sangita likes daft punk. she's pretty much the most adorable little girl ever. jeff is teaching her chess right now.
you become so close to these people so quickly. you call everyone your brother or sister and same-sex friends (even guys) walk hand in hand or with arms around each other on the street. and nobody will say "ooooh, you did this and this wrong, please do this instead," they just smile and tell you what a great person you are. it's nice except when you want to know if what you are doing in okay or innapropriate, because if it is innapropriate they most likely won't even tell you. i'm learning how to read into things non-verbally...
nobody thinks the elections will happen in november. it's not within the interest of any political party except the uml. the maoists are stalling as much as possible because they are quickly loosing the people's trust, but every party has to front that they have "commited" themselves to the elections because that is what all the people want... just some of the parties know that when the people do elect, they won't be electing them.
it rains at least twice a day. i haven't seen the sky in days. but i like it since it never rains in claremont. kathmandu valley really IS a valley. i'm surrounded by mountains and rice patties... everyday i wake up and wonder "where am i?" i wish you could all see this. it all seems so surreal.
all the students here have such different interests, which is great, beause we can share and trade knowlege. marky is from pomona and he is majoring in religious studies, so he fills me in on hinduism; roxy has the politics down, ziggy knows about shamanism and natural healing, kirsten is a bio major and wants to study nepal's diverse enviornments and species.
kathmandu itself is, in one word, crazy. they drive on the left side of the road (supposedly) and there are no traffic lights or stop signs. everyone just honks and yells and crownds the streets. from what i gather it wasn't like this fifteen years ago. and within five years everyone has gotten a cell phone. it's weird standing in a rice patty with a cow and hearing a cell phone ring.
kathmandu is crowded and dirty. the whole economy is purely based on tourism. i've seen westerners there but i imagine in the past there have been more. in the city people were western clothes and play western music... shops sell "hippie" gear to cater to the typical trekking/sherpa-loving tourist. kathmandu is NOT nepal. my village... is nepal. traditional nepal.
we have coke, we have pepsi, we have tv and internet, we have jeans, and we have avril lavigne here (they love avril for some strange reason) but we don't have good roads, we don't have jobs, we don't have higher education, and we don't have political say here.
i'll have to spend another time explaining gender differences...
"danyabad" means "thank you," but you never really use it. it translates to something like "i am eternally grateful." here, you have no need to thank someone, because what people do is just expected of them. dharma is how they live. there are so many things within hinduism that are practiced in everyday interractions that i can't begin to describe in words. marky bought a book called "one thousand names of vishnu" that i started reading yesterday... it describes the genuine, non-selfish nature of the people here. sometimes i don't know if it melts my heart or makes me feel uglier on the inside...
there is no doubt in my mind that i will learn so much about myself here. i already wish i hadn't brought as much as i did. if i want to be integrated into the culture i have to live like a nepali. i can't shower everyday. nepalese don't have access to neutrogena face wash. nepalese don't have so much "stuff." it's amazing how much they want to know about us as well. they don't understand why i don't like avril. oh well.
the ketis (girls) had punjabis tailored for us!! so i have one traditional outfit thus far. sometimes i can't tell if it's better or worse to wear it. either way, if you're white, you're a spectacle.
the kids love my camera and love getting their picture taken. that is always endless enjoyment.
one night the father of our house showed ziggy their family photos after she showed sangita hers. during this, sangita and i read my new book "tales of kathmandu" together. i know i'm going to love living with my host family and i can't wait. i also know it will be the most challenging thing. luckly we have been given classes on cultural differences, health, saftey, religion, history, etc. along with the hours of language... so i couldn't be more ready.
tomorrow i'll either take it easy and scrub my clothes or go on a short day hike in the foothills north of kathmandu.
i miss my family and friends so much. i wish there was a better way than words to express what i have been through in just ten days. just know i am happy and my heart goes out to you...
malaai kushi laagyo. namaste. love,
laura

all your love is gone, so sing a lonely song

hello everyone,

so i started a blog. spread the word. who knows how often i'll be able to update it. who knows how many people will even read this anyways.

monday i'm flying from cleveland to jfk to bangkok, thailand. i'll spend the night there with another girl on the program (hopefully go out for dinner and see the city with her thai friend) then i fly to kathmandu the next day. nervous? yes. excited? even more so.

i have the doors stuck in my head