'Tis the Season

It has been a while since my last update, and I apologize for keeping my dedicated readers in suspense... But, well, you haven't missed much! I've had some trouble downloading pictures to my blog, so I thought who wants to read words without pictures? Not me! I'm not sure where the source of the picture problem is, but I still can't download images... Boo.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I had a chance to get out of Kathmandu and see a new part of Nepal. I traveled south from Kathmandu to the Terai region, which is in the lowlands along the Indian border. It's one of the poorest regions of Nepal, but it just seemed more rural than other parts of Nepal. In fact, I sort of felt at home among the wheat and rice fields, with tractors slowly chugging down the dirt roads and men and women working in the fields. All that was missing was Grinnell College! My coworker came down with me to serve as an interpreter, and she did a wonderful job. We conducted three focus group discussions with volunteers from CEDPA's project and interviewed three people who worked for our partner NGOs. Overall, it went well. It was my first opportunity to conduct my own field research, so I have much to learn and improve, but it was really nice to see how the project worked first hand.

There was a bit of adventure our last day in the Terai because the Maoists decided to call a National bandh (strike). They make sure no cars, buses or motorcycles are out on the road by burning the cars of those who dare venture out early in the morning -- this is how they send the message to the people. It works! Most people are fearful enough to stay off the roads, including us. We stayed an extra day at the hotel, but had enough work to keep us busy. Traveling the next day was no problem, so we made it back to Kathmandu in time for lunch at the office. Yum!

Since that trip, I've been busy at work -- my boss has been taking me along to meetings with donors and other groups who are potential new partners. It's been interesting, but has been keeping me out of the office, so I've fallen behind on my emailing (and blogging). Besides the meetings, I'm currently working on some new analysis of the same data I used for my poster (spousal communication) to add to a paper I'm working on for publication. My boss in DC, the previous Nepal CEDPA intern and myself are collaborating to write the article -- who knows if they'll accept the full manuscript, but it's due in February, so it wouldn't be published until next Spring, I think. I'll keep you posted!

The holiday season is, well, not so obvious in this Hindu country. There's the occasional Christmas display in a store window, and some of the hotels have trees, but I wouldn't say it's feeling Christmasy here. But, I'm very much looking forward to celebrating in the Himalayas! Becca should arrive tomorrow afternoon, and we'll head to Pokhara the following day. By Christmas Eve we'll be in the lower hills of the Annapurnas on our luxury Christmas trek, which includes hot showers, dinner and down jackets in our rooms at the lodges. It sounds perfect for my first trek!

Apart from Becca's journey through the snow to board her plane in New York, the day after the East Coast blizzard, we'll have to creatively and strategically find a way to get from the airport back to my house tomorrow because it will be the third day of another National bandh. As of yesterday, the Maoists started a three day bandh, and it is working... The streets are clear; everyone is out walking and there are very few bikes and motorcycles out on the roads. There is, however, a tourist shuttle, which I will probably take to/from the airport tomorrow. It picks up and drops off at the hotels around Kathmandu, so we'll just have to walk from the closest hotel, which shouldn't be a problem. Just an adventure!

Merry Christmas to all!

Enjoy some music from NPR.