Well, the power’s out. I think back home I would at least jump or have some reaction, but I just looked up at where the light was and then went to find my cell phone, which has a flashlight on it. I guess that means I’m adjusting to life in Nepal. At least, I hope I’m adjusting to live in Nepal.
I had a pretty rough sleep last night. I kept turning the fan on and off, depending on how hot or cold I was getting. After the sun rose, I kept waking up again, mostly because I thought it was later than it really was (5am), but also because of the noises inside and outside the house. I managed to keep mostly to myself in the morning, taking a shower and getting ready and such. Breakfast was good- bread and boiled eggs. Apparently the power was out this morning as well, so there was no power to toast the bread. It still tasted good anyway.
Despite my assurances that I could get to work on my own, Kaka insisted upon dropping me off in the car. The one reassuring thing on the ride was Prashant playing Metallica on the radio. Usually I’m pretty ambivalent about Metallica, but somehow they sounded so good to me this morning.
I met Kashish at Gurukul this morning so that we could go over the details of my internship with them. Despite my discussions with Kalpana last night, apparently I’m still working on updating their website. Also, I will be helping them apply for a Ford Foundation grant, as they need someone with a high understanding of English to help. Hopefully, I will also be able to help with a new production they start working on next week.
After our short meeting (I also met with Jeebesh, who I will be working with), I decided to stay at Gurukul rather than go home, as they have nothing for me to do until tomorrow afternoon. Jeebesh had given me a few books, so I spent all of today reading through one of them and taking notes on it. I have a feeling that my internship is just going to end up being research. I may start looking into alternate internships if I can’t do anything substantive at Gurukul.
Throughout my long day of reading I did come up with some thoughts. The first was an idea for a short film/documentary which would examine the various types of performance in Nepal and then discuss the political or societal aspects of them all. I also had an idea for a play, based off of a blog post I had written a couple of days ago. It would deal with frustrations of language as well as the dangers of homogenization of language. At the very least it’s a chance for me to test out my writing skills.
After 5pm I decided I was done ‘working’ for the day but as I couldn’t find anyone to tell, I just left. I stopped by an internet café, as I still don’t feel comfortable using the computer here, to write to people back home and of course check up on things on facebook. I really am addicted. When I was done there I stopped by another café to call my mom, which I desperately needed to do. The good thing is that I talked for almost a half an hour and it only cost Rs. 48- less than a dollar! I’m totally going back there, it’s better than the Rs. 6/minute that Ncell charges. It was good to talk to my mom. I was able to tell someone exactly how I was feeling that could sympathise and help me through it (everyone here has just said ‘it’s ok, don’t cry’, which really doesn’t help.
The phone connection finally broke so I left and started walking home, calling my mom back once I got off the main road. It was just so good to hear her voice. When I got here I started arranging my room, as the closet had arrived while I was gone. After a little bit Kaki came into my room and had a snack of noodles with me. Now I’m just sitting in here, waiting for dinner and working on my computer as I desperately need some ‘me’ time, which is very hard to find in Nepal.
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