My new home for 2 years!

So I am officially settled into my new home of the next 2 years. I am living with a Mom, Dad and I have a little sister. Also there is a blind couple (the dad is a teacher) who rents rooms on the first floor with a 2 year old daughter who is absolutely adorable (yes I, Rachel Nolz, thinks a child is adorable). My moms garden is spectacular and we get all of our vegetables right from the garden. She also has limes, pineapples, and mangos growing. I really don't know what I will do here because they are pretty well developed agriculturally so this is going to be tough figuring out how I can these people out.

I have made friends with some neighbor girls and one day we even went to a fair. It is crazy how much its exactly like fairs in America. You go to eat a bunch of food, watch concerts, watch fights, ride rides (ferris wheel, the boat, kiddy rides), play games and buy 'stuff'. It was alot of fun and of course at the concert they pulled me up on stage and wanted me to dance but I can't dance when I am in a crowd now on stage when I am on the only white person for miles, yup I had to turn that opportunity down haha.

Christmas was exciting here. Surprisingly Surkhet has a very large population of Christians so some of the stores sell decorations and christmas things. Me and 4 friends gathered at the girls house in the capital city of Surkhet and celebrated at her house. Her family was very eager to learn our traditions and participate. We cooked cheese noodles, fried chicken, saag, and garlic bread for dinner. Then Christmas morning we woke up and opened our homemade stockings and did our white elephant gift exchange. It was all very fun and then we made egg burritos, potatoes, fruit, and fried prawns (surprisingly tasty). We also decorated her evergreen tree out from with garland and lights, well half the tree was decorated, the other half we couldn't reach. This is definitely a christmas we will all remember.

Also my new address is:
Rachel Nolz Peace Corps Volunteer
Tilla Oli (my moms name here)
Rolpali Tole, Ward Number 5
Ramghat VDC, Surkhet District
Nepal

Things I learned while in PST Nepal

-Invest in quality clothing and don't bring alot of clothing/stuff. One checked bag is sufficient.

-You will never wash your cloths good enough to meet Nepali standards. They scrub and rinse cloths so intensely I am shocked not more cloths have ripped yet.

-These big plans you make before you come to a country that doesn’t use toilet paper about how you will strategically not cave and wipe with water and your left hand: throw all that out and get use to using that left hand – surprisingly your behind will be very clean and you will without a doubt wash your hands with soap longer than the recommended time which very few people do back in the states.

-Showering only once or twice I week isn’t so bad. Of course we don’t smell great but showering with a cold bucket of water when its only 60 degree out – you get the point.

-Accept you are a like a pet for these three months. As long as you are happy, pee outside, eat when you are told everyone will love you. And when you get “speak” down they are extremely thrilled!

-You will sound like a child just throwing out simple sentences trying to use all the vocab you know. Still do this, it is good practice and they think its cute ur talking.

-Getting 10 hours a sleep is not shameful, after dark there is really point in staying awake.

-You will start craving foods you don’t even like back in the States.

-Watching movies you will notice every time someone is eating or standing by a refrigerator. 

-Get over any reservations you have about talking about your bowl movements, it’s going to be a topic for your new two years.

-Doing a stool sample is not as horrible as it sounds, once the first person does it everyone who has had persistent bowl problems will follow as well.

-Getting news you have a parasite is a huge relief! This means you don’t have to live the rest of your Peace Corps life with diarrhea and there is actually something wrong with you.

-Don’t get embarrassed that the entire village knows the next morning that you spent the night in the bathroom with diarrhea/vomiting.

-If you cook an American meal for your families expect them to praise your food, eat it and then immediately cook daal bhat afterwards.

-Lay down the law right away about how much you are willing to eat and when those portions start to increase slowly you must knock it back down because before you know it you are eating a pound of rice morning and night and you have gained 15lbs over night!

-When you bring photos with you to share with your family leave behind any swimsuit photos, too shocking for them but the woman analyze it anyways.

-People love when you get fat and if they think you are fat they will tell you and tell you it’s a good thing.

-Don’t mess with the dogs

-Make a calendar marked with things to look forward to (trainings, vacations, holidays); makes time seem to go by faster.

