A Little Bit Louder

One thing that has struck me here in the last few days is how eager people are to learn. Whether it is English, or something in church, people pay close attention, and try to learn new words, and concepts instead of simply getting enough of an idea of what’s being communicated and moving on.

I noticed that in church here, at least in the English service, and some youth groups, about half the people take notes. Maybe so that they can digest the English teaching at their own pace, or maybe because they understand and are willing to work for what they learn? I’m not sure that’s the case in back in Canada. In fact, I rarely see people value what they learn at church/youth/small group studies. Maybe we’re spoon fed too much, or maybe we take the access to teaching for granted?

so apparently a couple protesters were arrested and then killed in the last few days. So the city decided to have more protests… “agitators” as they’re called locally, take to the streets in angry mobs and block the major roads… in ktm, this means the ring road, which we’re on the outside of … when that happens, buses don’t run, people don’t venture out if they don’t have to, and the city shuts down.

I didn’t get to see any of it unfortunately, but when we ventured out this afternoon, the city was eerily empty. Streets that are usually packed with traffic, noise, pollution, and people, were for the most part empty. A few people on bikes were around, and lots of pedestrians walking around, probably because there were few taxis and no buses around. Most stores and restaurants all had their protective steel shutters rolled down. I managed to find one open bakery to eat at, but every time there was nose outside, the staff all rushed to the doorway to see if the mob had returned.

Everyone seemed quite nervous as they wandered around trying to buy what they needed from the few stores that were open. If i were to imagine a post apocalyptic world, it would look something like this. On the way home, there were hundreds of people walking along the road as the buses had not started running again. It looked like some sort of mass exodus.

As weird as things were today, there’s a good chance that things will be back to normal tomorrow. Protests happen 2-4 times a month and this sort of thing is perfectly normal. I heard a micro (small bus) hit a motorcycle, and the mob torched the thing within minutes. For some reason i found this really funny… maybe it’s because i’m a jerk… or maybe because the Solomon, the guy telling the story, couldn’t help but laugh himself. The Nepali are pretty good at laughing at how ridiculous some stuff is. I wish I could have seen it myself.

Oh, and I got a Gurka Knife as a present from a former Gurka army soldier. It was pretty cool… though I’m not sure if it was just a nice gift, or if by accepting it, I just agreed to marry one of his daughters?

Different:

• Men, women, and children all sit separately. I’ve been thinking of the merits of this… it seems to work really well…
• When it’s prayer time, everyone prays all at once… out loud

Same:

• I still get up late for church
• Cell phones still go off in the middle of service

I sat in with Mark’s tech training class this morning. It was a little bit like being back in school at waterloo, though now I know more, and I’m not the one with a blank look on my face. There was Bikesh, Binod, and Asish. They seemed to be getting the hang of good web design and how to use different resources to accomplish a task. They’re eager to learn, but sometimes look lost… and when Mark told them about the big project they have coming up, and all that needs to be accomplished, they looked rather worried. It doesn’t seem like much work to me, but then again I’ve been coding for years. I have to remember what it was like in my first few co-op jobs learning the ropes and getting my feet wet in “real world” projects.

I spent the afternoon with Ganga looking at shelving options for the grocery store.

My first day in KTM started out at 5:45am …. the call of nature can be oh so loud…

The city is surprisingly quiet in the morning… though we are staying a little farther away from the city center. At about 6am the morning prayer bell sounds and the city slowly eases into life. Myself, I crawled back into bed to try to get a bit more rest, but that wasn’t as successful since my room has windows on 3 sides and is blindingly bright in the morning. That said, I’m so thankful to be staying where I am.

I met some of the locals Mark is working with here: Bishwas, Ganga, Dinesh, and Joshua. We went over to “The Blue Building” to talk through layout, design, and materials for building out the tech offices, as well as the ministry center. It’s very different dealing with contractors in Nepal, where there aren’t as many standards, trades people may or may not show up for unknown reasons, and their “modern” designs look like they’re trying to emulate wood paneling.

I had a chance to wander around in the afternoon while Mark was in Nepali class. It turns out I was in a fairly nice area of town where there were dozens of private schools, a few embassies, and lots of nicer gated compounds. Of course the surrounding neighbourhoods are quite poor in comparison. I’ve noticed that even small improvements from one neighbourhood to another seems quite significant. Maybe because so much of the city is desolate… and tiring.

Being here is tiring. So many things wear on me; From the dust and dirt, the pollution, the ridiculous traffic, and the constant noise, it is mentally and physically hard just being here. I’m in a permanent guarded state, and haven’t felt comfortable enough to relax except for when I’m back here at Mark & Laurel’s place.

Still, there have been some great conversations with Mark about what is going on here with him, as well as some really practical conversations around business and technology. The guys I met earlier this morning seem like good guys, and I’m looking forward to getting to know them a bit better. I know this is where I’m supposed to be right now and am excited to see how God unravels his plans … here and in my life.