And so I was surprised when I was greeted by the below fanfare! The girls had been out at an anniversary party and managed to coerce David (the only person we know in Kathmandu that has a car and just happens to work for the UN) to pick me up in style...nice work ladies! (Although, I was secretly hoping for a terminal dance...)
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| UN escorts |
When we arrived home my new housemates, Sarah (Swiss), Ritsu (Japanese) and Chasty presented me with my very first personalised giant cookie, with 'Welcome Jo' written in Nepali...hmmm yes, I liked the girls immediately! And then we had our first 'getting to know you' session over tea and cookie-pieces...
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| giant 'welcome Jo' cookie |
The next morning (Saturday), I went to my first meeting at my new congregation in Baneshwor. I did not understand much in the meeting itself, but I was excited to meet so many new faces and be surrounded by the language. Everyone was very friendly and asked lots of questions, at which I turned my head towards Ritsu and appealed for translation...early days, early days...
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| Casa |
That night Alana, Ritsu and I hit the streets and walked to Thamal, the tourist quarter, and coolest quarter of Kathmandu...
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| Thamal |
In Thamal I had my first Nepali...pizza!...disgraceful I know but the beer was local at least, and well, Nepalis apparently know how to make pizza; who am I to discourage the practise;)
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| Gorkha beer |
After dinner Alana attempted to take us on a tour to Durbar Square...but we got a little lost and decided to leave it for another time...When we got home, I met our honorary housemates, the Allens (a mother, father and son from Kent) and Ric (a lovely brother in a nearby congregation from the North of England), who we found deeply engrossed in a game of Trivial Pursuit by candle-light...as we joined them, I remembered I had never liked Trivial Pursuit...'ke garne?' (the Nepali equivalent for 'what d'ya do?')
The next day, was my Nepali witnessing inauguration. Our territory was an area outside of the ring road of Kathmandu Valley, tagged 'Pepsi Cola' by the locals. Ritsu loves this territory as the people are very humble and respectful. I am told she has over 20 return visits in this area alone.
I was assigned to work with a young pioneer brother called 'Chulman'. Chulman and his younger brother and sister, Mukhti and Malatti, are alone in the truth and live comparatively far from kingdom hall, yet the effort they all make to get to the meetings, to go witnessing and to participate in the congregation is truly moving.
Chulman's induction included:
- a broken Nepali-English conversation about our respective backgrounds;
- making me do my share of doors without interruption until it was abundantly clear I had no response for the householders' questions (I averaged about 15 seconds);
- asking me to read a paragraph in Nepali at his Bible Study; and
- asking for my comments at the end of each paragraph discussed
...hard yakka...but I cannot wait until we work together again!
After witnessing, we went back to the Allens for our first Nepali lesson. Luc, the son, is our teacher, and quite a linguist it would seem. He speaks Italian to our Italian-Kenyan classmate (Tiffany), German to Sarah, and I am also told he speaks French...to the French I presume...
Our class involved activities such as counting in Nepali whilst hitting a balloon, acting out different verbal commands, ie 'daat maajhnuhos' - 'clean your teeth', acting out a presentation for the ministry and learning, ah-hem: 'the universal language generator'...Sadly, I am under oath and cannot post all the techniques! I can say though, the class was great and I believe our teacher knows his stuff.
After class, we rewarded ourselves with samosas!...did I mention I love this place????
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| first samosa |
Then it was Monday.
Monday in Nepal is our sabbath, ie. day of rest. Yet, the excitement of my arrival had not yet worn off, so after resting for the morning, Alana and I set out once again for Thamal, with the scent of Illy coffee willing us on. On route, I observed some differences in the traffic control (or lack of) to Australia. As you can see below, this intersection has made the existing traffic lights redundant, relying on the man in the middle of the road to direct the flow... hilarious!
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| traffic lights |
On the way home, we picked up a clothes rack, and endeavoured not to draw attention to ourselves...we were not successful!
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| when in Rome... |
Monday night was a memorable night for a few reasons, but foremost for being my maiden-sari-voyage...
There are three beautiful Japanese sisters in Baneshwor congregation, Misa, Arisa and Sauri. The middle sister, Arisa, has now left Nepal as she is getting married to a brother serving in Cambodia. So as a surprise for Arisa and her fiance, we all dressed up in saris...
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| me, Ristu, Anishradda and Sauri |
It was a really enjoyable night, being able to get to know some of the local brothers and sisters a little better in a different setting...it is not every day you are dressed by people you do not know... quite the 'ice-breaker'...
Then it was Tuesday...Tuesday is our meeting night, and after the meeting I was introduced to yet another tradition here... post-meeting momos! This particular Tuesday was quite chilly so we resorted to employ the mullets to warm our noggins. As you can see in the picture below, we did not have any 'batti'* so we used our head-torches etc, to ensure we didn't get any hair, I mean nylon, in our food...bon appetite!
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| first momos |
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| Sahs and Ritz |
Wednesday, Thursday and probably Friday, we went witnessing, drank lots of chiya (chai) and most likely met up with the Allens...thus ended my first week in Nepal.
*Batti - electricity (literally 'lamp'). As Nepal exports its electricity to India, the country is left with a limited supply. We have about 10 hours of electricity per day and thus become quite creative in the off-hours...
