Home in Kirtipur

Sorry for the delay - since Agra, Mom and I visited the erotic Hindu temples at Kajuraho, then the holy Ganges in Varanasi. Finally we flew into Kathmandu on January 24th where it slowly dawned on me that I would not be leaving this country for another four months at least. After so many days of constant traveling, it was a relief to think I would finally be settling down, unpacking my clothes rather than just living out of my oversized duffel bag.

I arrived yesterday at the girls’ hostel here at Tribhuvan University in Kirtipur. We’re only 20 minutes or so outside of Kathmandu, but it certainly is slower paced without the crazy, near suicidal traffic or the large collection of tourist and trekking shops that reminded me of Broadway in New York. The building is absolutely gorgeous, and my room is nicer and larger than those I ever had at Columbia. We are completely pampered here, with a delicious breakfast brought to our rooms at 7 am, lunch cooked at 10, snack at 3 and dinner finally at 7pm. I haven’t yet figured out how to eat less than what you are given and post-meal nausea is given until I can get better acquainted with the meal time customs here. 3 out of the 4 Americans have arrived - Melanie and Jon and me - and we are waiting for Joanna who had customs trouble traveling through London Heathrow. We each have a Nepali roommate - mine is Atma, a Sociology grad student at the University. It’s a small community and our world are the three connected buildings - girls and boys each with a hostel and the common building for meals and the classroom.

We have been relatively unaffected here by any political issues in the capital - a strike scheduled for the 24th was canceled, but would otherwise have shut down all transportation for several days. We have no electricity for 10 hours every day, split into morning and evening 5 hour blocks that change for each day of the week. Yet everyone just takes it all with a shrug and we end up with candlelit dinners instead. So far, meals have been pretty quiet as everyone gets used to one another. It’s also FREEZING once the sun goes down, and we seem to have adopted the angriest dog in the world who conveniently lives right outside my window; during the day it’s much warmer outside than inside (I’m writing on our beautiful rooftop deck overlooking Kantipur right now.) I can’t emphasize enough how welcoming and kind everyone is - Banu Oja is like our headmistress. She reminds me of a mix between a female Santa Claus and Julia Child (in mannerisms, not the cooking part.) There is also “Shesh-Daddy” who cooks, Janak who teaches CI (Contemporary Issues of Nepal) and of course Banu who teaches Nepali speaking and writing.

That’s the lay of the land so far: delicious food in epic quantities, beautiful people, wild dogs, fresh air and the occasional lack of electricity. Not too shabby. I was so worried about getting settled in this new country - now that it has all gone so smoothly, I find myself bobbing along in a happy limbo until the next big challenge comes.