One long bike ride

The school is having their quarterly exams this week. (I thought the testing system in the states was bad, but this system is ridiculous. 4 times a year the kids are tested on 8 subjects with a whole day for each subject, the results of which determine the entirety of their grades.) I was not about to go in so that I could watch kids take tests so I have the week off. I got the itch just sitting around in Besisahar and I was distracting Kristen from her work so I decided to take off. I thought of going up the Annapurna circuit trail a few days, to investigate the accuracy of a map that I bought describing biking it. However, I was missing english conversation with random strangers, so I decided to ride my bike on the highway to Pokhara, the tourist hub of western Nepal. I left at about 9:45 AM yesterday, thinking I would arrive in Pokhara around 4 o'clock. The ride turned out to be more of an unterdaking than I anticipated and I did not arrive until 6:45, just as the sun was setting. I considered myself extremely lucky that Pokhara was not another 20kms further because not only would I have run out of time, but by the time I pulled into town my legs were about to give out, my quads were throbbing, and my back was quite sore as well. 

The 105kms in all worked out about like this:

- The first 40kms out of Besisahar was a steady pattern of up and down with no extended climbs or descents. The road runs parallel to a river and dips to each tributary stream then climbs again to go over the next hill. This pattern makes for a nice riding rhythm, but being at the start of the trip, the rhythm was constantly being interrupted by stops to adjust my gear making which made for slow going. 

- After a 45 minute lunch break I started out again. Before I stopped to rest, even for a second, I had gone 30kms that included two climbs of 7 and 9kms gaining roughly 300m of vertical each, an exhilarating and refreshing 8 km descent divided the two climbs. I had a huge smile on my face the whole way down, and as I passed the school kids on their way home I would throw both hands in the air and yell "aaabiiiiii" meaning I'm terrified, eliciting huge giggles. The last part of this section was a deceptively flat 10km slow climb. Already exhausted from the two climbs before, I cannot count on both hands how many times I thought "Just push a bit further and rest at the top, it has got to be just around the next corner." 

-From this break the ride was either flat or downhill for the next 15kms, but I still pedaled hard to make good time, because at this point I was realizing that my timing was going to be tight. 

-After a short stop to eat some keraa (bananas), hydrate, and talk to a 10 year old boy with curiously good english, I set off to tackle the final 20kms. The report from the boy was that the road was "neither up nor down" and that was mostly true. It was flat but never downhill flat, always a slight incline, forcing me to pedal continuously for the entire ride. After a full day of riding it felt brutal. 

 Finally I arrived checked into a hotel, ate dinner there,then waked down to the lake front to have a couple beers. I met a couple of  friendly German fellows, both named max and we watched a Nepali cover band playing rock songs from bands like The Red Hot Chilly Peppers and Nirvana. Music here has to stop at 11PM by law and the bar closes soon after that. At which time I was ready to head to the room and crash. 

Today I am sitting lakeside, eating enchiladas for lunch, drinking iced coffee, and considering renting a kayak to paddle around the lake. After all I worked my legs yesterday but neglected my arms and the cool water seems so inviting.

The view from Mikes Restaurant looking north over Phewa lake. On a clear day you can see the peaks of the Annapurna range of the Himalayas.  

Arrival in Besisahar

Although I thought I would be fine riding my bike to Besisahar, Kristen insisted that I ride a micro van. It would have likely taken a day and a half on the bike and only about 5 hours in the bus, and it turns out Kristen was probably right as the last 40k was mostly uphill. Although the microvan was hot and miserable as expected, the bike ride would have been grueling.

 Since arriving here 3 days ago things have gone very well. The apartment is very nice. Many places here are dingy, dark, and dirty. This apartment however, has stone floors, marble counters, a western toilet, a shower and large windows in all but one room. It feels open, airy and comfortable. Very nice! I like!

I also found an excellent volunteer opportunity at a public school on the hill above the main part of town, that is to say that Kristen found it for me. The school is 1-10 and government funded. The children stay in their classroom and the teachers travel from room to room for each of their 8 40 min. periods in a day. I will be helping, teaching, and sharing ideas with other teachers for about 15 periods per week, including 6th and 8th grade english, 5th grade math, and 4th grade art. Although I am very excited about being in a school, the first few classroom experiences were baffling and exhausting. Two times I was introduced and told "teach them art/math" and promptly abandoned (In math I was given a textbook page and in art, nothing). Another class, 8th grade english no less, I showed up to meet the class and watch, but the teacher did not. So there I was in front of 40 something 8th/4th/6th graders with no plan, and on top of it very limited communication options. One class, the teacher was very helpful and said "I will teach today and tomorrow, you teach." Fortunately tomorrow is today and it is a holiday. I only have one class period tomorrow so it should not be so bad. Hopefully in the near future I will have a little more support. 

