Linkin Park - Nepali style

Today was teacher's day, so the kids at the VSN school had this huge program. It was also the grand opening of the VSN school... Big day. One of the new members of parliament came to oversee the commencement. Yesterday was the major election. Their wasn't a majority for president or prime minister, so today they are having a new election. This is a temporary position until they finalize the constitution. I talk about the political situation with everyone I see. A lot of people want communism - sadly. I'm praying that their hopes don't come to fruition.

For the holiday, there was lots of dancing and singing. The littlest kids were the cutest. I helped one boy translate a Linkin Park song - I Tried so Hard, and he performed it for the teachers! How cute is that! I love that boys up to age 14 have no problem dancing and singing and wearing sparkley costumes.

New calf work out!

Our instructors taught Katie and I how to use the pedal machines. It is a work out! It's kind of like driving a motorcycle. You have to use both hands and both feet. And if the wheel starts going the wrong direction, then you are out of luck. I had to use my screwdriver to take apart the machine because of an operator error (my novice experience). Upside- I can now put on my resume - antique sewing machine mechanic.

The rate at which everything is going is a little frustrating. The orphanage has become a little more of a priority than my class. I totally understand that... oh well. Currently there are 7 volunteers staying at my house. 3 from Holland, 2 from the UK, 1 from Spain and me... the sole representative of the US. The other day we all woke up super early and went to the orphanage to help clean and paint. The walk is about and hour and a half, but as we were walking an empty bus offered us a ride, and we had a personal bus ride part of the way. Because of the petrol shortage, the buses are usually super packed - sardine packed, so this was a treat. The walk is still cool. We have to walk through fields - with corn as high as the elephant's eye, etc.

P.S. I really want to take one of these orphans home. It's legal now - do you think it would be too scandalous?

I gave my family their gifts - they loved them. Sugandha didn't think the Tobasco sauce was hot. I gave Babish a guitar slide, which he loved (thanks Sal for the suggestion!). So, Babish was just diagnosed with Hepatitis A. Fortunately I am vaccinated, and fortunatelly Babish doesn't live with us, but it is still crazy. We looked up the Hep A causes... contaminated water and food. So even the Nepalis shouldn't drink the water apparently. My health is fine though. I think I mentioned that there was a doctor's strike for a couple days - he had to wait to get diagnosed.

I'm sleeping with a mosquito net around my bed. I love it - it's like a little cave. I also don't get bitten, but I didn't before either.

In our class room there is a yoga pose poster. Katie and I went through each pose - we're pretty good! One of the volunteers is a yoga master, and he's been training in India. Starting from today, we're having yoga class with him! Namaste

Candlelight Mechanics and Stones from the River

Among the supplies we requested was pins... We explained that we needed them to hold the fabric into place. Shrijana said, "here, we just use stones from the river." So if you look closely at our pics, you'll see our stones from the river - camera, books, hand sanitizer - that we're using in place of pins.

Okay – let me fill you in on the whole OCRC situation… I AM SO EXCITED! OCRC is an orphanage in a village that is on the way to Baktapur. It is a gorgeous setting, but the orphanage itself is in really poor shape. The kids have lice and scabies. The kitchen is filthy and the Didi uses firewood and an open flame to cook for 40 kids. There is only one caretaker. The kids have no protection from mosquitoes, so they keep all the windows shut. They teacher told me that they sometimes go sleep outside because of the heat. What frustrates me and VSN is that last year and throughout the year, volunteers have gone their continually and tried to keep the kids healthy, etc. The root of the problem is the lack of staff.

Soooooo… brilliant solution… There is this family from Australia – David, Janet and Hamish. We became fast friends, and they were expressing to me their desire to move somewhere more remote. Well the day before I had been at the OCRC and had a long talk with Tej about the idea of VSN taking it over. There were many issues and concerns related to this idea. To make a long story short, Tej, Sugandha, David, Janet and I all met and the take over was arranged.

We then went to the orphanage and met with the owners and staff. Everything is done with tea (cold drink for me). I am going to take this opportunity to mention that I feel partially responsible for this because a. it was my idea and because D & J and Hamish came because of my film! They found it online and were convinced that this is the place they wanted to be. This is their first time volunteering ever! When I first saw them they said, “We know you!!” They are my favorite!

We went shopping for machines - A few days ago I came and received quotes. We sent three Nepalis later, and they got half the price – I came back to pay and you could see the shopkeepers disappointment. It’s funny because we can’t do anything without discussing it over Tea. After they bargained we drank tea – cold drink for us and we ate. I had roti and saag. Katie had chicken. Then we went and made our purchases – where, again we drank “tea”. It’s just like the book I just read, “Three Cups of Tea”! – every major thing requires tea drinking

We also met our instructors today - Shrijana and Saradha. These are the women that will help us with our class and continue it when we’re gone.

