2/11/13
Well, it’s been quite a week.
The last few days before we left for Kathmandu dragged by-I
was counted hours and minutes until my last language class was over.
Once we were out of class, I went down to Tulloghaun to
visit my old family. I was worried that
my Didi would be mad at me for not visiting for 2 weeks, but the whole family
greeted me with joy. We had tea, cookies
and fruit, chatted (as much as is possible), drew and wrote a bit, and then my
Didi (knowing how much I love baby goats) brought one in for me to cuddle
with-what a joy!
The next morning Elizabeth and I walked in early to
Chautara, had a leisurely milk tea, checked our emails and then got on the
bus!!
Our first stop was Bhaktapur, which is about an hour outside
of Kathmandu. It is the most historical
part of Nepal-full of grand squares, palaces and temples. It was wonderful to walk around and see
beautiful buildings. There were a lot of
tourists around, which was strange, but I didn’t mind. Some other volunteers got all high and mighty
about “touristy places,” but the fact is that we’ve all been tourists once in
our life, and these places are touristy for a reason-because they are important
and interesting. For lunch I had the
whitest sandwich ever-white break with one slice of cheese, one egg, one slice
of tomoato and a whole lot of mayonnaise-I was worried about what this said
about the food I could expect in Kathmandu, but was ultimately relieved of that
worry.
After Bhaktapur we proceeded into the city. As you get closer, the air gets thicker and
dirtier-I can’t imagine living there, even with all the benefits of living in a
big, capital city. Our hotel was very
nice, although the lack of a pool (I didn’t have very high expectations) was
disappointing. Everyone broke up into
groups to go out into Tamal (the touristy area of Kathmandu, which we were
staying near) for dinner. Tamal is very
weird. It’s very cool to look at, full
of old building and shops that I actually wanted to shop in, but it’s also full
of tourists. It felt really liberating
to be able to speak Nepali when none of the other foreigners could. Also, Tamal houses restaurants that serve other
kinds of food besides Nepali! The first
night we went to Italian, the second to a vegetarian Mediterranean place and
the third night for pizza-such a delicious treat! Honestly, just having to choose something
from a menu was a bit overwhelming, but in a wonderful way!
The second day we had a scavenger hunt through the city, in
groups of 5, so that we might get acquainted with public transportation and
important places in the city. I was
scared to do it, but then felt a great sense of accomplishment when we finished
(4th out of 5 teams…).
We did not have a lot of free time, which was a little
ridiculous. From 8:30-5 every day we had
meetings and trainings, so any shopping/sightseeing/eating was done between 5
and our hotel curfew at 9. The trip would
have been a welcome vacation (despite how busy we actually were), and a lot of
fun, had there not been an incident on our first night that threw a shadow over
the rest of the trip.
Now, I can’t go into details for privacy and security
reasons, but suffice it to say that there was a scary, violent incident
involving a PCT. The incident affected
the whole groups’ morale and schedule for the rest of the trip and may have
consequences for the rest of our PST. No
one was gravely injured, but PC was very upset with the group, and certain PCTs
involved, leading to feelings of guilty, isolation, etc. In addition, all of the emotional upheaval
began to bring up other, non-related issues that the group has been dealing
with.
Here’s the thing, we may be PC trainees/volunteers, but
we’re all also people and people in groups don’t always get along. From day one there have been cliques, gossip
and the like. It has been hard on a lot
of people, including me. Even in high school
I was not good at dealing with how disingenuous people were when it came to
popularity, etc. Every new school type
situation I’ve been in since, I’ve been frustrated by the return of that kind
of dynamic, and, unfortunately, PC is no different. It sucks to feel left out, and some people
are definitely feeling that way. We had
a session to talk about all of this, but, I fear, more issues were brought up
than were actually solved. I just hope
that we can hold it together for the rest of PST. After PST, we’ll probably be so happy to see
another American that we won’t care whom they are, or what “group” they are in!
So, altogether, Kathmandu was interesting, stimulating and
tasted delicious, but emotionally and physically exhausting. I think everyone was glad to get back to
their little villages yesterday afternoon, I know that I was.
I hope our next trip to Kathmandu is soon (which will mean
that PST is over!!!) and that it goes much more smoothly.
XOXO
Zoop
P.S. In Nepali “Boot” means both “past” and “ghost”-isn’t
that cool?!
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