Educational School Trip or Wild Party?

My life here is becoming routine. This brings a sense of ease and comfort, but it also carries with it a feeling of restlessness. My classes will wrap up this month, but because I don't have to pass the classes, I cannot share in the frantic, end of semester-oh-my-god-I-have-to-study hysteria. I have enjoyed most of my classes and I've learned much about the dynamic and confusing field of international development. My most important lesson has been that this field is so complex and difficult to understand that it will take years for me to get a handle on it. I have also realized that in order to understand the nature of development I need to have a much better understand of economics and statistics. Daunting.

A couple weeks ago my classmates and I were very excited for our first class trip/field visit to learn about hydroelectric projects, landfills, a proposed airport site, and each other. We left Kathmandu early one morning and drove for about 12 hours to the Kaligandaki Hydropower Project. The bus full of 17 students and one advisor wound its way through the mountains, along narrow roads that sometimes dropped sharply down 100s of feet to the rocks and rivers below. We sang songs, danced, and napped until we finally reached the small town where we would be staying. The "organization" of the trip was hilarious and very characteristic of Nepali society. When we arrived, the sun was setting and no one was sure where we would stay, what we would do, or if there was food available. But nobody worried. Instead, we found a little tea shop, ordered snacks, and danced to cellphone MP3s until some of the senior members of our class informed us that everything had been taken care of.

The next morning we traveled 10 minutes down to the Kaligandaki River, home to Nepal's largest hydropower project. The facility was incredible. I gained an entirely new appreciation for engineering projects and I'm actually looking forward to going back to the U.S. to visit the Hoover Dam. This project provides Nepal with most of its electricity, which is certainly a great advantage. However, we were approaching the dam with our Environmental Impact Assessment and Natural Resource Management classes. As the dam diverts nearly 50 kilometers of the river and leaves it bone dry for half the year, the environmental impacts are considerable. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to spend at the site, so we didn't get to ask many questions about the actual social and environmental impacts of the dam's construction.

After having breakfast (dal, bhat, tarkari, the usual) we began traveling back toward the giant tourist town of Pokhara. We were supposed to visit a number of different projects in and around Pokhara, but since none of our professors showed up for the trip and the only advisor was really just a secretary who has no background in our courses, we spent the rest of our time boating on Begnas Tal, a beautiful, clean lake, and dancing at some of Pokhara's famous bars in the evenings. The trip was a lot of fun, but we didn't learn much. The only complaining I heard was from a girl who drank too much wine one night. I'm told that future trips will be much better organized and that we will spend most of our time learning. I'll let you know.

Paul Sparks, a good friend from my days at Manchester College, arrived in Kathmandu about two weeks. ago. He has been staying with me as a settles into the city and begins his internship with an NGO (non-governmental organization). From the first day I met him, Paul shocked and inspired me with his Los Angeles vernacular (What's up homeboy?) and endless, memorized recitations of poetry from Rumi, philosophy from Camus, and his own inspring songs and poems. His atheist, marxist, Church of the Brethren perspectives gave a special flavor to me early college years on the first floor of Garver mens' residence hall. Four years have passed since Paul and I lived in the same state and I am amazed at our common thoughts on development, economics, spirituality, and life. I'm so relieved to finally understand what he's talking about and even to offer him some food for thought.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

PS: I'm becoming conversational in Nepali, more tolerable while practicing my flute, and my family just purchased plane tickets from Chicago to Kathmandu for August 15. Right on.