-Every time you speak a little Nepali the locals are so impressed and happy you are trying.

-This is an experience you will never fully be able to explain to anyone back home. 

Wrapping up Pre Service Training!

I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. Everyone passed the language exam and I scored one level above the requirement, which I was very surprised and very happy! We had our swearing in ceremony November 25^th at Sunkoshi Adventure Retreat and Nepal group 200 has 24 new volunteers (three people have gone back to America since the initial 27, for various reasons). The Ambassador was there and a man from Peace Corps Nepal 14 was the guest of honor speaker (we are group 200). Also one member from each of our families was able to come which was fun for them and us. My dad was the person who came from my family; I really have enjoyed both my mom and dad here (I can only hope I have the same relationship with my next family). It was very peaceful to be in the middle of nowhere and have some time to actually relax without pressures of classes and language tests.  The unfortunate part is that we had this big ceremony and now we are back at our training village for another week because our counter part conference isn’t until December 3^rd so we just have this week of in between time. It feels like we are just in limbo. Lets just rip off the Band-Aid already and send us off to being on our own! I may regret this statement the week at permanent all alone haha.

Tihar Festival. Family and Friends

The end of the beginning is near!

the end of the beginning is near!

We are finally coming to the end of PST. Last week we got to go to Kathmandu for 3 nights to see the Peace Corps office, doing the amazing race (using public transportation to find important places), and basically to give us a break from language and training at village. It was a lot of fun to get out, eat what we wanted (no rice) and have some free time to ourselves. Also it was great to not be stared at constantly because we stayed near the touristy area of Kathmandu so we were definitely not the only white people around.

Arriving back at village we started another festival here; Tihar which is 5 days long. It was also great because Veranon (the girl my family hosted last year) came back with us to visit for two nights. It was great having someone who spoke English and knew the family really well. She filled me in on everyone and could translate some words I didn’t know. She also filled me in on what it is like at permanent site, good spots to visit in Nepal, and what to do during our crazy amount of free time.

Tihar’s major day was bhai tika (brothers are worshiped). So all the sisters buy gifts such as snacks, fruits, candies, baked goods, and nuts to give them. So all the men are on one side of the room, then there is lighting incense and wicks in a flower circle thing on the floor. Then the sisters come and tika their brothers and give them the gifts/flower necklace thing. They then receive hard-boiled eggs, roasted garlic, and whole fried fish. Then the men tika their sisters and give them money. Afterwards everyone eats. It was a long ceremony but very fun, lots of food, flowers, gifts and money. It was such a long day I was in bed at 7:30pm, I discovered if I am tired at all I understand almost no Nepali language, it was good for me to get some sleep at that point. 

Brief Update

So the trip was canceled to visiting our permanent sites due to a Nepali government official being assassinated and issues from the US Federal government being shut down so long and funding cut backs apparently. I guess looking at the bright side we were able to get more language class, which in the long run it will be appreciated when we are finally by our selves at permanent site.

We had our mock language proficiency interview this week, I was so so nervous even though it was just a practice and the real one isn’t for 4 more weeks. Thankfully it went much better than I anticipated and I scored at the level that we have to be at by the end of training!! Such a relief! To make it even better I received my mom’s package, Sister’s package and my best friend Laurie’s package in the mail today! I had hit a pretty high stress level so this was a perfect ending to a difficult week! Candy and protein makes everything so much better LOL. Its great knowing so many people care about me back home.

So I am broadening my diet. One evening I got to eat fried wasp larva! Initially when I watched them taking the larva out of the nest I wanted to barf but then after they fried them and gave me a dish of them I ate one at a time right away and then realized they tasted great and ate them by the handful. Keeping an open mind here.

Yesterday we had vitamin day. We went to two houses with a nurse and watched her administer vitamins and de-worming pills to small children. They do this twice a year until the age of 6. That doesn’t seem to add up correctly (Vitamins just twice a year) in my mind but hey maybe it’s an area they can improve on while we are working here. Not exactly what I had pictured for vitamin day but good experience.

Short update but time seems to be flying by now and before I know it I’ll be on my own in Surket! Saving the world! Lol.

Dasai