Enter: My lovely new pioneer partner for 2013, Hisako aka 'Na-risako' ('Hisako' rhythms perfectly in Nepali with 'don't get angry')
There are now over 17 congs in KTM, but beyond the valley ring-road is still largely untouched. So where possible pioneers are now being encouraged to move outside of 'the ring-road.'* We were given a choice of 5 congs. The congs on the Eastern side of KTM have only in recent years been formed, so decided we would choose from among these.
One of the congs we visited had a ratio of about 22 pubs to about 300,000 population, not counting the villages on its fringes. It also boasts amazing dahi^, and lovely views of the Himalaya.
However, the day we set out to visit Jorpati, things clicked.
We arrived early and helped ourselves to chiya while we waited for the morning group for service to arrive. The group consisted of some of the most beautiful Japanaese and Nepali sisters I'd ever met, so my immediate impression was: 'no, I don't think this is the right place for me.' A few minutes later, the thought dissipated as I trailed behind a shy Nepali brother with smiley eyes named 'Tenzing'. I suppose I was overly excited, but he was the first Tenzing I'd ever met so, yes, I might have brought up the other 'Tenzing' and how mum had met Sir Edmund Hillary when she was young - such a Sherpa groupie!
Tenzing is from the Lama caste of the Tamang people. His grandfather is an important Buddhist Lama at Boudha, and Tenzing himself was skilled as a Thangka** artist. I asked him what it was that drew him to the Bible and he said: 'peace.' It's amazing, life continues to be difficult for ones like Tenzing, yet especially at the meetings and in service you can see the peace radiating from within.
That morning we met more Buddhists than I'd encountered in the entire year I'd lived in Baneshwor. I felt out of my depth, not knowing what to say, but excited at the same time. I wanted to go home and do some research: 'what to say to a Buddhist?'
After witno Hisako and I were invited back to a Witness family's room for chiya. The brother who invited us, Bijaya, lives next door. He and the father both learnt the truth in Malaysia, so he is now like an adopted uncle/big/younger brother. The mother had just started studying, and the two sons, Sudeep and Sushil (about 16 and 14 respectively) were both recently baptised. Chiya turned into lunch, and lunch turned into photos and stories and goals and more stories.
We decided to walk off the lunch induced fatigue before the meeting, and headed upstream along the river. Ok, it's no Milford Sound, Stanely River, but in comparison to what you awaits you at Pashupatinath,^^ this bend in the Bagmati River is a welcome sight. Kids bathing, women washing, cows grazing...all very serene. We met a local brother selling papaya and I'm not sure but it may have been at this point that I thought: 'yep, I'm home.'
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| Bagmati River |
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| 'can't buy me love!' |
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| foreground: Hisako, mummy, Sushil and Sudeep background: Jorpati KH |
The meeting that night was lovely and intimate. I noticed a couple of characters too. One Japanese brother suppressing a giggle commented in the Bible highlights about Luke 2:19: 'Mary was a very deep thinker. Women think deeply about things. I too want to think deeply from now on'...(albeit a rough translation, but he had me at 'deep')
After the meeting, Sudeep and Sushil and their bestie, Sujan, ('the 3 amigos') assumed their roles as our teenage bodyguards, and walked Hisako and I safely to the bus. Chivalry isn't a daily part of life in Nepal. But so when you get a 3-teared escort, you know Jah's got your back.
And so we decided. This the place for us.
House-hunting wasn't so easy.
Our lovely bros and sisters had scouted out a few places but no joy.
In Australia when you are looking for a place we leisurely browse the classifies on the internet, save searches matching our criteria:
- 2 bedrooms;
- big kitchen;
- clean bathroom;
- sunny,
In Nepal it's a little more casual...
We would start out each morning with high hopes and freshly injected caffeine filled veins, and after choosing an area, would then wander around following no particular route, asking: 'khaali kota chha?' ('is there an empty room?') This starts off amusing but for our not-quite-Nepali intonation it's quite hard to get your tongue around, so often requires several attempts. By the seventh attempt, we have been successfully understood, but are unsuccessful in finding one or all of the following:
- 2 bedrooms;
- separate kitchen;
- western toilet;
- sunny.
Along the way, we would often make new acquaintances, who would save us some energy/frustration and enquire for us. In one town we managed to pick up a posse for the afternoon of kids and a couple of ladies who decided they felt sorry for us and would definitely find us a place. They were gorgeous. They were no doubt married with children, but walked leisurely around, arm in arm, like teenage girls without a responsibility in the world.
After 5 days following the same routine, our legs were looking good, but the morale was getting low.
Finally, with the help of some street kids: 'khaali kota payau!' ('we found an empty room!')
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| our neighbourhood 'real estate agents' |
Sure, it needed a serious scrub, but it had everything, and I was on the verge of developing varicose veins.
SOLD.
We moved in two days later.
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| 1st night = mattresses and baby-wipes |
The first week was a little traumatic, I mean, dramatic. Let's just say Japanese standards of cleanliness and Nepali standards of cleanliness are 'different'. But with the help of a not-so-high-pressure hose, gloves, bleach, steel wool and some serious determination, our place received a much needed make over.WARNING: in the following photos I appear to have a Japanese slave. I assure the readers I was at her side, I just haven't perfected the art of scrubbing a looking good at the same time.
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| she sat like that most of the day! |
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| laying the 'floorboards' |
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| can't beat their squat precision... |
A couple of weeks later we were up and running. Those same beautiful Japanese sisters also double as skilled 'carpet'/vinyl layers, so within minutes they transformed our living room from shabby cement to chic floorboard.
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| first sleep-over |
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| Moonlight |
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| Morning light |
After unsuccessfully scouting every furniture shop and timber yard in our radius for cheap beds, we chanced upon a couple of second hand ones. The price did double when we let it slip that we had a washing machine, but we were still happy.
The 3 amigos lended their sanding services and we soon had the beds in working order.
And so after a month camped out in the living room I said my goodbyes and moved into my bedroom. The bed is a little short, but I can stick my feet in between the bars at the end so I'm sleeping well.
Tour d'salon:
^ 'dahi' - yoghurt or 'curd' as they like to call it in these parts (onomatopoeia 'ew')
** 'Thangka' - an art form based on Tibetan Buddhism
^^ 'Pashupathinath' - the largest and most important Hindu temple in KTM. Its ghats run into Bagmati River.
