Out in Godawari

May 28th, 2009 by Elizabeth Kruithof

Namaste and shuba bihani (good morning),

Saturday is the children’s day off from school, so the kids are at the home all day today. I just can’t seem to get used to not having any breakfast when I wake up, so I end up buying biscuits and lapsi to hold me over until my morning dhal bhaat. We did the morning routine with the children and then Matt, Amanda and I looked over an atlas, proudly chirping out interesting facts about each of our countries (Australia, New Zealand, and Canada). There was no decent map of BC, but I still sat there dreaming about a summer road trip through the most beautiful place on earth. I’ve decided to take the summer off and become a road trip bum, living out of car and tent with Brandin. I can’t wait.

My dhal bhaat was so good this morning that I feel I should mention it. It came with the usual heap of rice, bowl of dhal (lentil soup), and curried potatoes, but also achar (spicy tomato-chili sauce), cold spicy potatoes, big clumps of dill, and lots of delicious curried chicken sitting in its oily gravy. It felt so extravagant to have meat. Nepalis eat bone, fat, flesh, everything…but I admit I left my bones behind. I mushed everything together on my metal plate with my right hand and shoved handfuls of it into my mouth until it was gone and my lips and fingers were stained yellow with curry. Ohhhh so good.

We went back to the Children’s Home and let the kids watch a Nepali movie. I think I’ve already described the ridiculousness of Nepali movies, so I won’t do it again. Needless to say, Amanda and I sat and read our books instead of joining in. The movie finally ended three hours later and we went off to get some milk chiyaa (I need to learn to make this stuff because I think I’ll go in to withdrawal when I can’t get it in Canada). Amanda and I had planned to go to Monokranti today, so after tea we started walking to the ‘purple house’. Monokranti is like a self-help movement, apparently inspired by some similar Western movement….you know, like that entire aisle of Chapters dedicated to self-help? Their motto is “Let’s change ourselves, to change the world”. We showed up to the purple house, full of people wearing purple clothing. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, and all looked about college-age…it was actually much less cultish than I expected. We snuck in at the back (feeling a bit awkward, since we were the only Westerners there) and watched as a young Nepali man danced on a tarp covered in hundreds of broken shards of glass. Not a drop of blood to be seen. We met the Guru and he squeezed our hands, then we moved outside to see the fire walking. As you can tell, Monokranti is a “your mind controls your body” type of thing. First, they had to meditate to prepare to walk through the hot coals. You’ll have to see the video to understand the meditation…heavy, hyperventilation speed breathing, outbursts of yelling or laughing; they are in their own world, experiencing the fire walking in their minds. A young Nepali with brilliant hazel eyes named Prakash sat down next to us and was explaining about how imagination can control the body and let you achieve your goals. He told us we could walk across the fire too. We declined. Then suddenly everyone stood up and ran with their eyes shut across the hot coals and then through the same tarp covered in broken glass.

The next morning at the children’s home, we noticed that there were no microbuses running. Apparently the bus boys, who collect money and yell the bus destination out of the open sliding door so fast you’d never have a hope of comprehending it, are on strike. And speaking of strikes, yesterday a church in Lalitpur (not far from Godawari, where I’m living and working) was bombed by some group, no doubt striking about something (or at the very least causing a strike in the aftermath). I never see the newspaper and I haven’t seen anything English on TV since I left Canada, but apparently Nepal’s Prime Minister just stepped down, leaving the country without a functional government. I really don’t know much more about it than that…but I’d bet it has something to do with bombs, strikes, etc. Don’t worry. I’m safe.

I washed my clothes with laundry detergent for the first time today (usually I just scrub with a bar of soap) and the water turned black. I’m hoping it’s from the dye in my Nepali pants, and not as much from my own filth. Amanda, Matt, Laura, Elan and I went to the Godawari Resort to treat ourselves, but they didn’t even bother kicking up the generator for the restaurant so all we could order were banana lassis (fine with me!) Amanda tried calling Nepal Immigration to find out about going to Darjeeling, but every different office we speak to seems to give us a different answer. We also attempted to figure out about the 15 hour bus ride to the Nepal-India border, but no luck there either. Ah, the efficiency of trying to get accurate information out of a Nepali. We went to pick the kids up from school, helped them with their math and slightly ridiculous English homework (textbooks with phrases such as “Jolly good” and “platyhelminthes” written in them), and then played in the yard doing yoga and gymnastics. I served the kids their dhal, and then we walked home in the dark…tickled my adorable 4 year old bahini and ate delicious potato dhal bhaat with a spicy tomato/garlic achar. Rice and potatoes twice a day, everyday…I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this food is really starting to show around my midsection.

The next day it started to rain early (usually it comes in the afternoon) and we walked the kids to school in their matching blue ponchos. I guess the monsoon season has started to creep up on Nepal. The rain makes the days and nights much cooler than before, which is actually really nice. One or two kids always grab my hands on the way to school and I was surprised at what a wonderful feeling it gives me every time…as if they are proud that they get to walk to school with their big “Liz sister”. I went to pick up the passport photos I had taked for India and I looked like a drowned rat in them because it had been pouring rain when I took them. Speaking of rats, they seem to be appearing more and more often as it rains. I’m actually surprised you almost never see any rats, considering that garbage dump that is the Kathmandu Valley. We all had milk tea and biscuits (as usual) at a little tea shop with boys gambling out front. We headed off to the kids’ boarding school to watch their talent show, sponsored by a ‘chow chow’ – instant noodles – company. There was singing (Nepali version of a rock band was a little hard on the ears), Nepali dancing, and jokes. The hall of the school was packed with beautiful, black-haired (all in braids with bows) children – boys on one side, girls on the other. Back to the children’s home in the rain that was still pouring down, ‘drying’ my laundry hanging up on the line on the roof of my house.

Woke up the next day and went up to the roof to retrieve my soaking laundry. The rain is relentless! I was serving dhal bhaat at the children’s home when the home Manager turned to me and said “Sister, you are looking very beautiful today”. That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me since I got here and I probably blushed. Ha! After my own dhal bhaat I went to the local tailor/fabric shop to commission a pair of Nepali pants in broken English-Nepali. Matt and I hopped on the micro in our soaking rain jackets and headed off to Thamel to run some errands. You would think that the rain would wash away some of the dinge of Kathmandu, but somehow the streets were dirtier and more garbage-filled than ever (only now the garbage was half floating in little rivers running down the streets, and everywhere seemed to smell like the putrid Bagmati river I have mentioned before). It’s no wonder everyone has fungal and skin infections on their feet here…sloshing around through garbage water in your sandals all day. By the time we’d made it home last night, Amanda had a leech attached under her foot! At the VSN office there was a package waiting for me from Courtney full of tea, evaporated milk, sugar, a mug, cookies, socks, and lip balm. Aren’t I such a lucky girl to have a friend like that? I got some banana bread at the bakery, but I’ve noticed that I don’t crave food as much anymore. I’ve grown quite fond of dhal bhaat We put together a health talk for VSN on psychological disorders of childhood, focusing on the signs and symptoms of physical/sexual/emotional abuse (which some children in the homes here have experienced in the past). After changing Nepali rupees to Indian rupees, we finally got back on the micro to go back to Godawari.