A View from the the Swayambhu temple. The city of Kathmandu can be seen below.
A view of one of the gold-rimmed spires of the temple
Another view of the city
Saturday, August 14, 2010
This is my first posting from Kathmandu, Nepal. I've been here for exactly two weeks. As has been the case in each of our four other overseas postings, the first 14 days have been a blur of activity, frustration, excitement, and jet-lag, not to mention the fact that I've had to get my classroom ready for the first day of school. That being said, the first day of school has already come and gone, and we are now officially three days into the 2010-2011 school year.
The trip to Kathamandu began on July 28th, I believe, when my sister, Carolyn, and I took a Jefferson Bus from Bemidji to Minneapolis. The next day I flew from MSP to Los Angeles. I had about an 8 hour layover in L.A. during which time I was able to talk with Kris via my cell phone. Little did I know that within three or four hours of hour phone conversation she would be in the Bemidji hospital for a two-day stay. (that's a story best told by Kris, 'cause I still don't have all the details straight---all I can say about it is that I was shocked to learn of it upon my arrival in Nepal)
The flight from L.A. to Bangkok was the longest in my life.....16-17 hours in length.....Once I had arrived in the land of Thais I had another wait during which time I met some of the new as well as "old" Lincoln teachers. I don't remember when we left Bangkok, but I think we arrived in Kathmandu at about 12:30 p.m. on July 31, two days after I had left the Twin Cities.
There was a wonderful crew of Lincoln School administrators, bus drivers, etc. waiting for us at the airport, and they packed up all our bags and drove us right to our apts. They did a fabulous job...
My apartment is located in the southwest corner of Kathmandu, in an area called Ravi Bhawan. I'm only a ten-minute walk from Lincoln School, for which I am eternally grateful, for driving in this country, just as was the case in Alexandria, Egypt, is a mind-numbing experience, each and every time........!!!!!!!! Having said THAT..WALKING is also a mind-numbing experience, each and every time... The roads leading from here to school or from here to anywhere are generally narrow and often packed with pedestrians, cars, trucks, and many, many motorscooters.
From what I've been told, Kathmandu is really made up of a collection of villages that have sort of merged over the years to become a city of about 1-2 million souls. There is still a feel of "village" in the different neighborhoods. For example, in front of my apartment building, there is a rice paddy, perhaps 2-3 acres in size. Winding amidst the rice field is a dirt path upon which my neighbors walk back and forth throughout the day. The "road" that leads from the gate of the apt. is identical to the trail that leads from our property in Puposky to Jill and Charlie's place. There are corn fields along the path, and about 50 yards from the gate is a very healthy stand of marijuana plants which look to be about ready to be harvested...(don't know the story behind that.....must be for medicinal purposes)
The first several days here were made up of new-teacher workshops...We were then joined by the vets on the staff. There are several teachers at Lincoln who have been here a LONG time. One of them, Suzie Burns, is about 67 years old, hails from Chicago, and has been at Lincoln for 35 years!!!! Suzie is an example of the the type of ex-pat Americans who have been coming to Nepal for years. I think that in the 70's many young American (and other Western-European folk) were attracted to the "peace and harmony" that they felt they could get by nestling amongst the foothills of the Himalayas. Suzie's husband hails from New York.. I met him last week at a teacher-party.. He has long, graying hair tied back in a ponytail, and looks like a hippy still walkin' the walk and talkin' the talk...The guy must be brilliant..he speaks 8 languages...Anyway, Suzie is one VERY INTERESTING person....
School began on Wednesday, August 11... I am doing something I've never done before in my 31 years of teaching---I am truly teach-teaching with a whirlwind, dynamic lady by the name of Tina Warren. Tina originally hails from Austria, but has been teaching at Lincoln for 17 years. I think that in one day she expends more energy than my entire annual output. She is organized, enthusiastic, and determined... I am just going to hang on and enjoy the ride this year. We are going to do quite a bit of our instruction together during the day. In math and reading we will eventually divide up our groups according to ability.
Today I took a two-hour hike to a beautiful Buddhist temple area by the name of Swayambhu. It's nestled in the foothills north of my apt. and takes about an hour to reach. From there one has a fantastic view of the Kathmandu Valley. Though I didn't tour the grounds, there is a huge temple adorned with gold that one can see from the city. There are forests surrounding the temples, and in the forests live hundreds upon hundreds of wild monkeys.. I passed many of them on my walk today...One of the first things we were told upon our arrival in-country is: don't stare or smile at the monkeys. If you do you are liable to literally have a monkey on your back. Last week our principal, Craig Baker, was out jogging with some folks from school, and a monkey did indeed jump on his back. They are potentially very dangerous because of the bite they can inflict...So NOW I know that those three rabies shots I got were not just for the legions of wild dogs that roam the city.... Anyway, I tried to make sure not to have a staring contest with my monkey cousins as I trekked up the hillsides today.
So that's all for today.......For more photos.....go to www.flickr.com/photos/mjwavrin
Mike
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