(These pictures correspond with my entry for Jan. 2 – see below)
(This picture corresponds with my entry for Dec. 30 – see below)
First of all, I apologize for not having written this week. We’ve been so busy each day that I practically fall into bed each night. Let me give you a quick summary as to my daily events:
Dec. 29, after my blog entry – Muna and I went to meet up with one of her friends, Santos. And let me tell you, he is goooood looking (but married…). We sat at a restaurant with him, chatted, ate and drank. My stomach was still a little weak so I just had some soup and French fries, but it was goooooood, especially because it was the first actual meal I’d had in days.
Dec. 30 – It was Losar, the Gurung New Year (remember, Muna is Gurung). So there was a celebration happening at a local park, which we attended. There were tons of food stands and later on there was going to be a concert with dancing and whatnot. But there were so many people there that it wasn’t really that fun. We spent more time weaving our way through people and finding a spot to sit than anything else. So after a couple of hours Muna and I decided to leave. We went to Thamel, the “touristy” district of Kathmandu, but also, as a result, the area with the nicest restaurants and cafes. We met up with two of Muna’s friends, Situ (whom I’ve met before and she is a nice girl) and Robin (one of Muna’s closest friends from school and a very cool guy). We sat around at an Israeli restaurant and drank coffee and beer and ate humus. My kind of time! We came home early, though, to appease Muna’s parents so they would be more inclined to let us out for New Years.
Dec. 31 – It must have worked because we were allowed out! I spent the entire day WAITING to go! I chatted with Muna’s dad and he helped me with my Nepali language. (Side note: I’ve been practicing my Nepali but it is coming along slowly at best. I find the pronunciation very hard so I still struggle with it. And people here speak soooo fast and don’t enunciate their words so it’s hard to understand. Plus the polite and grammatically correct Nepali that I am learning in my book is so different from the actual spoken Nepali between peers and in the streets, which is in turn different from the Nepali of the youth. There are just so many layers to the language that I’m having a hard time.) By 8pm, Muna and I were out on the town. We met up with several of her friends and went dancing. It was a very fun evening, especially since I haven’t been dancing in months and I LOVE it!
Jan. 1 – HAPPY NEW YEAR, though to me it doesn’t feel like it (in the same way that Christmas didn’t really feel like Christmas). I guess I should sit down at some point and visualize my year and make tentative plans and goals, eh? Anyway, this was a very relaxing day. I sat out in the garden and finished my book (about a lady wrongly imprisoned in a gulag in Laos). By mid-afternoon it got quite cold so Muna and I lay around watching TV in her bed. We watched Nepali music videos, which were hilarious – so cheaply made and so American (guys rapping, sometimes in English, girls dressing skankily…) As another side note, I am still amazed as to how much English there is here. Even if people don’t speak English, they still use expressions like “Happy Birthday” and “Happy New Year” instead of ones in there own language. There are signs in English everywhere, Nepali music in English, and the youth really do speak wonderful English.
Jan. 2 – We went to an area of Kathmandu called Patan. It’s over the bridge and it’s where Muna used to go to school. We went to visit Santos at his lingerie store (side note: it’s the first “American style” lingerie store in Kathmandu, and Santos is finding that though the concept is catching on, it is a slow process because the society is by nature very conservative – more on that another time). We picked him up and he took us to Durbar Square, a famous square with several Hindu temples built in the 17th century. Santos is Hindu and knew a lot about each temple, so he was a great tour guide. I didn’t take any pictures though because I would have felt too much like a tourist. Anyway, after we met up with Robin and went to eat lunch on the rooftop of a restaurant. What a view! Dinner that night was at “Fire and Ice”, Muna’s favorite pizza place in Kathmandu. I was soooo happy to eat pizza it wasn’t even funny – I think I chowed down half the pizza myself!
Jan. 3 – Muna’s Birthday, and a blog entry in itself.
Jan. 4 – We went fabric shopping in the New Road area of Kathmandu. Muna wants to wear a Tibetan dress for her graduation and needed to pick out the fabric so that she could have it made before going back to Chicago. That night we hung out with Situ and Robin again. I had a great conversation with Robin about the world, science, the mind… He’s a grad student in history and studies in Germany. Reminds me of my brother!
Jan. 5 – Muna has gone to visit a few relatives and get fitted for her Tibetan dress. I thought I’d stay and catch up on my blogging and study Nepali. It’s really cold today because the sun isn’t out. That sun makes all the difference! My nose is frozen and so are my fingers as I try to write this, but such is life in a country with no heating.
