Entering an old way of being

 

 

 

August 31, 2013, Friday

We have landed in Nepal, greeted by Jack Starmer of Nepal Health Care and ushered to the home of  Dr. Shakhar and Mrs. Ivy Rizyal. Their home can be found on a small tightly knit, windy back hill neighborhood tucked next to the Russian Embassy.  We were greeted with warmth, great energy and humor, and treated to a true Nepalese Brahmin (Hindu) life-style. After shoes left at the door, tea and biscuits at 4, we headed out with Jack to roam the Pashupatinath Temple, to see the plethora of monkeys and cows, four burning pyres by the river for the dead, and gongs and chants and incense. With umbrellas in hand, we walked in the night through the muddy streets and vibrant activity, back to the Rizyal house, hidden from the throngs, for a Nepalese home dinner.

Next day was our city tour on the weekly Saturday “holiday”; Nepalese  have Saturdays off with 6 day workweek. We attended a Hare Krishna service complete with incense, drums, tikas, and clapping in rhythm. We then drove up to the Buddhist Swayambhunath temple on the hill, and then to tea with Ivy’s brother (past 2^nd ambassador to USA) and sister in law, walked the busy shopping streets of  Thamel to find a hotel for our men’s arrival, and robbed the currency exchange booth! Home for quick change and off to a Hindu party preparing for the women’s feast day with guru, chanting, song, dances (we too) and delicious local fare.

Monday, September 3

Stuffed into a tightly packed land rover, seven of us drove to Koshideka ( Kavre District) to our school.  The roads disintegrated into mud paths with foot deep ruts and holes, not unlike spring mud season in NH and VT. Six hours and forty miles later, we were greeted by teachers, students, and the principal, Rasman Timang, and draped with ceremonial scarves. We were introduced to the newly rebuilt school, a radical contrast to its simple community surroundings of mud brick houses, tightly planted patches  of crops, and jungle vegetation. The rain has let up for brief reprieve.

Our new home: three stories… on a hillside, reported to be looking at the Himalayas, through the fog and drizzle (we are still in the midst of monsoon until mid September). Our house…

àfirst floor: one-room with hard packed mud floor and small separate open fire cooking kitchen

àsecond floor: reached by a wooden ladder, three bedrooms separated by a curtain

àthird floor: reached by wooden ladder- attic for food drying and storage

à outhouse: squat toilet , cold water tap for washing and flushing (hot water by cooking only)

àsmall barn for the critters: water buffalo and three goats, and a few chickens

à water : carried in the early morning by Rajman and Maya (our hosts) in huge jugs from the central village well up the narrow, slick, muddy path (8 trips each morning before 6AM)

à garden: random garden spaces, with tangled vines of squash, beans, cucumber, corn and fruit trees.

This lifestyle requires steady and relentless work, with water collection, cutting and collecting of grass for the animals, food preparation (breakfast at 5AM, dalh bat lunch (yes, lunch) at 9AM , tiffin (tea/beaten rice) at 1:00, and dalh bat dinner at 8PM- variations include added cauliflower, curry, red beans, goat cheese, onion, potato, chicken, goat, and others. Bed is embraced by 8:30. As we sit here typing, Maya has not stopped once to pause, except for a moment to light the candle for Buddha. Rajman has, after his morning hour of chores, gone to school but home for brief lunch at 9AM.

Now Carolyn and I are planning a music activity for this afternoon with the grade 11-12, to present to the Swiss group coming, who have donated part of the new school building. It feels fitting.

More in due time.  Pictures to follow with internet connectivity!

Love

J and C