Tsivia's Notes From Nepal

Laudry hanging to dry
Photo Courtesy of Tsivia Chonoles

Two weeks ago, I spent my Sunday sitting outside with the aamaa of the home, I’m staying in attempting to learn to speak and write some Nepali. Last weekend, I walked with my homestay family to the Changunarayan Temple (colloquially known as Changu here). Well, I say walk; it was actually more of a hike.

    One of the main things that I’ve noticed about Nepal is that, almost everywhere you look, there is something green growing. This is especially true in the village area where I am staying. From the roof of my home, you can clearly see farmed land; there is a small area behind the local market where mustard plants are growing; a little bit behind Nabin English School where I am teaching, there are more planting areas. On the way to Changu, aamaa Rina pointed out to me not only mustard plants, but also radish, wheat, and coriander.

    All the food I have eaten here (except for chocolate and some local packaged snacks) is 100% fresh. All vegetables, fruits, and herbs and spices are bought locally. Even the milk comes directly from a cow; aamaa Rina heats in on her gas range and, once it has cooled, ladles the thick layer off of the top and deposits it into a container which, when full, is used to make yogurt, curd, or butter, which I learned how to do.

    Friday morning, when the two containers aamaa Rina keeps in her refrigerator were finally full, she pulled out her small blender and began to mix the thick milk with warm water. The results filled an entire rice-cooker bowl. By the time I returned home from school at the end of the day, that large bowl had been reduced to a smaller bowl filled with the yellow butter I know you all would recognize as I did. Aamaa Rina does not leave it that way, however. Butter in that form needs to be refrigerated or it does not last quite so long. So it gets melted down – all of it – until it is a clear golden color. Once it’s completely melted and then cooled, it gets put in a jar to solidify; butter in this form can last for up to two years I’ve been told.

    Aamaa Rina does all her chopping and cooking using one knife that no longer has a handle – it had a broken one when I first arrived, but by the middle of my second week here it was gone – and a gas range and an electric range. All the clothes she washes by hand, something that I can now say from experience is tough work. One week ago at the time this is being written, (February 4), aamaa taught me how to hand wash my clothing using two buckets and a bar of laundry soap. The entire process of scrubbing each piece of clothing and then rinsing it all twice took about two and a half to three hours, not including the time it took to hang them all up to dry. If it is possible to get carpal tunnel from doing laundry, it would not be a surprise to me; by the end of the day, my wrists hurt.

    Doing this kind of work gives true meaning to the phrase “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” I feel that, in developed countries such as America, we take for granted the fact that nearly every home or apartment has access to a washer and dryer, an oven, and a dishwasher. Here in Nepal, these are commodities owned by only the very wealthy. It has definitely been a lesson in privilege; we have it, even though we may not realize it or feel like it. In America, I would be considered solidly middle class. Here, I am considered to be almost wealthy.

    As always, you can find me on Twitter @GetScaredLater or on Instagram @Get_Scared_Later.