Jan 15 (Fri) 7:45 PM
Today was a very nice day. It is still cold and foggy in the mornings like it has been for the past two mornings. I am surprised how much my ability to handle cold has diminished since I’ve been here. T-shirt weather back home has become long-john, sweatshirt and sweatpants weather here. That may have something to do with being sick, though. I have a cough and runny nose and am tired all the time. I slept for 10 hours last night, took an hour nap today and could go to sleep right now. I hope I am better for the festival tomorrow!
Today I hand-washed my clothes. It took a very long time and they are still drying. Unfortunately, that means I will probably be wearing my dirty sweatpants to the festival tomorrow. I won’t ever complain about doing clothes at home again! I also think that the detergent they use here may have ruined a few of my shirts. The look spotted, but it is difficult to tell until they are 100% dry. Mom reminded me today that haven’t mentioned anything about money yet. The scarves I bought yesterday were 30 rupees, or not even $0.50 each. The purses were 200 rupees. Right now the American dollar is 75 rupees. Andrew and I had a wood-fired pizza at one of Raj’s favorite restaurants “Roadhouse Grill” for 500 rupees, including tax and tip. Taxis cost around 200 rupees during the day and closer to 400 at night.
Jan 16 Saturday
Happy New Year! (year 2137) Today we celebrated Lhosar, or the new year for my host family. The morning started early for the family preparing the house for company. I am not feeling well today (just a cold) so I slept in until around 9:30. My clothes still weren’t dry so everyone was in their nice clothes and I was in sweat pants and a sweater. Nobody told me it was dress-up day or I would have bought something new. Oh well, I look so different anyway, it doesn’t make much of a difference. The entire family gathers for brunch between 10 and 11 and we all eat a lot of food. Then the men (including me today) go around to everyone’s house to do a prayer and song. The first song is just singing (more chanting, really) the second song ends with roksi in the hand and then, I think after a prayer, we lick it off our hands. The third ends with throwing rice and flour into the air. Beer or wine is drank at each house so the fourth house was more of a party with throwing flour at each other and a lot more laughing in their conversations. They insist I drink roksi when I cough and it actually does help a lot, which is great. I don’t like sitting and cough and sneeze and sniffle so close to everyone. I got noodles for dinner ( much like top ramin) since I am sick. Thank you, Lisa for the NyQuil and DayQuil!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Jan 13 & Jan 14
Jan 13 (Wed) 6:30 PM
Today I showed the students my pictures from home. They were fairly excited and were sad I didn’t have very many pictures to share. They thought my house was beautiful and my family all looked the same. The boys were especially excited to see who this David guy was who is my boyfriend. I took half of the class at a time into the library because it is so small and there are so many of them (about 40 per classroom). In the library there is a dining room sized table and benches so they could sit and look at the pictures in the middle. The other half worked on answering questions like “what do you like to learn about” and “what are your hobbies.” Many of them wanted me to teach them math and science because those are their weakest subjects. The majority of them also said they want to be social workers or health care providers for he poor and orphans. I think coming from that background themselves helps to encourage them along that path. They are all so sweet and I want to take them home with me and put them thru school in the States. The education is fairly good here but I feel w/o financial support nearly all of these students don’t have a chance for college. Samata itself is a very good school. The passing rate for students is significantly higher than the national average and it only costs them 100 Rs ($1.50) per month to attend. The founder has received many international awards and I feel lucky to have met him. He was in “Ode” magazine recenty.
Jan 14 (Thurs) 9:00 PM
There is no class tomorrow so today I started a project to have them build a tower from straws and tape. Just brainstorming today and the construction will start Sunday. There is a Hindu festival on Friday which I have only been told it means they eat a lot of food. Andrew and I went to a fair trade market today and I found a lot of cool things. I only bought a purse and some welcome scarves that I have gotten here at the house and at the school. They are the most meaningful thing to represent my trip so far.
Life is going well. The food is still fantastic although Andrew and I had wood fired pizza today for dinner. The lack of spice was welcomed by my system. Another new year treat was made while I was at school today. Basically rice flour mush deep fried. Doesn’t have much flavor to it.
Today I showed the students my pictures from home. They were fairly excited and were sad I didn’t have very many pictures to share. They thought my house was beautiful and my family all looked the same. The boys were especially excited to see who this David guy was who is my boyfriend. I took half of the class at a time into the library because it is so small and there are so many of them (about 40 per classroom). In the library there is a dining room sized table and benches so they could sit and look at the pictures in the middle. The other half worked on answering questions like “what do you like to learn about” and “what are your hobbies.” Many of them wanted me to teach them math and science because those are their weakest subjects. The majority of them also said they want to be social workers or health care providers for he poor and orphans. I think coming from that background themselves helps to encourage them along that path. They are all so sweet and I want to take them home with me and put them thru school in the States. The education is fairly good here but I feel w/o financial support nearly all of these students don’t have a chance for college. Samata itself is a very good school. The passing rate for students is significantly higher than the national average and it only costs them 100 Rs ($1.50) per month to attend. The founder has received many international awards and I feel lucky to have met him. He was in “Ode” magazine recenty.
Jan 14 (Thurs) 9:00 PM
There is no class tomorrow so today I started a project to have them build a tower from straws and tape. Just brainstorming today and the construction will start Sunday. There is a Hindu festival on Friday which I have only been told it means they eat a lot of food. Andrew and I went to a fair trade market today and I found a lot of cool things. I only bought a purse and some welcome scarves that I have gotten here at the house and at the school. They are the most meaningful thing to represent my trip so far.
Life is going well. The food is still fantastic although Andrew and I had wood fired pizza today for dinner. The lack of spice was welcomed by my system. Another new year treat was made while I was at school today. Basically rice flour mush deep fried. Doesn’t have much flavor to it.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Jan 9 and Jan 11
Jan 9 (sat) 10:45 AM
Part-way through the epic pastry-making process:
“Easy to eat – difficult to make” –Pemba
Jan 11 (mon) 10:15 PM
Yesterday was a strike. The vehicles could not drive although there were some motorcycles that risked the punishment if they got caught. Raj told me that a general strike is supposed to be where people follow the strike if they agree with the topic. However, now the Maoist party tells businesses to shut down or the strike “or else” so it looks like they had a successful strike. School was closed and Pemba and I went to a monastery. The sky yesterday and today were actually a beautiful blue for the first time. I could see the mountains and I wasn’t choking on the polluted air. We walked many miles and it was a beautiful day. I would have liked to be in shorts and tank top while walking, but everyone was in coats and pants. I did have to go down to a T-shirt because I was just too warm. How are they in coats?!
Pemba and I went out for Thomba which is a millet wine and cheese momo with Yak cheese. Yum!!
Part-way through the epic pastry-making process:
“Easy to eat – difficult to make” –Pemba
Jan 11 (mon) 10:15 PM
Yesterday was a strike. The vehicles could not drive although there were some motorcycles that risked the punishment if they got caught. Raj told me that a general strike is supposed to be where people follow the strike if they agree with the topic. However, now the Maoist party tells businesses to shut down or the strike “or else” so it looks like they had a successful strike. School was closed and Pemba and I went to a monastery. The sky yesterday and today were actually a beautiful blue for the first time. I could see the mountains and I wasn’t choking on the polluted air. We walked many miles and it was a beautiful day. I would have liked to be in shorts and tank top while walking, but everyone was in coats and pants. I did have to go down to a T-shirt because I was just too warm. How are they in coats?!
Pemba and I went out for Thomba which is a millet wine and cheese momo with Yak cheese. Yum!!
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