Mahendranagar Madness

Hi folks,

Sorry for the delay but our arrival in our new home town has kept us very busy for the past 10 days. Believe it or not, we've even had to do some work, although today is a last-minute holiday to celebrate the 'New Nepal'. As you may have seen or heard in the International news, this has been a historic week for Nepal with the abolition of the monarchy and the signing in of a new Constituent Assembly.

So, what have we been up to? Well, to start with we left Kathmandu quicker than expected when our Indian visas came through. Despite us stating a wish to travel by road, VSO decided that we would be safest travelling by plane. When we got to the airport and saw the size of it, Mel wasn't so sure.

But we did arrive safely with our fellow 15 passengers and crew.

Our journey from the airport gave us a taster of the surrounding scenery. This area of Nepal is very flat, although we can see the Himalayan foothills in the background. Much of the area is covered by jungle and a very large part of the district is a protected wildlife reserve. More about that later when we have been for a visit we hope.

The weather here varies between hot and very hot with an occasional thunderstorm and violent rain/hailstorm to remind us of Britain! Despite this, it's definitely not as hot and humid as Massawa in Eritrea although rumour has it that it may get hotter. There's lots more water and greenery which is very nice but means that there are loads more mosquitoes. They do give us plenty of exercise and help us to get rid of our pent up aggression especially with our fantastic electric mozzy zapping racquet

Our house is very large as it used to house 3 single people, and has quite a big garden. We are already doing well with our New Year's 'Growing-things-to-eat' resolution, as we've already got a bunch of bananas growing in our front yard!

Our house was really filthy when we arrived as no-one had been living there for 6 months and this is a very dusty, spidery place. The house is full of volunteers old 'chiz biz' (stuff) going back about 10 years. But thanks to the help of a cleaner and gardener and our angelic teenage neighbour Anu, who loves 'arranging' rooms, we have finally sorted the place out and it's starting to feel like home. We've even started doing some cooking, although after 3 months out of the kitchen it needs a bit of work on the flavour.

We've been to work and have been off to an active start, visiting several schools and heads meetings in different areas of our District, Kanchanpur. We've got lots of ideas for things to do, in fact too many. All the people we've met have been really friendly both at work and around town.

As you may know, we're only 6km from India here and we've even made a journey there already, taking a lovely walk along an irrigation canal and over the Mahakali river which marks the border.

We've got the old bicycles, that were left in the house, up and running, and so we're hoping to explore further afield in the coming weeks.

A Taste of Village Life

Hello all,

This time we combine some information on tastes of Nepal, with news of our most recent adventure, the week long village stay.

First though, we received a question:

- 'After buying the fabric in the lovely fabric shop (see last blog), was Mel measured up for a dress or did she get out her sewing kit herself?' (Ailsa Massey)

Mel chose and bought her fabric at that shop and then took it to a tailor's shop to make the 'Kurta Surwal' (local dress, other than saris). The tailor did measure Mel and she could choose from a catalogue of styles (type of neckline, bagginess of trousers etc.). Mel now has 2 new, complete outfits (comprising 'Kurta' top, 'Surwal' trousers and shawl). She reports that they are very comfy and most importantly cool, especially the baggy trousers, which is very important when we get to our placement and 40+ degrees Celsius temperatures. Here is our favourite:


In the Village

We spent the whole of last week in a small village called Chaukot. This village is on the edge of the Kathmandu Valley (about 2 hours by bus) and the reasons for going were: to immerse ourselves in the language, to learn and observe Nepali culture outside of the city, and, to contribute to village life.

Each volunteer lived with a local family, eating, sleeping and working with them (we were both placed in separate families) and we also had language classes (the teachers having travelled out with us). On the last full day, we all took part in a community project.

Arriving was very exciting as we met our new families. They were told about us and our strange, foreign ways. For example, that our stomachs are 'very weak and small' so we have to drink our own water and only a small amount of Daal Bhaat.