So, as you can see from the pics, some men came to set up the machines. We got foot pedals for all of them. There was no power today, so as it got dark, the men pulled out some candles and continued their work! I offered them my flashlight, but they declined. They were kind of annoyed that I kept taking their pictures, but at the end of the set up, they agreed to pose with me! These men – mechanics and tailors are of the untouchable caste, so they don’t get people like me getting so excited about their work.

Sughandha told me a cool story about his sister today. She came to Kathmandu and trained to be a tailor. Because this is a trade of the lowest cast, when she returned to her village up north, she was ostracized by her friends and the other village members. She had to return to Kathmandu and work there. This was forty years ago, and she has since sent 4 children to college (one in the U.S.) and now has the respect of her village. So Sugandha told me that he is very happy about my class!


This is the room our class will be held in. That dark stain is water that leaks from the roof during the monsoon. We're getting it fixed... hopefully.

Pajamas ≠ Sleeping Suits

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I played at VSN orphanage last night. It is such a beautifully run orphanage – compared to the OCRC. It is still sad to see kids without families, but the facility is clean and the children are looked after. There are two didis (the nepali word for older sister used as a term of respect for women) who look after 11 kids.

The kids are adorable. They just crave attention and fortunately the orphanage is really close to the volunteer office, so we can go there at whim.

They like to play with my camera – take the picture and see how skilled they are. I have a lot of shots with fingers over the lens…

They also taught me the Sanskrit alphabet. I can now sound out a few of the letters. Mostly I was just imitating them, and they got a huge kick out of my mess ups. Seriously I should be able to pronounce ka, kaa, and kaah correctly.

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The next morning I went over and helped them get ready for school. They have a few buttons missing here and there, so I do have a little project. These kids are pretty young compared to the other orphanage.

I mentioned earlier that Katie and I are making pajamas for the orphans at both places. We’re starting with the VSN O because the OCRC kids have lice and scabies. This is being resolved (read about in my next blog), but we are going to wait until they are lice free to give them new clothes.

By the way, pajama is a derivative of an old Sanskrit word – pyjama. It is the word for trousers in the Hindi language. They requested that we make outfits for the kids to sleep in, so I told Sugandha that we were going shopping for fabric for the pajamas. He said, “You are not making the tops? Just the bottoms?” After we figured out why he was concerned/confused, we decided to call them sleeping suits.

Kaite and I went shopping for the sleeping suit fabric. We went to the fabric district of Kathmandu and got taken up 3 flights of stairs to the back room, where we chose this plaid material – that I think is ugly – but it is soft and durable. The kids are going to look like the Sound of Music children in matching, ugly outfits that are practical. It’s not that ugly – I’m just not a plaid fan. Katie says it reminds her of the Tingey family pjs. So for those of you acquainted with the Tingey fam – picture grandpa, Christmas plaid. Katie loved the shopping. She bought a Surwal Kurta. It is crazy colors! She will look so cute in it I’m tempted to buy another one. If only I was petite like her.

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They are currently planting rice. It is cool to see the rice fields everywhere.

Because they are covered in water, the frogs hang out there. At night the frogs have karaoke parties – it gets loud. I see a lot of frogs in the endless puddles on the muddy paths we have to take. Today I say a snake in one. Getting places does not include taking the fastest route. I do creative walking to find parts of the road that are not under water.

<< Cal's little friend


I just killed a bug – now there’s a dead smeared bug on my computer screen... fun for me!

Hanging Thamel with Gelu !

