Lalitpur

We are staying in Kathmandu in the Patan district, in the Lalitpur “area” – I think? There are no street signs, or true addresses. The only way to get back to your house once you’ve left is to remember the directions you turn, backwards, and to constantly look behind you to see something that hopefully won’t move before you return to reference. We live by a giant Adidas sign and a tall blue building. Without these two, I’d wind up very lost.

Our neighborhood is nice – there is construction, or at least it sounds like it, on three sides of our building. It begins at 5 am and goes until 9 pm. Earplugs are our new best friends. It’s not really surprising, seeing how we’re visiting an area that has a lot of rebuilding to accomplish after the earthquake they had just 7 months ago. There is a dog that lives on the property, and several that hang outside the gate. One of them rubs his face on your legs, jumping up and down the whole time you walk.

“Loadsharing” (which is a fancy way for saying they’re turning off your power) happens every day, at least twice. That’s when you hold your breath for an hour and a half, hoping it comes back on before your groceries thaw and you risk bacterial infection, or wasting a ton of food. Today, I wanted breakfast (reasonable, yes?), but milk is non-existent or terribly expensive, so we went with instant oatmeal and toast. Nope – couldn’t make toast, or boil water, thanks to the loadsharing, so I sat and waited. Some of you know that I’m hypoglycemic, or at least my body acts like it is, so I have to eat every few hours or I get shaky and a little psychotic. You should have SEEN my face when I heard the refrigerator kick back on…it was like seeing that you had created fire after rubbing sticks together for an hour and a half. Pathetic? Perhaps. But it’s life. And waiting for an hour and a half isn’t that big of a deal if you have granola bars…note to self, find more biscuits (cookies) to keep around for breakfast (there are no granola bars – that’s an invention of Boulder, CO). Cookies for breakfast? Sounds like a win to me!

Momos are literally the greatest thing on earth – I was told by a friend to stuff down as many as I could get my hands on, and true to my word, I’ve had them once a day since arriving. They are little dumplings stuffed with meat and veggies that you dip in a spicy tomato sauce. My culturally-deprived Rochester stomach is literally hoarding them. Restaurants have very limited menus because of the Petrol Crisis, but fortunately for me, momos seem to be too great a staple for them to have dropped off the available list…at least for now.

When we first arrived, our driver pointed out the MILES of cars parked in line for gas (petrol). The lines were so long that I didn’t see a gas station almost the entire drive that they were aiming to get to. It takes 3-4 days to get gas. A new friend of mine at YWAM Kathmandu said his brilliant wife filled their car’s gas tank before the crisis hit its critical point, and the family is siphoning gas from its tank to fuel their motorcycles, which can go much further than cars on the available gas. Trade has stalled – India is Nepal’s main goods supplier, and they’re not helping anything. The next concern is clean water’s availability – India supplies that too. This place seriously needs a break – pray for the whole nation. Pray for their political groups and government, that they’ll take this seriously and act swiftly.

Yesterday, I met with representatives from YWAM Kathmandu. This Christian organization is one that I’ve worked with in many cities all over the world, and I’m excited to lend my business and operational acumen to a new project to document the 26 ministries that they support. My new friends Nar, Dilli and Ishak will work with me this month to meet with leaders of all 26 NGOs to record their missions. Want to donate, or pray for them? Do! You can find them via Google, as you can with many things J That is, unless your internet is spotty, or non-existent, like mine is. Typing this up in my kitchen in a word doc until the power comes back on and maybe I can get online. Want a break from constant connection? This is your place!

And Derek? Well, he’s working at Patan Hospital – they call him Dr. Derek. I don’t know exactly what he does there all day…I guess I’ll let him do the next entry so you can learn about his adventures. Meanwhile, I’m off to schedule cooking classes to figure out how to make my own momos back home, and maybe land myself some time at the Yoga “school” down the road. Also, I paint, did you know that? I almost forgot myself…it’s been at least 4 year since I picked up a brush, so I’m committing to get back to that while I’m here. Hold me to it!