[ The First Day in Kathmandu ]

Sunday, June 8th, marked my first day in Kathmandu. After leaving the airport, a driver skillfully navigated the chaotic streets to the guest house I will be staying in, @Home.

(This is quite humorous, actually, because whenever someone asks where I am staying, I begin to answer, "@Home..." which is actually 7,611 miles away. Do not fear for their confusion, as I always finish with guest house!)

Perhaps these next few paragraphs would be aptly named [ A Love of Traffic in Kathmandu ]

Driving in this city is no easy task. Lines mean nothing: it is every motorcyclist, bus, car, bicyclist, and pedestrian for themelves. At first, it all seems incredibly impossible, as stop signs, stop lights, even yield signs for that matter do not exist. Drivers here have insanely good spatial monitoring; they are able to take themselves through a gap with barely a millimeter on each side! I do not understand how everyone still has their side-view mirrors--it is truly a miracle. While it all seems very dangerous, it seems the de facto system of communication the Nepalese have set up works quite well. Horns are frequently employed to communicate with other vehicles when you are behind, beside, astride, to the left, to the right, passing, stopping, turning, reversing, and any other manner of driving technique and location you may find. It is not uncommon for cars to nearly T-bone whatever is in front of them to let others know they would like to cross.

Sidewalks are also virtually non-existant, and store fronts come right up to the street, so anyone standing on the side is honked at quite frequently! What sidewalks do exist they often only extend for 20 or so feet, and plenty are plagued with pits and holes. A surprising number of motorcyclists zoom around, and understandably, as streets are often only a lane wide. They can also weave in and out of traffic jams with ease! Yet despite the fact that there is this huge hodge-podge of motion, I have yet to see one collision! It is all brilliant, really; I'm convinced everyone is working together.

A last note on traffic for now: I have yet to see one person become angry with anyone else about their driving! It is so incredible--no yelling, vanity, or vulgar hand gestures, only cooperation and calmness. It is striking how intensely chaotic yet harmonious the whole scene is. I find it all quite interesting and humorous; some videos will be posted on the next update to give you an idea of how delightful car rides are (at least to me!). :)

And now, [ A Love of the Guest Home ]

Upon arrival @Home (haha), I was greeted by--thankfully--what has proven to be a very laid-back and enjoyable dog, Butterscotch. I have a slight fear of dogs, but Butterscotch is a complete sweetheart and very easy to be around. Next, I met my hosts, Ashok (a very friendly Nepali man) and Katrin (a very helpful German woman), along with their 6 month old son, Aryan (a very active infant!). The two maids (one named Laxmi and the other everyone calls didi, or older sister in Nepali) helped me with my luggage to the top floor. There are four doors on this floor, two to rooms (one of which being mine, of course!), one to a bathroom, and another to a beautiful walkout patio on the roof, which has a spiral staircase to the patio on the roof above my room!). My room also has a small balcony. :)

The view from the balcony. You can see Butterscotch down there!

The room itself is really quite nice! I have since unpacked, and it is still very roomy and comfortable. Unfortunately, there is only one power outlet (this makes it hard to juggle charging my phone, my camera, having a fan, and using a Glade-like plug-in mosquito repellant they gave me), but I believe Katrin mentioned fetching a power strip for me--which would be quite wonderful! I took pictures in three of the four corners for your viewing pleasure. :)

I had arrived at 11 am, but hadn't eaten for a few hours, so I was quite happy when I head lunch was served.

My happiness would not last long.

Let us title this next bit, [ A Fearful Fault for Foreign Food ]

I was an unsuspecting victim. It was a simple meal of sticky white rice and a cauliflower curry. The curry was yellow. I thought yellow was safe. I thought wrong.

My first bite went smoothly! Granted, it was only rice, but very well nonetheless! And then the second bite...and nothing happened. My tongue's delayed reaction in sensing the pain that was about to come had allowed me to place a third spoonful of the dreadful curry onto my undeserving tastebuds.

My eyes watered. My nose ran. My forehead sweated.

I could barely ask for milk as Laxmi stifled an innocent chuckle. She seemed reservedly shocked at my reaction to, what must be for her, a very common and uneventful meal. Ha. With some dairy, I was able to make it through the rest of my plate mostly pain free. I have had milk with every meal here since, and, I am pleased to tell you, with no tears, snot, or sweat!

I passed the next few hours creating the blog post, talking with friends back home, and a bit of napping.
At 4:30, most of the guests here went to a Bar-B-Que at a previous resident's apartment. I should mention, all of the residents I have met so far are from Austria, Germany, or France, so there is quite a bit of German spoken, and the host of the Bar-B-Que was also from Germany. Therfore, a mix of German brats, Greek coconut pudding/sauce, and Nepali curries were served. It was rather quite enjoyable, getting to meet so many people on my first day! There, I talked with Uli, one of the residents at the guest house. He is from Germany, and traveling in Nepal right now to shoot a film to broadcast back home. I also met Vincent, who is from California! He is an IB Anthropology teacher here, but had graduated from Pitzer College in California. He had actually heard of Colby College, and said everyone he knew that had gone their was awesome (yay!) and that he had roomed with a graduate in Botswana for awhile. After a few hours there, the sun was starting to go down (the sunset is at 7 pm here) so we walked back. After reading for awhile, I hit the hay at about 7:30 pm, exhausted from travel and staying awake nearly the entire first day.

All in all, it was a great experience, and I am very excited to be here. :)

Peace for your mouth and love for spicy food,
Abby