I'm Off!

Tomorrow morning we're leaving for Annapurna! It's one of the most beautiful places in the world and we get to go! We'll be flying up the deepest river valley in the world (only a 25 min plane ride) and we're going to trek for 2 days and stay in small villages along the way and then we'll have a homestay in Larjung for a week with new families and a new schedule. I'll have no internet and no phone service. So I'll be back in two weeks with (hopefully) lots of photos and stories!

Leaves (Nagarjun Community Forest, Nepal)

Here's a picture from a hike Mel, Deb, Kelsey and I went on last weekend. It was SOOO hard. It was just stairs straight uphill made of rock and dirt. It was beautiful though how the trees covered the path so we were protected from the strong sun. We hiked for about 3 hours and then made it to this open clearing where we could look out onto the valley. It was breathtaking and the whole time I was amazed how much it felt like being home and hiking in the Santa Cruz mountains. If only there was a view of the ocean! We snacked on pretzel sticks (yes, we found those here) bananas, and granola bars and then made our way down for a grueling knee workout downhill. It was so nice to get out of the city and just breathe dust-free air and to hear leaves rustling. 

The Hike- Me, Mel, Deb, and Kelsey (Nagarjun, Nepal)

FOOD.

I can’t live without food. I’m not trying to be dramatic here or state the obvious. I just love food, and let me tell you, there are some delectably scrumptious foods in Nepal. And there are also some not-so-scrumptious foods here too- just like any place, I’m sure.

This is a short post about F.O.O.D. (cause, let’s be honest, you want to know what I’m eating!)

Breakfast/ khaja- meaning “snack” as opposed to khaanaa- meaning “food/meal” used to describe lunch/dinner

My two favorites are:

#1             1 hard boiled egg

                        1 cup of dudh chiyaa (milk tea)

                        1 omelet (with tomatoes, coriander, and onion)

#2            1 small bowl of alooah (I describe it like ‘Nepali carrot cake porridge’ made of gram flour, sugar, carrots, cinnamon, and water)

            1 cup of kaagati chiyaa (lemon tea)

My Favorite Breakfast- Omelet and Lemon Chiyaa

Lunch/ khaanaa- made by Dorjedaai and Dondaai at school

Food at school is ALWAYS, I repeat ALWAYS delicious. Everything is homemade, different, and fills us up. It’s torture sometimes sitting in class having to smell the sweet fragrance of caramelizing onions or flaky and buttery quiche baking in the oven.

Lunch highlights:

-       Tacos!

-       Spinach and onion quiche

-       Roasted chicken, garlic broccoli, and mashed potatoes with gravy (and apple pie for dessert!)

-       Salad (so simple yet hits the spot every time since raw veggies aren’t that common)

-       Pizza

-       Honey yogurt

Dinner/ khaanaa- made by my aamaa (sometimes my bahini, Pragya, helps too)

DAALBHAAT. Daal bhaat. daal bhaat. daal bhaat. daal bhaat. daal bhaat. daal. bhaat.

Daal- lentils

Bhaat- rice

While we don’t just eat rice and lentils alone, essentially every dinner is a heap of steamy rice with a little bowl of stewed lentils (that resembles a soup more than lentils I have in the U.S.) Sides with daalbhaat are typically:

-       cauliflower & potatoes

-       tomatoes &potatoes

-       mushrooms & potatoes

-       peas & mushrooms

In addition, my aamaa pounds out (with mortar and pestle) some type of achaar- “pickle” every meal that you grab a pinch of each bite to make it tangy or spicy. Sometimes it’s tomato achaar that tastes just like salsa and other times it’s radish and onion that’s quite bitter and smelly (not my fave).

The secret to eating daalbhaat however, is not what you eat with it, but what you eat it with:

            Your hands.

Yes, that’s right. My dreams have come true and I am not only told to eat with my hands, but I’m encouraged to play with my food. This is how it works: You’ve got 3 distinct piles on your plate (rice, veggies, and pickle sauce) with a small bowl of lentils on the side. The strategy is to have an open space on the plate where you do your mixing. You grab a little rice, a little veggie, and a dab of achaar and then pour a small amount of daal on top and then proceed to mix it together. Yes, with your hands. Once it’s all incorporated, you grab a bite-sized lump in your fingers and shovel it into your mouth with the aid of your thumb. I’ll have to teach everyone when I get home, but it’s pretty fun, quite effective, and just makes sense!

