First week in Pokhara

It's hard to believe that I've been in Nepal for over a week already. My time in Pokhara has been very full, and it looks like it will continue that way!

On Saturday morning, Joyce and I caught the 7am bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara (Roz flew separately). I got my first views of Nepali countryside – terraced fields, narrow bridges over the river, and poorer houses along the road. I would have seen more had I been able to stay awake during the drive! We stopped for tea and food at 9:30, then again at 11:30 for lunch, and were in Pokhara by 1:30. It was a fairly clear day, and the mountains were visible above the city. It's so wonderful to be here.

Fiona came by on her motorbike to direct us to where we'll be staying. There are almost no road names and addresses in Pokhara, so it is nearly impossible to give reliable directions, and you need to be shown where things are. Fiona impressed us by arguing forcefully (in Nepali) with the taxi drivers to prevent them from ripping us off, and then I (and all my luggage) went on to my final stop on my journey, over 6 weeks after leaving Toronto. Whew! I can finally unpack!

The rest of Saturday was taken up with meeting people and settling in in our apartment. I'll try to do a full post on where I'm living at some point, but for now, I have to say it's great. Two bedrooms, with a nice big common area, and several extra beds, should anyone want to come visit :) The highlight, I think, is the view from the front balcony of the Annapurna Range – absolutely stunning. I suspect there will be a lot of pictures taken from the front balcony over my year here!

A few of the other ex-pats with INF dropped by to welcome us, and then Fiona and Iain had us to their place for dinner. Iain is the current medical director of the Green Pastures Hospital, and it is great to meet another person I have known so far only over email. We ended our first night in Pokhara with a rousing game of spoons with their two kids. The ex-pat staff have been so welcoming, and we have received so much help and advice from everyone as we are getting oriented. It really has made our transition go smoothly.

Sunday there was no church, as Saturday is the only day off that many Nepalis get (they work 6 shorter days instead), and we had missed the Sat am service. I have managed to be at 3 fellowship meetings since arriving in Nepal, however, so there has already been lots of opportunity for connecting with other Christian ex-pats.

Most of the INF staff did go to church on Sunday, however, as there was a funeral for the mother of one of the Nepali staff. She had been involved with the organization since it started in Pokhara over 50 years ago, so it was a loss for everyone. See as we had just arrived, we were not expected to go, and instead went to Lakeside (the tourist area of Pokhara) with 4 of their kids (8-12), and Christina, a medical resident who's here for 3 weeks from England. It was a win-win situation – they got baby sitters and we got experienced tour guides, who had very definite opinions about the good and bad things that were available. The lake is indeed lovely, although rather touristy, and you can get pretty much anything you could want in Lakeside. The kids took us to a restaurant where I got enchiladas and the kids got chicken wings, and where everything was safe to eat, even the salad. How exciting.

After that, we met up with Fiona again, who took us shopping for material for us to get Nepali clothes. This was something both Roz and I had been looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint. There are so many colours and patterns available, and once you have made the big decision, you head to the tailors, and get measured to have them made, some of which would be ready by Tuesday!

The power cuts in Pokhara are on a similar rotating schedule to what we experienced in Kathmandu. However, the dial up internet still works when the power's out, which makes sense, but still seems a bit strange to me. I have managed to talk on skype with dial up – the reception was actually better than the phone when I called home briefly from Kathmandu. The internet's a bit hit and miss though, and other nights we can hardly stay connected long enough to check email. So I will be potentially available to talk or chat on skype, on occasion, but one never knows when it will work. We do have a phone as well, so I can be contacted that way too, although we can't call long distance from our phone, and have to go elsewhere to do so. Our phone number is 977-061-430883 (977 is the Nepal country code).

Monday morning we started language courses, which 4 days in, seem pretty interesting and intense. Our days start at 9am with an hour long 'orientation' class, where we learn about Nepal, INF (the organization I'm working with), and get general advice about adapting to a new culture. It should be very useful. This is followed by 3 hours of individual language lessons, which I'll talk more about in another post. We have lunch at the little family run shop that feeds all the staff (at about $0.50 for lunch), then supposedly we have our afternoons off to study and do our homework. This week, however, since we're still getting organized, we've had lots of meetings and things to do after lunch.

One important thing to do was to go collect our kurtas from the tailor's on Tuesday. Kurtas are made up of a long top over baggy pants, and a scarf. I got winter ones for now, and will need to get some cooler ones a bit later. We were very excited to get them, and think they look fabulous. In addition, they are very comfortable, although I still haven't got the hang of having a loose scarf all the time. We get our remaining ones tomorrow...looking forward to that!



Tuesday night I had my first (of hopefully not too many) system purge. Whatever it was I ate or drank that day (I have been careful, honest), stopped bothering me once it was out of my system, but I was feeling pretty washed out on Wed. It was too bad, as that was the day we had our tour of Green Pastures Hospital, but I was able to enjoy my first view of it all the same. Today I had my own tour with Iain, and we talked more about what I'll be doing after my month of language training. Having seen what they are already doing with rehab, wheelchairs and prosthetics, I am looking forward to getting involved there. The staff are enthusiastic about the plan to head out to evaluate how past patients are doing, as they have very little follow up once patients leave the hospital setting in many cases.

That's my summary of my week so far in Pokhara. There are more pictures posted here, if you're interested. I'm excited, because on Sunday I'll be heading off to one of the nearby villages (by bus and foot) with some other staff who are going to check out a beekeeping project they are supporting there. I'll post more about that, and some other first impressions, as I get a chance.