So I just finished practice teaching. It was pretty fun. One of the classes I just observed, the other three I taught. Twice the teacher just left without telling me. That was really nice of them. I didn't even know what subject I was teaching. I winged it. I can BS with the best of them. Mostly they were question and answer sessions. The class wanted to know where I was from, how old I was, why wasn't I married ( for some reason I keep getting this question), but it seems that the main question was "What caste are you?". In Nepal, as in India, they have a caste system. There are four castes, from the untouchables, but to Brahman. The concept of a lack of a caste system seems to puzzle them, just at the existance of one seems to puzzle me. I have a hard time conveying the idea of everyone being equal to the students. For the most part I really enjoyed myself. Yesterday morning I chatted with most of the fam, they were at Keith's house for his B-day. It was really great. After that Yogesh and I rode bikes to Patan to retake some pictures (he dumped ALL the pictures on my digital camera. Long story, well not that long, but boring enough not to put up.). It was a great day for it, the clearest thus far in my visit. After Patan I was meeting a friend of Rajesh's (program director, not my bai) at Mike's Breakfast for a chat. Quite an interesting experience. He brought an American friend that lived in Nepal full time from 1982-1996, and now spends 4-6 months a year here and the rest in Oregon. He is extremely knowledgeable on the politics of Nepal, the history and religion. We discussed the current situation, how it developed, where it was likely headed and what would be best for the Nepali people. We discussed the maoist, their occupation of the country side, and it's effect on the population, economy of Kathmandu. He likened it to Pol Pot in Cambodia, however, I don't feel the situations are as similar as he implied. The moaist are not murdering people by the thousands. They seem to limiting their conflict to the military, they do seem to be exercising control over the towns by not "allowing" them to sell alcohol. All in all a wonderful afternoon.
On Friday afternoon we went to Boudanath, which is the largest Stupa in Nepal and one of the largest in the world. A most impressive sight. Again, traveling in a clock wise fashion around the stupa, showing the right side. The main dome sits atop three large squares of decresing size and is approxamately 80 ft accross and 40 ft high. Atop the dome is a square about 12 ft accross, peering from each side are eyes that represent the all seeing Budha. Above the eyes, from each side, rise 13 steps, each representing one step closer to Nirvana, the goal of Bhuddists. Then, strung from the top are thousands of prayer flags of different colors. Literally a sea of them.
I have learned a new term to use when people are trying to sell me things of the street. Pardina. Man parcha means I like, man pardina, I don't like. Pardina means, not needing. A handy term.
"Sir, you like mandala?" Mandala-a Bhudist geometric shape that comes in a vision
"Pardina."
"Ramro, ramro madala." Good, good mandala
"Ekdam ramro, ma pardina" Excellent mandala, I don't need.
Or something to that affect. I feel like anyone who comes to Nepal should know that term.
Alex, the good stuff in Kathmandu can be done in a week...............and I know a great place to stay for $5 a day.

