Wish you were here

Hoje, aparentemente sem motivo, me peguei cantando esta musica do Pink Floyd... Como não acredito em simples coincidencias ainda estou procurando entender as razões que me fizeram buscar esta musica no fundo do baú...

Talvez seja uma boa tradução para minha experiencia no Nepal... Tenho algumas teorias mas nenhuma parece completa ainda....varios significados em justaposição...

I will keep trying to fully comprehend it? In the meantime, I decided to add a link to an interesting live performance, for those that, like me, love Pink Floyd and can appreciate the meaning of this song..

I thought of putting a link to my favorite live Pink Floyd version... but then I thought it would be more Kathmanduesque to have Marillion (another of my favorite bands..) playing this Pink Floyd music and Steve Hogarth not really singing it because the audience does not need his help for that... :-) really cool YouTube video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHl4M2D6YUE

Wish you were here

"So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange a walk on part in the war, for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl, Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found, the same old fears.
Wish you were here"

And from there, I went straight to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to heaven"...but that's another story...

A brief passage from a very interesting book...

Today, while reading one of the books I bought yesterday I came across the following passage that seems very appropriate to what my classmates and I are currently experiencing:

"A journey, afterall, neither begins in the instant we set out, nor ends
when we have reached our doorstep once again. It starts much earlier and is
really never over, because the film of memory continues running on inside of us
long after we have come to a physical standstill. there exists something like a
contagion of travel, and the disease is essentially incurable."
(Ryszard Kapuscinski. "Travels with Herodotus")

Somehow, I feel that now, more than ever, I know exactly what he means and I am sure I am not alone in this understanding...

Week 5...

... begins tomorrow...although it seems it began yesterday...
My past week was great, a lot of work, most of it productive.
All READ Nepal staff and volunteers are great! Unfortunately, due to the nature of my project I haven't interacted with them as much as I wanted. I hope this will change in the coming weeks when I will finally start the workshop sessions that I have been preparing. I think it will be a lot of fun and I am hoping they will get a lot out of it!
This next week is going to be a busy one, people from READ Global (from DC and Bangkok), from READ India and READ Bhutan will come to KTM for a Regional Meeting. Everybody is busy preparing for it and excited with the opportunity to share experiences and learn from each other.

Unfortunately this past weekend was not as good as usual... since Thursday I have been sick, with a cold (maybe it is the same "self diagnosed swine flu" that John and Emily got in South America...do you think that it could have been transmitted over twitter?). Sore throat, running nose, all the works.. I spent my Saturday in my room, what saved me was the herbal tea that Sanjana, my boss here in Nepal, gracefully offered me.. the tea was really good and by this morning I was already feeling better! So I decided to get out and walk out the cold...

I went to Thamel, bought three great books and a brazilian flag ( yes, you understood it right, here in KTM, the only problem is that it is Brazil with a Z and everybody knows that "meu Brasil é com S"..., but I couldn't pass the chance and bought it anyway..) then I had brunch a Pumpernickel Bakery ( ate a delicious Yak Cheese Sandwich).

On my way back home, I couldn't resist the wide selection of DVDs offered in KTM and bought a few for my night entertainment (I was resisting, until Todd bought The Shield, season 1.. so if he caved in, so did I... what to do? as they say here "Ke garne?" :-) )
With my backpack full of goodies, I made one more stop, to buy a "mala", a item on Flavio's wish list. For those who, like me, have no idea what a "mala" is (or might be thinking a luggage - mala is the portuguese word for luggage ) I will explain...

A mala is a string of 108 beads with one bead as the summit bead called a
'sumeru'.
It is a tool used to keep your mind on the meditation
practice. Malas are generally made from different materials such as tulsi
(basil) wood, sandal wood, rudraksh seeds or crystal. Each type of material
has certain properties which subtly affect the subconscious mind of the
practitioner.
(http://www.healthandyoga.com/HTML/product/malabeads.html)

In my case, Flavio asked for a rudraksh mala. I ended up buying two malas and making a new friend, Monu. He explained me a lot about the different types of rudraksh and invited me to have some dudhchiya with him ( as you know, I can't resist a dudhchiya).

This is Kathmandu, it is a place where people still take the time to chat and get to know each other, it is very refreshing!

