Last week, I went with an employee from Sacred Summits to see a lawyer about getting myself a volunteer visa. Everyone thought that this would be a simple procedure, probably costing me a couple hundred dollars. Oops! The volunteer visa is apparently a complex series of payoffs and bribes and I would be at the mercy of a lawyer who knew I was desperate. I was told going that route could run me into the thousands. After the lawyer, we went to a nearby university to see if I could enroll as a student for the upcoming term, even though enrollment closed two months ago. They granted me admission if I was willing to pay $100 USD in juice, and could obtain the following things within the next few days:
-Transfer $1500 into a Nepali bank/open a Nepali bank account
-Pay them $500 for admission
-Get a 'no objection' letter from the US embassy
-Get a letter from the Ministry of Education
-Fill out myriad forms, applications etc.
All of this was to be done in about three days, as my tourist visa expired this Friday. I also had to juggle teaching and parent-teacher conferences all week. On multiple occasions I would teach, run around KTM getting various things done, come back for PTC's and leave again, etc. I spent two hours at the (amazingly nice) US Embassy waiting for an appointment only to receive a letter stating US citizens don't need 'no objection' letters. There was confusion at the bank over my signature; apparently it didn't match up with the signature in their database. My helper, whose English is rather poor, kept telling me "You make mistake with signature!" I thought he meant I signed in the wrong place, but eventually I had to copy my signature from a computer monitor to make sure it matched up. I tried explaining to the tellers that I sign 15 homework journals a day and just have a messy signature, but everyone was pissed off at the silly American. Amazingly, everything got done and we went to immigration yesterday only to be told they were busy, come back Monday. No worries; my guide 'knew a guy', and after greasing more than a few palms, I finally got my student visa on the day my tourist one expired. To say it was stressful would be an understatement; I think my blood pressure rose and I lost hair, as I never knew what was going on. Bureaucratic corruption is pretty awful, but it enabled me to get everything done when I was WAY past deadlines, so I can't really complain. I now have six months without visa stress, and extending a student visa is really easy. I celebrated by eating mixed chat and dosa at my favorite restaurant, getting boxes of 'ladoos' (Indian sweets) for my students and fellow teachers and downing more than a couple of beers last night while in Thamel. Oh, and I'm taking Nepali language, so hopefully I can finally understand what is said around me 90% of the time. I have mastered the art of tuning it out and pretending to understand what is being said.
Getting the new visa marks my fifth month in Kathmandu, and I spent a few minutes thinking about ways I've adapted:
-I prefer bucket showers over normal ones. Whenever I want to take a hot shower, I get cold water, and vice versa. I've solved the problem by always taking bucket showers from now on. You fill up a big bucket and just dump water over yourself with a cup. Sounds awful, but I've grown to love it. There's something really refreshing about pouring cool water all over your head, and you save the limited water supply.
-I can think metrically. You learn it in school, but I would guess most Americans are clueless when it comes to the metric system unless they have lived abroad. When people would tell me I had lost 'X' kg, I would thank them, but than have to go home and convert to see just how generous their compliment was. Everyone would whine about 40 degree celsius weather, but I just knew it was bloody hot. I still think in fahrenheit, pounds etc. but can quickly know what people mean when they use metric terms without having to mentally convert.
-I've picked up slang and head-shaking Having moved around the US, from Midwest to South and back, I have been always been quick to adopt colloquialisms and accents. I still drop 'y'alls', have been made fun of for having a southern twang and have been guilty of speaking in a Midwestern accent on numerous occasions. In Nepal, the English is more British, and I drop 'bloodies' left and right. Many people also use 'thing' often, as "I need to get thing" or "When are we meeting up with thing?" You know what you want to say, and people know what you mean, but you say 'thing' instead of the actual object or person. I am trying to get rid of this, as it's stupid, but do it often. Also, I think I've written about this in an earlier blog, but people connote agreement or 'yes' by shaking their head from shoulder to shoulder instead of up and down. I do it all the time, and it just felt weird to nod my head up and down like I used to do.
-I could (and do) eat 'dal bhat' everyday without getting tired of it. This could be because I became vegetarian and never get excited about eating, but I seriously could eat rice and lentils with 'achar', spicy sauces or vegetables, at every meal. It's filling and tasty and gives you loads of energy. I have lost tons of weight on this regimen coupled with running almost daily, but not in a proportional way. My face is much, much thinner, I no longer have a gut and can actually see two abs when I'm shirtless, but I still have love handles and MINOR extra weight around my biceps (I was looking for a way around calling them man-boobs) , which makes my otherwise thin chest look like clumpy mashed potatoes. I have read everywhere that the love handles are the toughest to lose, and am going to start doing yoga to try to get rid of them. I have been grinding out 50 push-ups a day for the last week or so, and am now nearly boobless. Always good to count your blessings, whatever they may be.
I went to a Hindi movie a week or so back with Shehrish and her family. It was called Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, and while I have no idea what that means, I am guessing it means something like 'life is beautiful' given how I perceived the tone of the movie. Through diligent concentration, I made it almost two hours before zonking out, about 1.5 hours more than I lasted in the newest Transformers movie. For the record, I think 3D movies are grossly overrated. I hate wearing the stupid glasses and I always leave with a headache. I kept my eyes closed for the last hour or so of Transformers, just too much explosion and Shia LeBeouf for my taste. Hindi movies are freaking LONG, usually averaging 3-4 hours. Most was in Hindi, but the plot was three best buddies going to Spain and discovering themselves, so some was in Spanish. I would always perk up at the Spanish, which was interestingly subtitled in English, not Hindi. Movies should have to stick to no more than two languages to spare their viewers headaches. I have watched, understood and enjoyed French movies without subtitles and may have enjoyed this movie more if not for the length. I almost always fall asleep at the movie theatre as I have the attention span of a gnat and most blockbusters are unintelligent and monotonous. I have gravitated more towards TV series, as ~45 minutes of entertainment is just the right amount to keep me interested. We're currently on Breaking Bad, which we randomly got from somebody's hard drive and knew nothing about before watching. It's incredible, one of my favorite shows.
That's all for now, look for an extensive EPL preview blog coming soon. Being in Nepal is like having NFL Sunday Ticket for free, as every match is televised and every male has a rooting interest in one of the Big Four. Should make for less blogs and more soccer-filled weekends, can't wait!
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