Dec. 29, after my blog entry – Muna and I went to meet up with one of her friends, Santos. And let me tell you, he is goooood looking (but married…). We sat at a restaurant with him, chatted, ate and drank. My stomach was still a little weak so I just had some soup and French fries, but it was goooooood, especially because it was the first actual meal I’d had in days.
Dec. 30 – It was Losar, the Gurung New Year (remember, Muna is Gurung). So there was a celebration happening at a local park, which we attended. There were tons of food stands and later on there was going to be a concert with dancing and whatnot. But there were so many people there that it wasn’t really that fun. We spent more time weaving our way through people and finding a spot to sit than anything else. So after a couple of hours Muna and I decided to leave. We went to Thamel, the “touristy” district of Kathmandu, but also, as a result, the area with the nicest restaurants and cafes. We met up with two of Muna’s friends, Situ (whom I’ve met before and she is a nice girl) and Robin (one of Muna’s closest friends from school and a very cool guy). We sat around at an Israeli restaurant and drank coffee and beer and ate humus. My kind of time! We came home early, though, to appease Muna’s parents so they would be more inclined to let us out for New Years.
Dec. 31 – It must have worked because we were allowed out! I spent the entire day WAITING to go! I chatted with Muna’s dad and he helped me with my Nepali language. (Side note: I’ve been practicing my Nepali but it is coming along slowly at best. I find the pronunciation very hard so I still struggle with it. And people here speak soooo fast and don’t enunciate their words so it’s hard to understand. Plus the polite and grammatically correct Nepali that I am learning in my book is so different from the actual spoken Nepali between peers and in the streets, which is in turn different from the Nepali of the youth. There are just so many layers to the language that I’m having a hard time.) By 8pm, Muna and I were out on the town. We met up with several of her friends and went dancing. It was a very fun evening, especially since I haven’t been dancing in months and I LOVE it!
Jan. 1 – HAPPY NEW YEAR, though to me it doesn’t feel like it (in the same way that Christmas didn’t really feel like Christmas). I guess I should sit down at some point and visualize my year and make tentative plans and goals, eh? Anyway, this was a very relaxing day. I sat out in the garden and finished my book (about a lady wrongly imprisoned in a gulag in Laos). By mid-afternoon it got quite cold so Muna and I lay around watching TV in her bed. We watched Nepali music videos, which were hilarious – so cheaply made and so American (guys rapping, sometimes in English, girls dressing skankily…) As another side note, I am still amazed as to how much English there is here. Even if people don’t speak English, they still use expressions like “Happy Birthday” and “Happy New Year” instead of ones in there own language. There are signs in English everywhere, Nepali music in English, and the youth really do speak wonderful English.
Jan. 2 – We went to an area of Kathmandu called Patan. It’s over the bridge and it’s where Muna used to go to school. We went to visit Santos at his lingerie store (side note: it’s the first “American style” lingerie store in Kathmandu, and Santos is finding that though the concept is catching on, it is a slow process because the society is by nature very conservative – more on that another time). We picked him up and he took us to Durbar Square, a famous square with several Hindu temples built in the 17th century. Santos is Hindu and knew a lot about each temple, so he was a great tour guide. I didn’t take any pictures though because I would have felt too much like a tourist. Anyway, after we met up with Robin and went to eat lunch on the rooftop of a restaurant. What a view! Dinner that night was at “Fire and Ice”, Muna’s favorite pizza place in Kathmandu. I was soooo happy to eat pizza it wasn’t even funny – I think I chowed down half the pizza myself!
Jan. 3 – Muna’s Birthday, and a blog entry in itself.
Jan. 4 – We went fabric shopping in the New Road area of Kathmandu. Muna wants to wear a Tibetan dress for her graduation and needed to pick out the fabric so that she could have it made before going back to Chicago. That night we hung out with Situ and Robin again. I had a great conversation with Robin about the world, science, the mind… He’s a grad student in history and studies in Germany. Reminds me of my brother!
Jan. 5 – Muna has gone to visit a few relatives and get fitted for her Tibetan dress. I thought I’d stay and catch up on my blogging and study Nepali. It’s really cold today because the sun isn’t out. That sun makes all the difference! My nose is frozen and so are my fingers as I try to write this, but such is life in a country with no heating.