Balcony Bus Seats

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I'm going to attempt to summarize the past few days... first let me tell you about my project. I met with Tej and he had the idea to expand my project even further than I had imagined. So this is the plan: We are going to start a skills training school that will operate on the top floor of the new VSN school. Right now my sewing class will be the pilot program. In the future they will do literacy, computer skills (if they get them donated) and more. For my class, we are going to teach widows exclusively. I will publish the details of why on my website, but the gist of why is that widows are ostracized in Nepal. There are ridiculous superstitions that they carry ill fortune and had something to do with their husbands' death - regardless of the circumstances. The women often resort to hard labor, like carrying bricks, etc. Because the widows are the primary bread winners for their families, we are going to provide our selected widows (which we are currently screening and selecting) a small salary while they train, so they can still provide for their children. At the end of the training, we are going to open a tailor shop for them. We are still helping the orphans, but we are unable to give them extensive training because they are in school. For any girl who finishes her schooling, she is then qualified ot come to our classes. We are also going to make pajamas for the orphans of two orphanages. In addition we are making screens for their windows - to keep the mosquitoes away. Needless to say we are busy. Today and tomorrow we are measuring all the kids and disseminating the clothing that was donated (thanks Tahoe RS!).
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Yesterday we visited the OCRC orphanage. It is about an hour outside of where we are staying. I like it out there because it is free of traffic. There is just beautiful farm land everywhere. Despite the beauty, the orphanage is in pretty poor condition. They have one guy supervising 35 kids. They are getting fed, but no one on one time. The older children are given the responsibility to look after the younger ones. They do this, but they have to leave for school at 7 am ( a 1.5 hour bus ride) and get home at 5:30 pm. Then they have to do laundry, bath little ones, etc. I had a long talk with Tej and I think I convinced him to completely take over this orphanage. It will also take funding, but if we can get at least two more care takers in there, it will be so good. We are also going to try to get them a gas stove and running water... the little things :) The kids are so cute and just crave attention. There is one little boy, Ranjeep, who I'm pretty sure is autistic. He is almost 5, but looks like he's 2. The caretaker said that he doesn't like to talk, but he understands fine. He rocks back and forth all the time and likes repetition. I want to adopt him! He just sat on my lap and held my hand. One of the volunteers here is a special-ed teacher in the U.S. I told her about him, and she strongly recommended that he be moved to VSN's orphanage, which is in better condition with a 1:4 child -caretaker ratio as opposed to the 1:35. I think we are going to be able to facilitate Ranjeep's move! I had the cutest picture of him, but my camera broke. It's about time - I've had it for quite a while, but it's sad 'cause I lost a lot of pics.

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We went to church on Saturday (again - broken camera, so no pics). We got six of us in the tiny taxi (7 plus driver). I was impressed with myself for remembering how to get there... I was shocked when I walked in because half the congregation was white. There are three large American Families that moved here in the last year. Two of them work for the state department and one works in the private sector. Last year Rick and I were the only westerners besides the couple missionaries. Everything is the same though - the service is in English and Nepali. There is a new branch president. He gave us all assignments, the first of which is to sing next Sunday. It was good to be back. Everyone remembers me, and it feels like I never left. After church we went to one of the couple's homes and hung out with the young adults. It was fun - everyone practiced their Nepali.

There are about 20 volunteers here now from all over - Netherlands, UK, Austrailla, Belgium, USA. Many of them recognize me from the films I made, and a few said they came because of them. That is such a great thing to hear!

Yesterday I took two of the volunteers to the Manahara Landless community (I'm a tour guide too). They are both engineers. The community is pretty flooded, but it is also growing. There are new shelters and buildings. The people seem to have no intention of leaving despite the conditions .

Oh - here's an interesting tidbit - there was a doctor's strike. I was talking to a doctor and asked about the sick people. He said they were just lying in the hospital. Apparently someone threatened a doctor. Someone's relative had died in surgery and the surgeon was threatened, so all the doctors left the hospital for 3 days. Apparently the emergency is open, but still. Have no fear though - the international hospital is up and running, and we have 3 or 4 doctors volunteering too.

The monsoon is definitely here - I like the rain though.

See our adventure - packed buses due to petrol prices make us resort to sitting on the top. I told everyone not to write home about it, but I can't help it. It's not like there is a nice ladder for you to climb up... you have to jump on the bumper of the bus then pull your self up this metal railing. I often see goats on top of busses, but today we were the goats.

My water bottle fell off the top of the bus, so they stopped the bus and threw it back to me. My Klean Kanteen has an awesome scar and story now.

Attack of the monkeys

There’s a big field in our neighborhood where all the kids play soccer. Because of the monsoons, parts of it are flooded, especially their goal area. So this morning a bunch of kids were putting dirt in whatever they make-shift containers could find and attempting to fill in the muddy holes with rocks and dirt. They were making very little progress, but it was so cute!

Today I told everyone that they could only speak Nepali on the bus rides. This was partially because we are such a big group and tend to get loud and a little rowdy on the buses. This is in contrast to the Nepalese who sit quietly and stare. So they practiced their Nepali and the people ate it up. Chelsie is especially brave. Gelu helps them, and fortunately I’ve mastered all their language concepts so far, so I can correct them too. They’re saying things like: what is your name?, where are you from?, etc.

We went to Bouddhanath, a world heritage site of one of the largest Buddhist stupas. For those of you unfamiliar with Buddhism, you should know that you always walk around a stupa clockwise. This is huge, so if you visit all the shops and monasteries along the way, it can take a while. You can also walk around the top. I like Bouddhanath because it is quiet, and unlike the other touristy areas of Kathmandu, vendors leave you alone for the most part. I also love to see all the little women in their traditional dress. You can see them in the shot from on top of the stupa. They’re wearing what looks like aprons. The colors are great too. It looks like the Solokumbu region where I trekked… all the homes are really great colors…the colors of my house actually.

Gelu is Buddhist, and he explained to me the meanings of the prayer flags. There are five colors, and each represents a different place where the prayer/mantra is sent or what the prayer is for. Red – fire, white – heaven, blue – sky, green – earth, yellow – art …cool eh?


