[ Namaste Namaste ]

Another week down! For those interested in the countdown, that is 5 weeks through and 3 weeks to go: 21 days left! I am already anxious about leaving -- I am ready to be back home with loved ones, but I already miss Kathmandu! It is a very weird feeling indeed. Going out to the field this week has also contributed to that. For the first time I felt like I could understand better how people live here. Of course, the hiti (stone spout) that we went to was very well managed and maintained, but it had such a different feel than the rest of the city. Quite frankly, I fell in love with the place, the people, and the pace of life.

I should probably explain why I went to this hiti! Olivia Molden is doing research for her Master's on the traditional water system of Kathmandu Valley, focusing specifically on Lalitpur (a district in the valley. Lalitpur is where I live and work, actually. I am technically not in Kathmandu! Wikipedia can explain this a little better perhaps :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalitpur_District,_Nepal). Anyways, she is focusing on the state of the stonespouts and asking users about the time they spend there, the quality of the water, and the history of the hitis. Nick is more interested in the cultural heritage: why people prize these hitis, the religious aspect, and if people would still care for the hitis if the water wasn't there. And then I (while interested in these topics as well!) am focused on the hitis as a source of water and how reliable/ desirable it is compared to other sources of water in Kathmandu (well, Lalitpur). Olivia and I agreed that gender is another major factor in hiti use, as it is traditionally women's (and children's) jobs to collect water -- I am really excited to explore this part more! :)

Sidenote on sexism! Oh my, sexism is alive and well here. It is not as bad as other places, granted, and sexism occurs most everywhere, but I have definitely had run-ins with the more overt sexists. Sometimes at restaurants, I am ignored, or the bill is handed directly to the guy. Other times, males will be introducing their coworkers and be more casual with or not acknowledge their female coworkers. It is also prevalent with greetings/farewells, when men shake other men's hands, but wave or don't make any contact with females. You (well, female yous) also have to be cautious on the roads, and motorcyclists are known for grabbing and groping as they pass. And, like most everywhere, it is much more unsafe for a female to be out alone.
While this is all very frustrating/ annoying/ depressing, there is hope! Women have equal freedoms here and can hold higher offices, drive (and there are a ton of female drivers!), and can show the same amount of skin that men usually do (not that men should be the norm...). There is still a lot of deference to traditional roles, where a woman is in the household, but I work alongside many intelligent, strong, and independent women. In conclusion, more can be done, but way to go Nepal for being more gender friendly than other developing nations!

[ Sunday ]

Sunday I went out with Bharati and Jasmin to Roadside Cafe (they have a lot of continental food, including pizza! I have yet to try their burritos, but it is on my to-eat list :) They also had ice-cream, which was at the top of my to-eat list! YUM!!!). It was great seeing them again! Bharati's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew also joined us. It was a lot of fun and really nice to meet all of them! :)

[ Monday ]

Nothing too terribly exciting happened Monday, with one exception! Aditi had taken my papers home to read, and when she came back to the office that morning, she told me that they were, and I quote, "really good." I almost died of happiness in my chair right then and there! :) Unfortunately, my face did not convey my ecstasy, as I stared at her, slack-jawed, forgetting how to make words. I was so happy to hear this, and she even went on to say that she is excited for the paper! I understand that I am making a very big deal out of these two sentences, but it might be more understandable when I explain that I have been dreaming of that moment since I found out that I would be working with her. Aditi is my hero, and to hear this praise meant so, so much! :) She even said it was really good! :D

[ Tuesday ]

Olivia, Nick, and I went to the UNHabitat building! It was so fancy. There, we talked with Mr. Joshi, one of the leading voices on stone spouts in the valley. Everyone we had talked to before had said to meet this man, so we were very excited to finally speak with him! He was very helpful, and graciously let us take up an hour of his time.

[ Wednesday ]

Wednesday night, Neha (a coworker) and I were going to go watch live jazz at Casa-de-casa (I don't understand this name...House of House? Spanish speakers please help!). We met up at Cafe Soma beforehand, but when we called Casa-de-casa, they said that nobody would be performing that night. I stayed to enjoy dinner with her and her friends (which was definitely enjoyable! Everyone spoke fluent English, which was a treat in itself! :)). They mentioned that they were going to play Futsal that night, and I hopped on that train like a runaway thief! Even though it was 15 minutes until game time, I ran home, put on my best soccer clothes, and met up with them again. We walked up the block to the field and my oh my did I have a blast. For those who don't know what Futsal is, it is soccer (or futbol for the rest of the world) on a shorter field. The rules are a little more relaxed (no off-sides, yay! and goalies switch around every 2 minutes) but it is just as much, if not more, fun! I haven't played soccer in five years, and I hadn't realized how much I missed it! It was terrific! Our team wasn't doing to shabby, either. :) I look forward to playing with them more, and am disappointed that I didn't find this group sooner in my stay! I have been missing running, but it isn't the safest thing for me to go out running alone, so this was the perfect opportunity to work-out/ have fun/ meet people! :)

[ Thursday ]

I don't recall anything special happening on this day... Oh! I did receive an email from my mom. Thanks Mom! :)

[ Friday ]

Friday was a rollercoaster of a day!

