Thanksgiving > Any Other Holiday

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everybody that reads my blog. Thanksgiving is easily my favorite holiday and I dearly missed all of the traditions of being with family, eating, watching NFL and just hanging out all day. Mike's Breakfast, an American restaurant in Nepal, was offering a Thanksgiving array for Rs. 1600 a plate but I couldn't justify paying that much (over twice the price of the nicest entrees I've had in Nepal) for food from a restaurant whose enchiladas previously incapacitated me for a good two days. We ended up going out with Akriti and Nisha and ate pizza and tiramisu at an Italian restaurant in Thamel. Not the typical Thanksgiving but it still had all of the core elements of eating, drinking and hanging out with good people. The only dishes I really missed were stuffing and pecan pie. I hope that everyone had a good time.

In the spirit of being thankful, I've compiled a list of some of the things that I have been thankful for over the past eight months, aside from the obvious things which are not fun to write about.

Food Poisoning: Despite being relatively cautious with what I ate and drank for the first few weeks of being in Kathmandu, I developed a wicked stomach virus that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. After two weeks of digestive misery, I came out of it about twenty pounds lighter, subsequently became a vegetarian, started exercising again and am now close to being in the best shape of my life. Forget all of those infomercials, quick fix remedies or actual hard work; buy a ticket to Kathmandu, snag some street food, wash it down with some contaminated tap water and wait for the storm to hit. No pain, no gain...

Facebook: Trust me, nothing has surprised me more than how reliant I have become on Facebook for communcation and an enjoyable way to keep up with the American public sphere through the postings of friends and acquaintances. The libs supply me to all of the best Huffington articles, the neocons plaster my newsfeed with Tea Party propaganda and anti-Obama Drudge links, the smart economist people share their stuff, the hipsters love sharing their recent finds via Stereogum links and the funny people do a good job of relaying quality Youtube clips and articles. I don't have to do any work to stay culturally attuned, so thank you to everybody (even the couples who choose to flirt publically back and forth) for keeping me entertained.

Clever Children: I always have wanted to have kids but have always been pretty neutral overall toward the youth until I started teaching them. They make me think differently and amuse me more than most adults do. I recently started to chastise an incorrigible student before realizing that he was drawing a DNA sequence and doing a better job of explaining it to his nieghbor than I would have been able to. How could you stay mad about that? Another time, a little first grade girl came up to me and sheepishly asked me why I was so white. I gave some explanation about being from a different country and she asked me if America was the land of the rickshaws, as she always sees white people riding in them and maybe we are so white because we are always in the shade while travelling. Kids are awesome, and they have given me a renewed sense of hope for humanity in a world that is filled with greed and evil.

Mario Balotelli:





I love sports and have always been amused by people that set themselves apart through sheer flamboyancy. The role of Crazy American Athlete has become played out (see: Chad Ochocinco and TO) and nobody can ever really top Mike Tyson, but to me, the continuing antics of Super Mario have put him on a different plane of pure insanity. If you find soccer boring, read some of the following links. From trying to break into a women's prison to nearly blowing up his own home to cavorting with the mafia, Mr. Balotelli consistently outdoes himself and keeps me entertained in a year where my favorite team is utter shite. Do your own Google search, I probably left out better stories. He also sometimes plays crazy good football and was partially responsible for the most enjoyable football experience of my life, watching a sea of Man United fans in complete shock after getting trounced 6-1 by Mario's team, Man City.

Happy Holidays, y'all

Hooligans, Solar System, Culture and Sweater Jackets

I had a Saturday training yesterday that gave me time to jot down some things to blog about...

-I retract my previous remarks about the overall misery of Nepali winters. The fog has passed and today is bright and sunny. I went for an extended run and walked for about thirty minutes afterwards to soak up the sunlight. I'm told that the fog will be backsoon though..

-The drop in temperature seems to have brought out the amateur badmintoners from hibernation, as I now have to dodge several pairs of players haphazardly swinging rackets to whack a shuttlecock back and forth in the streets. Along with the badminton, my current list of daily obstacles includes stray dogs, cows, feces, pot holes with and without water, trash, fires, old people, cars, motorbikes and hooligans. Aside from nearly being creamed by a truck who failed to give the obligatory 'approaching honk', all of the other obstacles have been manageable, save the hooligans.

-A group of kids probably around 16-20 like to hang out near one of the shops that I run past. For awhile, they would just point, say things etc. Then it was sending guys out in the road to get in my way. Annoying, but whatever, Recently, I saw the presumed leader holding a pit bull mixed dog that I often run past. As I reached the group, the kid 'sicced' the beast at me and it came within inches of tearing off my ankle. This gave the bunch quite the laugh and nearly gave me a heart attack. I was only halfway through the run and would have to pass the group two more times in order to finish. The next time around, there were more people in the road, so they only had the dog bare his teeth at me. I was enraged but unwilling to stop running the route, so I had to think of a plan of action for the final pass. To feign toughness, I walked up to the group and simply stood in front of them, expressionless, while internally praying that they weren't going to jump me or worse. I stared at the leader for 20-30 seconds until he had wiped the stupid grin off of his face and walked away. I haven't had problems since but always make it a point to stare at the group as I jog by, hopefully to remind them of my 'toughness' and to thwart any shenanigans that they may be planning.

