Between trying to understand Nepali, tutoring Kalpana in Spanish, and arriving in France yesterday, my poor brain is reeling and I'm a bit tongue-tied! But I'll try to get my English together well enough to catch our friends up on our holiday events.
Christmas Eve day was cookie decorating day at Ama Ghar! Although the kids are mostly Hindus and Buddhists, they're extremely creative, especially when it comes to making something beautiful to eat... Bonnie gave cookie cutters to a German bakery in Kathmandu, as there is no oven at Ama Ghar - then we mixed up frosting and went at it - with the results you can see at left. The cookies could have been more colorful, but we made the mistake of giving them some Betty Crocker chocolate fudge frosting, and suddenly everything was chocolate-colored! Some things are just universal, eh?
On Christmas morning, Santa arrived in the shape of a grey-haired Jewish guy (see photos at left). The crowd went wild! Santa passed out small toys that Bonnie and I had bought in Bangkok (English poppers, yoyos, light-up pens) and a bag of nuts, fruit and chocolate for each child.
And the Grand Finale of the day was a performance of "A Christmas Carol", which played to an appreciative audience of visiting Ama Ghar board members, some visiting Nepali college kids, and all the staff and children who weren't in the cast. Scrooge, played by Maju (a 13 year old girl), sported a fake mustache and a grouchy attitude - she even said "Bah Humbug" and called Bob Cratchit a "nincompoop"! The dancing scene from Christmas Past was done to a Bollywood tune, and we ended with Tiny Tim and Sano Santosh (Little Santosh)singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"!
We left Ama Ghar on December 29 and are spending the New Year holiday with John & Margaret in France - then on to the US and what we hope will be a great 2010. We'll try to carry the love of those 38 children, and the inspiration they give us, into an uncertain future. And to paraphrase Tiny Tim - "God bless you every one!"
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
A Thousand Joys, A Thousand Sorrows
Buddha said that life consists of “a thousand joys, a thousand sorrows”, and this week we have experienced both.
We received news last week that our dear friend Peter Mock died, which has saddened us both. We spent such wonderful times in Coarsegold with Peter and Gabriele during our cross-country tour; and we had a farewell dinner with them (little did we know) at the R&G Lounge, site of many Chinese New Year celebrations with Peter and his family, before we left for Nepal. Our hearts go out to Gabriele and we wish we could be with her during this impossible time.
Peter was in the midst of writing a memoir – when we had him over for dinner this summer, Dick said, “You’d better get on it, Peter – you don’t have much time left!” Unfortunately, that was a prophetic statement (and typically Dick, don’t you think?) but luckily we arranged for Peter to work with our friend Pam Feinsilber, an excellent editor, and they had completed several chapters before his death… he had just sent us a draft to read two days before he died. His sisters have told us that they plan to finish it, which is a wonderful tribute to Peter – and the memoir will be a priceless chapter in the history of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
As far as a thousand joys, we are working with the children on their Christmas program – an Ama Ghar version of “A Christmas Carol”, complete with Bollywood dancing and a Sanu Santos (small Santos) instead of Tiny Tim. Our message is that for all of us who live in this house - Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews – Christmas is a time of joy and giving, where we can forget our sorrows and raise our voices in song… whether it’s “Joy To The World” or “Jai Ho”! Peter and Gabriele were such generous contributors to Ama Ghar - we will think of them as we sing.
We received news last week that our dear friend Peter Mock died, which has saddened us both. We spent such wonderful times in Coarsegold with Peter and Gabriele during our cross-country tour; and we had a farewell dinner with them (little did we know) at the R&G Lounge, site of many Chinese New Year celebrations with Peter and his family, before we left for Nepal. Our hearts go out to Gabriele and we wish we could be with her during this impossible time.
Peter was in the midst of writing a memoir – when we had him over for dinner this summer, Dick said, “You’d better get on it, Peter – you don’t have much time left!” Unfortunately, that was a prophetic statement (and typically Dick, don’t you think?) but luckily we arranged for Peter to work with our friend Pam Feinsilber, an excellent editor, and they had completed several chapters before his death… he had just sent us a draft to read two days before he died. His sisters have told us that they plan to finish it, which is a wonderful tribute to Peter – and the memoir will be a priceless chapter in the history of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
As far as a thousand joys, we are working with the children on their Christmas program – an Ama Ghar version of “A Christmas Carol”, complete with Bollywood dancing and a Sanu Santos (small Santos) instead of Tiny Tim. Our message is that for all of us who live in this house - Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews – Christmas is a time of joy and giving, where we can forget our sorrows and raise our voices in song… whether it’s “Joy To The World” or “Jai Ho”! Peter and Gabriele were such generous contributors to Ama Ghar - we will think of them as we sing.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Strangers in a Strange Land - and we love it!
