so make a plan or hold a hand but don't ever be a passerby

We have a lot of turmeric here. Lunch, for example, was rice, dal (with turmeric), potatoes (with turmeric), and cauliflower (with turmeric). We were not about to pass up the opportunity for turmeric-less rice-less Thanksgiving dinner. Although we four Americans (Lucy, John, Nikki, and I) aren't cooks, we managed quite a feast between us. (And emails from mom. Thanks, mom.) We cooked chicken, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, and had bread, apple pie, and ice cream afterwards. It was fantastic. It will be another long while before we taste rosemary or celery. Mr. Patel was very surprised when we chucked all the "good stuff" out of the "soup" to make gravy. Also, he was disappointed to not be allowed to dump turmeric and masala on the chicken, but was allowed to refry the leftover chicken as he saw fit. A couple photos of the miracle can be found at my PicasaWeb page.

Mary Knox arranged a generous donation of ten laptops from her school, which made it through customs cleanly. We set them up in the computer lab, and have spend the past week and a half teaching five 40-minute classes a day. We teach grades 6-10 typing, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Publisher. For the most part, they are quick learners. Most students are remarkably uncreative, though. We think it's the rote educational system that just pounds out any individuality. Whenever we did a creative writing project, like writing a letter about themselves, they would do something like write their name and stop. If we gave them suggestions for further material, they would copy it down and stop. If we didn't suggest new material fast enough, they would close the document and start over again with exactly the same letter. When asked their favorite food, half wrote "Nepali food". When asked their favorite music, half wrote "Nepali music". It was very frustrating. If you let them loose with free time on PowerPoint, even after they knew how to use it, some would simply wait for further direction. Most kids have never been out of Kathmandu, and few have hobbies that we could coax out. I spend two days trying to get a kid to write more about swimming than "I like swimming", but never succeeded. One kid said Pokhara was his favorite place, but when juiced for more information, he had none, and it turns out he had never been there, and had heard remarkably little about it. Older kids were much better. One even wrote a QBasic program on his own. For the most part, kids enjoyed the computers tremendously, and we hope they will continue to be used to their full potential when we leave. You can find a few pictures of kids using their computers at my PicasaWeb page.

And on that happy note, I bring more sad news: we have abandoned our computers in customs. We went to the airport today to take one last stab at freeing them. While we have been trekking and teaching, Mr. Patel has visited many times, so we did not have much hope of actually getting them, but we wanted to do what we could. We re-offered the maximum bribe that Mr. Patel had offered (about $1200 US) without success. The asking price is actually pretty funny. Each of the eight computers is being valued at $750. Customs wants to charge duty (17%), "premium" (101%), and $200/day storage fees. This works out to something on the order of $15,000. The customs officials have generously agreed to consider the storage fees. (Insert eye-roll.) We were able to "inspect" the computers today, during which time we were able to smuggle out some RAM and wireless cards. They noticed, of course, and kicked us out, but in the ensuing discussions they forgot to frisk us. We asked for a second "inspection" later, which was denied after about half an hour. We were considering sabotaging (maybe permanently, maybe reversibly) the computers at this point, but did not get the opportunity, which I think might be a good thing for my conscience. A few officials were actually trying to help, but most were useless, greedy, and afraid. These officials do not say "No, no, no", they say "I want to help, but I can do nothing. Come tomorrow. You can speak with my boss. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow." They have in fact "agreed" to deliver the computers to us several times now. They pass the buck faster than a sawmill. There is no accountability. Mr. Gyanendra needs to agree to this. I have no authority.  He is next door. He is coming. Yes he is coming? What, he has not come? Then, he is over there, by the green line. No? Then he is over there, inspecting the machines. No? Then he is not available now. Time has come for him to leave work. Come tomorrow. I would like to help, but it is not allowed. 80,000 rupees will do nothing. I might lose my job. You must speak with Gyanendra. Come tomorrow? You are leaving the country tomorrow? I am sorry, I can do nothing.

AAAAAAARGH!

--Nils

well i was sitting, waiting, wishing

We needed a bite of lunch, so we stopped in at a cramped hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Hole-in-the-wall means something different in Nepal than it does in the US. It's pretty spartan. We weren't exactly sure it was open at first. There was a boy helping an older man install a replacement pane of glass in the counter. We asked the boy if they were open. He didn't understand. People speak English here, so don't be overly sympathetic. We repeated the question. "Yes," he said. We took a seat. He produced a menu and went back to helping the man install the glass.

Ten minutes passed.

I got his attention. "Do you work here?" Nod. "May we order?" Wobbly Nepali head movement that can mean anything, but usually means "OK." I explained our order, counting off the items on my fingers for clarity:

"One veg momo." Menu price, 30 rupees.
"One veg spring roll." 60.
"One Miranda." 20.
"One black tea." 5.

"Momo?" Uh-oh. Slight confusion. Repeat, with fingers:

"One veg momo."
"One veg spring roll."
"One Miranda."
"One black tea."

"OK." Phew. A momo is basically a potsticker. You get a plate of maybe eight. A spring roll is basically an egg roll. You get a plate of maybe two. Nepal is a nation of Indians eating Chinese food and Tibetans eating Tibetan food.

