New Apartment

I started writing this post a week ago. It’s just so hard to get anything done here with the power off so much of the time. I am very busy at work as I am being asked to coach everyone else on campus (which typically translates into me doing their jobs for them). I often spend the electricity-filled hours on my off-days doing work as well. I had hoped to write a bunch of stuff before posting, but have decided to break it down into a few shorter posts in the hopes of getting things out there on a more regular basis.

My most recent news is that I’ve got a new apartment and will be moving on March 1. Deborah is moving to a house and I’m going to take over her apartment. It’s in a great neighbourhood where most of the embassies are located. It’s on the third floor of a house and while it’s a bit smaller than my current apartment, it is much better outfitted. It has a lovely sunny terrace which I’m so looking forward to hanging out on. It is also right next to the only park left in Kathmandu. I haven't checked it out yet but it's a wooded area that I'm hoping will be suitable for running through. Best of all it’s really quiet and I should get both sleep and privacy. I am also going to take “custody” of Deborah’s “didi” (literally "big sister" but in this case maid). Deborah can’t take her with her and so I thought I’d give it a go. I really struggle with the whole concept of having help, but I’m probably the only foreigner here not to have one, and it gives a Nepali a job. The apartment is cheaper than my current one, so even with Anju's salary, I’m still coming out even. In addition, I expect that I’ll save money as I’ll come home to a home-cooked meal every night and will be less inclined to eat out. Also, she’ll do my laundry which I’m also currently paying for. It will be a challenge for me to have someone around, but as Deborah says, it’s probably time I learned how to share my space. Still, I expect that I will be giving her lots of days off when I’m planning to be home all day.

Okay...onto the post I started last week.

Sorry I haven’t posted for so long, but nothing of consequence is really happening. My life has settled into a fairly boring routine of work, evenings out with women friends and weekend visits to the stupa at Bouddhanath in the heart of the Tibetan community. So instead of writing about what I’m doing, I’ll write about some impressions I have of living and working here.

Education System

In a word, it sucks. Teaching is all done by rote here and there is no creativity whatsoever in the classroom. Sadly, students are taught to memorise, but not to think. As a result, we have college students who need to be taught lessons that we teach to first graders at home. Although we are a college, it feels more like an elementary school from point of view of discipline and student conduct. Students cannot be left to their own devices and we have to take attendance and monitor them every step of the way. Deborah teaches a study skills class that endeavours to teach the students such basic things as initiative, planning and how to behave in a classroom. The worst is that they talk constantly throughout class. It just doesn’t occur to them that they might benefit from listening, and it certainly hasn’t been enforced as a behavioural practice. Never mind trying to tell them that it’s a matter of respect to listen when someone is speaking to you.

Cheating runs rampant here and is likely a result of the corrupt society that they live in. Each teacher has to write several sets of questions for each test and stagger them throughout the room. Fortunately, we have one administrative assistant here who can spot cheating a mile away, so she sits in on as many exams as can fit her schedule. Students also use their laptops and cell phones in class, both of which will be outlawed by yours truly at the next management meeting. I’m guessing that I’m not going to be the most popular person on campus in the coming weeks, but the students have approached me eagerly looking for orientation to living and working in Canada, so they’re going to have to bite the bullet.

Dining Etiquette

Nepalese people live on a staple diet of dal bhat, a lentil soup poured over rice. This can be accompanied by curried vegetables or pickle depending on what they can afford and what is available in the markets. They typically eat twice per day and utensils aren’t used in the home. There is a bit of an art to eating dal bhat. You continually play with your food, trying to roll it into bit-sized balls - a difficult feat given that it isn’t sticky rice so there’s not much to hold it all together. Nepalese are good enough at it that only their right hands end up dirty (you never eat with your left hand), but when I do it I need to follow dinner with a shower.

We are trying to teach the students at the college table etiquette which they are grasping at a very slow rate. We have them using utensils but we can’t break them of the habit of playing with their food. Their hands are constantly busy mixing the dal with the rice, making little piles, making new little piles and moving things around. It doesn’t bother me that much but Deborah goes out of her mind in the dining room at school listening to the constant tapping of spoons on plates.

I’m going to stop here or I’ll never get anything posted. More impressions of Nepal in the coming days...