23/11/13
A Request
Response:
Q. How
conservative are things where you are?
A. Things are
very conservative in the villages, less so in the cities, especially
Kathmandu. Overall, it is a weird mix of
very liberal politics (communism is big here) and very conservative religious
beliefs.
Q. How strictly
do you need to watch what you're wearing?
A. I cannot wear
anything very tight, anything that goes above the bottom of my knees, anything
that shows my shoulders or cleavage. I
pretty much wear long, baggy pants, t-shirts and sandals every day. We do get to wear lots of jewelry since every
woman here always wears bracelets, watches and necklaces, all the time. Again, once in a while you’ll see a girl in
tight pants and a tank top, or something short, but it really stands out and is
rare in the villages. My Didi often
comments on how skimpy the clothing is on Indian and Western TV shows.
Q. Have you
gotten any harassment from men?
A. I haven’t gotten much harassment from
men. When I do, it’s easy to ignore
because I usually don’t understand what they’re saying. Also, since Men and Women can’t touch here,
they usually physically keep their distance.
Q. Any major
taboos?
A. There are tons and tons of taboos. A lot of them have to do with feet-you can’t
point your feet at people or touch people with them. You have to watch where you hang your socks
to dry, so someone doesn’t walk under them, etc. Also, there is no sharing of food, ever.
Q. Was all that
kind of stuff covered in your introduction lessons?
A. A lot of this
kind of stuff was covered in our first week in Kathmandu, and then we’d get
lessons (formal or informal) from our teachers.
A lot you kinda just pick up. I
haven’t had any major slips, I don’t think.
Q. How are the
local women treated?
A. Local women are treated as less than equal,
for sure. But it’s been interesting for
me, since both of my family’s have had Fathers who work away; the woman is the
master of the household. Mostly the Men
and Women hang out separately, and I am usually with the Women, so in those
situations it becomes more a question of the younger women being deferential to
the older. Nepal is definitely a
Patriarchal society. For instance, in
their immigration laws, if a Nepali woman marries a citizen of a different
country, even if they intend to stay in Nepal, she automatically loses her
citizenship-this is not the case for men.
Also, there are many things that Nepali women are not allowed to do,
like drink or play cards in public. Of
course, this kind of stuff is more flexible in the cities. The teachers we have for PST are all from
Kathmandu and they are all very liberal and modern.
26/11/13
Well, I am now
officially a Peace Corps Nepal Group 200 Volunteer! We had our Swearing-In Ceremony yesterday
morning. All the women wore beautiful
saris-we all looked like the queens that we are. The men all wore traditional dress, but unfortunately
for them, those are all in neutral colors, so we definitely out-shone
them. The US Ambassador to Nepal as well
as an RPCV from Nepal in the 60s spoke to us-it was short and sweet and then we
said the oath and then it was over. I
and a few other volunteers were asked to eat lunch with the Ambassador, which
was a little stressful, but a good experience.
After 2pm Elizabeth and Hannah and I walked to a temple nearby and then
into the village to get kaja (snacks).
Yesterday evening we had some celebratory drinks and games, which was
fun, and we didn’t lose anyone, so that’s already an improvement over our last
big get-together! Today we’re all just
trying to furiously use the Internet while we still can.
Pictures to
come, I promise!!
Xoxox
Zoop
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