In the morning, it was downpouring! It has not downpoured in the morning yet (it has been a very light monsoon), but I walked in to work with my hair drenched and had to find the nearest bathroom (where my jacket became a towel and the hand-dryer became a hair-dryer!).

In the afternoon, there was an all-staff meeting, where the Director General, Mr. David Molden (if that last name looks familiar, it is because I am working with his daughter! ;)), gives an update on everything going on! It is also a chance for new employees to introduce themselves. Which included me. So I went up and gave a short introduction on myself and the work I have been doing! But this all-staff meeting is also a chance to say farewell to outgoing staff. Which included me. So not ten minutes later I got up and said my farewells, too! The whole of ICIMOD thought that this was the funniest thing and didn't stop laughing through the whole process (which I honestly really appreciated! We all had a good time with that, and I was approached by several people afterwards on my hello-goodbye (my namaste namaste, if you will :)). 

I was so nervous to give the first speech. My nerves were shot after the second.

Friday evening, I went out to a really relaxed restaurant called Phat Kath (pronounced Fat Cat) with Iris (another coworker)! We met up with some of her friends there and had a great night! There was even Jenga involved, which is way more fun to play than I remembered. :) The Band Formerly Known as Magic -- which I believe is the band currently known as Magic (from Laeti's CYF night, if you remember!) -- was playing; I was recruited to play the egg shaker on one of their reggae tunes! :) 

[ Saturday ]

What an amazing day Saturday was! This was the first day that Olivia, Nick, Gyanu (the translator), and I went to a hiti to do interviews! The name of this hiti was Iku hiti, and, in short, it was beautiful. A great combination of new and old. Everyone there was very happy with the water and optimistic about the years to come. It was so incredible to talk with these people. There was an elderly woman whom we talked with (and anyone who knows me well knows that I immediately fell in love) and it was during that conversation that I began to grasp what it must be like to have lived a life like hers. She comes to the hiti for several hours each day, to get water, wash clothes, and see her friends. It was so beautiful. Both Gyanu and I were a little shutter-happy, but I don't want to forget this day. Ever. :)

This is an overview of the hiti system they had. To the left (baya) of the stairs are where the spouts actually are. That area is only for drinking and bathing. The pond (pokhari) in front of the steps is for washing clothes and it collects all the water that drains from the bathing spot! The water then flows down to the Bagmati river (sadly, unfiltered). There is a pavilion adjacent to both of these where clothes can be washed with soap in the shade. To the right (daya) of the stairs is a pump that houses use to get this water!

Close-up of the clothes pond! It is very milky-white due to the soap.

This was the first woman that we interviewed! She was so bashful and sweet. :)

I believe these were her children; they came over and watched me take notes from the interview! :)

As we were talking to people, others would unashamedly come up and listen in. Here, I am diagramming the scene!

This is the pump with lines connected to it for different households to use. A committee was set up to run this hiti, and they make sure that each house is able to get about 4 hours of water a day -- much better than the rest of the valley!

This stone, Gyanu told us, tells the history of Iku Hiti! But what it says exactly, we have asked him to translate for us today. :)

This is a close-up of the spouts and bathing/ drinking area. It was a little startling to see women there bathing, but everyone (except younger kids) remained halfway clothed while lathering and rinsing. It was mostly women using the spout when we got there, but the demographic changed to mostly men by the time we left!

Towards the end of our interviewing, two men began to sweep out the clothes pond. They pushed all of the sediment that had collected at the bottom towards the drain in the corner. 

Olivia, Nick, and I talked with some of the 'decision-makers' from the committee as well. It was great getting to hear there system, one that could hopefully be used in other areas of the valley as well!

It was such an incredible experience. I can't emphasize that enough! I am so excited to go back out and do more interviews. :) 

That night, I looked up a website Iris had told me about the night before: http://www.foodmandu.com/. You can have food from many restaurants in Kathmandu delivered to your home!!! Hello burritos! I ordered in from The Lazy Gringo and had a burrito the size of an infant (as Adam would say)! :)

 I am still discovering new things about Kathmandu that I will miss when I leave (like Futsal and foodmandu and 'real life'), but I am also beginning my farewells and have started planning for my departure.


Namaste Namaste,
Abby