Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Fuckin' birds

26 June 2010                      5:24pm                 Old Baneshwor

I’ve missed a lot of writing!  Anyway, Thursday was my first day at Martin Chautari.  I was a little nervous about getting there, as it requires 2 busses from my house, but luckily Kaka offered to drive me.  After facing the prospect of using public transportation, I gladly said yes.  I got there around 10am, which was actually a little early as very few people were there.  I was sent to the reading room until Dr. Tamang arrived, who got me all set up reading.  We decided that I should just look at front page articles, as 3 years for 3 newspapers is a lot to go through.  I agree, especially after I didn’t even finish April 2007 by the end of the day (at which I’m pretty sure I got kicked out- felt like it anyway).

After work I grabbed a cab to Bishal Bazar, as Dee had told me my outfit was ready.  When I got there the shop was closed, and when I called it turned out it wasn’t ready, she still had to finish the shirt.  I felt like I had wasted cab fare, but then again, I should have called first.  Oh well.  I looked around for shoes and found a pair I liked, and decided that I would buy them when I came back to actually pick up my stuff.

I walked from there to Thamel after, buying a really nice scarf along the way.  The guy selling it gave it to me cheap (-er, it was still Rs 1000) after I promised to bring my friends back.  No problem there, he really did have some nice scarves and was very friendly too.  I ended up at Café Kaldi, as it was the one place I know that had wi-fi and wasn’t all restaurant-y like Fire and Ice.  I worked there for a bit, then hitched a cab back home before it got too late.  That actually didn’t matter though, as neither Kaka nor Kaki were home.  It was just Prashant and I, eating dinner in awkward silence.

Yesterday was my second day at Martin Chautari, which went pretty well again.  Ashmina and Basant stopped by, as she and I had some things to go over.  As we were talking upstairs Seira walked by, and it turns out they know each other quite well.  I should have at least guessed after finding out Basant is a trustee there as well, but I can be pretty thick.  So anyway, that was an amusing experience.

After work I went back to Bishal Bazar, calling first to make sure that my things were indeed ready.  They were.  When I got there Bharati wasn’t there yet, but as I went to go get some shoes while I waited, she appeared.  She had me try the set on, and it feels so nice!  I was a little nervous about how the pants would come out, but they came out great!  It was perfect timing too, as I had to go to a wedding today, so I had something to wear.

Dee had told me that she got new fabric in, so I started looking at some of that.  I was very bad- I ended up getting two more sets made!  I didn’t feel too guilty, as her work is very good, and she’s just so incredibly nice!  I can’t wait to see how these new ones come out!

As it was nearly 6:00 and I was supposed to be meeting people at La Dolce Vita at 7, I left her shop, stopping on my way to buy my shoes.  Sad thing- the ones I had found the day before weren’t comfortable.  Sad face.  I decided on a whim to check the store next door, and found a pair there that were ridiculously comfortable, so I bought those instead.

Somehow on the walk I took a wrong turn and got a little lost.  I ended up walking down this huge road, not sure where I was until I realized I was on the road leading to the palace, which is quite close to Thamel.  It was 6:51, and I was lazy though, so I grabbed a cab.  The guy wanted Rs 100 initially, and I told him no way, it was too close.  He eventually accepted my offer of 50.

Dinner at La Dolce Vita was great.  It was just a small group of us, which was kind of relaxing.  It was hilarious, we kept going from topic to topic, joking around.  Poor Amy was a little lost with some of the GPIA talk, so we tried to change the subject for her.  The plan was to go to jazz after, but somehow we ended up trying to find a place to watch soccer.  I think we were trying to find the club we went to the first night, but we ended up at some other more casual place that had the game on.  As it turns out it was also a hookah bar, which is some place I’ve never been to.  I guess I can’t say that anymore.  It was still an awesome time, which we sadly had to cut short because we all have super-lame 10-11pm curfews.  We decided that for the following night we’d just get a hotel room so we can stay out until whenever.  I swear, I haven’t felt like this with a curfew and all since high school.  At least then I had a key to get in the house and could stay out till like midnight.  Oh well, I think I’ll be moving out soon anyway.

Today was an interesting day.  I went to my first Nepali wedding!  I was never told if Kaka or Kaki was related to the bride or groom, but I’ll assume it’s Kaka as his sister and her husband came with us.  I still never found out who of the couple is his relative.  Oh well.  The wedding was really great, right up until the moment when a bird pooped on me.  That sucked.  And whoever said that it’s good luck when a bird poops on you can suck it.  I bet he’s never had a bird poop on him before.

After awhile there we came back to the house, where I had chow-chow because I didn’t eat much at the wedding because it was too spicy.  I took a nap, which felt so nice, and didn’t wake up until not too long ago.  Our group agenda tonight is karaoke, so I’ll need my rest.  We have another wedding to go to soon, but I think I may skip out on it as everyone’s meeting at 7 for dinner, and I want some food!

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