Sorry for the delay in posting, there just wasn't much to say from Wednesday and yesterday I was just a bit tired to post. There has a been a bandh going on so the plan for yesterday was left open: either Nepali class or Bhaktapur. I was most definately pulling for Bhaktapur. And that's where we ending up going. BUT first there was a minor detour to the summit of Nagarkot. Nagarkot is a mountain that has turned into a resort town for one reason: it's view of the Himalaya. Of which there was none. Damn haze. The 30k ride to the summit took an hour on a small motorbike that needs new shocks. With two people on it. The scenery was, however was stunning. On the lower part of the mountain there was mustard fields for acres and acres. As we progressed up the mountain there were fields of 'taters and wheat. At about 5000 ft. we passed through a forested region that reminded me of the Sierras (alex/keith-the road condition was as windy and bad as the one to mineral king.). The trees were not as dense, but I just got that sense. I'm suddenly not in the mood to write. Reading email and blogging is not reccomended if you get news you don't expect nor want to get. Getting news of people's passing makes me feel quite out of touch. On the one hand it's a little of what I wanted, however, it doesn't make the living of it any easier. It makes me appreciate being there a bit more than perhaps I had in the past. Bhaktapur was really quite beautiful. It is the ancient capital of Nepal. Founded in the 12th century. Several large temples, again around a central square. Pottery and woodcarving (ma-the masks you got us likely came from here) is the main industry in the town.
So, I've been asked several questions by several people in emails and on the comment section, I'll try and answer a few of them now:
The family breakdown:
Baa (father)-Kumar-38
Aamaa (mother)-Lal 38
Maamaa (uncle)-Nabim 17
Bai (younger bro)- Yogesh 16
Rajeah 14
I exchnage rupees at either a bank or at one of the many money exchnage places around town. I'm still working on the orgional $150 (10500rupees). I've spent about half.
I'm only drinking bottled or boiled water from any number of companies. Pabst Blue Ribbon is no longer available as water, but Ma, there is still a beer out there by that name (in the states)
I have my own bedroom, it's a requirement of the program. If there were another student, then we would share the room.
The wheather has been rather pleasant. About 60f in my room in the morning, a little cooler outside. Gets up to about mid 70's at midday, not much warmer. As this is spring time, it will get a little warmer as time progressees.
I meet up with the program director about 6 days a week. 3-4 of those we have Nepali class, and the other two days are cultural tours. Bhaktapur, Patan, Nagarjun, Kathmandu, etc. I start teaching in about 9 days. I meet the school principal next week.
In early April I go trekking for 6 days, then to Chitwan National Park for two and white water rafting for one. I'm not sure that I want to go rafting after seeing the rivers in Kathmandu. There is a term used by plummer called "gray water", that means comtaminated. In the states it's with feces and other toliet matter, in Nepal, I don't want to know what it is.
That's it for now. Hope that helps some out a bit.

What's been going on here.........Yesterday I went to not one but two Nepali weddings (thanks for the words of wisdom steve-0!!). I never saw the groom at either wedding, funny that. At the first there was a "priest", a bride, a painting on the ground, a few offerings to the ancestors and NO groom. People just of milled about and then suddenly we were off to another weddding. OH, I rode a bike in with Maamaa. See notes on traffic. CRAZY. We rode like madmen to the second wedding. What the rush was, I have yet to figure out. I sat around with Baa and Aamaa for about an hour, then we went and watched people give the bride gifts, then sat for another hour. Then food. After I finished Baa told me how to get home in broken english. I walked away having really no idea where to go. I went left because Maamaa told me that in that direction was Bastiputali, the neighborhood where I stayed the first night in Nepal. I have been trying to locate it so I could say hello to Nima the manager. I was able to locate it after about 30mins of wandering. Now as many of you know I LOVE BEING LOST. I'm not sure how memory works, but it seemed to be functioning, as I recalled vaguely street signs. I chatted with Nima for a bit, and the french couple as well, I hope to see them in Nice this coming summer. Apparently they spend SIX MONTHS a year traveling, 3 in Nepal, and 3 in India. Quite nice people. Today I had a bit of an upset stomach, I'm not sure why, but it's better now. And this afternoon I'm off to Patan, which a bit south of Kathmandu. Lots of Stupas and Temples. [beds-what a joke. they are really just thick blankets. I've taken to using the blanket from the other bed as an added padding, and my therm-a-rest. It's better, but not great, my back kills in the morning. and the bed is exactly 5'11". I sleep at an angle. I love this place!!!] Really, I do. The people are so nice. When I was "not" lost yesterday, people that I asked directions from were really helpful. It was really wonderful. On the other hand because I am white, I have sucker stamped on my forehead or I'd buy that for more than twice what it's worth. I'm getting used to pricing, so if you have requests, please let me know.