After a nice walk through Lamzipat I arrived home and started reading one of the books I bought and I am loving it! It is from a polish journalist ( yes, Joanna, a very interesting fellow polish!), Ryszard Kapuscinski, the name of the books is "Travels with Herodotus". In it, he talks about his travels around the world while comparing to the writings of Herodotus 2500 years ago, beginning with India and China ( yes, Josh and Todd, I think you would enjoy the book...).

As you can see, I have been working, recovering from a cold, having fun, learning and thinking about (and following the blogs of) all my classmates around the world...

The only way it could get better was if Raquel and Flavio were here with me, specially when I was watching Hannah Montana: The Movie ( a terrible copy by the way...acho que as do Shopping Oi são melhores...) ...

It is all great here, but I can't wait "to find my way back to Tennessee"... :-)

Another weekend

Now is early Monday morning and another work week begins, week #4 of my project with READ.
The weekend was very relaxing...

As it has become my routine, I took long walks through the streets of Kathmandu. I can't get enough! Even when I am taking familiar routes I still see new things and enjoy it from a new perspective... this is Kathmandu, a city full of surprises...

On Saturday, my main mission was to go to Indra Chowk to pick up my new Saree ( yes, it is true, I bought one! Not sure how to dress it or how I would look in it... but I definitely could not pass this opportunity...they are so beautiful!!!). I decided to take a different route and check the famous Durbar Marg.

Durbar Marg is the street (or avenue.. I never know here...) that leads from Ratna Park towards the south entry of Narayanhiti Palace. This is known as a fancy shopping and dinning area, where some of the more traditional hotels are also located.

On my way, I could once more see the HUGE lines to enter the Narayanhiti Palace. This palace was until last year the residence of the Royal family of Nepal ( and the place or the infamous massacre happened in 2001 when the crown prince of Nepal, Dipendra Shah, killed the entire royal family and then took his own life. This event created a serious succession problem and the a lot of intrigue, giving a big blow to legitimacy and strength of the Royal system in Nepal.

One of the side entries to the Palace

Long lines to visit the Museum

Main gate to the Narayanhiti Palace Museum

Since the end of the monarchy on May 2008, the royal family had to leave the palace and the government transformed it into a National Museum. Since its inauguration in, February 27th 2009, huge lines, of mostly Nepalese people, form in front of its gates every day.

No one that I have asked so far had yet visited the Museum, all want to go but think the lines are too big right now. Some people tell me that the issue is that only ten people are allowed in at a time!! That is not a recipe for shorter lines...

I would love to go, but I am not sure if I would stand for hours, in the heat, to see this palace... I will keep monitoring the line and try to find out the best time to try...

Durbar Marg is interesting... very different from other areas I had been in Kathmandu so far. A lot of western brands, nice restaurants, airline offices and hotels. It seems to represent the western dream of consumption and luxury...I will have to expand on that in some future post...


Back to my walk, I left Durbar Marg back to KTM, passing thru Jamal towards Asan Tole. Along the way, lots of traffics and noise, regular KTM lovely chaos and a very nice view of Rani Pokhari.

Rani Pokhari

Rani means Queen and Pokhari means small lake. This lake was built by King Pratap Malla, in 1667 to console his queen over the death of their son. According to my dear friend Chetan, this Shiva Temple only opens once a year, during the festival of Tihar, when all sisters offer puja in honor of their brothers.

Beautiful and peaceful place in the middle of all the chaos!! So interesting!!

From there to Indra Chowk passing through Asan Tole and enjoying the unique smell of spices... I wish I could describe it, but I think it is impossible... I can't help but think about all the spice caravans that always filled my imagination. I love the smell!! The big sacs full of seeds and the vendors in their colorful clothes and with their beautiful features just gives the finishing touch to the scene!

Got my Saree - beautiful!!!, bought some pashminas and scarves along the way (most of you probably already noticed that I love a scarves.. :-) I am having a hard time controlling my shopping impulses, and I think I am doing a fairly good job, after one month, it was my first scarf purchase... Are you proud, Flavio?...)

Happy with my new acquisitions, I wandered some more on the narrow streets between Durbar Square and Thamel and finally stopped at one of my favorite places to eat OR2K (again, more on favourite places to eat in a future post...) A nice and relaxing brunch, reading a good book and listening to very good music!

