Working in Nepal! @gsbfnepal-blog - Tumblr Blog

Posts

Right now it has one long post which sums up my working experiences in Nepal. It has some repeats and some stuff that isn't here. So check it out.

#gsbf #nepal #mainpost

Field Visit 3/3-School for the Visually Impaired in Dharan

Dharan was the final place we visited. We actually made two stops here. We went to a local FM station in the morning first. We learned about how they chose programming, what was most popular (A music program sponsored by a shampoo brand apparently). It was on that leg of the trip we were told Dharan is the second cleanest city in Nepal (after Pokhara).

Nepal still has a relationship with the British government and people in Nepal can enroll in the British Army. Dharan is the place where such people are based and it shows in the quality of the roads and the cleanliness.

But onto the school for the visually impaired. I think, of all the places we visited this on stuck with me the most. All the places we visited had youth who were active and engaged and doing good work. Visiting this place was a 'Why we do what we do" moment. Because of all the places we went, these people really cared about radio itself. Radio was their primary information source. Radio was a medium more or less perfect for them.

They were incredibly excited to hear in person the voices they'd listened to on the radio. And one young man, who appeared to have been born without eyes, speaking in some of the clearest English I've heard in Nepal, told one story about how SSMK had impacted him.

SSMK had one episode about people with disabilities. In the drama portion of episode they told a story about a kid who was missing a leg, who was disrespected by his classmates, but then one day won a scholastic competition and people started liking him. The young man said the story had inspired him to try and find his own special talent, and that he had started writing poetry.

You think you know how much media representation means to people and then you hear a story like that. Someone who really never had heard anyone like themselves being portrayed, and even though the disability portrayed was pretty different from his own it really inspired him to hear anyone like him at all.

We got to linger a while after our more formal sit down. In other places my looks drew a lot of attention to me, but there obviously that didn't apply. In fact because I couldn't really speak Nepali, I ended up taking much more of a backseat.

It was a really good experience, and I'm glad I got to meet them.

#gsbf #nepal #mainpost

Some Grafiti spotted while sightseeing at Bhaktapur Durbar Square

"I'm Bored"

"No Electricity"

#nepal #sidepost #photos

Field Visit 2/3-On the Outskirts of Itahari

The next morning after our trip to Biratnagar (and my delicious dosa breakfast for those of you who saw the picture on facebook). We set off for a rural farming village on the outskirts of Itahari. It was a long bumpy ride.

Part of the way Equal Access tries to engage listeners is by encouraging listener groups to form. This particular village is known for having one of the most active clubs in Nepal. They have been listening for the full 13 years SSMK has been on the air.

We met with the current listener club but the original founder of the club, now well out of the youth demographic came to meet us as well and he had some of the most interesting things to say; the changes he had seen in the village which he attributed to the radio program. The most memorable by was when he said child marriages had completely stopped five or six years ago thanks to SSMK.

I'm sure a lot of that change can be attributed to that listener club. They were clearly very dedicated we saw pictures of some of the events they held, street theater being one of them. They were also rather enterprising they had these plastic chairs with SSMK written on the back which they rented out to big events in the village to get club funds.

It was also interesting to note that even in this rural village, whose farming goods simply go back into the village and many of whose men have gone to foreign countries to find work, we were told that TV is being favored over radio. That radio is being listened to on mobile phones rather than an actual radio. That SSMK was one of the only radio programs the youth listened to.

The people there were also incredibly welcoming, more facebook friends were made that day. It was a shame we didn't get a chance to talk to them more before we needed to move on to Dharan. In the end we got a brief look into their club hose where we saw their event supplies, got in some quick pictures and moved on.

(Sadly those pictures will need to wait until I have better internet, my current hotel does not have ethernet, and uploading even that one picture took more time than writing this whole post)

#gsbf #nepal #mainpost

Vacationing

My work ended one week ago aand I moved to the busy center of Kathmandu, Thamel. It's packed with little open air shops selling all kinds of souvenirs and clothes, there's restaurants and cafes and bookshops and lots of other international people.

I've been taking it easy, wandering around going to a couple sightseeing places, reading four to five novels, occasionally looking at GRE practice material and completely forgetting about this blog. But I will finish it! Don't worry!

#gsbf #nepal #sidepost

Field Visit 1/3-Biratnagar and Youth for Blood

This past weekend (7/20-7/23) we went on a field visit to connect with some of the listeners of SSMK (EA Nepal's most popular radio station). We stopped in three places in Eastern Nepal. First, Biratnagar a fairly urban place with the Airport we used, second a very rural subsistence farming village on the outskirts of Itahari and finally Dharan an affluent city with a lot of British money invested in it.

This post is about Biratnagar and Youth for Blood.

