First thing’s
first: we had big news last hub
day. We were told that our two-week
permanent site visit was being cancelled.
Here’s why:
So, since the
assassination of Nepal’s king and the introduction of a relatively democratic
system, Nepal hasn’t actually had a constitution. Since the Maoist rebels and the government
came to an agreement and the nearly 10 years of violence stopped, the interim
government has been trying to hold elections to elect people to write a new
constitution. Various political parties,
who are opposed to one aspect, or another, of the process, for the last 10
years, have delayed this process. The
international community has been putting lots of pressure on Nepal to finally
follow through. So, this November 19th
an election is to be held. We’ll see if
it actually happens, but regardless of what happens, there will probably be
violence from unhappy parties. At this
point, thousands of election police are being trained and government vehicles
are forbade to drive until after the election.
This means that it’s dangerous on the roads, and that none of our
government counterparts could meet us for our planned conference. Also, the anticipated violence means that, at
this point, they are not sure how long we’ll have to stay in PST, as it may be
too dangerous to travel within the couple of weeks (or, yikes, months!) after
the election. This means that we have,
at least, three more weeks of language classes than any of had mentally
prepared ourselves for.
Some people do
not seem bothered by this, but this news hit me like a raging water
buffalo. I had wrapped my mental health
around the countdown to that two-week break.
I know that I’ll make it through however long they keep us here, but I
can’t say that I’ll do it with a good attitude (overrated) and without many
nights/mornings of anxiety diarrhea.
Speaking of
which, I had another day of debilitating diarrhea, brought on by-your best
guess. Everything here seems to be
covered in some sort of poop, so it’s really a miracle that we’re all not sick
a lot more!
We had our mock
Language test yesterday and I scored Intermediate Mid, which was my goal-and is
the final level that we have to test out at, so I’m feeling alright about
language, although it’s definitely a daily struggle-made no easier by my
language teacher. We definitely have a
personality clash and I hate the way he teaches-very combative and patronizing. It’s been very difficult in class with him,
but I’m trying really hard to get beyond it, to just get what I have to out of
the class and never have to deal with him again.
I think many of
us are hoping that with the extension of the number of days they have to teach
us, that maybe we’ll go down to four hours of class per day-that would be a
joy!
Other than that,
things are pretty normal. I use the
squat toilet, take showers (twice a week if I’m feeling inspired) our of a
bucket, eat the same food everyday (with my hands), wash my clothes by hand and
hang on the roof of the bathroom to dry, and just speak Nepali tons and
tons.
I really can’t
wait to get out to my permanent site, although I know that it will be hard in
different ways, I’m feeling very much over this whole situation.
I’m already
thinking about what I’d like to do when I’m done (I know-crazy!), but in
alternating days (or hours) I think that it would be nice to move back to
Missoula, or at least the Mountain/Pacific Northwest and work close to home, or
else it would be nice to move to some big city and get a fancy job with a big
Development organization-who knows what will happen, but it’s those kind of
long-term goals that get one through hard times, so I’m clinging with every fiber
of my mental health.
So, who is going
to come visit me? Tyson is already
planning a trip for next summer, but I’d take anyone coming sooner, as
well! Once you get here, it’s really
cheap, so for those of you who aren’t making tons of money (nearly everyone,
probably!) that should be an incentive!
Lots of love
from Nepal,
Maria