On my way back, I chose the route that crosses through Lamzipat, the area where most embassies and consulates are located. It is fascinating to walk and feel the different personalities and pace of each neighborhood.

Back home I took a nice cold shower and relaxed for the rest of the day, reading my classmates blogs (so funny and interesting!), news from around the world and doing some research and brainstorming for my project.

It was almost a perfect day... unfortunately Flavio and Raquel were in a farm with no Internet connection so I could not have my "daily Skype bliss" ( I am not sure what I would do here without Skype...)...

Well! I am looking forward to Monday when they will be back to the virtual world and only a Skype call away...

Working together towards prosperity

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the meeting of the NCLA - Nepal Community Libraries Association. Community library leaders from all over Nepal met at the World Trade Center in Kathmandu.

READ Nepal, the organization where I am working this summer, has built 45 libraries since its foundation in 1991. These libraries are built in partnership with the communities and they are located in the 5 different development regions of Nepal.

As I am learning from visiting some of them and reading about their history, these libraries are very diverse both regarding the size of the community as well as its proximity to other neighbooring communities. Some libraries are right along major highways while to reach others one needs to hike in the mountains for five days. In some ways they face very different challenges.

But they have more in common than might, at first, meet the eye. They all reflect the community commitment to education and development and they all became important institutions in their communities. In size, they sometimes look small (specially compared to the huge library system we have in the US) but their potential for promoting development in Nepal's striving society is immense!

An important step in moving forward towards realizing this potential is the creation of the NCLA. Together these libraries can find better solutions to their problems, learn from each other success and leverage their position in dealing with Nepali government, vendors and other non governmental associations.

I was very happy to be part of this important meeting and happier that between their nepali english, my little Nepali knowledge and lots of body language, I could understand more of what was going on than at first I expected. It was a very friendly, enjoyabel and serious meeting.

The future of this organization is very bright and I am looking forward to the great things yet to come from it!

Just another day in Kathmandu...

Last Saturday I decided to continue my exploration of Kathmandu and its surroundings.
I left home around 11am and came back, exhausted, around 7pm. I spent most of the day walking and enjoying the beauty and magic as well as reflecting on the poverty and contrasts present at every corner.
I visited Boudhnath, one of the most important centers of Tibetan Budhism in Nepal and the world. The peace that emanates there is indescribable. The sound of the "om mani padme hum" mantra, that comes from the CD and souvenir shops around the stupa, complement the experience.
After walking around the stupa, turning the prayer wheels and observing all the tourists, monks and pilgrims, I decided to go to Pashupatinath, one of the most important Shiva temples in the world and the most important in Nepal. Pashupatinath is also very impressive, in its own distinct way. It is located along the Bagmati river, which is as important to nepali hindus as the Ganges is for the Indians. Along the river and in front of the temple complex, I could see the bodies of the deceased Hindus being cremated. Saturday is the weekly holiday in Nepal, so the temple area was very busy with people that came to cremate their dead, vendors and tourists like me.
On the way back, from Pashupatinath to Baluwatar, I observed the beautiful nepalese people and countless temples (that are everywhere in Kathmandu).

Clinton School

Yesterday, as I was wandering in Kathmandu I came across a sign for the Clinton School...!!!????

Not the one of Public Service, but the "complete school" (as the sign says...)...

Dean Rutherford be aware of the competition!

In Kathmandu, you can find anything and everything!!!

It is unbelievable!!

Back to KTM

After the trips to Pokhara and Chitwan, I am now back to Kathmandu. Now it's time to get some work done!
I wish I could visit more libraries, but I won't have time and I need to start working on my project. I am happy that I accomplished my goal of visiting at least 3 libraries. In fact, I went to 4 established libraries and to 1 in the building process. These first two weeks exceeded my expectations in every level!
Being back in Kathmandu also gives me the chance to resume my exploration of this fascinating city.
Starting with the bars... There is so much going on every night in Thamel, the main tourist area in Kathmandu, that I feel I could spend the rest of the year here and I would still have new places to discover.
Both Wednesday and Friday, I checked some of the bars featuring live bands.
Wednesday, Bob and I went to two different bars. First to a rooftop bar, which besides the rock band also offers a cigarette menu, and lots of smoke...