Not much has happened in the past two days. Rajesh and I went hiking yesterday to the top of Nagarjun. 5k up, 800m. 3.1m, 2400ft. Two hours. ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, there is a Buddist Stupa. [ Stupa's- They are literaly everywhere. There is one on the walk from my house in Dhapasi to Rajesh's. Some of them are very ornate, some not so. They are all religious monuments. Because of this, you walk with the stupa on your right. The right side of you body being the "clean" part of the body (you wipe with your left hand, hence, not clean)]. Actually there are three stupas. One is 400 or 500 years old, the second two or three hundred, and the third, and most ornate, 5 years old. I can't imagine how they got the material up there to build the stupas. It boggles the mind in the same way as the construction of the pyramids. Today was off the theatre to see a Nepali movie. Wow. It was bad. I didn't understand a word and followed the plot very well. And the acting. I wanted to laugh in the dramatic moments. Now I'm here. Rough day. :D

Yesterday was a great day. I didn't have class, neither did Yogesh and Maamaa wasn't working, so we decided to go to Thamel and try to find an adaptor for my camera, so's I can charge the battery. We located the charger after about two hours of wandering. I was pretty stoked about that. On the way to Thamel we took a taxi and on the way home, the bus. Riding the bus was fun. There were more people on the bus than on A/C transit Transbay bus at 8am. And this bus was only 1/3 the size. The taxi to Thamel cost 70 rupee and the bus 6. I would take the bus if I knew where they friggen went. [ a note on costs (i'm hoping to include one of these little sections twice or three times a week): everything here is cheap. As an example, I called Claire for 13:15. It cost me 150 rupee. Just over 2 bucks. It would have cost her just over 13bucks. I bought the boys lunch at fire and ice, 500 rupee for two pizzas. Water is 15 rupee a liter. Something like 20cents.] Last night the boys and I had a conversation about the States. They wanted to know how much does this cost, what about that? Isn't it easy to find a job? The family is trying to emigrate to the states. I told them that, yes, you do make more money, no things are not THAT cheap. Shirts are not 2bucks, Levi's cost $50. Rent is alot, cars are alot. People change their clothes everyday. Bathe daily. I think that perhaps the hardest things to understand are those that I can't explain (like the $20 burrito). I get the sense that the family wants help coming to the US, but I don't really know in what capacity. Anyone with time, could you please find out what the D.V. (?) lottery is? That's all for today. Perhaps more tomorrow.

So, part of yesterday being national extortion day was a LARGE Hindu festival in Baspati. Perhaps I mentioned this. Perhaps not. Large. So that has a fairly personal meaning to all. Let us quantify this number. 200,000. LARGE. And it was also the only day of the year that you can smoke pot legally. My thought: Walking down to the festival after parking the motorbike (everyone here rides bikes. most about 100cc. horn honking is the national pasttime. don't let anyone tell you different. and there are really no lanes. two way road turns to one way to a death trap before you can scream.) I didn't really understand how many people would be there until we steeped out onto a main streeet and ALL I could see were people, left right forward. PEOPLE. I had thought of bringing my camera, but decided not to, it was a good to not. The only picture that I really would have wanted was the one showing the thousands of people. Then the oders started to hit me. Burning trash, which is not that uncommon here. We walked through the crowd, harder than every moshpit I have ever been in. The police seemed to be controling the people traffic in a most random manner. And quite violently. Rattan staffs were being broken on the ground, on people. Where ever they landed (ma- I didn't get hit. :D). Then once we were in the main gate the pot smell hit me. But there was something else that was mingling with the wafting smoke, it was wood, but not just wood. An oder that I recognized but knew that I had not smelled. Bodies. This temple is one of the locations where Hidus are creamated in a very public fashion. What an overwhelming sight, the people, the cremation. I felt like I was intruding into some else's very private life. Very hard. It was my western conception of burial and funeral rights. This is there way. You could and we did, walk down right near the creamation fires. REALLY GLAD that I didn't have my camera. I will never forget it. On to more cheerie news. The boys and I seem to be gettting along well. We all wrestled last night. The three of them vs. me. FUN fun fun. A quick word on food. So the hands is fine, the dal bhatt for dinner every night is getting okay, but WOW can they pack it away. Maamaa (uncle, whose 16) is Runt's size, but I watched him eat more rice than Seppo and Ei-nyung eat in a week in one sitting, in less than 10 minutes. DAMN. GOtta run, off to Thamel and Durbar today.

