Adjusting to Nepal

It has only been about 2 weeks since I have arrived in Nepal and it is quite a learning process. I am reverted back to my infancy stage. We had to learn to eat, use the bathroom, bath in a bucket, only eat cooked food, and having an early bedtime. Basically I am throwing my American manors out the window and it is kind of fun! When eating we don’t you an utensils it is all with your hands and licking your fingers is encouraged, you don’t want to wipe your hands on a napkin until your are all done eating. We also eat cross-legged on the floor; this can get uncomfortable after a little while. Also you only eat with your right hand, the left hand is reserved for….you guessed it! Wiping cleaning yourself when you go to the bathroom! This is probably one of the biggest concerns our group has had since we came to Nepal. We don’t use a western toilet; it is basically a porcelain hole in the ground that you squat over, aim for the hole and then wash with water and your left hand. It takes a couple times to get it right, I am still unsure if I have it down perfect. Some people say they feel cleaner, yea I haven’t had that epiphany yet, and I’m still waiting for that, I really miss toilet paper. Also with food we are not allowed anything uncooked, as our bodies will not be able to tolerate it with their water and different parasites/bacteria. So everything is soft and cooked. No cold food. L

The first week was simply class on culture and safety and Peace Corps rules/expectations. We stayed in Kathmandu in a training site, we didn’t get to explore much as we had an 8pm curfew and if we left we had to be with a trainer. We did get to go out a couple times and even on the second trip out I asked if we could drink a beer and they actually let us! Everyone was shocked I asked but heck I needed to see what I got myself into and taste the local beer haha. It was actually pretty good too! Huge relief.

After Kathmandu we head to Chautara where we meet our first host families that we live with for the next 9 weeks. We were all super nervous as we have had only 3hrs max of language so huge language barrier. When the families all show up all the Peace Corps trainees are on one side of the room and all the host families are on the other side. Daulet (our training boss man) gives instruction on what they need to feed us, how we like alone time, if we get sick don’t give us any medicine, we can’t speak much Nepalese and be direct with us, ect…. Basically it’s like giving someone a child for the first time haha. Once introductions begin I meet my Baa (dad) who speaks a little bit of English and we have a snack and then head to Bajjo ket (that’s wrong spelling) which is about 40 minute walk from Chautara. At home I meet my ama (mom) who doesn’t speak any English and she basically laughs at me since I am confused all the time. She is funny. They have two sons who are 23 and 25 (he is married) that live in Kathmandu so I don’t get to meet them yet. So when I arrive I get the tour and see my room, which is quite large. The kitchen is upstairs and we don’t have a table or running water but it is sufficient and we also cook over an open fire but we do have a gas-stove top as well which we use for tea. Then downstairs we have my mom and dads room and also where the goats come in at night and sleep in the house. Then outside we have the charpi (toilet) and we also take our bucket baths in the charpi. It has a high enough ceiling so I can stand all the way up which is rare I guess so that is a positive! And actually the bucket bath isn’t too bad, save a lot of water and I do feel clean when I am done. That initial pour cold water on your self is a shock to the body but after the first pour the rest are fine. One major negative about having the charpi outside is that at night having to go to the bathroom there are MASIVE spiders that are crawling around and hanging out. So scary. And they run super duper fast! Oh and I peed on a gecko last night too in the charpi haha. 

My language is starting to come along, I have to remind myself to be patient and remember I have only been in language class for 3 days; I can’t have a miracle over night. The conjugation of verbs is so difficult and there are so many ways to say yes and no and it gets confusing really quick. My mom and dad are quite patient with me though so that is great. My dad has also asked me to cook a few times but I will probably epically fail with this cook stove over open fire so I am holding off and will hopefully be able to help in the kitchen more first.