Boy goes behind the counter and produces two Mirandas for our approval. "One Miranda," I repeat. He pops the lid of one and hands it over, stowing the other one back beneath the counter. Back to the pane of glass. He produces my tea in a few minutes.

Time passes.

Man walks in the door. Appears to be the actual owner here. Boy speaks with him in Nepali. The man turns to us. "Veg momo?" Alas. Repeat, with fingers:

"One veg momo."
"One veg spring roll."
"One Miranda."
"One black tea."

I point out the last two items as I mention them to indicate they have already arrived. "OK. Momo steam or fry?" "Steam." Man disappears to kitchen. Phew. Boy leaves for parts unknown, comes back with a cabbage, holds it up for our approval. He's got it correct. "Yes, veg."

Time passes.

Begger comes in; begs.

Time passes.

A plate arrives! It's veg spring rolls. The two forks on the plate are a little disconcerting. I eat. Nikki mooches. I finish.

Time passes.

Begger leaves.

Time passes.

Nikki steals a glance at the bill. It definitely says "momo".

Time passes.

I go pick up the bill and read:

1. Veg Momo 1 @ 30
2. Miranda 1 @ 25
3. Black Tea 1 @ 10

Numbered just like that. 1-2-3. Nevermind that I counted off four items on my fingers every time. Nevermind that a spring roll arrived, but wasn't recorded. Nevermind that since the chef asked about steam/fry there couldn't have been any confusing a momo and a spring roll. Nevermind that he was overcharging our drinks. Nobody from the restaurant was in sight.

We borrowed a pen, corrected the price of our drinks, left exact change, and stopped at a bakery on our way home. We paid the momo price, not the spring roll price. Sorry, dude. You lose.

I have no idea what happened to the steamed veg momos. After all, this is Nepal.

--Nils

looking for adventure, or whatever comes our way

Hello!
So we are back from trekking alive and well, as Nils announced. It would take much too much time to cover everything we did, so I'll just have to cover some highlights. We became friends with some other trekkers - a group of 3 Germans, and a group of 3 Minnesotans who happened to be going the same way we were. We saw tons of beautiful sights and places. The star were amazing as Nils noted. We went for a polar bear swim in Gosaikund lake, which is at about 13,000 ft, and is absolutely freezing cold. There was snow on the ground. The Germans had the idea originally. It was fun, and we all managed to survive without hypothermia somehow. We experienced the unique cuisine of the mountains, which includes "Snicker Momo", which is essentially a turnover filled with chocolate, caramel, and peanuts. It's suprisingly a lot better than it sounds. We took an amazing day hike (on our rest day, haha) to 14,100 ft, which afforded us the most spectacular view of the Langtang range, and the surrounding glaciers. Overall, we had an amazing time. We have lots of pictures, but, they are all analog, as there isn't really much electricity to charge digital camera's. We saw one guy with a solar panel rigged to his backpack to charge his camera, but we were not quite so sophisticated.

I do have some pictures I posted of some of our time in Kathmandu. They are not a lot, as it takes quite a bit to upload photos here, due to slow internet, but it's something. If you're interested, you can see them at http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18373&l=6fb0a&id=598591945
Yes, they're on facebook, but that link should allow you to see them even if you don't have a facebook. I don't have a better photo hosting service at this point, or I would host them elsewhere. Apologies.

And now finally, for the most important, and probably best news. Our computers are not out of customs, but, one of the volunteers who just left, Mary Knox, shipped us ten Thinkpads from her old high school, and they did make it through customs! So while our computers are not here, we still have ten very useable computers to work with. We are setting them up this week, and then we will be starting teaching next Monday! We are very excited.
Anyway, thats most of the new for now. We are off today to get Indian visas.
-- Nikki

we breathe adrenaline, elevate organically

We're back from the Langtang Trek, alive, and well. It was awesome. We saw many stars, but no firefoxes, and I have muscles on my legs that I did not know about before. The Himalayas, for those of you wondering, are big. For future trekkers, I have compiled a short Nepali-English glossary.

Nepali phrase: "Today, we go uphill."
English meaning: "Today, we will climb stairs up a mountain until your legs fall off."

Nepali phrase: "Today, we go flat."
English meaning: "Today, we will climb a mountain until your legs fall off. There will, however, not be many stairs."

Nepali phrase: "Today, we go downhill."
English meaning: "Today, we will climb a 700 meter mountain, then jump off a 701 meter cliff. Your knees will regretably not survive intact."

Nepali phrase: "Tomorrow, we rest."
English meaning: "Tomorrow, we will scale a vertical rock face until there is no oxygen left in your lungs. We will then descend the rock face, and return to this same lodge to pass out."

Nepali phrase: "Gopte is near."
English meaning: "Gopte is far away."

Nepali phrase: "We have arrived at Gopte."
English meaning: "We have crossed some ancient boundary that once denoted the edge of the district in which Gopte lies. We will arrive at the town in one hour."

Nepali phrase: "Gopte."
English meaning: "That farmhouse to your left was part of Gopte when it was inhabited. We will arrive at the town in forty minutes."

Nepali phrase: "Yes, that is Gopte."
English meaning: "No, that is an abandoned outhouse, not a lodge. We will arrive at the town in twenty minutes."

Nepali phrase: "Maybe here is Gopte."
English meaning: "After three bridges, two waterfalls, and one hour of false hope, our lodge is that building there."

--Nils