Random Moments of the Past Week, and "The Indian Lie"

I've been feeling kind of weird the past week.  I think a small wave of homesickness hit me with Bijay's birthday this past week... and missing the MN State Fair.  I haven't been able to quite put my finger on exactly what it is that's making my mood not-so-normal, which is a bit strange for me.  I'm a pretty self-aware and reflective person, especially when it comes to my emotions.  I can generally articulate what I'm feeling and why, but I think I just need some more time to wait it out.

Other than that, I've been doing well.  I figured I'd share some highlights from the past week/weekend since I haven't posted...and a few friends and family have mentioned that they enjoy reading my thoughts on the blog.

First things first: As of last Monday, I have internet.  Stable, fast internet where I can download things.  And skype with my family and do my school work.  I'm a happy person.

Speed test on the mobile app.  Which means it's faster on my latop

A note about my internet: I am kind of confused because my speed test says it's really fast, but when David and I try to spend our entire night watching SNL skits, youtube videos, and "research" videos to decide what our youtube channel should be, it is pretty slow.  BUT, it works all the time.  This makes me happy.

 So.  Our bell system.  We don't really have one.  And by that, I mean we have a man who walks through the courtyard/around the building and rings a bell.  This means, sometimes I'm so involved in my discussions at lunch that I don't hear the warning bell and am the last one to class.  Then, my 12th graders do this to my board.  My favorite is "Ms. Froemming please come back"

When Ms. Froemming is 3 minutes late to class..

My kids are pretty fun.

Last week, I went to Thamel with some friends for dinner.  We went to Northfield Cafe (which reminded me of Minnesota :))/Jesse James Bar.  I had a quesadilla.  With Steak.  And it was about as good as it gets in Nepal in terms of anything made with cheese.  Especially a quesadilla.  And most of you know about my love for cheese and quesadillas.  AND cheese rolls.  Anyways, we got out of the cab and there was a little table with souvenirs and these Nepali flags.  I really liked it, and my cousin Tom asked me to post some pictures of Nepali flags for him to see. [TOM, this is a test to see if you're actually reading my blog!!!]  I really do love the Nepali flag.  I love that it's not rectangular like all the other flags.

Trinkets and Flags

Then, on the way home (after I bought a 4 dollar knock off Nalgene bottle that I now can't use because I realized that means it isn't BPA free), our dear friend Taxi Ram drove us home.  And I pointed out to Molly that there is a screw driver holding his seat belt in place.  Only in Nepal.

The things you see in Nepal: A screw driver holding a seat belt in place

My classroom is finally starting to come together and feel like a classroom.  I was put into the new building at school, which was so bare, and I hadn't brought much from home to decorate.  It was weird not spending so much time putting my classroom together, but it's slowly starting to look like a classroom.  I got some paper trays, and a few 9th graders spray painted them for me (there aren't any colored ones here.  Just grey). Then, I made some cute signs for each period to know which bin is for their class.  The students turn their work into the top bin, and their graded work goes on the bottom for them to pick up.

New Hand in Bins for the Classroom

This weekend was pretty glorious.  On Saturday, I unfortunately woke up at 6:30......Luckily, I was able to fall asleep again at 7 for another hour or so.  But I was still annoyed because I wanted to sleep in!  So, I decided to just stay in bed all day.  I stayed in bed until 3:30 PM watching HBO's Rome, downloading things on the internet, and doing nothing.  It was awesome.  I just laid in my bright yellow sheets, listened to the rain and the cool breeze and did nothing.  It was much needed.  Then, I hopped in the shower and went to dinner for a friend's birthday.  After that, the real adventure started.  Liverpool was playing Manchester United at 10:15, and we wanted to go out to watch the game.  In Kathmandu, we call 9 PM "Nepali Midnight" because everything closes so early.  There is a shortage of electricity here, so there are no street lights and people sleep when it gets dark.  There's a sports bar that people used to go to last year, but it closed last spring.  We walked to about 5 different restaurants, starting at about 9:45, but most claimed to be closed.  Kat and I even tried our "foreigner girl charm" and that wasn't working.  We ended up at 8 Degrees, a fine dining place, where the owner left around 10:25, but said the bartender would stay until we wanted to leave.  They close at 10, but they stayed open so we could watch the game.  We sat at the bar and watched together with the whole place to ourselves.  It was a fun time, and I enjoyed watching the game with friends...even if one is a MANU fan.  It seems I cannot escape them :)

Watching the match with friends

On Sunday, I went into Sanepa for breakfast with David and another colleague, which was fun.  Then, Stupi took me back to the glasses place to get my glasses fixed because the old lenses were making everything look hilly.  A few hours later-after seeing the eye doctor, who told me I don't have astigmatism (which I do), and trying a few different lenses- they figured out the problem.  They hadn't measured where the center of my eye is, so the lenses weren't centered properly.  Apparently this is not common practice in Nepal, unless recommended by the doctor.  So, now I have lenses that don't look hilly, but they took the axis out of the lens (which helps with my astigmatism), so they give me a headache.  So, back to the eye clinic for a third time sometime soon.

This seems to be the theme of my life in Nepal: doing everything by trial and error, multiple times, even when I tell people there's a problem.  My internet, my glasses.  Things really are different here.  The way people approach issues, tasks, and problems is different.  In America, it's expected that the problem is named as soon as possible, and solved.  In Nepal (and I noticed this, too, when I was in India) it is not always this way.  When I first told them that the lenses were hilly and incorrect, their response was "That is okay.  Try for a few days.  Your eyes will adjust."  When I told a jeweller that I had my nose pierced before with a needle and wanted it re-pierced, but not with the gun, he told me "Needle bad.  Infection."  Even though I told him I had it done before, he insisted.   When I would call about my internet not working, I was told "It is not from our side.  Everything fine." Things take longer: conversations, problem solving, customer service.  Problems aren't necessarily identified (for example, my past MONTH with no internet) and everything is always "try it and come back" (like with the glasses).  It seems as if the thinking is that ignoring the problem and not acknowledging that it exists will make it go away on its own.  It's frustrating and draining.  But, that's life here.

I named another similar phenomena when I was in India.  I called it the "Indian Lie".  This is when someone tells you something is true, even when it's not.  It's not that they're trying to lie or be dishonest.  But when they occur something they're unsure about, it's almost as if they cannot comprehend it or admit it, so they make something up.  They make up whatever may be their truth, but it is often incorrect.  In fact, they think they're telling the truth.  When you ask someone where something is or how to do something and they don't know, they tell you what they think might be true.  They don't say "I don't know" or tell you about their experience.  Things that aren't true become truth.  At the end of my trip to India last year, I started calling my Indian friends out when they were making stuff up.  It's funny because they don't even realize it, and they're so convinced it's true that they don't even realize they're incorrect.  It's almost like because they said it's true it simply is.

It is funny and ironic that I am in a culture that this is true, because my mom and I always joke that in our family, we don't say "I don't know".  If there is some sort of question we have, we come up with a theory.  We (usually) present it as a theory or an idea, but not as an absolute.  In the past year, my mom and I have been joking about how we do this so much.  In fact, last year, I asked my extremely smart friend Nat (who is extremely interested in science and nature) some question about science.  He didn't know the answer and replied "I don't know, Chelsea."  I remember thinking to myself, what do you mean you don't know?  You don't have some sort of idea?  A theory in your head? I still laugh about this story with my mom and Nat, because it epitomizes our personalties.  Now, I find my place in a country and culture that makes theories and gives them to the extreme.  This must be my karma :)