Another great experience

Since I came back from the Regional Meeting in Nagarkot, I have been very busy with the preparation for the three day training I had planned to provide to READ Nepal staff and volunteers. The training was scheduled for July 6th, 7th and 8th. ( so yes, today was the last day!)

We discussed marketing, web and newsletter design, digital story telling, video and photo editing. It was very challenging to prepare a training so broad and encompassing so many different and interesting topics to be delivered in just three short days... It was hard on me and on the trainees, to endure long days and a lot of content in this July heat...I hope they were able to learn new skills that they can readily apply in their work.

I have learned much from this experience! And I am very grateful for the opportunity not only to share some of my knowledge and experience but also to learn from this very special group of people. I feel blessed!

Now it begins a new (and the last) phase of my IPSP. I am amazed as how fast time goes by, in 21 days I will be going back home...I know I will miss KTM and I am starting to feel the pressure to enjoy as much as I can while I can...

READ Regional Meeting

This past weekend I participated in the first READ Regional Meeting. The meeting was in a hotel in Nagarkot, Nepal, and gathered staff members from READ Nepal, READ India, READ Bhutan and READ Global (the umbrella organization).
Nagarkot, located 32 km from Kathmandu, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited and the Hotel Country Villa, where we stayed, is nestled in the mountains overlooking the Himalayas. Unfortunately, for the 3 days we were there, the entire region was filled with a heavy fog that prevented us from seen the mountain range in all its majesty.

The meeting was very productive and represented a great opportunity for READ members from different offices to get to know each other. Besides having workshop sessions from 9 am until around 6 pm everyday. There was also time for fun activities such as walk to a nearby village (coming back uphill to the Hotel we all got a ride on the back of a truck, it was such a great time!!!)

and a presentation of local Shamans.

I also had the opportunity to do a very brief Marketing presentation and share with the entire team some of the topics that I plan to discuss with READ Nepal next week.

After the sessions on Sunday we all came back to KTM for some sightseeing and a lovely farewell dinner, at Nepali Chulo ( Chulo is a traditional Nepali oven). During dinner, which in the traditional Newar style had several delicious courses, we enjoyed several folk dances, such as the peacock dance, and even a yeti "impersonator"... (kind of scary sometimes... but lots of fun!!!)

It was the perfect closure for a really great weekend! Who says work can not be fun!?!

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!