-In science, the class is learning about the solar system, and while prepapring a Powerpoint I was reminded of Pluto's demotion to a lowly dwarf planet a few years back. I remember being anti-Pluto when it was initally reclassified, but found an eight planet solar system to be missing something. I propose that some other object be promoted to planet status in order to fill the gap, ideally something that starts with a 'P' to go along with the childhood acronym. I threw in a slide mentioning Pluto as a former planet with a picture of the Disney dog on it because it bothered me so much to only have eight planets.

-Aside from my enjoyment of anything Kardashian, being away from American pop culture news has been so liberating. I am completely out of touch with anything E! news related, aside from extensive coverage of Amy Winehouse's death and Justin Beiber allegedly knocking up a fan. The lack of news is replaced with heavy Bollywood coverage which I can just ignore because I don't know anything about it. A quick browse of TMZ has informed me that Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore split and Paris Hilton's brother smashed into parked cars; oh no, I'm getting sucked in again!!...

-Along with no American pop culture to deal with, I've also thoroughly enjoyed being out of the political loop and have decided that anybody who wastes their free time following the back and forth politcal banter is completely out of touch and needs to pursue a diffrerent hobby. Knowing issues and having opinions is one thing; watching/follwing ANY source of 'he said, she said gotcha' news is unhealthy and fruitless. Some of it is unavoidable and the Rick Perry gaffe was good, but nothing can ever top Howard Dean


-Ever since coming to Nepal and visiting Thamel, I have been transfixed by the endless array of what I call Icelandic yak wool sweater jackets. I held off on buying one in the summer months, but when the temperature dropped I went to Thamel to get one; much to my dismay, wearing yak wool feels like shoving both of your arms into massive ant hills. I can get it lined, but the lining would cost more than the jacket itself. They're so goregous that I think I'm still going to buy one and represent myself as a Euro to see if I get stared at any differently.



SImilar to this, but better.

Black Lungs

I used to think that seasonal depression was some bullshit* excuse for people to justify going tanning and looking orange in the middle of January, but the last week in Nepal has convinced me otherwise. A thick, dense fog has settled into Kathmandu, trapping the already polluted air into a much smaller area and seemingly prompting about four times the normal amount of motorbikes to be on the roads. There is no longer day and night, only a window of about nine hours from 7:am-4:30 pm where the brightness is constant and resembles that of a fluorescent light with a black T-shirt draped over it. Post-4:30 pm, welcome to night. The present conditions make me feel like I'm living in a snow globe of pollution and despair.

While jogging through the filth today, I found myself trapped in the middle of a traffic jam in a corner of Baluwatar with nowhere to go. Some water truck was stupidly attempting what ended up being a 90-point turn and being subjected to the mixture of gasoline fumes and dust made me feel like some poor orphan kid out of a Dickens novel with grime all over my face. I normally walk a lap after finishing my route but was too short of breath and asthmatic today to continue. I hope the fogs clears up soon, or I'm going to grab some SPF 50 and try to find a tanning salon that isn't stationed next to a massage parlor or dance bar.

The absence of central heating in nearly all buildings is quickly becoming my biggest Foreigner Gripe about the country. I adjusted to no A/C without issue, but coupled with the wet, ubiquitous fog, Kathmandu is quite frigid day and night. I teach on the top level of a building, and my room stayed at a balmy 54 F throughout the day. I borrowed a student's scarf and spent the day looking moronic in a princess muffler, but at least it was warm. My warm breaks throughout the day include morning coffee, late morning tea, post-bathroom handwashing (assuming there's hot water) and crawling into bed. Unfortunately, showers cannot be included, which has led me to weigh the pros and cons before every rinse. It's amazing how superfluous a daily shower can quickly become.

On a lighter note, Kathmandu is abuzz with anticipation for the upcoming Michael Learns to Rock concert. I've gotten several weird looks from everyone when telling them "No, I'm not going. I've never even heard of them". A quick browse of their Wikipedia page and hearing the first 25 seconds of "Take me to your Heart" has convinced me to save the Rs. 5,000, as few bands on the planet can make someone like Michael Bolton or Yanni seem hip and unique. I was done at Danish pop-soft rock..

We've started to watch Weeds, which somehow passed season one of The Wire in the queue while we were midway through (Shehrish "couldn't get into it"). I can't decide if Weeds is an acceptable show to waste thirty minutes of life on or if it's completely embarassing to admit that I watch it. It kind of reminds me of The OC, the only real difference being Weeds takes advantage of the freedom of being on Showtime to throw gratuitous vulgarity at you. FIve episodes in, still can't decide whether to continue or not. The line-up at night has been pretty thin since Kardashians has concluded.

*I haven't forgotten my manners, mom; people here freely say 'shit', 'oh shit' etc. 'Crap' is worse than 'shit' in terms of crudeness. It's taken me months to stop correcting the kids; everyone still says it. When in Rome..