Right now I am going on a bike ride great trails around. Wish me luck.

The view from our porch. 

Cliff Diving Monkeys, a Bossy 10 Year Old, and Local Bike Racers

This week was mor entertaining than last. It was filled with a random assortment of curious, amusing and frustrating events took place.

Frustrating:

- I decided to do my laundry by myself and went outside to do so. I had changed to my shorts that i bathe in so that i could wash the ones i had on and with a pile of clothes in my arms noted that my cell phone was still in my pocket. "OK, just take it out before you wash these" I thought to myself as I walked outside and began. Soon, the neighbor girl came over (possibly the bossiest 10 year old girl i have ever seen, this coming from someone with two little sisters, and taught 4th grade for two years) and immediately started to tell me that I was doing it wrong. She would tell me "no not like that, like this" and begin to do exactly what I was doing in the first place. Extremely frustrated after about 5 rounds of this I told her "Fine timi dhunus" meaning "you wash them" to my amazement she did. As I looked away 30 seconds later, still frustrated because I really did want to do it alone, she put every last piece of clothing into the washtub. Just like that, put one more on my total of cell phones I have ruined via 

Curious:

- I locked my bicycle at the language school where some of my lessons are and had the key to unlock my bike when I left. Sometime between unlocking my bike and mounting my bicycle the key must have vaporized ( I think this is my x-man power, vaporizing keys that is, now if I could only harness it and then learn to make them reappear where I need them.) I emptied my pockets, and backpack, and scoured the surrounding area for fifteen minutes, so the only logical explanation is instant vaporization. 

Amusing:

- I have been riding the same 10 kilometer stretch of road twice a day 6 days a week for two weeks now. As I expected people recognize me now. I do not know what they say about me but I know that they are talking, because now as I pass certain spots on my route random teenage boys on bicycles will burst onto the road on a bike, pedal as hard as they can for 50 to100 meters sprinting past me. Once five or ten meters a head they peel off turning around in the road to go back downhill. The bes part of the whole thing is the look on their faces as they turn around. They stare me down as if to say "See, you aren't so tough. I can pedal faster than you." I have found myself looking forward to this everyday when I ride home. 

-For my last day of language class with Rabindra. I asked him to take a field trip with me to Swayanbu Naath or what most white people call the monkey temple. It is a Buddhist temple (below) with some Hindu parts to it, but the best part are the monkeys. There have to be over a hundred monkeys living on this hilltop temple. When we got to the temple the first thing we saw was the monkey swimming pool where they were jumping in from about ten feet up. The video ( to come when I can figure out how to get videos up)  shows better than I can describe but it made me jealous, I wanted to jump too! Rabindra warned me then to watch my belongings as the monkeys are clever and will snatch things out of your hands. I believed him, and soon returned my I-pad to my backpack. After we walked around the temple grounds I saw a fruit stand and bought a plate of pineapple. We sat and enjoyed the fruit as Rabindra commented on how peaceful the place was. As soon as he said this SNACH! 5 pieces of pineapple on the ground and one in the happy monkeys hand on the wall behind us. Part of me felt violated, and used but I also admired the monkey's stealth and swiftness. I was glad I could feed a monkey in exchange for the video I got of his cousin, and after all they are probably Buddhist monk-ies. 

water. 

The Kathmandu Blues

The last week in Kathmandu has been ho-hum. Living in a completely different culture and having limited communication skills is proving to be extremely exhausting. My brain seems to be always spinning, with little information coming from anywhere but my own intuition. Homesickness and loneliness are common emotions, punctuated by moments of pride and glory when my feeble mind actually understands what another human is saying to me.

 I have fallen into a routine based around learning Nepali. A typical day consists of waking up around 8 AM, having tea, studying or reading for an hour, eating breakfast around 9:30 or 10, heading to one or two language classes, having lunch in Kathmandu and returning home the 10 kilometers on my bicycle to Jharuwasi where I again study and read. Dinner is served around nine after which everyone promptly retreats to their rooms and goes to bed. 

