American Friend and Gai Jatra

American Friend

I made an American friend in Nepal, but now she is gone, so I’m not sure if she still counts. Her name is (was?) Olivia, and I met her at the Aarohan Theater. She goes to Drew University in New Jersey and has been staying at Aarohan for the past six weeks. She learned a surprising amount of Nepali and knew nearly everyone at the theater. I think I mentioned in my last post how much Aarohan is like a camp. Most of the staff lives there and when students come from the various villages, they reside there. They have a ping pong table and a game that resembles pool. Here’s the Artistic Director playing ping pong and kicking ass:




They eat at the “canteen,” a communal eating area where they serve tasty Nepali food. There are two indoor theaters; one is a black box and one a lot larger. I watched a group of students, from this remote village in the mountains called Mogu, rehearse a play they will be performing in a few days. It is in their native language, so most people at the show will not know what they are saying. Olivia said it is going to be a very visual show so it will be easy to understand, but I was very lost during the rehearsal. Maybe I’m missing the visual cues…? Here’s Olivia with two men from Mogu and a woman from a town I always forget the name of:



I really enjoy hanging out at Aarohan, but I have yet to assist them in any way beyond being an interesting foreigner and an audience member. I was supposed to help with the website yesterday but Jeebesh, my main contact there, was at exams all day despite the fact that he had invited me to work on the website yesterday. I was supposed to do my lecture today but my translator, Jeebesh, had exams today, too. So, I’ve had fun hanging out at this camp theater place and meeting all the artists that work there. They are very animated and friendly and one of my favorite people, Min, has invited Meredith and I to visit to Mogu. He also said he wants to go bungee jumping with me!!! AHHH. There is the world’s longest bungee jump in Nepal. Don’t worry, no one has died there, yet.

Gai Jatra

Last Sunday, Shusila our wonderful cook, took us to Bhaktapur a town inside Kathmandu Valley for this festival called Gai Jatra. This festival allows people to pay homage to family members who have passed away this year. Sorej, Shusila’s brother, said Nepali people also take this opportunity to make fun of political leaders. Shusila came to our apartment to pick us up and we took two buses to Bhaktapur. The first one had goats on top of it:



While on the bus, Shusila pointed to one of the men on the bus, and in her limited/awesome English said: Goat Man.

On the second bus, Meredith started to get some bad allergies so I gave her my handy dandy bandana. Look at the angry man behind her, maybe he thinks she is going to try and take his money:



After a two hour journey we arrived in Bhaktapur. We had to pay 750 rupees, almost $12.00 to get into the durbar (palace) squares. This, though it may seem like very little, is actually a lot of money to pay to get into somewhere. Relatively, it’s nearly five times an average Nepali daily salary. Well, luckily for the Nepali people, they only charge Foreigners.



The best part is the latthi nach or “stick dance” where men dance and bang sticks together. It’s beautiful and captivating and Shusila thought it was hilarious when I would move my head to the rhythm.



Meredith and Shusila also thought it was hilarious when Meredith poured scalding tea on my thigh. Stupid senses of humor. This happened while we were eating at a restaurant we had deemed “white restaurant” because we had seen it from afar and noticed there were only white people eating there. We decided not to eat there, but then Shusila suggested it and we didn’t want to be rude and also we are white. Here’s our view:



I will spend very little time on this, because I’m very embarrassed, but, we got mhendi. Shusila, Meredith, and I, all got mhendi (aka Henna) on our hands. We attracted a lot of attention as we were painted, though I’m not sure if it was because we were foreigners or because it’s so fun to watch the men create intricate little patterns on our hands.




Speaking of being gay, we saw a few men dressed as women. I read the next day that the only gay group in Nepal, The Blue Diamond Society, used the festival to raise awareness for “third sex” rights. As far as I can tell, third sex refers to men who dressed as women. Like Thailand, these transwomen (this term may be a misnomer for them), mainly work as prostitutes and while they are accepted to some extent, are marginalized and ostracized. I am planning on going to the Blue Diamond Society to check them out and see if I can volunteer.




Overall, it was a fun trip to Gai Jatra and Bhaktapur. Shusila is a great guide and friend. She is going to take us to one of the big (read: expensive) resorts in Nepal on Saturday where she takes cooking lessons.

Here’s the best picture I took at Gai Jatra (mostly it's impressive because my camera is a piece of shit):