2014: The Year of Transportation?

Street in Dhaka

Highway Beautification Project in RI

It’s funny how much transportation has been a common theme in my life this year. First was the organized and detail oriented limited access roadway project in Rhode Island, then the crazy experience of Dhaka traffic and now a more tame, but equally enthralling, Nepal public transportation.

Ring Road, by my home stay 

My family’s home is about a 45 minute walk from the program center, where classes are held. Another student lives across the way, and we have begun our attempts at mastering the local bus. We felt like complete fools/foreigners the first day, as we darted across Ring road and stood there trying to wave down the golden bus that our host parents had told us about. It took several tries, but a few laughs later, we finally found a golden bus that pulled over, seemed to agree that their path was near the right area, and off we went. Success!

In Nepal, I've noticed that public transportation generally have two employees per vehicle - a driver and a doorman/fee collector. The fee collected tends to be younger male and seems to be responsible for maximizing profit - both by yelling the destination of the vehicle out the open door or window and by  encouraging people to take up less room so more passengers can board. Early in the morning, its generally a pretty easy commute, without too many fellow riders. But on the way home, especially from 4 to 6pm, the busses tend to be packed! I wish I could get an adequate photo to capture the experience, but I'm not sure it can translate into a picture. 

An Easy Bus Ride 

The other night I was invited to a small evening gathering on the other side of town. It was so lovely to be thought of/invited and just really nice to have a more “American” night out. It made me miss summer get-together’s at home on the back patio/pool. I couldn’t stay all that long, because I did not want to keep my Nepali family up. My hosts helped arrange a taxi with a reputable driver and off we went. I had great fun practicing my Nepali, which is slowly improving. We were almost home when the driver took what he thought was a short cut and suddenly the road became more broken stairs then paved road. His car stalled in the process, and so I had to jump out and help give the car a few shoves, while he guided the car. The car took a few dings, I hopped back in and off we went again! 

Starting Part 3 of My Travels: SIT Semester Abroad

Puja at the temple for good fortune this semester

This past week or so has been spent settling into the SIT part of my travels. It has been challenging in ways that I didn’t anticipate. I knew I wouldn’t be experiencing the same culture shock that the rest of my new classmates, but it’s still been an adjustment!

If you know me well, I’m a people-person. But having spent the last 2 months, especially the month of August, flying solo allowed (encouraged? forced?) me into a sort of isolation. The day I went to meet the new SIT people, full of English speaking people my own age, I was pretty nervous and intimidated. Everyone has been super lovely, and friendly, but I’ve shocked myself as I’ve found myself craving time alone to reenergize, or seeking out opportunities to do things by myself. Not a good or a bad thing, but an interesting adjustment for me!

View from my home stay rooftop! 

My life has more of a schedule then it has the last few months (the change in my level of  freedom/independence is another big challenge!). I wake up around 5:30 and do some stretching in my room before making an appearance in the family kitchen. Breakfast, shower, a quick Nepali study shesh and I’m out the door to meet Sundal so we can walk to the main road to catch our public bus. We wave down our golden bus and hop on for the 30 minutes commute to the SIT program house. My morning is filled with language class (about 2.5 hours!!!), a lecture and lots of chiya!! An hour lunch break, usually followed by another lecture and then time to “decompress”… running various errands, exploring KTM or completing homework. Back home to study, practice Nepali language with my awesome homestay family and then a delicious dinner cooked by my aamaa (mom). It’s nice to settle into a routine, but I’m still working to find where to carve out time for personal things, like staying updated or going out and taking photos.

Nepali language homework 

Since my last post, I’ve been tossed into SIT’s wonderfully intensive Nepali language course. I’m so excited to see how much I will learn in the coming months, as the last week has given me more proficiency in Nepal than I would likely ever gain here by myself ever. Yesterday we even started learning more of the Devnagari script, which I have surprised myself (again) by really really enjoying. Lots of new discoveries lately!

The classes so far have been really awesome and energizing. I love the topics we are studying and the feed into so many of my interests. Part of the SIT experience will be a month long ISP (“Independent Study Project”), similar to Wooster’s Junior and Senior I.S., so I’ve been brainstorming and looking at all the possible projects I could do. It’s wonderfully exciting, although hugely intimidating, to be at the beginning of visioning a project that will keep my heart singing. I’ve had a great 2 months filled with meaningful observations that have helped to formulate my personal views, and I’m so excited and lucky to continue this type of hands-on, first person learning.