Lesson #2.
Don't send all your
clothes to the laundry at once .. as much as I hate doing my washing,
there are no facilities here, all your clothes get sent to the
laundry. ( I'm not sure which of the 2 options I prefer ? ) I sent
off a batch on Saturday and then again on Sunday. Usually they come
back the next day, but no clothes here on Monday, so I thought, OK it
was the weekend I should see them on Tuesday. Tuesday morning I sent
off the last of my clothes and when I got back .. no clothes .... In
my old life this wouldn't be a problem, but with the minimal amount I
have with me, the only clothes I have are the ones I have on. Rang
the desk and apparently there has been a strike going on, news to me
.. so they are sending someone out to get them for me.
There is definitely a
type of deference happening and I'm pretty uncomfortable with the
whole thing, on the other hand I am making people uncomfortable
because I keep insisting on doing things myself. Not sure how to play
this one. Being called Mam or Madame all the time is not something I
am at all used to. ( It doesn't help that my first name is hard to
pronounce in Nepali, my surname is practically an impossibility
)Whenever you eat out, you call for the bill, even if its just for a
cup of coffee, put your money in the folder and wait for the change.
The first couple of days I was just walking up to the counter to pay
and throwing the whole system out. Its that whole slower pace of life
here (except for the traffic), if you have to wait 5 minutes to get
the waiters eye for your bill, so be it, whereas I am used to getting
in and getting out as quick as possible. I really am going to have to
learn to slow down here whether I like it or not.
I've settled into my
new room,
its still got a clock that crunches the seconds, but on the plus side
the shower actually sprays the water on me. I rearranged the
furniture, moved it all around myself and upset the system (again), I
apparently should have called for someone to do it.
After some negotiation,
and delays (technical problems, mmmmmm) I now have a 32/64k link
coming. It was meant to be installed today (Friday) but now I'm told
it will be Sunday. Until then, I have good old dialup that so far
has not connected better than 26000 and stays up for about 10
minutes. After 2 days of trying to deal with the salesperson,
finally, finally, they let me speak to a technician and it only took
me 5 minutes to get the answers I needed. They are going to run some
utp across to my room from their place and I'll be back in business.
Is that just not so typical of me, here I am reluctant to buy a sari
from the markets cause I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll move
heaven, earth & cables to get a broadband connection ( not much
of one I know, but hey, its a damn sight more than I thought I'd get
).. go figure. Both the service
providers and hotel
have been very obliging and didn't seem to mind at all, so it looks
like I won't be moving ... maybe
Work wise, would you
believe I am going along to 'web page training'. The company that
developed and hosts ( sort of ) the Tewa website is teaching the
staff how to update the current content. As a backup, I am going
along to a) find out how and where it is hosted (in the States) ,
what the underlying technologies are (linux, apache & currently
plain html with php available) and to b) see what they are being
taught so I can help them back at the office. The current website is
plain html created in .. you guessed it .. frontpage.
The people I'm working
with at Tewa are lovely and really trying hard to include me in their
activities. It's such a new environment for me to take in as most of
the staff there are women. So I'm learning on two fronts, both the
language and girls talk are foreign to me. They are trying to teach
me one Nepali word everyday, which seems to be going in one ear and
out the other. I had a real laugh with one of the girls who is
thinking about going to Australia though, I am teaching her
Australian slang. In Nepali, you say what you mean, I have been
trying to explain to her that in Australian, what you say generally
has nothing to do with what you mean. She was 'killing herself' over
'kick the bucket'.
Its taken a week, but
finally I have had/done something to upset the stomach. Luckily its
only very mild and not stopping me at all, just a tad uncomfortable.
It might be the first time, but I'm sure it won't be the last.
Perhaps I just need to get some more antibacterial agent in me, bar
the 2 drinks I had on Saturday, its been a dry old time. I forgot to
mention last week, and I know that this is a classic, but my first
day a Tewa I asked for the 'bathroom'. Off I trot and there I was
faced with the 'hole in the ground' type toilet, no toilet paper and
a bucket full of water with a scoop. It was porcelain, but I don't
know what else to call it. I didn't have a clue, I didn't know which
way to face or what to do. The look on my face would have been worth
capturing.
Thanks to Richard, I
finally looked at the news today, until then I was blissfully unaware
of the current political
situation. I did notice that the soldiers have been a bit more
active over the last couple of days, a few road blocks here and
there, but as I don't know whats normal and whats not, I didn't take
much notice. I still haven't got around to registering with the
Australian Consulate here yet, so I suppose I should do that sort of
soon. For those that know me well, you know that I'm in no more
danger here than I have been in other places in my life. LOL, after a
week of me, the rebels would probably pay the Australian Government
to take me back :-) It doesn't seem to be making much difference in
Kathmandu and everyone is just going about their daily life. No one
is talking about it, well in English anyway. I assume that because
the situation has been going on so long, everyone is a bit blasé
about it, and surviving day to day is far more important.
On the bright side, I
bought myself a kettle and *heaven*, I can make a cuppa, to my
taste, whenever I like. I also had a lovely night tonight (Friday)
with one of the board members of Tewa. She is an American who is
married to a Nepali and has been living here for quite a few years
along with another lady Betty who has also lived here for many many
years. We went to dinner at a very nice restaurant, the food was
very very good. Had a glass or 2 of house white which wasn't too bad
either. They were absolutely wonderful and I have this huge list of
places to go, things to do, people to contact. Looks like I better
contact the Australian consulate here sooner rather than later. It
appears that they do the best parties in town. ( Of course !!! )
I also went to a
religious (Hindu is the main religion here) festival this morning,
nahg pancami. It is the day of the snake gods who are rain givers and
guardians of water. Just a bit up the road from Tewa is this
beautiful lake, there where people everywhere, roadside vendors and
all sorts of things. An offering was made on our behalf and a bowl
of flowers, rice and other stuff was returned. The rice was mixed
with red dye, and a blessing was made as I received the red dot on
the forehead. A few petals off one of the flowers was put in my hair
too. I had no idea that we were going there today, but I wore a
sari, so it all just seemed to go together. I didn't take any pics
as it can be disrespectful to take photo's of religious events.
Woohoo, just got a
50kbps connection, better hurry up and put all this up .....