tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4255390557495889766.post-41141794216124585192008-01-12T18:46:00.000+05:302008-01-12T13:00:48.982+05:30Nepali NormalityI've been here long enough now to get used to many things. So it is beginning to feel 'normal' to be here and live this life, sometimes 'too normal'!<p>What do I mean? Well, on a positive side, I have got used to those things which are a little strange for foreigners, but quite normal in Nepal: power cuts every day (now for 3 hours, twice a day); travelling in overcrowded minibuses where there is no room to stand, but still more people get in; drinking milky tea and eating dhal baat (rice and lentil soup); people spitting and clearing their noses in the middle of the street (and almost hitting your shoes). And walking or cycling through streets with no pavements, no street signs, and crazy traffic rules (see my first post to this blog back in November).<p>On a negative side, I noticed this week that my daily routine here in the Institute had become as 'normal' as my routine at home in Germany: in other words, I had found too much to do, was getting into stress, and always decided that other things were so important that 'I can't meditate just now, maybe later'!<p>I don't want to sound too negative, because all the things I'm doing are interesting. So any stress is just the side-effect of too much positive! But I realised that this was not the reason I came here. I came here for peace and quiet and time away from stress and deadlines.<p>So I've been trying to cut down on extra things this week, and concentrate on the important things. But as I was trying that, the others in the group decided to buy the Matrix Trilogy on DVD and watch one film every evening . . . I couldn't miss out on Matrix, so once again, life became very 'normal' and less 'Buddhist studies'!!!<p>We went to Bhaktapur last Sunday: a town about 19km east of Kathmandu, which was the centre of one of the four kingdoms in the Kathmandu valley that were united in the 18th century to form modern Nepal. The town has a very well preserved old centre. In fact, Germany gave a lot of money to help restore the city and clean it up. Our guide told us this and told us about Chancellor Kohl's visit here (I forget when). Actually I knew a bit about this anyway because of the woman I met on the plane here, Sarah, who is doing an internship with GTZ, a German development organisation. GTZ was very active in managing the restoration of Bhaktapur.<p>The photos will appear sometime when the internet is working for long enough between power cuts!<p>OK, that's enough for now, I'm off to do my homework for Tibetan class. We've learnt enough now to make simple sentences in the present and future tenses!! (The past tenses seem to be more complicated, and the verbs for 'to be' are still beyond us.)Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02202992959966646478noreply@blogger.com