(Man on the bottom right is Saroj, organizer of Youth for Blood)

(Ladies of Youth for Blood)

(Gents of Youth for Blood)

Youth for Blood is an organization of primarily 18-25 year-olds, although members where as young as 14 and a couple were over 30. This group was created to find new donors to try and fill the blood bank shortages. They create a database of donors and their blood types and when someone needs a certain blood type they call on donors to donate per need rather than build up stores of blood that will expire after thirty days.

It was clear how dedicated these youths were, I made several facebook friends that day and several of them had their blood type in their name on facebook. They met in a little open air room, despite the heat and flies. They had jugs that doubled as piggy banks they sent home with volunteers who would distribute them to friends and family to collect money for their group. The dedication and organizing skills were really, really impressive.

They also have fabulous T-Shirts.

We came with two SSMK team members (Ayush left, and Kalu middle) to interview them about their listening habits. Niki distributed a survey which she had written in English then had translated into Nepali (and is currently in the process of translating the results back into English as I type.)

I had a question about what kind of phones they used. While they were taking the survey I took a brief poll of who had access to Wi-fi regularly, about two people raised their hand. I then asked how many people used internet on their phones, about two people didn't raise their hands. In fact, they told me I don't need to conduct a survey to find out if people are using mobile internet, it's here.

They are of course too small a sample size to say for sure, but the writing on the wall seems to say that Urban Youth are on the internet and they get there through their phones.

#gsbf #nepal #mainpost

One of the domestic airlines in Nepal is "Yeti Airlines"

Picture taken on at Kathmandu domestic airport.

(We took Buddha Airlines; it's the safest apparently).

#gsbf #nepal #sidepost

Swayambhunath bonus post: The Monkeys.

We were warned, "Do not carry food in your hand or the monkeys will snatch it out of them." So, naturally, the first thing we do is order breakfast from an restaurant with only outside tables. I guess we thought we'd be safe if we were sitting down for food.

Hahhahaahaha. ha.

We were sitting around watching the monkeys, monkey around, in their little monkey ways, and ate our breakfast. I even took a couple pictures (the top two). We were pretty much done when all of a sudden, Niki yells "WATCH OUT!" and this brown blur launches past my right shoulder onto the table, dishes fly off landing all over, there's this huge clatter.

And then we see a monkey running off. He had apparently spied the hard-boiled egg yolks we'd left uneaten. He dropped them in his initial attempt and actually came back to grab them.

He is pictured above eating his prize.

And that is my monkey story.

#gsbf #nepal #sidepost #monkeys

Tourist Day 2/3

Next we went to Pashuputinath one of the most famous Hindu temples in Kathmandu. As a white foreigner we weren't allowed inside the premises so me and Dorothy got a tour from the outside while Nikki went in.

We saw the river which feeds the Ganges and where cremations take place. Our tour guide was a bit morbid telling us exactly how bodies burned, how long. We also heard an explosion which was apparently a head popping free of the spine (shudder).

He then showed us the buildings built into the cliff face. And told us that one of them was called the Jimmy Hendrix cave because he came to Nepal on one of his drug rehab stints and meditated in it. And now there's a music every day at 2, also it is legal to use weed in this cave 24/7 unlike the rest of Nepal; the US Ambassador defends them. (I give this story a 3/10 credibility rating).

He was showing us the beautifully carved shrines when it started pouring. The guide took us into one of the shrines that had holy men in them (which will be part 3 of this story when I get the pictures from Dorothy). You can see my discarded sandals where I left them right before I dashed into the shrine. (They were so gross and muddy when I put them on, let me tell you.)

We waited there for a half hour before a completely soaked Niki found us. We borrowed some umbrellas and climbed up the stairs which were resembling a waterfall getting us even more wet and muddy, and then we got some nice pictures up at the top of the shrine.

#gsbf #nepal #photos #sidepost

Went on a field visit this weekend for those who have been following and haven't had a chance to update, but don't worry more is coming soon!

Tourist Day Part 1/3-Swayambhu

In the top picture is Dorothy, Me and Niki. Dorothy is another American working at Equal Access for USAid right now.

We hired a taxi to take us around to some major tourist spots, and first stop was Swayambhu an extremely famous Buddhist shrine. The eyes you see on those three separate shrines are a symbol of Kathmandu itself; you can even get them on a t-shirt, a key chain, a lantern, any thing really.

The Shrines are up in the mountains and require a bit of an uphill climb to get where we took the group picture, but its incredibly worth it. But the view of the whole Kathmandu valley spreading out beneath you is beautiful, and completely uncapturable by my camera.

