I think I could have been a philosopher...

April 17, 2010
Today, Sangita Miss called for me to come to her house and meet her family. She teaches English and Social Studies for classes 2-5 at Kantipurri, where I taught this past year. She also has a sister living in San Antonio, so she loved to talk to me about Texas and what it’s like there, and maybe one day when I get back to the US I’ll get to meet her sister!

Anyway, she, her son and her son’s friend came to pick me up on two motorcycles, which is something I’ll really miss in the US (among hundreds of other things here!). I really love riding through the city on the back of a motorcycle... for any interested males, take note (no, I’m just kidding... or am I?!)! We wove through another town in Lalitupur (I live in Talchikkhel, but there are about 14 other towns in the district of Lalitupur), mostly through ally like streets. About 25 minutes later we arrived at her house, a pretty 1st floor rented home in a really quiet area of Lalitupur.

When I went in, I met one of her other sisters, her daughter, and several other relatives! They all spoke English pretty well, which was really nice conversationally. She headed off to the kitchen to fix us a meal while I got acquainted with her family. We watched the start of some pretty gory English movie, and I have to admit that I was really glad when she walked back in with a photo album for me to look through. A few minutes later, they got tired of the movie, and to my silent thanks, they changed the channel to a cricket game, which was a little easier for me to stomach!

But the movie did open doors for some really good conversations with her kids as it led into talking about American culture and some of the realities in America vs. some of the misconceptions they have here. For instance, many Nepali’s believe since America’s developed we have no racial tensions or discrimination. We also got to talk about a lot of Nepali culture and the problems here, and it was really interesting to talk to two well educated (they’re both working on their masters- one in journalism and one in rural development) YOUNG people about the state of Nepal! Probably the most interesting to me was when we talked about the Nepali caste system. In Kathmandu, it’s pretty watered down as there’s a lot of western pressure here for everyone to be treated equally, and a lot of foreign aid to Nepal actually works to push for equal treatment of all people. However, in the rural areas the caste system is still very much in place, and people don’t cross caste lines. If you marry a lower caste, you become lower caste. There’s no moving up, no matter what you do. It the type of conversation that you’d picture in a collegiate coffee shop over a couple of cappuccinos or lattes!

After talking for about an hour, lunch was served, and it was really good, as usual! I was pretty excited because there was not rice and dahl involved, but rather spicy pickle, some of the best tasting chicken I’ve had here, some vegetables and homemade purie (lightly fried thick flour tortillas). We then talked about a lot of the differences in American food, and I was quite humored when they mentioned that they thought Nepal is becoming an obese nation. I told them to come to America and then they’ll know the truth :).

My favorite part of the afternoon, though, was when her son got out his guitar, and he and a friend sang a few songs. His friend is a professional djimbe player (Nepali style, or African, or wherever, bongos basically) and plays every night with his band at one of the fanciest hotels in Kathmandu. And they weren’t playing Nepali songs, though that would have been fine, but rather American hits like Coldplay, U2, and John Mayer (I requested that in memory of watching the “Bucket List” with my friends Katie, Brandee, and Phill... y’all remember that?!). It was a whole lot of fun, and made me want to learn more mainstream music, if only for the jamming possibilities! They had me play a couple of songs and I played 2 church ones. The professional djimbe player is also a Christian, so he appreciated them more, and while he didn’t sing along, he hummed the melodies either because he already knew them or because he must pick up music really fast!

When/if I move back overseas again, I’m going to do this way more often! I’m going to find a local university, and just talk to the students, because they’re the most likely to know English and be interested in talking. I’ve missed the friendship of other people my age so much this year, and that’s partly my fault for not taking some time to get out and meet people, but I have to admit I was too nervous to do much on my own outside the home for much of my time here. That and the whole parenting 15 kids thing! But today I was reminded that we were created for community, and sometimes we genuinely crave talking to other people who are “like” us in some way, and will challenge us. It felt like when I was in college, and my friends and I would talk for hours into the night, sometimes about true issues, sometimes about absolutely nothing, but we enjoyed each other’s company. And I know God uses that time, in His time, in His way! And with social networking websites like Facebook, I can keep up with new friends relatively easily, which is pretty cool considering I’m leaving in 2 weeks. So whether or not these friendships go deeper in the future or not, I really enjoyed the afternoon, and hope for more like them in the near future!