Questions and Comments

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You all have sent me some excellent questions and comments, and it's about time I responded to them. The rest of this post will address the comments you've shared with me. Keep them coming!

Chase:
The general consesus in Kathmandu about the state of the world today is that the current Nepal government is fairly unreliable. I've heard the sentiment that it's one thing to take over a country, and quite another to govern it. From students I've heard that political demonstrations disrupt their schooling. Nepal market business people are affected by a slow tourism year; they expect that the economic slump has prevented a large number of tourists from making the trip. For Nepali government officials reading this: these are not necessarily my opinions, they are opinions that I have heard from people on the street.

My madal teacher speaks great English, I've found a great Nepali language teacher, and I'm picking up the language little by little. Many many people here speak English, so I haven't ever really been forced to speak Nepali.

The word for music is 'sangeet', and it can mean music (singing and instrument playing) and dance (though there's a verb specifically for 'to dance': 'nachnu').

Hayley:
I'm not planning a Mt. Everest expedition yet, but it would be awesome! I absolutely need to at least see the mountain before I go back to the US. Glad to hear college is going well--enjoy it!

Mom:
Thanks for the rice advice--my rice is getting more and more solid.

SAN:
I don't know of any online madal lessons. Did you check Youtube? If you're in Kathmandu, I can recommend some teachers.

Rajan Pandit:
I am in Nepal now, and you are right--most everybody I've met here has been very helpful and nice. Good luck in the USA, and we can keep in touch through email.


Action update:
The insulin pump situation is being worked out at the moment; I'm in the process of getting a copy of the police report from the embassy. Yesterday morning I jammed again with my sitar professor friend, a friend of his who plays guitar, and my tabla teacher. Excellence. Last night I played with a couple of guitar players at a nearby cafe; one of the guys is from Tennessee, so we did some country tunes, and the other guy is from Dublin, so we did some blues and rock tunes (the second part doesn't follow in the same way that the first part does, but that's how it went). I may get an opportunity in a couple of weeks to teach music to some students at a local grade school. They will be preparing for a parents' day show, and it has been suggested that I teach some of them how to play wind instruments. I'll keep you updated as to how this works out. Tonight I'm playing a gig with the Tennessee guitar player at a fancy restaurant in Patan (southern part of Kathmandu; formerly its own city). Other than that, I've been continuing with my Nepali language lessons, my madal lessons, and my tabla lessons, and when I'm not out and about with musicians I'm at home practicing something.

I love hearing from you--please don't hesitate to ask me about anything.

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