Working for the Weekend

There has been no shortage of things to keep us occupied here in our first month in Nepal. So much has happened that it feels more like a year than a mere month. Every weekend is too short (that’s definitely the same as at home) with too many things to see, do and explore. Two weeks ago, team JPC (Taryn, Sean, Jess, Tanya, Micah and myself) decided to get out of the city for a day and check out a rice planting festival. We hoped on a bus bright and early on the morning of Saturday, June 29^th, along with a number of our new Australian friends, and within 45 minutes were bumping along down washed out country roads amongst a sea of green rice paddies.

When the monsoon rains begin to fall on Nepal in the summer every year, the rice season commences. Rice is not only a major dietary staple for Nepali people; it is also an essential means of livelihood for many farmers across the country. Traditionally, the last Saturday in June is the first official day of the rice-planting season, and the famers celebrate the return of the new season by planting, and playing in the mud. Unfortunately, we learned that the tradition of playing is dying out now, but we did our best to keep its spirit alive.

When we first arrived three busloads full of foreigners sidled up to the edge of the empty paddy, all wondering what we were supposed to now. As we all tentatively made our way through the muck, local women tried to instruct us on how to turn up the “soil” by scooping up bits of debris dropping them in a pile and stomping them deep beneath the mud.

Seriously?

Based on the fact that what appeared to be the entire population of the small village had gathered on nearby rooftops to gawk at us, it seemed equally likely that this “weeding” technique was usefully as it did that they were screwing with us. However, this didn’t last long, because it was only a matter of minutes before the first of the mud started to fly. This quickly gave way to all out mud wrestling matches. Once I was dirty I became fully committed to the cause of ensuring every other participant became equally mud-covered. In my mission, I suffered an especially amusing defeat against Tanya’s husband Micah, as immortalized on video by Sean, here:

I felt a bit guilty about getting side tracked from the “weeding” at first, but when I started to notice just how smooth the mud was getting I realized that it might have been part of the master plan for turning up the soil after all.

Once the paddy was in the right shape to be planted we were called away from our games and handed bundles of rice stalks. The next 45 minutes were occupied by trying to stick the individual plants up in the mud without royally screwing up these people’s future rice harvest. I do not think I have ever heard “No! Like this!” (followed by a demonstration) more times in my life than during that period. It didn’t help that everyone seemed to have a slightly different version of like this. When my rice bundle was all (or at least most) stuck upright in the mud I happily retired to the waiting snacks and rice beer. I can say with complete confidence that the local women were relieved to get us out of the way. They were literally reaching over me to plant in front of me I was going so slow (oh yeah, and to re-plant a few of my first attempts at times as well).

After snacks and beer it was time for the real games to begin! At first we were reluctant to hop back into the mud, but the organizers soon had a fairly sizeable group divided into two teams for what I can only describe as a combination of capture the flag, tag and ultimate mud wrestling championship. In reality, the game is called Kabaddi and what happens is one person crosses the centre line and attempts to tag a player from the opposing team then dart back across the line to safety on his or her own side without being taken down by the opposing team. If you get taken out by the other team, you’re out. However, if you manage to tag someone and get back across the line the person you tag is out, and someone from your team gets to come back on. It got a little intense at times....

But it was definitely fun!

After the mud wrestling had run its course as we had all managed to “shower” under village water taps and streams we loaded back onto the buses and went to a local restaurant for a traditional Newari (the native people to the Kathmandu Valley) meal, followed by a relaxing stroll through the hills before arriving, exhausted, back in the city a few hours later. That might have been the deepest sleep I have had since arriving.

The only really low point of the day came when this conversation transpired:

Tanya – Hey, did anyone else notice that as we got closer to the edge of the paddy it started to smell like poo?

Micah – Yeah, I went to use the public washroom at the end of the day and it was basically just on the edge of the paddy.

Bronwyn – WHAT? Oh my god! I got it in my MOUTH!!!

Other fun weekend activities that we have kept ourselves busy with have included a great hike up part of one of the local mountains, a Canada Day barbeque and (of course) flip cup tournament and some regular Saturday brunches at a beautiful oasis like restaurant and organic farmer’s market.

1905, our new regular Saturday morning brunch spot

Last weekend we took a jam packed micro-bus (Jess counted 22 people at one point) all the way across the city to Budhanilkantha, at the foot of Shivapuri national park and hiked up the mountain to Nagi Gumba, a female monestary, and back. Even though we ended up getting monsoon rained out on our hike back down it was incredible to get a few hours of fresh air and relief from the Kathmandu dust and smog, as well as take in some amazing views of the city from above.

Inside Nagi Gumba

Beer Pong Team Russel(l)

POUTINE!!!

JPCs overlooking the valley from Nagi Gumba when the skies were clear, and a random man claimnig shelter under Jess and Sean's umbrella.






On “Canada Day” (actually June 30^th because it was a Sunday and no one had Monday off) we took a cab across town to the home of two Canadian girls who are in Kathmandu for an internship with Mines Action, and did they ever put on a good, authentic Canada Day celebration! It was so nice to see their patio full of red and white outfits (worn not just by our Canadian friends, but the Aussies, Germans and Americans as well). With all the changes in my life recently, I hadn’t given Canada Day a second thought. Dressing in red and white and walking around downtown Ottawa on July 1^st seemed like another world, another life. But I’m so glad these girls reminded me of it, because it was a really fun time, and two great seeds were planted here. One has to do with a conversation Tanya and I had about potentially collaborating to write an article about the ways in which our two units (disaster risk management for her and poverty alleviation for me) could both benefit more deeply from collaborating on a few key aspects of programming, and another was with a new friend who works at a school for children who have been rescued from forced labour in carpet factories. Unsurprisingly these children have very few belongings (perhaps two outfits each) and no toys. I think this is the kind of place that could use a teddy bear or two! Stay tuned for breaking news on both these fronts, coming to you soon!

A few Canadians enjoying some shade on "Canada Day"

Quite a good turnout for a Canadian national celebration in Nepal