"hi all,
thought i'd let everyone know (all the few of you that i could remember email addresses)- i'm alive and well in kathmandu.
it's an eye-opening place- the sounds, sights and smells (not always pleasant) are unlike any that i have encountered before. i've found myself quite adjusted though; no culture shock or anything of the sort (i actually think british northerners are harder to warm up to). we are currently staying just outside the tourist district of thamel in a beautiful hotel (by nepali standards- family, think spindrift w/o the ocean) with gardens, a western toilet, a gentle breeze and and nice balcony. this is quite a change from our first night here- with mosquitos that kept us up for hours, bed bugs, and a plethora of local cover bands playing choice cuts from 70's and 90's rock all at the same time at a piercing volume. traffic has been the hardest thing for me to get used to, with most streets being no wider than 15-20 ft, incessant ! 2 way traffic (cars, trucks, bikes, buses, rickshaws, bicycles and an overwhelming number of pedestrians.
as for our film, things are moving quite quickly. the film for those of you that haven't been informed, is a documentary (serving as julia's final master's film for her visual anthropology degree) on catholic nuns in kathmandu, the capitol of the only hindu nation state in the world. yesterday, we met our conact, sister christine, in thamel for juice to talk and then have her take us to a conference in one of the convents, at which julia could introduce us and the project. sister christine is a wonderful person, sweet and funny, and in her mid-60's (she spent 40 years in s.korea). at the end of the day both julia and i felt we had known her for years. she did nearly all of the work for us yesterday, intoducing us to the right people, preparing information for us, showing us around the city and to the church, where we stayed for a nice nepali-catho! lic mass. most of the nuns are indian (i don't think any that we met we're nepali, conversion and prostletising is against the nepali law, and most of the nuns were accpeting of us and the idea of a film being made about them, though none were jumping out of their seats. one of the fathers is trying to find a more permanent residence on the campus of st. xaviers, which is amazing. all in all though to have these contacts basically dropped in our laps and accepting of us is better than what we could have hoped for. keep your fingers crossed that things will continue this way!
as for our tourist side- thamel is sure to satisfy anyshopping needs we could have- and today we are finally getting out of the district to do some real sight seeing- the old city (ancient architecture and temples) as well swayambunath, one of the three major buddhist temples in the city, so hope fully i'll have pictures next time as well. well that's all for now. take care everyone!
much love,
ben"