My language skills are improving quickly and I think that my teachers are impressed with me, although neither knows that I am also taking classes from someone else. There are looks, from both teachers, when I say something that we have not gone over together, but I don't think either is suspicious. I have not told them because Nepalis seem to be jealous people. When I mentioned to one that I may take lessons from two people at once (while setting out terms) she became very defensive tried to convince me that it would be confusing and would not let it go. I just told her I probably wouldn't do that and never brought it up again. 

 I think Nepali family structure may be interesting to those of you back home. The house I am living in seems to be typical of most Nepali  homes. It consists of a mother and father, their adult son and daughter (currently working with Kristen in Lamjung, I am staying in her room,) the eldest sons daughter (Nisham pictured in an older post,) and the eldest son's wife. He is currently in Haiti on a UN mission. The wife is referred to as Baoju and does all the cooking and cleaning. When I first arrived, I felt very sorry for her because she seemed to be a servant, however after a day when I remained home because I was sick I realized that most of the day is her own. When everyone else is working she has little to do, but when others are home she is very busy. 

I am headed to join Kristen in Lamjung on Saturday. I think my Nepali is nearly up to snuff and I plan to continue studying hard. I think that Kristen's Nepali isc proficient and I am trying hard to catch up. The next step for me is to practice all of the academic knowledge that I have acquired in real world situations. Wish me luck in the Nepali "real world." 

Sorry no pictures this time. 

Bicycling, getting lost, and language intake overload.

 Around the day that Kristen was supposed to leave for Besisahar I became quite fed up with being sandwiched between a smelly adolescent and his overweight grandmother in a sardine can of a mini-bus that continued to get people crammed into it. 

I had 4 choices: 

1. Grin and bear it to and from my language lessons in the circumstances above for about $3 round trip.

2. Hire taxis that are much more comfortable and faster but cost about 5 times as much.

3. Buy a motorcycle and get anywhere I want to in the entire country in less than 5 hours, but for around $2000 US, plus gas, plus insurance, plus a whole mess of paperwork to deal with in the extremely inefficient nepali system. 

OR

4. Buy a very nice bicycle for half the price it would be in the states, that will get me anywhere in the city that I want to go in just a little more time than a motorcycle, and faster than a bus in most circumstances. Not to mention the fantastic exercise I would be getting daily at 6500 feet. 

You can see that the obvious choice was number 4. So Kristen and I dragged our notorious Nepali negotiator down to a small bicycle market near the tourist district. She managed to talk the bicycle dealer down about 10%. So I am now the proud new owner of this beauty that has been serving me beautifully on the chaotic streets of Kathmandu.

 The strategy of riding a bike in Kathmandu traffic is strange and quite thrilling. There are very few rules except don't hit anyone or anything and be somewhat predictable. Really, it is an art form of blending the extremes of aggressiveness and defensiveness. Very hard to understand unless you are in the mix, and then it makes perfect sense. Nepali people are very good drivers (proving the asian stereotype wrong) but if you drove like they do while in he U.S. you would be quickly pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving. Blinkers are at a minimum, there are no center lines, stay on the left is more of a guideline than a rule, and pedestrians cross when and where they want to, regardless of how much traffic is present. All of this happens with 0 stoplights that I have seen and traffic policemen at only the busiest of intersections. It sounds extremely chaotic, and it is, but the system works and as long as i keep my head on a swivel an my hand on the brake I feel safer than I do on I-90. Mostly due to the fact that the top speed of any vehicle I have seen is roughly 40 mph, and people looked at him like he was dumber than me. 

Despite all of this chaos the only downside of having my own transportation is having to be my own navigator. I cant count the number of times I have been a little lost. Every street looks nearly identical! Most of the time it is an easy fix and I'm back on the right track immediately, if I ever went off of it at all. Today however was a different story. I got extremely lost. One of my language teachers insisted on meeting in Thamel (the tourist district) at 3:30. Tamel is about 10 minutes further on my bike than the other place we meet, so no big deal except that I have spent very little time in that area. By the end  of the lesson, my second of the day, my brain was exhausted and I was ready to be home. I knew that i still had at least 40 minutes on the bike ahead of me so I stopped and got some real coffee from a shop I knew then headed out. One second I knew exactly where I was and where I was going and the next I had no clue. Following my instincts I kept pedaling and ended up by the British Embassy (where I had been before, but was in the wrong direction) then made a lap around the Nepali Royal Palace Grounds (about 2 miles total and again, wrong direction). All in all I was lost for close to an hour and quickly approaching dark, which adds a whole new level to the madness. I did get a fantastic tour of the city however. What should have taken 40-50 minutes took nearly 2 hours and I finished in the dark with a 500 foot vertical climb over the last 3 miles. 

