Momos, Midwives, and Monsoons

What do these all have in common? They sum up my weekend – or most of it.

1) Momos – Nepali dumplings a celebratory food

2) Monsoons – the rain that happens everyday, kind of like Seattle

3) Midwives – the topic of my ISP

So Friday night I sat around the kitchen table with my family folding chopped up vegetables into dough (pretty tricky) while having an intense conversation (in English… my Nepali is struggling to say the least) about Nepal’s political state, religions and astrologists with my brother-in-law (?... the family lines are blurred because I am a weird addition…).

Saturday I walked for an hour to get to Boudha which has a famous Buddhist stupa that everyone walks around clock-wise only. It is beautiful, but a difficult walk and I may or may not have gotten lost… Anyway it was teej (a women’s festival), but my family doesn’t really celebrate it because of their origins, so I didn’t get to dress up in red and dance all day like some of the other girls on my program. Instead I did research on midwifery in Nepal and the INGO and NGO training programs in the north-western region (while in an Internet Café in Boudha with some friends). It is for my Independent Research Project – which is in November, but we have multiple proposals due throughout the coming week. So if you have any suggestions about resources or people who know a bit about it, I would welcome any thoughts!

And Sunday, it rained and I did more research… basically locked myself in my room (which doesn’t have internet) in order to finish my proposal… yay to being anti-social in Nepal, not doing much for my Nepali language skills… ke garne. (Nepali idiom meaning “what to do. Oh well”)

Off to Darjeeling on Wednesday for a week of studying the land movements there… I hear they have great teas! Can’t wait!

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Gandhi