life at perm site

I have a new address! I also posted it under a new link on the top of my blog, but here it is:

Alexandra Clayton

Agriculture Service Center

Galyang, Syangja District

Gandaki Archal, Nepal

Hope stuff gets there. Don't send any more mail to the Kathmandu address because it is 9 hours away from me and I would never get mail otherwise!

                As I write this blog, its my 1 week anniversary of being at site! It feels like when I just came to Nepal...I feel that i've been in my new home much longer than 7 days. I absolutely love my family though. My sister is amazing...she's so patient with my language and takes me everywhere she goes, which is great because shes a very active member in the farmer's group here. I think my sisters are still a little scared of me as they dont often speak directly to me, but theyre warming up. I taught them how to frat-snap the other day (Daina/Jenni you will most appreciate this) and they help me with my language. I've been using tenses in Nepali that I rarely used in Chhap, so its been a daily struggle to train my ears to respond to various forms of a verb that I'm not used to hearing. In addition to the I, you, he/she/it, we,you all, they forms of verbs, Nepali also has different conjugations for someone who is older or younger than you, as well as an informal tense. As you can imagine this gets very confusing and I keep addressing my younger sisters in the formal "you" tense which they essentially won't respond to. Its a work in progress.  Otherwise I've been very busy attending farmer's meetings and introducing myself to my community. Ive been running in the mornings which has proved much scarier than usual as there is a large troupe of monkeys living right below my house. I was sitting by a water tap trying to catch my breath after my run when about 10 monkeys came out of nowwhere and scared the shit out of me. They're actually quite a nuisance here as people are constantly chasing them out of their gardens. I'm not sure what kind of monkeys they are (language is not advanced enough to ask this question), but they look to be some sort of baboon to me.

Today was actually particularly hard. I have these days here where I feel that my language progress is fantastic, and then days like today where I feel like I couldnt understand a word of what people were saying. I have yet to find anyone in my villlage who speaks any English.  I was sick of saying "Maile bujhina" , which means "I dont understand" like 95 times in a row at my relatives house so I peaced out and headed home where I proceeded to bury myself in my bed and read Bridget Jones Diary for a solid hour before I finally felt like being social again. It is so true that in Peace Corps you can be surrounded by tons of people yet still feel so alone. I decided to drag my butt out of bed and go to the local chiyaa pasal and get some tea and study my Nepali. Of course like 10 people came over to see what the white girl was doing so i didnt really get any studying done, but then I made a friend! Her name's Rita and shes 21. She started talking with me at the tea shop and even though I could barely undersand her she invited me to her house for tea and biscuits. Her husband works in Dubai and she told me she was really lonely so that we should hang out a lot. Then she painted my nails and put CNN on the TV for me! I havent seen any American television since I left so watching CNN was like crack to me, even though it was about some sailing race in San Francisco. Solid day afterall.  (Update: my new friend is now pregnant! Not much we have in common obviously but it will be cool to see her kid grow up a little!) I feel that mornings are always a little rough here but things tend to progress throughout the day. Reading has really been my savior so far. I’ve always been an avid reader but never found time at school to read for pleasure, and I've missed it. Its nice to unwind each day in my bed with my kindle. I'll say it a hundred times, but if you bring one thing to peace corps, bring a kindle.

Update: I’ve now been at site for 2 weeks. Its both flown by and also dragged on. Some days are good, some not so good. I finally cracked last week and called my parents crying. There wasnt really a particular reason, and all i could basically say was “I’m sad.” Felt much better afterwards. Some days are just frustrating because you feel like you can’t understand anything/are worthless. I do feel like I've hit the jackpot with my family though; I absolutely love them. Two weeks in I was able to see other volunteers for the first time! I had a great 24 hours in the district capital with them just catching up and chatting about our crazy lives at site. It was weird to return home that night and switch back to speaking only Nepali.My bus ride back was less than fun as the didi behind me was violently throwing up the entire 2 hours back into a plastic bag. Nepali women are notorious for getting sick on public transportation. Not that I can blame them, as the roads are so windy that its enough to make anyone sick.

