Blogs from Hadigaon, Kathmandu, Nepal, Asia - page 2

I am so tired of taxi drivers trying to charge me the “foreigner rate.” Yesterday, I came out of Bhat Bhateni with a bunch of bags on the way to the Fulbright office to run a session. I hopped in the first taxi that came along, and it was only after he pulled away that I noticed his meter wasn’t running. I asked him about it, and he rattled off in Nepali something I couldn’t understand. So when we finally pulled up outside the office, he tried to charge me 200 Rs (when it should have been 65 Rs at the most)! I yelled at him in Nepali about how expensive it was and that he was charging me the foreigner rate. So he quickly dropped it to 100 Rs. But, knowing that this was still ... read more

Last night I went to the Ambassador’s house for a pizza party. I’m not into schmoozing with people like that, but it was more fun than I expected. Nancy Powell is pretty down to earth, and this is her second post in Nepal, so she knows the routine. I didn’t actually talk to her much, but she asked how my Crocs were handling Kathmandu. The house they have her in is beautiful. After you get past the half dozen or so armed guards out front, you’d hardly know you were in Kathmandu, except for her collection of Nepali art. The food was good—pizza and salad made in house by her Nepali staff, followed by cookies and brownies. And the place is spotlessly clean. She even has a little garden in her bathroom. I spent most of ... read more

Day 1 of the first wave of my intervention was incredibly successful! No one showed up until 10:15 (it started at 10am) in true Nepali style, but at that point 8 young women streamed into the auditorium room at Fulbright. They were all Deepti’s cousin’s friends from school—ages 19-22. A couple more women also showed up later. The first day of the intervention was going over the informed consent, filling out the baseline survey, a tea and cookies break, and then discussion about why it’s important for women to learn about sex. Only one participant was married, so supposedly the rest of them are virgins (although I have my suspicions about one based on the questions she was asking). They all agreed that women should know about sex in order to “avoid being exploited by men,” ... read more

Well, the first 36 hours back in the ‘Du have been really great. I am actually happy to be back here! Or maybe the fact that I have an endpoint in sight and a job come August have changed my perspective…. Anyway, Kiran, Chandra, and another nephew met me at the airport Monday night and brought me back to my flat, which was spotlessly clean thanks to Sita. And it’s warmer! Evenings are still chilly, but not nearly as bad. The long underwear can be packed away! Yesterday was very busy. I stopped at the Fulbright office to pick up mail and money and check in with Peter about my plans to return in May. Then I met with Deepti to come up with a game plan for the next couple weeks to get my intervention ... read more

I think I’m going to cry tears of joy when I get home. It’s going to be like a scene from a movie—I’m going to step off the plane at JFK airport, drop my bags, throw my hands into the air, kiss the ground, and want to touch everything because it will seem so clean and beautiful. I’m going to smother Ken with kisses and torture my cat by holding onto him even while he squirms. I’m going to burst into tears when I see my mom over the weekend. I’m going to be giddy to have a cell phone that works, heat in my apartment, and rows upon rows of just soy milk to choose from in the supermarket. For as much as I criticize the U.S., American politics, and the attitudes and foolishness of ... read more