A Week of Firsts

While riding into town by taxi cab one night this week, I was looking out to the hills surrounding the city and had the thought that I really needed to get out of Kathmandu and see the rest of Nepal. Luckily for me, this week presented some opportunities to do just that. There were a lot of firsts this week, in fact.

1. First cup of coffee since arriving in Kathmandu.
2. First cell phone call! That’s right, I finally got a working cell phone and sim card.
3. First trip to a Buddhist Temple – kind of a first tourist activity.
4. First trip outside of Kathmandu, into the hills and out of the valley.
5. Finally, the best first: FIRST VIEW OF THE HIMALAYAS!

Last weekend I met up with another AU alum who has been in Kathmandu for more than a year at Himalayan Java. It was here that I finally had a cup of coffee after probably a week without it. The coffee was pretty good! It was also good to hear about my friend’s experience and listen to his advice for surviving Kathmandu. His number one bit of advice was to get out of Kathmandu as much as possible (which is funny, because that was my advice for living in DC, as well…). We did just that, to an extent. The pictures have already been posted, but we went up to Swayambhunath, “The Monkey Temple,” on the outskirts of Kathmandu. This is a big Buddhist temple on the top of a hill, which offers views of the city, and probably the mountains when it is clear enough to see them. We were there on a rainy Sunday afternoon, which was good for avoiding crowds, but not great for being outside. I didn’t photograph the monkeys, but I was tempted to when I saw one sleeping cozily on top of a Buddha’s head. When the weather clears up for good (hopefully by October) I’ll go back and take pictures against a blue sky instead of the white overcast.


At the CEDPA office I’ve officially moved into the shared intern office. It’s nice to be around the other interns, and get out of the conference room, which is where I was working before. We’re approaching our evaluation deadline, and what I’ve learned about this office culture is that their mantra is, “don’t worry. It will get done.” It feels like every day there is some hang up that makes it impossible to do the necessary amount of work, like software or computer glitches, lack of information, or just additional analyses that can only be done by one person. So while I wait for these things to be remedied, not able to do much work, I’m always told not to worry. It will get done. We expect to send our first draft of the evaluation to HQ next week, and then I will work on putting together the poster from the results, which I will present at the International Conference on Family Planning in Uganda this November.

For the past two weekends I’ve tried to get in touch with my friend Nina’s sister, and finally this week we connected, thanks to my new cell phone. Originally we planned on meeting for coffee in Patan, a part of Kathmandu I have yet to visit, but she called on Saturday morning and suggested we get out of Kathmandu (yes!). Her friend has a car and could take us up to Bhaktapur and Nagarkot. Again, both spots were highly recommended before I left, so of course I was thrilled to have the opportunity to get out and see some new places. On a side note, it was funny meeting Nina’s sister Numa because she talks EXACTLY like Nina, and I thought, this is probably what people think when they meet my sister…

Bhaktapur is one of the three major towns in the Kathmandu Valley. About an hour outside Kathmandu, it’s a traditional town with Newari architecture, cobblestone streets, and many, many temples. I loved it. The streets were not crowded and noisy, which was a welcome change from the neighborhoods in Kathmandu. It was actually easy and quite pleasant to walk through the narrow, winding passages and window shop. It’s definitely a spot to revisit, perhaps when I have guests in from out of town… ;)

After a stroll through Bhaktapur, and 40 pictures later, we drove another hour up the hills to Nagarkot. This small town is at the top of a hill (elevation about 2200 meters) and is basically a resort town that presents mountain views…usually after October. Since it is still the end of the monsoon season it was pretty empty, but we ate lunch outside at one of the resorts that overlooked the hillsides. The names of the resorts give away the fact that they were built during the hippie influx in the 1960s and 1970s. There was Space Mountain Lodge, End of the Universe Resort and even Nepal’s first Eco-Cottage built in 1967. After we ate we walked around a bit, and then drove up to another point where we finally caught a very lucky glimpse of the snowy Himalayan peaks. I have to preface, and say that almost every day in our CEDPA office we say, “Do you think you can see the mountains today?” and then go up to the roof to check the views. Of course, to date there has been nothing. So this was incredibly exciting to finally see just the tip top of the peaks. It wasn’t Everest, but still… We climbed up a tower that was probably 30 feet high to get some additional views. It was a little scary, but worth it to see the mountain peaks.

I was exhausted by the end of the day, so I just came home, ate some dinner with Margie and went to bed (oh, after another incredible first… First episode of FNL to be shown on cable in Kathmandu!!! Okay, probably not the first to be shown, but the first I’VE seen).