Today I watched 19 goats get slaughtered. NINETEEN. I was still not able to figure out the reason why even after asking numerous times, but apparently they do this every 5 years, and someone’s son had also recently gotten married so that might have contributed to the large number of goats being killed. They would lead each goat one by one into a small clearing blocked off by trees, then there would be a loud “whack” and then a headless goat body would go flying through the air and land on the ground outside. I learned today that headless goat bodies will thrash around for a solid 5 minutes afterward and will kick you if you are in the way. An hour later 19 headless goats were tied up on the ground and ready to be cooked. And then we ate them. They gave me organ meat again and thats really just something I am never going to eat in Nepal or any other country for that matter. I’ve been really flexible otherwise and will basically eat anything someone gives me. That butter that sits on the shelf in a jar for the whole week? Sure, give me some of that. Those potatoes that you are literally preparing inside of the cow shed? Sure. But no, I will not be eating organ meat anytime soon.

As I write this update, its December 19, and I feel like I should be getting in a Christmasey mood, but its hard when its 70 degrees out everyday and I walk around in a jungle with monkeys everywhere. Not complaining however! Lets see...other notable happenings this week: my entire pinky nail finally fell off. I had cut it back during training on my razor while packing and it finally ripped off while I was washing clothes the other day. So that was fun. My sister is teaching me how to dance Nepali style because we end each agriculture meeting by dancing and singing and I really need to learn so i can stop making a fool out of myself. OH I FORGOT: I made Nepali television last week!!!!!! I attended a big program for my VDC because we had just been declared Open-Defecation Free. This is a big deal as this means that every family in my VDC has a working toilet and no one is pooping out in the open anymore. Sanitation is one of Nepal’s millenium goals so this is a big step; this also means I wont be building any charpis during my time here. (not complaining) Anyways, the guy leading the program immediately spotted the only white kid in the crowd and made me come sit up with all the district officials. It was going great and they were feeding me tea and biscuits and whanot but then THEY MADE ME DANCE. In front of about 200 people. Nepali style. Not that I can dance anyways, but still.  It was atrocious and they filmed the entire thing and I had to re- live the same hell the next night when I watched myself on TV. My family was ecstatic however and my sister thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Other things I have learned/discovered this week:

When Nepali women get very excited and happy they like to slap you in the face. This was very shocking the first time. I’ve met a woman who has 8 grown sons and no daughters so she told me I can be her daughter which is fine except that she won’t stop petting me/slapping my face when I go over for tea.

Nepali women like to put oil in their hair immediately after showering which is really great because after not showering for 4 days its the same effect for me and everyone thinks my hair looks fantastic.

My water buffalo is about to give birth any second now so maybe I will adopt a baby buffalo as my first pet in Nepal. There are also 5 adorable kittens running around the attic of the barn but they wont let me near them which makes me sad. I’m also a little bitter about it because there are approximately 100 rats that live in my ceiling and the cats seem to be useless.

Hope everyone is doing well at home. This is my first non-snowy christmas in a while so I hope that everyone in Winthrop is taking full advantage of all the snow I have been hearing about.

Love from the Asian continent,

Alex

 

 

im a real volunteer now!

So this blog is basically separated into 2 separate ones, the first part is from my week in Kathmandu, and the second is from when I got to my permanent site! The power was out our entire last day in KTM, so I didnt have time to post a blog or put up pictures. its long as hell, sorry.            

Week 12: Kathmandu has been a whirlwind of activity since we arrived here last Friday. Leaving Chhap for KTM on Friday was one of the most emotional experiences I have ever had. Our community put on a program for me, Marvin, Andrea, and Brandon to say goodbye. Everyone in the whole community came out and they gave some speeches and proceeded to give each of us 5 shawls and about 10 flower necklaces. We also had red tikka smeared all over our cheeks and face for good luck. I had red dust all over my clothes and rice in my hair, and on top of it all, the 4 of us were crying heavily. I did not expect to get that sad but it was hard not to...these people had become our families over the past 3 months. The saddest thing to see I think were my little cousins crying...Sunil was sobbing in a corner and wouldnt let anyone console him. Marvin's mom was clinging to him and would barely let us go, and even the lady who made us our milk tea every morning was crying. I think it was very emotional for us volunteers because we were not only leaving our families but we were also leaving everything we had ever known in Nepal behind. Everything I knew about Nepal I had learned in Chhap and it was scary to think about starting over again.

