Kay Garnay

I have been in Kathmandu for three days now. The voyage from Chicago to Nepal could be described as nightmarish, but thus far I haven't found anything about Nepal that I don't like. Although everything about the culture is completely new and fascinating, I have felt at home since I arrived. This is a photo of Dawa, my good friend and gracious host.




















My flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany was delayed more than 24 hours and about halfway through the trip to Germany I began to feel very ill. I was apparently suffering from a combination of dehydration and altitude sickness. The last two hours of the flight were spent lying on the floor in the back galley of the plane with three nurses hovering over me. I spent about an hour in the airport clinic in Frankfurt with an IV in my arm in order to rehydrate my body. I was able to make the nine hour flight to Delhi, India, where I had about an eight hour layover. The Kathmandu airport was a bit chaotic, but my good friend Dawa was waiting for me when I walked into the Nepali sunshine.

The jet lag is still affecting my sleep cycle and I have been waking up before 5:00 am every morning. By 7:00 pm I am exhausted, but I am forcing myself to stay awake. Dawa and her family are such gracious hosts. I cannot imagine arriving in a more comfortable and welcoming home. Since I arrived Dawa has been filling my days with tours of the city, delicious food, and many lessons in Nepali language and culture. I have also been meeting many young Nepalis who are very active and interested in the country's political situation. I will undoubtedly be writing much more about the Maoists' recent rise to power and the many political and social difficulties the people of Nepal are facing.

I will stay with Dawa's family for another two or three days and then I plan to move to an apartment in a neighborhood called Lalitpur . The new government recently imposed an electricity load-sharing policy which means that the people only have electricity for eight hours per day. The nights in January are quite cold and very few houses have any source of heat so everyone sleeps under a pile of of blankets. All of these circumstances will offer me a very unique living situation.

This afternoon Dawa and her family hosted a party at their beautiful home north of the city. I learned to make a popular, traditional Nepali food called Momos. This picture shows Dawa, her brother, her father, Sonam, and me.















Saturdays are called holidays and they are generally the only day that people take off of work. Many students are required to attend school 6 days per week. Classes at Kathmandu University will begin in February but I have a meeting with the university faculty on Monday. The city offers an incredible variety of cultural and educational opportunities. Temples, shrines, and monasteries are everywhere and some of them date back 2000 years. I hope to begin taking an intensive course on the Nepali language in addition to learning to play the Sitar.

It is clear that Nepal has a number of serious obstacles to its development. Many streets are lined with piles of trash, public health and hygiene are not of great importance to many people, the government is new, disorganized and, in the case of many officials, very corrupt. The phrase Kay Garnay roughly translates to "What can be done?" This attitude seems to contribute to the peaceful, agreeable nature of many Nepalese, but it is also a roadblock to effective social action. I cannot wait to learn more about the people, their stories, and their struggles.

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