It gives a whole new meaning to the old Rush song, A Passage to Bangkok:

"Pulling into Kathmandu

Smoke rings fill the air

Perfumed by a Nepal night"

After a couple of Gorkha beers, we headed to a garden style bar, less smoke and still a nice band.The most popular style around seems to be rock but the repertoire ranges from James Brown to Jon Bon Jovi, from Collective Soul to Pink Floyd and everything in between. Friday, after eating a nice dinner at OR2K, Julie and I went to see a jazz band in a really cool place called Comfort Zone. Both places were very interesting in their own way, both good examples of the peace and quiet that you can find a staircase away from the busy and bustling streets of Thamel.

Over the weekend, I will continue my sightseeing, Bodhnath Stupa and Pashupatinath Temple are next on my list...

Rameshwor Community Library

After completing the training in Jhuwani, our plan was to go back to Kathmandu early Monday morning but because of a "banda" in Kathmandu we had to change our plans and delay our return to Kathmandu to later on Monday afternoon.

A "banda" is the name Nepalese give to a strike. In this case, the strike was called by the Maoist to protest against the current political situation. Whenever a "banda" is declared, no store or business can be open and all means of transportation are also banned ( so no taxis, cars, buses or motorbikes on the streets). Usually it is a "peaceful" protest, it only turns violent when people disobey it and the Maoists activists try to enforce the "banda".

In Chitwan where I was, there was no "banda" so we could move from one village to the next and Pratima decided to take advantage of the opportunity and take me to visit yet another library.

In other words, I was lucky that there was a "banda" in Kathmandu!

So we woke up early, had our Daal-Bhat for breakfast, got a ride on the hotel car until the next village, Sauraha Chowk, and from there we took the bus to Narayangarh. We then took the rickshaw to the Rameshowr Community Library.

(Have you noticed how many different types of transportation one can take in one hour in Nepal? It is never boring around here!)

The library is located in Narayangarh, a community in the outskirts of Bharatpur.

The first floor of the library building has a meeting hall that can be rented. The income from this hall provides funding to cover for the library operating costs.

The library area is located in the second floor.

It is a lovely and vibrant library. During the two hours we stayed there, people from all ages came and went, reading books, reading the newspapers and using the copy machine.

Specially interesting was to observe the kids using the toys, reading story books and doing their homework.

The librarian was attentive, always taking care of everything and making sure that all were behaving appropriately.

It is a warm and peaceful environment!

The president of the Library Management Committee (LMC) stopped by and we talked for a while about the library and the challenges they face. He told me that the greatest challenge was to be able to become truly self sustainable, expanding their income sources in order to obtain enough money to continuously improve the services offered by the library.

In the middle of the afternoon, we left the library and walked to the "bus area", along the way, we stopped for Buff Momos, totally delicious and spicy!!
In fact the word Momo is one of the few words that I can promptly read in Devanagari! This knowledge is very convenient when you are hungry!

We took a micro bus that made the 4 hour long journey on the winding road along the Seti River towards Kathmandu.

The micro bus experience was very interesting... I am glad I had it.

It is very easy, being a foreigner, to be isolated from the real way Nepalese people live.

Experiences like this, doing what the people do, are, without a doubt, the highlights of my trip. This is why I came and I am very gra

teful to have some glimpses of the real Nepal.

There was one stop along the way, for dinner, in a very interesting place. Too bad I had eaten too much Momos in Bharatpur and I could not eat any of the fried fish and potato-patties.

Maybe next time...

Leadership Training - Jhuwani Community Library

When I arrived at Sauraha bus stop, a guide from the hotel was waiting for me.

He took me to the hotel where Pratima and Biwas were staying: Eden Jungle Resort.

A lovely hotel with a very well cared courtyard garden. I dropped my backpack in my room and went to meet Pratima at the library. I was looking forward to visiting another library and watching the training.

The hotel guide drove me to Jhuwani library and, along the way, I enjoyed the new scenery.

The Terai region is very diferent from the rest of Nepal.

It is unbelievably flat!

You can see a mountain range in the distance, but everything else is flat. Almost every piece of land is cultivated, mainly corn and rice.