The reason I have loved traveling in Asia since the very first time is that it is so completely foreign. In Europe, there's always a sense of deja vu - sometimes it's only a memory from a Western Civilization text or art history class, but sometimes it's a feeling deep in my bones that this is where my DNA originated.
In Asia? Everything is exotic, fresh and exciting - sometimes baffling and annoying as well. Slender, golden people as opposed to pale hairy ones; lush, luxuriant blooms growing out of unfathomable filth; and languages that click and hiss in my normally receptive ears.
When in Bangkok, we saw glittering shrines covered with lotuses and marigolds, wreathed in incense smoke in front of department store windows touting Christmas sales and sporting gigantic Christmas trees and Nutcracker statues. The enormous department stores in Bangkok are shrines to consumerism and conspicuous consumption -fascinating, beautiful and a strange contrast to the country's Buddhist traditions.
On Saturday we went to a Holiday program by the Kathmandu Chroale at The British School - incredible! The Chorale is made up of talented people of every nationality, and they sang beautiful holiday music in English, Nepali, Latin, French, Italian, German and Spanish. The children loved it - primarily for the brownies and hot chocolate served at intermission - but as for me, when the Chorale sang, "I'll Be Home For Christmas", little Assim tapped me on the shoulder and whispered "Auntie, why are you crying?"
In Asia? Everything is exotic, fresh and exciting - sometimes baffling and annoying as well. Slender, golden people as opposed to pale hairy ones; lush, luxuriant blooms growing out of unfathomable filth; and languages that click and hiss in my normally receptive ears.
When in Bangkok, we saw glittering shrines covered with lotuses and marigolds, wreathed in incense smoke in front of department store windows touting Christmas sales and sporting gigantic Christmas trees and Nutcracker statues. The enormous department stores in Bangkok are shrines to consumerism and conspicuous consumption -fascinating, beautiful and a strange contrast to the country's Buddhist traditions.
On Saturday we went to a Holiday program by the Kathmandu Chroale at The British School - incredible! The Chorale is made up of talented people of every nationality, and they sang beautiful holiday music in English, Nepali, Latin, French, Italian, German and Spanish. The children loved it - primarily for the brownies and hot chocolate served at intermission - but as for me, when the Chorale sang, "I'll Be Home For Christmas", little Assim tapped me on the shoulder and whispered "Auntie, why are you crying?"
Thursday, December 3, 2009
We are their dream, and they are ours...
I overheard a conversation between Dick and Jana, a Russian woman who is volunteering at Ama Ghar this week and who now lives - where else - in San Francisco. She was talking about something that happened to her in Russia in 1964, when Dick said, "Wait a second! In 1964 I was sitting on a ship in the Bay of Pigs hoping the Russians wouldn't blow me to bits!" And yet here they were, the Russian and the American, sitting on a porch in Nepal, with a shared love for 38 children.
Similarly, we were on a small boat (12 people) in Doubtful Sound in New Zealand a few years back, and our favorite couple among the other passengers were Japanese. We learned, after getting to know them a bit, that he was ill with leukemia - because he is from Hiroshima, and his mother had been pregnant with him at the time the bomb was dropped. We were horrified, but he just smiled and said, "It isn't your fault - you weren't there." And there we were, Japanese and Americans, watching dolphins, drinking wine and enjoying each other's company.
Each person on this planet has so much in common with the others - and yet we continue to create conflicts. What a mystery - why do we have so much trouble understanding each other? This reminds me of what Salman Rushdie's Mogul Queen says about visiting foreigners in the court (from his novel, The Enchantress of Florence):
"The world is not all one thing. We are their dream," she told the King, "and they are ours."
"But imagine," said the King, "if we could awake in other men's dreams and change them, and if we had the courage to invite them into ours. What if the whole world became a single waking dream?"
Today I'm in Bangkok with my friend Bonnie, who's having some minor surgery, and Dick is in Nepal. He had a wonderful expedition on Sunday (photos at left), traveling to a temple in a remote mountain village with Uma, one of the Ama Ghar staff who is a very devout Hindu. I spent today exploring the streets of Bangkok, hearing sounds of temple bells, smelling fragrant flowers and the charcoal smoke of food stalls.
The world is not all one thing. We are their dream, and they are ours.
Similarly, we were on a small boat (12 people) in Doubtful Sound in New Zealand a few years back, and our favorite couple among the other passengers were Japanese. We learned, after getting to know them a bit, that he was ill with leukemia - because he is from Hiroshima, and his mother had been pregnant with him at the time the bomb was dropped. We were horrified, but he just smiled and said, "It isn't your fault - you weren't there." And there we were, Japanese and Americans, watching dolphins, drinking wine and enjoying each other's company.