Mel was right at home in a family dominated in number by teachers and women! Apart from parents (Sanukaji and Maiya) there are 6 children and relatives ranging in age from 4 to 22. Many of the family speak good English but conversation, during the stay, was almost all in Nepali. Staying in the family was brilliant fun and there was plenty of silliness with lots of chatting, games and dancing, as well as the more serious business of cooking and field work (most people in Chaukot have or work in fields, to supplement income and food). Here is Mel's 'new' family (plus a neighbour). More photos of the village stay in the album:
Steve was placed in a smaller family of 3. His new 'dai' (big brother) is called Parushottam and is a local health worker by trade. His wife (Steve's new sister-in-law), Shoba, works (as is most common in Chaukot) very hard as a house-wife. Their 22 year old son Ishwor, is an electrician and student. All were, again, very welcoming and conversation was entirely in Nepali. Our main use of time, outside lessons and work, was, again in the field as well as wandering around the village helping to make important decisions (such as where the new water pipe is to go):
Twice a day at about 8.30am and 7.30pm, we both ate 'Daal Bhaat' the main Nepali food (more about this, below) and supplemented this with 'khaajaa' (snacks) and lots of tea.

When not engaged in more important learning or other family matters, we went for walks and admired the gorgeous scenery (usually accompanied by members of our families):

On the final 2 days, we, along with the villagers, decided upon, planned and conducted a community project. This was in two main areas. Firstly, we gave 'cultural exchange talks'. These consisted of presentations and 'Question & Answer' sessions on life in the UK (and Phillipines and Ireland). We both did a session together, for which we received a round of applause for, amongst other things, sharing cooking and other house-work and for answering questions in Nepali (although the teachers were on hand for occasional translation). Some of the health volunteers also gave a 'women's health' session which was also well attended.

The other part of our project was in the local school. We helped design, make and demonstrate lots of resources such as; large, outdoor 'Snakes and Ladders' game, puppets and flash-cards. We also spent our allowance (from VSO) on simple sports equipment and stationery for the poorest students (who otherwise must pay themselves). Steve spent most of the time reorganising the school library (which was in a bit of a mess) and sorting out all the teaching resources that already existed there, such as 'big books' and multiple class-copies. Mel helped make flashcards and demonstrated puppets and new songs to teachers and students. Overall, our efforts seemed to be well received and we all had great fun.
On the final evening, we were entertained by dancing and drumming, and the volunteers put on a short 'comedy skit' and song for the host families:
On the final morning, we had a fantastic send-off by the host families, which included lots of garlands, 'tikka' (red marks on the forehead) and fruit.
There were mixed feelings from the group about leaving the village and returning to Kathmandu but both of us were very sorry to leave. Our good health, the peace and quiet, beauty and, above all, friendliness and generosity of the villagers will be pleasant memories for us, for a long time to come. We are both hoping to return and visit our 'families' within the next 2 years.

A Taste of Things to Come

Continuing our series of 'Senses' of Kathmandu, we come to the subject of taste.

In Kathmandu, there are many restaurants, with a wide variety of tastes. When we focus on 'authentic Nepali tastes' however, one dish above others deserves mention. This is 'Daal Bhaat'. Daal Bhaat is the staple food of the vast majority of Nepalis and consists of rice (Bhaat) and lentils (daal).
You may think that this gets boring twice a day, every day (as we had in Chaukot) but there are different varieties of rice and lentils and Daal Bhaat is often served with a large variety of 'tarkari' (seasonal vegetables) such as 'alloo' (potatoes), 'saag' (greens), 'piyaaj' (onions) , 'brinjaal' (aubergine) and 'cawli' (cauliflower) as well as various delicious spices and levels of 'piro' (chilli), 'achaar' (pickled veg) and sometimes 'massu' (meat). Also, the rice is often supplemented with 'roti' (flat bread) or 'naan' (bigger flat bread). Here Mel is making Roti in the cowshed in Chaukot:
There is a good deal of skill involved in cooking a tasty 'Daal bhaat' and for this reason it's important to let the cook know that it's 'mitho' (tasty). There is also some skill in eating it the Nepali way (with the right hand, sitting on the floor). Apart from in the village, we have eaten 'Daal Bhaat' in restaurants and regularly at the VSO office, where some of the staff have been on cooking courses:
As well as 'Daal bhaat', other local tastes worth mentioning are the fresh fruits that we often buy, such as 'suntala' (oranges/tangarines), 'keraa' (bananas) and 'aap' (mangoes) often loaded and displayed carefully on bicycles:
Drinks include 'chiyaa' (local tea) which we mentioned last time, fruit juice and 'raksi' (locally brewed alcohol) which we haven't tried. We also like 'lassi' (a sweet yoghurt drink).