                Right now we're in a hotel in Kathmandu completing our last week of training. The hotel is fairly nice...hot water is sometimes available and we have our own private bathrooms. I have woken up with 4 extremely large spider bites however. Saturday we had our final Language Proficiency Exams in the morning and had the afternoon free to explore. By some miracle of god I managed to pass my langugae exam at the Advanced Low level which was quite shocking to me. All 20 of us managed to get Intermediate High or over, which is required of us to become volunteers, so we went out that night to celebrate. We went to a few bars in Thamel that night, which is the tourist area of Kathmandu. The second bar Peace Corps completely took over. THe 15 of us who went out took over the dance floor while all of the Nepalis just stared at us. Thamel was a crazy experience in general; they have legitimate North Face and Mountain Hard Ware stores and it was so weird to be in those stores and feeling like I was back in America. My friend and I also discovered Wal-Mart in KTM! Not really but it was basically a Wal-Mart. It was called Bhaat Bhateni and you could literally get anything you wanted there, including more toiletries than I have ever seen in my life. I stocked up on some snacks (they had Nature Valley granola bars!) and bought a veggie burger for  45 cents, which was awesome. Ktm also has a Pizza Hut and KFC which is so strange to see. The air pollution here is absolutely terrible and just walking along the street you see people left and right wearing face masks. Its so dusty and smoggy and even walking across the street results in all these tiny particles in my eyes. Not exactly a city I will miss that much at permanent site.

                We've been receiving lots of training the past week on how we report our work with in the peace corps and other information that is necessary for us once we get to our permanent site. We've also been doing these sessions with our Nepali counterparts! Its weird to meet these people and realize you'll be working with them for the next 2 years. My counterpart only calls me by my Nepali name and already told me I'm his daughter, because he has a daughter my age as well. He's a funny dude and his English is decent so we generally get by speaking a mix of Nepali and English. The sessions have actually been really challenging because we are doing lots of one on one talks with our counterparts about our work plans and other projects our villages are working on, and some people's counterparts dont speak any English at all. We're getting by though!

also: I AM NOW A REAL PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER! We had our swearing in today at the US Ambassador's house. Over 200 people were there to come watch us take our oath, including around 12 Volunteers from some of the earliest groups in Nepal (we're Nepal 199!) Stacy Rhodes, Chief of Staff for Peace Corps, also flew all the way out from Washington DC to watch our swearing in as well as the Country Desk officer for peace corps asia. Not only were we the first group to re-enter Nepal since 2004, but it was also the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps being in Nepal, so it was a very special day.  We watched about an hour of speeches and then the US Ambassador to Nepal had us repeat our oath, and then we ate a giant cake afterwards. Myself and 2 other volunteers were chosen to do interviews with the US Embassy's Public Relations staff, so when the video goes up on youtube I will post the link! afterwards we were all taken to a play called Nepali Aamaa which was written by a former Peace Corps volunteer.

The next morning we departed for our districts on separate buses. my district, Syangja, was on 1 bus, while Parbat and Baglung were on another. I can't even describe to you how weird it was to get on these buses without any Peace corps staff. It was just us and our Nepali counterparts. A lot of us were crying as well while saying goodbye to each other. Although we knew we would see each other in a couple weeks for christmas, it was more a sadness that we were done with training and setting off on our own. The bus ride to our district centers took about 8 hours, which the other 7 volunteers and I basically slept through as we had gotten zero amounts of sleep the night before due to it being our last night in KTM. We overnighted in our district centers at a guesthouse. I might as well have slept on the floor as my bed felt like a concrete block. We attended meetings at the district ag and health centers the next morning and then set off for our individual sites after purchasing various last minute items. Kerry (the volunteer nearest me) and i were shoved into a clown car (aka taxi) with our counterparts. Somehow 5 people and the probably 200 lbs of luggage we had fit into the car, except that Kerry and I rode with our water filters and backpacks on top of our laps. Not fun. Again, I cant even describe the feelings I had when I left Kerry, who is my nearest volunteer. We had eaten lunch with our counterparts but had to set off in different directions after lunch. It was terrifying to leave, knowing I was going to be by myself. All day I've been on an emotional rollercoaster.