Each person on this planet has so much in common with the others - and yet we continue to create conflicts. What a mystery - why do we have so much trouble understanding each other? This reminds me of what Salman Rushdie's Mogul Queen says about visiting foreigners in the court (from his novel, The Enchantress of Florence):
"The world is not all one thing. We are their dream," she told the King, "and they are ours."
"But imagine," said the King, "if we could awake in other men's dreams and change them, and if we had the courage to invite them into ours. What if the whole world became a single waking dream?"
Today I'm in Bangkok with my friend Bonnie, who's having some minor surgery, and Dick is in Nepal. He had a wonderful expedition on Sunday (photos at left), traveling to a temple in a remote mountain village with Uma, one of the Ama Ghar staff who is a very devout Hindu. I spent today exploring the streets of Bangkok, hearing sounds of temple bells, smelling fragrant flowers and the charcoal smoke of food stalls.
The world is not all one thing. We are their dream, and they are ours.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Challenges
That’s what life is about – meeting challenges – and we were challenged in a really fun way last Saturday when we were hosted by our friend Bob G. at the climbing wall at Kathmandu Mountaineering School. Bob is an American who owns a trekking company here in Nepal, and he’s also a bit of a freelance philanthropist – he’s heading to Ecuador in a few weeks to teach English in a remote jungle community for three months, now that trekking season is over for the winter.
Saturday’s outing was only open to older kids who had done their extracurricular English vocabulary homework, so we took 14 or so, along with Bonnie, Sarah (a volunteer from Seattle), Dick and myself. As a special treat, we were joined by Bindhu, one of our Ama Ghar graduates who is now a nurse at Patan Hospital. It was so exciting for us to see her again! We’ve known her since she was 14, and she’s such a fantastic girl – we’re very proud of her.
The climbing wall is as much a test of strategy as it is of endurance and strength. It was amazing to see the kids move up the wall so quickly – they love to climb. Climbing skills must be in those Nepali genes!
Once all the kids had a chance at the main wall, it was time for the adults to try. Bonnie Auntie didn’t fare too well, I managed to get halfway up – and then Bindhu challenged Dick Uncle to a race. He didn’t win the race, but he made it to the top – not bad for a 66-year-old! Bob G. said he was going to send photos to AARP – very funny. And, of course, our 30-something hiker Sarah made it up with no problem at all.
Then we moved to the advanced wall – too tough for all but the best: our big boy, Sajun, literally pulled himself up with his arms, and our tiny 13-year-old Srijana thought her way up (she also happens to be the Chess Champion of the house). Then Bob G. took us out for pizza and momos (Tibetan dumplings) and a good lunch was had by all.
As if that wasn’t enough action for one day, we continued on to Kopan Monastery, where Bob G. is living. We took a nice hike around the forested mountainside, fluttering with prayer flags, to see the views of several monasteries, before the Head Lama at Kopan gave us our private tour.
Kopan is as serene and lovely as any Hollywood fantasy of a monastery, with an intricately beautiful Tibetan chortan as the center of its lush garden. The kids rolled on the grass and played like puppies – then they ran around pushing the giant prayer wheel as fast as they could – laughing and shouting. This brought only benevolent smiles from the Lama, who believes that children should enjoy the monastery and not be intimidated by the accoutrements of their Buddhist faith.
And then, amid shouts of “Thank you, Bob Uncle!”, a tired but happy group descended to Ama Ghar and home.
Saturday’s outing was only open to older kids who had done their extracurricular English vocabulary homework, so we took 14 or so, along with Bonnie, Sarah (a volunteer from Seattle), Dick and myself. As a special treat, we were joined by Bindhu, one of our Ama Ghar graduates who is now a nurse at Patan Hospital. It was so exciting for us to see her again! We’ve known her since she was 14, and she’s such a fantastic girl – we’re very proud of her.
The climbing wall is as much a test of strategy as it is of endurance and strength. It was amazing to see the kids move up the wall so quickly – they love to climb. Climbing skills must be in those Nepali genes!
Once all the kids had a chance at the main wall, it was time for the adults to try. Bonnie Auntie didn’t fare too well, I managed to get halfway up – and then Bindhu challenged Dick Uncle to a race. He didn’t win the race, but he made it to the top – not bad for a 66-year-old! Bob G. said he was going to send photos to AARP – very funny. And, of course, our 30-something hiker Sarah made it up with no problem at all.
Then we moved to the advanced wall – too tough for all but the best: our big boy, Sajun, literally pulled himself up with his arms, and our tiny 13-year-old Srijana thought her way up (she also happens to be the Chess Champion of the house). Then Bob G. took us out for pizza and momos (Tibetan dumplings) and a good lunch was had by all.