Khaja- my favorite snacks

-       nariwaal laagdu (coconut balls that taste similar to macaroons)

-       biscuits (crackers)

-       suntala- “oranges”

-       peanut butter

-       mango juice

-       Snyder’s honey mustard pretzel pieces (we found them at the super market and every one of us grabs so many we raid the shelf as if the world is about to end)

-       Strawberry popsicle

My Third Favorite Breakfast- Guliyo Roti

Aerial Shot of MiTho breakfast =)

 “Bad Food” List

These are some foods that I’ve tried and just can’t accept:

-       mango achaar- I’m sorry but mangos (my favorite fruit in the world) simply should not be pickled

-       cornflakes and milk- it’s soggy, hot, thick, and creamy (and I don’t do milk)

-       Chocopie- a Korean version of a Hostess product (horrible marshmallow “cookie”)

-       Daal bhaat- okay, I know I just said it’s fun to eat, but eating the same thing can get a wee bit tiring and so it comforts me adding it to the bad list sometimes, but for the most part it's ekdam miTho (very tasty)

My birthday cake

I’m realizing I promised this would be a short post about food. This isn’t short. Who was I kidding?

Chitwan

It’s been a week and a half since we got back from our trip a 6 hour drive away from Kathmandu. We were in Chitwan National Park and stayed at Jungle Tourist Camp for meals and Nepali language class. Chitwan was the San Diego equivalent of Nepal with its tourist attractions, exotic animals, warm weather, and “beaches” (these were along the river and no one was in a bathing suit tanning, but there was sand and a beautiful sunset each night nonetheless).

Highlights of the trip:

-       Bees! We learned about bee farming and how intensive (or not intensive depending upon the season) honey harvesting is. Gopi, “the bee guy” chooses to harvest honey as a hobby and for an alternative source of income. We tasted 3 types of honey: one was rich, runny, and sweet just like honey at home, BUT BETTER! Another looked like frosting and TASTED like frosting too. It is spreadable, sweet, and mild. The last honey we tried was actually mixed with mustard seed and had a bright yellow color to it and a tangy sugary taste. I ended up buying the second frosting-like one because it was unlike any honey I’d had before and it seemed to be the most versatile. Hopefully I’ll have saved it to share when I come home!

Gopi "The Bee Guy" (Sauraha, Nepal)

 Tharu culture! Tharu people are just one of the indigenous groups of Nepal and we got to tour their cultural museum a few villages over from ours. They have deep traditions in fishing, dancing, and tattooing (for women). We talked with a few people in the Tharu village and they expressed their concern for their culture’s wellbeing, as the government of Nepal does not seem to respect their history, traditions, and livelihoods. My favorite part of walking through the village was seeing all the handprints decorating the houses. These prints are meant to bring good luck and prosperous crops to the family.

Tharu Hands (Tharu Village, Nepal)

-       Bikes!  Chitwan has quite a lot of landmass, but the places we traveled to were manageable by bike. It was so fun seeing all of us hop onto these rickety old bikes with fixed gears, baskets, and kick stands and navigate dusty and uneven roads. We sang songs from The Sound of Music and kept saying we felt like the Von Trap children biking free and happy.

Bike (Sauraha, Nepal)

 Elephants! Called haati in Nepali, elephants were everywhere we went. They’re just amazing creatures. Not only are they the largest land mammal alive today, but they’re also arguably one of the smartest (an elephant’s memory is flawless and they can remember a route or recognize a face after seeing it just once). Four of us climbed atop an elephant and squeezed our legs out of a small wooden ‘frame’ that we sat in. While it wasn’t the most comfortable position, I could stretch my feet down and rest them on the elephant’s skin and feel the rough yet strong animal below me. If only I could travel by elephant everywhere I went. 

Me and Mel with Ellie (Sauraha, Nepal)

 Elephant Ride (Sauraha, Nepal)

Kelsey, Emma, Mel, and Gyan on the Elephant (Sauraha, Nepal)

River (Sauraha, Nepal) 

In terms of school, our lectures vary, but tend to focus on themes of religion, development, research strategies, and social change in Nepal. We’re currently developing our ISP (Independent Study Projects)  ideas for the last month we’ll be here. I’m currently thinking about analyzing the Peace Corps volunteer in the Nepali context. (I figure I love volunteering, Nepal and people so why not see how effective this program is?)

We’re still learning Nepali every morning and though our teachers express frustration at how slow we’re learning, everyone else we talk with (shop keepers, our family members, etc.) is impressed. We can bargain, take a taxi (give directions), describe what we’d like to buy/eat/do, learn about another person’s traits, and talk about our daily schedules. I’m sure we know more, but I’m definitely not fluent yet.

pheri bheTaula! (see you again!)

Camel by the Beach (Sauraha, Nepal)

The River (Sauraha, Nepal)