This other picture is from inside some monasteries. In one, the monks were doing their traditional chanting and rituals, which was cool to see. Part of the ritual includes throwing rice as an offering to the gods. We saw a little mouse come out and steal some rice. That may be horrifying, but I thought it was cute. I picture some little monastic mice colony living behind the shrines. In another monastery a monk stopped what he was doing to answer his cell phone… so irreverence has reached the corners of the world!

We then went to Pasurpati. This is a very holy place in Hinduism. You are able to observe – close up cremations. Again, I’ve been here before, but it is fascinating to see. The kids found it interesting too. They were a little hesitant to go when I told them what they would see, but w stayed for quite a while and watched the process. Fortunately they got to see a cremation from the beginning. There were about eight or so going on while we were there.

There were 7 or 8 boys swimming in the water right next to the cremation sight. They were completely naked and not at all phased by the fact that the ashes were constantly being scraped into the water.

This is a little boy who is imitating the monkeys. His name is the same as a famous actor which is appropriate because he hammed it up for us... he wanted money




The biggest hit was the monkeys. Here they run wild with the cows and dogs. One of the monkeys stole a gum ball from Chelsie's hand... literally pried it out of her fingers, unwrapped it and started chewing the huge green gum ball. It was hilarious! Another one was convinced that I had a stash somewhere and grabbed me... he wouldn't let go. Katie captured the moment for you...

One of the domestic helpers (i.e. paid servant), Laxmi, came into the office today to say hi. She asked about my family and told me about her children. I knew her from last year. Anyway, I was able to carry on a full conversation with her… she speaks no English. I was a little surprised with myself. But it gave me a boost. I think last year I let Rick do most of the talking, so now it’s my turn. Tej mentioned how confident and brave my group is. I think they are just brave, confident kids, but he insisted it was my grasp of the Nepali way of life… or something to that extent.

Only one way to throw a frisbee.

Me with a mangy dog... a staple of this community.

Today I woke up really early and took a bus into Baneshwor. The bus ride was old hat.. crazy, but easy. And inflation has reached Nepal. The price from last year has increased by 4 rupees. I was talking to Sabin, and we figured out that gas here is about $2.20 / gallon. It was a long process to figure that out because they use rupees and liter here, but still. That is super high for this country.

Everything was closed, but I did a couple errands nonetheless. In the morning the weather is perfect. Super humid, but comfortable. I came back in time for our morning meal, Dal Baht. I actually love this. We have it for all our meals, but it’s yummy ( for you first timers to my blog, Dal Baht is a dish with rice and lentils).

Tej took me to the new school that they built. It is so great! Some of the students are sponsored kids (anyone interested in sponsoring, let me know) and some are orphans. The do pre-k through 7^th grade right now, and as the 7^th graders progress, they will take them up through 10^th grade. Sabin is the principal of the school and is right at home. He was my language teacher last year. He says he’s good at this job because he can make decisions quickly and doesn’t get stressed – this is true. However, he is good at this job because he likes to be in charge. It is so fun to see him. He told me, “I have memories of you all winter, Liz.” I gave him a white sweatshirt from Tahoe as a gift, and he said whenever he wore it, he would get lots of compliments and make a memory of me.

On the top floor of the school are three empty classrooms. They are to be a library and a computer room. I think I convinced Tej to make the third one a skills center, so we can have evening classes there for women. We will teach literacy, sewing, etc. So my first project has begun! Hopefully, I’m also going to start skills training classes in Solokumbu, a village in northern Nepal near Everest, as well.

During their recess break, I taught the kids how to play Frisbee. They loved it and played it the whole time. At one point I took the Frisbee and showed one boy how to throw it under his leg. I said, “you do like this.” He did, and for the rest of the game everyone threw it under their leg. They didn’t grasp the concept that it was an option, but I didn’t stop them ‘cause it was hilarious!





The trash is still an issue, and during these warm months, the odor is awesome.


This is me spinning a prayer wheel at the Golden Temple. It is a temple where the surrounding walls are a Buddhist temple and the middle is a Hindu shrine. Our guide, Gelu, is Buddhist. A tourist was spinning a wheel in the wrong direction and after she left, he discreetly changed the direction of the wheel.




We went to Patan, an old Hindu shrine. it was interesting to see everything through the eyes of someone new. They got their first bus ride, first tuk-tuk ride (a three wheeled vehicle about the size of a mini cooper that fits 20 people), and saw their first cremation. In one temple a peddler followed us in and tried to sell us Karma Sutra books. I yelled at him in Nepali and told him to get out of the temple... There are vendors in all the touristy places, but usually their trying to sell jewelry or handmade crafts.

On our way home, we got our first monsoon. It was nice and cool, but an insane flash flood. More later!