As if that wasn’t enough action for one day, we continued on to Kopan Monastery, where Bob G. is living. We took a nice hike around the forested mountainside, fluttering with prayer flags, to see the views of several monasteries, before the Head Lama at Kopan gave us our private tour.
Kopan is as serene and lovely as any Hollywood fantasy of a monastery, with an intricately beautiful Tibetan chortan as the center of its lush garden. The kids rolled on the grass and played like puppies – then they ran around pushing the giant prayer wheel as fast as they could – laughing and shouting. This brought only benevolent smiles from the Lama, who believes that children should enjoy the monastery and not be intimidated by the accoutrements of their Buddhist faith.
And then, amid shouts of “Thank you, Bob Uncle!”, a tired but happy group descended to Ama Ghar and home.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thanksgiving Thoughts
Since Thanksgiving is coming up, we’ve been thinking about what it is that we're especially thankful for as temporary residents of Nepal. As I’m sitting here typing, Dick is teaching Assim (age 8) to play Blackjack – pretty soon he’ll be taking money from all the other kids! Oy… maybe we should be thankful for a 10 and a face card...
What We’re Thankful For:
* Hot water for my bucket bath
* Electricity
* A seat in the micro that doesn’t have a metal piece underneath to stick me in the bum
* Clear days when I can see the Himalayas
* A green salad with arugula at Fire & Ice in Kathmandu
* Delicious cardamom spice tea made by Pabitra
* Reading under the covers with a flashlight
* The wonderful teachers and social workers I’ve met here – especially, of course, my friend Bonnie
* Sewing tennis ball bags with the younger girls (who knew we needed them?)
* Going to the climbing wall with the big kids
* Thanksgiving dinner at Mike’s Breakfast
* My daily hugs from Aruneema
* Glowing rice fields and yellow meadows of mustard
* The beautiful faces of the children that we see every day
* Most importantly… our wonderful family and friends around the world
Thank you for your friendship – may you have a day full of joy and gratitude.
What We’re Thankful For:
* Hot water for my bucket bath
* Electricity
* A seat in the micro that doesn’t have a metal piece underneath to stick me in the bum
* Clear days when I can see the Himalayas
* A green salad with arugula at Fire & Ice in Kathmandu
* Delicious cardamom spice tea made by Pabitra
* Reading under the covers with a flashlight
* The wonderful teachers and social workers I’ve met here – especially, of course, my friend Bonnie
* Sewing tennis ball bags with the younger girls (who knew we needed them?)
* Going to the climbing wall with the big kids
* Thanksgiving dinner at Mike’s Breakfast
* My daily hugs from Aruneema
* Glowing rice fields and yellow meadows of mustard
* The beautiful faces of the children that we see every day
* Most importantly… our wonderful family and friends around the world
Thank you for your friendship – may you have a day full of joy and gratitude.
Monday, November 16, 2009
I'll never complain about an appliance again!
One of the interesting features of Third World living is the intermittent electricity, which requires us to always wear our “jewelry” (headlamp/flashlight) at night so we can find our way when the lights go out; and patience is required when we want to check email or dry our hair and the power goes out halfway through…
And then there’s the laundry. Nepal is a very dusty place, so clothes (and bodies) need to be washed regularly. The lack of electricity necessitates bucket baths and laundry washed in cold water… and to think I had the nerve to complain about the long cycle on our wonderful French washing machine!
But all is forgotten when playing with the kids. This weekend we had a tennis tournament on our mud court – which was viewed by an avid audience of pigs and goats, who were mostly interested in eating the ball if it came their way. After that, the net was raised to volleyball height and the older boys played an intense volleyball match (for money)against the boys from another children’s home. A multi-purpose sports court!
On Saturday we had a Sports Day for the younger kids – three legged races, spoon races, crab walks – with prizes for the winning team. These kids love to compete, which is a good thing, because there’s a wider world out there, the evils of which they are only too aware. They’ve been through experiences we can’t even imagine… but for today, it’s good to be a kid…
And then there’s the laundry. Nepal is a very dusty place, so clothes (and bodies) need to be washed regularly. The lack of electricity necessitates bucket baths and laundry washed in cold water… and to think I had the nerve to complain about the long cycle on our wonderful French washing machine!
But all is forgotten when playing with the kids. This weekend we had a tennis tournament on our mud court – which was viewed by an avid audience of pigs and goats, who were mostly interested in eating the ball if it came their way. After that, the net was raised to volleyball height and the older boys played an intense volleyball match (for money)against the boys from another children’s home. A multi-purpose sports court!
On Saturday we had a Sports Day for the younger kids – three legged races, spoon races, crab walks – with prizes for the winning team. These kids love to compete, which is a good thing, because there’s a wider world out there, the evils of which they are only too aware. They’ve been through experiences we can’t even imagine… but for today, it’s good to be a kid…
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