Oh dear God it's more dal bhat

20 June 2010                      sometime after 10:00pm                              Jyamirkot

Another workshop day.  We started again by discussing yesterday’s work, which today were the interior models of everyone’s designs.  The models have been progressing very well; it was almost a shame to do what we did next.  That was, we split everyone into 3 groups and asked them to each start a model (2 for this location, one for Kathmandu).  After 2 hours, they would then switch and continue work on another group’s model.

Everyone started working in their groups, developing ideas for their collaborative models.  After awhile some people started drifting, apparently bored or something with what their group was doing.  After a couple of hours it was time for lunch, and after lunch we went back to review this morning’s work.  The overall reaction was pretty good, but things started going down when they were asked to switch models.  A lot of people didn’t understand what we were trying to do, but they seemed somewhat ok after it was explained again.  There were some others, however, that didn’t understand why we were doing it, which led me to defend my idea.  The few naysayers seemed ok (but not great) after that, but it ended up not mattering because about 10 minutes later everyone just decided to work in 2 big groups, each on a model for the different locations.

For Kathmandu, they combined the cup and saucer idea with the hand idea, so the hand comes over the top of the cup, forming the roof.  For this location, they had a very cool idea.  There are insects here similar to (or the same as?) cicadas, that make an almost overpowering noise.  As the building here will overlook the valley and everyone will be able to see it, it has to be something distinguishable and attention-grabbing.  So, they’re making a building using the shape of the insect.  I watched their model build up all day, and it looks so incredibly cool.  If this (actually both of them) gets done I’ll definitely have to come back to Nepal for their openings.

After a few more hours and a working tea ‘break’, we met up for another discussion and dinner.  After this trip, if I never see dal bhat again in my life it will still be too soon!