More Nepali

Language continues – so many new grammatical structures, reams of new vocabulary, a notebook (kaapi) full of exercises, listening comprehensions, dictation in script, and most challenging of all a 20 minute 1:1 conversation with one of our teachers. I talked with Krishna (or more accurately, she asked me questions and I stumbled through some answers), but I did discover that she had lived in Biratnagar for 2 years. She was full of good advice: “keep under your mosquito net at all times” (I visualise myself riding my bicycle looking like a shrouded beekeeper), “always take a flashlight when you go to the charpi (toilet) to scare away the snakes” (we will be looking for an apartment with an inside charpi). We have (at last) learned some ‘weather’ vocabulary – I’m sure this would come earlier in an English language school. The weather in the late afternoon has been stormy this week, with some heavy rain, thunderstorms and wind strong enough to blow boxes through the air and trees down. In Pokhara, 3 people were killed by 1kg hailstones!
Walks to school have been enlivened by weddings this week – it is an auspicious time apparently – and the wedding day starts with the local band at the bride’s house. The band consists of a group of young men wearing ill-fitting red jackets with a variety of instruments that make a great deal of noise. Sometimes language lessons have to be halted until the noise stops.
While the Dutch were invited to a smart hotel for a day to celebrate their Queen’s birthday, we were only able to observe the celebrations for ours from outside the high, heavily guarded wall of the British Embassy. There were separate entrances for superior (red) and inferior (blue) people (or in the case of VSOs no entry). When we tried to sneak a look through the gates where a military band was playing, we were moved away at gunpoint.
‘Democracy day’ (April 24) – a year after the king gave up his power was marked by a public holiday, but not for us. The roads were relatively quiet, with offices and schools closed. Families were enjoying a day out; we were nearly run down (a frequent hazard) by a group of 5 on a motor bike, with a small girl dressed in sunglasses and flounced pink net party dress at the front. Inspite of the excitement about democracy and change, in reality nothing really seems to have happened in the last year, with increasing frustration, especially in the Terai.
April 25 saw the launch of the Global Campaign for Education and some of us attended a ‘solidarity’ rally in the centre of the city before school. Lots of school children in uniforms, ragged street children, some of whom now have access to informal education in the evenings, some teachers, lots of VSOs(!), organisers of local NGOs, the director of UNICEF and the State Minister of Education. Lots of speeches in Nepali, with particularly moving ones from street children demanding their right to a decent education. Powerful stuff.
Cultural events have included sessions on child marriage – still very common in rural areas, with horrendous figures for deaths in childbirth. The discussion centred around a very moving DVD that we watched upstairs from the language school, which occupies the ground floor of a Tibetan house. When we went upstairs, the male members of the family were sprawled on cushions in vest and pants watching the TV. A huge glass display cabinet occupying one wall contained many large bottles of different brands of whisky proudly flanking pictures of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan memorabilia.
On Saturday we caught a bus to Bhaktapur, a world heritage site and the largest temple complex in Nepal, only 15km away. The journey took 2 ½ hours, partly because a banda (strike) had been called and the main road blocked. Our enterprising driver found a way through at his third attempt, across fields and pathways. It was good to get away from the traffic of the city and we had a delightful weekend wandering through the ancient temples and the artisans’ areas with potters, wood and stone carvers and metal workers, observing an impassioned Maoist rally in one of the old squares, watching the night market and the evening puja at the temples. On Sunday morning we walked across the river and into the hills to the Ganesh temple where wedding couples came for blessings to ensure their children will be healthy.
A challenge at the beginning of this week was a specific brief to talk to ’real people’. While David got a taxi (with an English speaking driver) to the eastern bus park to check out bus times (he found an English speaking and signed counter), I was expected to talk to local girls about their education and their family. Not as easy as it sounds. As I approached a pair of little girls in smart maroon and blue uniforms, a young heifer from outside the hotel escaped and ran amok through the building site, causing everyone to scatter in an attempt to avoid both heifer and the large puddles that had collected during the morning rain. The next girl I met and spoke to, looked horrified, then laughed and ran away. With Alina, aged 11, I did rather better, after she understood that I was actually trying to speak Nepali. I then decided to try slightly older girls. The trio I homed in on turned out to be 21 (they looked about 14) and studying for degrees in hotel management. Rashima’s father has a restaurant in Bournemouth, and we were able to chat in both English and limited Nepali. Homework siddhiyo!
On Buddha’s birthday (this year on May 2, to coincide with the new moon) a group of us went out to Boudanath after school to join the celebrations. Thousands of Buddhists were walking around the stupa chanting and twirling prayer wheels: an assortment of maroon and orange clad monks, young Tibetan women in splendid new stripy ‘aprons’, tiny, shaven nuns in saffron robes, young men in jeans and football shirts, business men with brief cases, young monks prostrating themselves every 2 steps for the ritual 26 circuits (special ‘prostration boards’ were available for hire). As darkness fell, the moon rose and the stupa was illuminated by thousands of jhillimilli (coloured lights) and traditional diyo (butter lamps). We watched until late in the evening from the roof top of the Saturday café, sipping lemon sodas and eating fresh strawberry sorbet (unlikely but true!)
Tonight we are going to the Friday movie at the Lazimpat Arts Café to see ‘To kill a mockingbird’ (again). All the latest films arrive here eventually!
The challenge for this weekend is revision, as we learnt today that external assessors will come on Monday & Tuesday for our ‘SATs’. We will all be examined for 30 minutes individually and then levelled.