Namaste saathiharu!

I arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal about three weeks ago.  I am studying through the Cornell Nepal Study Program (CNSP) for the next four months.  My arrival was a little hectic. I luckily ran into another girl, Charlie, on my program in the Bangkok Airport, so we travelled together for the last leg of my trip.  Once at the Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu we were “besieged” by taxi drivers as warned by the program packet.  After walking up and down the sidewalk outside the airport for fifteen minutes, disoriented and lugging our suitcases, we walked into a waiting area and approached the only non-Nepali man seated.  “Greg?” we skeptically called and luckily were welcomed with recognition.

The three of us then rode a taxi through the city and arrived at a charming turquoise and orange building about 30 minutes later in Kirtipur, a small town in Kathmandu.  The house is the Girl’s Hostel at CNSP where I’m staying for the semester.  There are four floors, with a fifth terrace level or the “penthouse” as we’ve designated it.  The view from the terrace is unbelievable; it looks out onto Kathmandu Valley, which is enclosed by dense forest covered hills (this is a relative term as anywhere else these would be called mountains).  On clear days there is a stunning view of the Himalayas that peek out from behind.

The first day I met my roommate, Minu, the other students on the program, and the staff at CNSP who takes care of everyone.  We were served a welcome khaja (snack) of fried chickpea samosas and crunchy, buttery chips, which were delicious going in but immediately began wreaking havoc inside my body, which I was later informed is perfectly common in the beginning days.

Minu is from Chitwan, a southern region of Nepal. I’m constantly amused by her sense of humor and bluntness and in awe of her vast knowledge of Nepal’s culture, politics, and environment.  She’s very motherly towards me; she taught me how to properly make my bed after I pitifully attempted to fold my blankets during the first few days, and she was more concerned when I came down with a fever than my own family at home.  Also, she’s an excellent dancer (I hope to learn some great things from her).  She’s studying to get her master’s degree in Botany at Tribhuvan University.  Her English is practically perfect, and she has kindly taken it upon herself to make sure my Nepali improves, which includes quizzing me often on basic phrases and the numbers.  The other day I woke up to her asking me to translate “the water is so cold”, and I began speaking broken Spanish until realizing I was in Nepal.  This wasn’t that strange though, as I’ve been using Spanish here constantly.  I hear another language, and reach for the first word I can find in my memory, regardless of the pertinent, obvious facts, such as what country I am in.

All in all I’ve been gradually adjusting to the Nepali lifestyle.  I miss a few things from home (namely certain foods like pesto pasta and Echo and Addie, the cats), but I’m still in the light, euphoric stage of exploring and living in a new place.  I’m becoming anxious about not having enough time here.