 Sorry to be so long winded but there is just one more update I feel compelled to share. 

Taking upwards of 7 language classes per week is proving to be a lot of information to take in with little time to process it. Yet I think the hard work is going to pay off. My brain feels full at he moment but words are quickly filing themselves away. With a little bit more absorption time and grammar work, instead of so much vocabulary, I should be able to chat up the locals in a week or so (:-P ya right)

Here is a little language lesson (as Britta has requested).  It is a phrase that i see on peoples faces hundreds of times a day as I ride by on my new bicycle. "tyo murka quiray lai hernus" I means "Look at that stupid white guy!"

On My Own

Well its official Kristen has left me on my own in Kathmandu, the city of chaos. She had to get to Besisahar to get back to work and I need to stay here to learn nepali. The good instructors are all here in the big city and when Kristen is around she acts as a crutch for me to lean on and not speak Nepali, so this is a necessary thing but a little scary. 

I have moved in with Sapana's family only one of whom speaks english so my learning curve has to be sharp. The family that is at the house currently consists of Sapana's mother,father, brother, niece (pictured below, my i pad is her new favorite toy), and sister in law. Only Sandip the brother speaks english and it is broken but understandable. Her niece is very cute and thinks everything I do is hilarious especially when I try to speak Nepali. I helped her with her homework last night. It was in english and much harder than first grade homework in america. I was a little bit frustrated because she understood none of it and simply looked for answers from the people around her. I will figure some way to make her think. The math homework was much more successful than the english. I got her to count by 4's 5's and 6's to 80. 

This is Nisham.

I am also taking language classes from two different instructors. I like the nepali man of about my age better but he is not nearly as good as the older woman. She is more expensive and rather pushy about lessons and money, but a very good teacher. I am learning a lot and right now, it is all a bit jumbled in my brain but I'm sure it will all sort out soon. Anyway I have to go I have another language lesson to get to. I will post again soon. 

First adventure out of Kathmandu

Equator riverside resort turned out to be a good time, although I think the water there did me in for my first bout of giardia. The real story of the trip however is the journey there and back to Kathmandu. 

On the way there we left our hotel at around 11 AM for what was supposed to be a 3 hour journey.the first legs went smoothly and we had reached the outskirts of Kathmandu on schedule. On our way out of the valley we encountered some traffic that slowed us down but not more than 30 minutes and we were back on our way. 

20 kilometers down the road was where the real trouble began. I was seated above the right front tire, immediately behind the driver (the seat with the least legroom of any on the bus, which is ironic because I was the largest person on board). We were coming down a wind narrow road and came around a corner just like all the rest, except that after this one I heard a loud pop followed by a hissing sound that clearly scared the driver more than me as he jumped 2 feet out of his seat. A near full tire rotation and nearly an hour later we made it bak on our way. Soon after this delay we ran into another due to a bandh, which I will get into later. Finally after 6 hours we arrived at our destination. Whew!

 

The resort is a rafting and kayaking base camp, but disappointingly it is monsoon season and Nepalis are not the best swimmers and as a result are more cautious about flipping than Kristen or myself. This  lack of aquatic competency resulted in Kristen and myself giving swimming lessons to a gaggle of Nepalis. The majority of the lessons consisted of us trying to teach the elementary backstroke. Mostly though we laughed because even with life jackets I can only describe their swimming style by saying, they reminded me of house cats desperately trying to escape a flash flood.  

The food was delicious and afterward I received instruction in Nepali dancing. Watch for me in the next Nepali music video to go international. 

When we left the resort the bund was in full effect and we had to walk 6 kilometers before we could catch a bus. Once we caught a bus however the driver made sure the trip was shorter back including the walk, than it was on the way out. The only catch was that I feared for my life, on those windy mountain roads, the entire way. 

The trip all in all was great, except for the questionable water. I got my answer to that question the next morning when I woke due to the cramps in my stomache. They came and went throuought that day and the next and were the worst of the symptoms of giardia I experienced. I won't go into mor details on that. I got medicine and I am now feeling much better.