And now, I am eklai. Alone. My site is beautiful though and I cant wait to explore it. it's called Dimik. I think my entire village greeted me and I was once again smeared with red tikka and given about 10 flower necklaces to wear. All the men helped carry my stuff to my house, which was not an easy feat considering I think my one purple suitcase weighs around 70 lbs right now due to the small library Peace Corps has given us. My homestay family is great so far. I have 2 younger sisters who are 11 and 9, and 1 mom, who is 29, so we call each other 'sister.' My "dad" lives in Qatar and sends back remittances, but I get to meet him in 3 months when he comes back to visit. My house is definitely a step down from my last one, but its very cozy. I do have a TV this time though! I spent a large part of my evening with my sisters watching terrible Nepali music videos. My room is about half the size of my last one, but I have 2 beds now, which is actually a problem because there is no room for anything else. I need to go on a search for a dresser and desk. my whole room is made of clay and is covered in newspapers with a tarp roof. As I type this I hear the little musa (mice) run around upstairs. I will be bucket showering for the next 2 years, and we ate our food sitting cross-legged on the floor this evening. So many changes from my last family. I have a great little courtyard between my bathroom/house though, which looks like a great place to sit in the sun and read or talk with people. I'm a bit screwed on the bathroom situation however...if I am ever sick I have to go down a precarious ladder to get downstairs, then cross the courtyard and go to the bathroom. I shall be purchasing another bucket soon....All in all, what I've seen of my site looks great, it is just weird to be starting over again in such different circumstances!

Update after being at site for 3 days: I've been so busy that I havent had time to have an emotional breakdown yet!!! THe first day my sister took me around to probably 50 different houses where I met a bunch of people and ate tons of food. My sister also took me to the local school where I almost started a riot, due to all the children running out of their classrooms straight towards me. The second day I was here I kind of did the same thing but I had more time alone, which was nice. My sister took me to the local health clinic, which was inconveniently located on top of a small mountain. The doctor wasnt there though so i couldn ask questions about what kind of services they had. I've already had to explain numerous times that even though I studied Biology at college, I am not a veterinarian. I had some man come up to me yesterday and tell me that his water buffalo had diarrhea and if I could come look at it and see. helllll no I am not going to go look at your water buffalo's diarrhea. Then i got asked how far apart to plant potato seeds and again I could not help them. I think that most of the villagers don't know that my Nepali is still pretty limited and that I need to learn a lot more before I am really able to start projects here. My town also has a fish hatchery! Dimik is apparently quite advanced, and also quite large. Even though the town has about 3 little shops, there are over 150 houses here, and its kind of broken up into small neighborhoods. Physically my site is also very different from Chhap as well. Its very jungley and i'm not on top of a mountain this time. Theres a massive river at the bottom of the valley that I want to explore soon, and its been about 70 degrees out each day!!! The nights get cold but during the day the weather is beautiful.

 Yesterday Nepal 199 also started our marathon training! Kidding, kind of. theres a marathon in Pokhara next fall that some of us want to run so we decided to get our butts in shape. Ma moto bhae, kinabhane Nepalmaa dherai bhaat khaainchaa. I have become fat, because a lot of rice is eaten in Nepal. But its actually true. After very limited physical activity the past couple months, I could barely make myself run for a half hour straight. Which is depressing considering the summer before my senior year  and all through my senior year at Bucknell I was running every single day for over an hour. Ke garne?

Alright, well thanks for reading the small novel I wrote.

Love from Dimik,

Alex