The dwellings are also very different, and as the guide explained to me, this region is mainly occupied by Tharu people, one of the many ethnicities that make up nepalese society.

The Tharus are the older occupants of this area specially because they have a natural resistance to malaria. This area has always been infected by malaria and the Tharus were the only people that could survive here.

It was only after 1950's, when there was a special effort to erradicate malaria in the Terai, that other ethnicities were able to settle here.

At the library, I found a very lively and enthusiastic group of people, around 20, all involved in several activities and breakout sessions.

They were in the middle of the fourth day of training and it was a really hot day! But it seemed as if none of that mattered... Their participation and eagerness to learn were amazing.

All the training was in Nepali so, despite all my effort to follow what was being said, most of the time I just had no clue...

Some of the powerpoint slides and activities helped me have an idea of what was the topic being discussed, but that was it!

Once more I was really sad I did not speak the language.

The bright side of it is that it allowed me to focus all my attention on observing how each member of the community interacted with each other and how they were participating in the program.

Nepalese people are very dedicated and interested in learning!

They also work well in small groups.

Most of all they are a fun loving and vibrant people! At times I wasn't quite sure if I was in a training session or a party!

I really enjoyed the experience! Nepal and its people never cease to amaze me!!

Trip to Jhuwani Community Library

It has been almost a week since I last posted anything in this blog.
No doubt it has been a busy and productive week, full of new experiences.
Last week, right after arriving back from Pokhara I started planning my next trip. My goal was to join Mrs. Pratima Sharma at the Jhuwani Library, where she was providing a 5 day long training in leadership and strategic planning to the members of the Library Management Committee.
Jhuwani library is located close to the entrance to the Chitwan National Park (previously named Royal Chitwan National Park), one of the main tourist attractions in Nepal. The park was created in 1973 to preserve the ecosystem and to protect several species from extinction, among them the one horned Indian rhino, elephants, royal Bengal tiger and gangetic dolphins. Chitwan was added to the Unesco World Heritage list in 1984
Due to the challenges of transportation in Nepal, I had to wait until Saturday when I could obtain a ticket in the daily tourist bus that goes from Kathmandu to Sauraha, the main gateway to Chitwan National Park. This tourist bus is the best, more comfortable and safer land transportation option from KTM to Chitwan.
The bus scheduled departure time was 7 am on Saturday and the departure location, was not a bus station but one of the centrally located streets in KTM. At first I was worried that it would be difficult to find the bus, considering that there was not a gate, spot or any other precise indication of where to catch the bus... what a western mindset!!
When I got to the specified block on Kanti Path ( the name of the street) I found a line of buses and before I decided to ask, someone came to me asked where I was going (they could easily see that I was a tourist trying to get somewhere...:-) ) and gave me very good directions to where I could find my bus. This is what is interesting about Nepal, at first things look chaotic and unorganized to our western eyes until you find out that they only have a different way to organize things and that, in the end, everything works very well they way they do it.
The bus departed on time and thankfully it wasn't full. By my side, sat an American from Seattle that has just come back from a 14 day long trekking in the Annapurna range. He would soon be going to China and Thailand. He was really nice and we had a good time exchanging our experiences in Nepal. He gave me the contact information of the company that organized his trekking trip and it might be a good information in case I decide to try a fun expedition before I go back to US...
It was good to have someone to talk to and kill some time. The 169 Km( 104.8 miles) from KTM to Sauraha takes 5 hours!!! Even though the roads, Prithvi Hwy until Mungling and then Mahendra Hwy, are two of the main roads in Nepal, they are narrow, winding and in a really bad shape... It is a miracle that there are not more accidents...
As usual the scenery is unbelievably beautiful!! As the road leaves the Kathmandu Valley it abruptly goes down the Mahabharath Mountain Range and follows the valley of the Seti River. Pretty, pretty, pretty!

There was one stop at 9am for breakfast, during that time I got into a conversation with a very nice Nepalese young man that was also on the bus going to Sauraha. He asked me where I was going, when I told him that was going to visit the Jhuwani Community Library he became all excited and told me that he was a member of the library! He told me how much the library has been helpful in his studies and exam preparations and how much he enjoyed visiting it.

I couldn't be happier, it made me feel very proud to be working for an organization that elicit this kind of reaction in people!

What an auspicious start for my journey!!!