OH, one last thing, perhaps, as runt would say, T.M.I. I had a dream that a beautiful french women (edward-you been playing with the voodoo dolls?) was coming onto me, and all I could think about was a porcelin pot and three ply sheets. Sad. Sad. Sad.........

Well, email checking is a little tough, but apparently I can get into my blog. Yesterday I rode bikes with Rajesh (program director) from Dapasi to Thamel, Durbar and the Palace. If world class cyclists had to train on these bikes, they wouldn't need drugs. One speed, and it weighs 30 bloody pounds. Great work out. My ass hurt today b/c of it. It was a beautiful ride. Bit of polution though. We had lunch in a "restaurant" that served traditional Newari food. I felt a bit like I imagine that pop felt eating in Vietnam with the village chiefs. I didn't want to know what I was eating, but working in a grocery store, I KNEW. Steve-0, you can kiss my touchas. I ate things that you wouldn't. Today is national extortion day. J/K. There is a festival today, so the kids put ropes accross the rode in order to extract a fee. It's only a ruppe, little bastards. Reminds me of a lemonade stand that comes with La Cosa nortra attached. I had grilled cheese for lunch today. Parmesian grilled cheese. It WAS heavan. I think that's all for now. I'll drop a line soon. Miss ya!!

Totally forgot this. My family owns a little grocery store. CAN I NOT GET AWAY FROM THIS? It is in my blood. Certainly not in the VM sense, but it's a grocery mart. It's fun being entertainment. I got Yugesh, but dai (brother) to take me into the shopping district to get some slippers (flipflops) and he got me a MUCH better price than I would have gotten. I feel a littel weird wearing leather boots in a Hindu household. But WTF, they're the only shoes I brought. My new slipper cost me the princely sum of 180 rupe. 71.75r=$1. Cheap, cheap.

I'm here and a bit overwhelmed. I think that the real reality check was seeing the toilet in my house. Trench. NO paper. I'll cope. Just a short note for those that are following. More later.

SOrry no new posts before I left, there was just WAY to much to consider. Of courrse I left packing till the last minute and the basement a mess for Claire to clean up (love ya' baby!!!). I am in the airport in Hong Kong, and WOW this place is huge. No one could tell me exactly where I needed to go to get a boarding pass or which form had to be filled out. The flight over was just fine I slept most of it. There were some bumps. We battled some 100mph headwinds for a bit. I started to get nervous on board. Drank lots of water and was over come with a sudden urge to use the head 12hrs. in, right in the middle of some, BAD turbulence. An hour later, relief was discovered and the whole plane felt better. It was tough saying good bye to Steve-0 and Claire, but I'm really glad they were both at the airport. Some people I wanted to talk to before I left but just didn't get to have the conversation that I wanted, oh well. That's what email is for and time. I miss everyone already. LOVE YA!!!

The near final count down is HERE. 9 days left. Just got back from a grand time in Yosemite. Steve-0 and I drove up there on Sunday, hiked to Bridalvale Falls, then drove about the valley. Yesterday we hiked up to Mirror Lake. I walked out onto the ice (sorry Ma, it justed begged to be done), we caught Half Dome as the clouds were just breaking. Breath taking. Hopefully I'll get the pix on oFoto and you can see them. Actually, that's my goal is to be able to post photos from Nepal with my digital camera, INSTANT feed back. On the drive home today there was a "minor" spin out. A little counter steering at a lucky time and we only ended up inbedded in the snow back more firmly than a journalist in the Marines. THANKS TO THE FOREST SERVICE FOR DIGGING US OUT!!! Tomorrow is moving day, I'm still packing. This causes me some concern, but I'll get through it. Not much else to report, OH, except that I STILL DON'T have my plane ticket. OH, and I'm canceling my return flight in order to travel west from Nepal, perhaps through India and Turkey (Darren-if I make it there you best come up to visit, even if only for the day). That's all for now.