There are dozens of shops lining the way up the path and surrounding the shrine, naturally hoping to capitalize on the high volume of traffic through that area. Many people had very beautiful crafts. One shop was selling intricate stone carvings, and making them right there in the shop.

It was quite beautiful there. Definitely my favorite stop. There were also monkeys, and they will get their own post.

#gsbf #nepal #photos

So I was invited to a Nepali wedding. The brides sister is a coworker and very generously invited us (She's the one in green pulling the veil from her sisters face). It was quite different than American weddings. I might even go as far to say, as I liked it more, (but it could also have been the novelty.)

I think my favorite part by far was the groom arriving. He doesn't wait at the head of the aisle for the bride to make her big entrance, oh no. He comes with all his people parading through the streets, in this case literally, with a marching band. (I may post a video of that later it was really fun).

Then there's a loong ceremony, but it was okay because you were under no obligation to pay attention to it. Parties are actually spread out over several days, but it was like the reception was going on while the couple was getting married. They were serving us drinks and appetizers gave us cute little bags filled with nuts and candy. Not too long into the ceremony you could get up and go get food at the buffet. They had ice cream. The chairs weren't even really arranged to look at the couple properly but more optimized for people being served food and easily leaving their seats.

At the end the bride and groom both got into the car the groom had arrived in and rode off with their band and their people. It was a really fun day.

#gsbf #sidepost

Totally jumping ahead of things I've yet to tell you but I needed to share this! Wandering back from some shopping after work we saw this place that advertised itself as having all these Chicago things. So naturally I was extremely skeptical and had to try it.

I got a "Chicago Hotdog" and of course it was nothing like a Chicago dog. First of all it was chicken, because you can't sell beef here. Second there was KETCHUP on it. If you are not from Chicago you probably do not realize what a grevious offense this is. Educate yourself with this informative youtube video demonstrating a typical Chicago response upon seeing someone adding ketchup to a hotdog.

I feel like this food experience was perhaps one of the most eye opening because I imagine this must be how it feels for people coming to America and eating poor recreations of their native food. He even asked how spicy I wanted my hotdog! Excuse you, Chicago may have some ethnic diversity, but its still in the Midwest; we don't season our food with spices, that's ridiculous! (So much affection for my home cuisine)

Got that out of my system.

So after we ate, we talked to the owner and he is super friendly and actually lived in Chicago (Naperville) for a I think he said 5 years. And he explained that he had to put ketchup on it because that's what people wanted here. (I suppose he can't just tell /everyone/ they're wrong) And he gave me 50% off for being an actual Chicagoan.

In short definitely going back, if only to talk to the owner again.

#photos #gsbf #nepal #food

Niki and I stopped by Patan Durbar Square. We mostly just walked around it since we didn't have time to properly take in the sights and therefore couldn't justify the 500 rupee fee for me. It was very pretty, and I bought a cell phone from a little Nokia shop nearby.

#gsbf #photos #nepal

Life in the Office

The first week has come and gone at work and already the shape of both of our projects has changed. It's been both exciting and frustrating; definitely a learning experience.

We sit on the top floor' of a five story building. It has a lovely view.

There are also a lot of stairs.

That's not even all of them! There's a separate one from the outside/ground floor to the second. Those stairs will be the death (read: health) of me (such a workout). Even more for Niki though! The IT team sits on this floor so I only need to go up and down them for coming and going from (and down one for the bathroom). She's wandering around and talking to everyone.

Anyway, enough about stairs!

At first I was working with the IT team on developing RapidSMS, an open source platform that can send and receive texts from a computer, but it became clear very quickly that any in house SMS platform would be a serious downgrade from the services they are paying for, in terms of throughput, short codes bought for them, guaranteed maintenance. Since RapidSMS is platform that is extremely tailored it was decided that it would be better to develop it back in the US with a different country in mind, this would also give me much greater resources in testing.

So now I am looking into what was a secondary project; being able to download the radio programs from a mobile phone. A person would send in a text, and receive back a download link, and that part is already possible with the technology. The main challenges here would be getting the radio programs down to a manageable size, because they are currently 30mbs and no one wants to download that on their phone when that's 3/4 of their months data allowance on some plans, or even if its 1/3.

So I'll keep working hard.

Yes, obviously, both those screens are completely necessary, what are you talking about?

#gsbf #nepal #mainpost

Cute story time!

Both my girlfriend and I have leopard stuffed animals, so since I was going away for this long journey she told me to take hers with me. The first day I came back from work I found housekeeping had left them like this for me.

#bonus post

More Hotel Photos!

Top: View standing next to Niki's room

Mid: Mushroom soup room service| outdoor restaurant seating | Pool&Gardens

Bottom: Chocolate mouse for desert in different outdoor restaurant seating

#gsbf #nepal #photos

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Working in Nepal!