A Day in the Life - Nepali Style

While working here in Kathmandu I've stayed at a guest house that Build Change is renting, which is just down the street from the office. It's a nice place by Nepali standards. I suspect that if Superman picked the house over to Newport Beach it could be worth at least a million, that is once the sewer and water lines are hooked up and the dryer and pool are installed....

The front entrance. I'm in the master bedroom that is on the left

The kitchen is nice and modern and includes a microwave. When I left here last year the program director at the time asked me what it would take to convince me to come back. I told him he had to get a microwave so that I could cook my own meals. Sure enough, when I arrived this time there was a brand new microwave in the kitchen...

Notice I was wearing shorts when I took this photo back in October. I haven't worn shorts in a month...

My bedroom is the master and is at the highest occupied level of the house. Consequently I have to hike up stairs to get to it. This may be one reason why I've lost a few pounds on this trip...

Looking down from my bedroom door to the lobby

Yes, the mattress is on the floor, which has done wonders for my back. I stole a second mattress from one of the other rooms, which has helped a little....

There is a vacant lot across from the house that has been anything but vacant since I've been here. During the day there has been construction work there and at night a pack of dogs live there and howl at each other. The lot is also used to burn trash, something I've seen quite a bit of around here.

Before, from October. I understand that used to be a swimming pool

After, from about a week ago

It doesn't smell like victory...

My days begin with a walk to the office, which starts with getting the guard to open the gate. The guards here are not exactly young and spry, which leads me to wonder just how well they can guard against anything. However, they are all nice guys and they all salute me whenever they greet me in the morning.

About every other day I get coffee before work, usually at Top of the World Cafe, the expat coffee place close by. I've got a frequent buyer card and I'm this close to getting my second free cup of latte...

Latte from Top of the World

On Saturdays Top of the World is closed so instead I go to Cafe Soma. The atmosphere is not quite as good and it is a little further away, but the latte there is decent and they have the best grilled chicken sandwich of any place I've tried around here.

Latte from Cafe Soma

After getting my latte fix I head off to the Build Change office, which is also in a house that's not quite as nice as the guest house but it is bigger, which helps when you have so many people working for you as Build Change Nepal does.

The Build Change office, before the staff arrives

The living room is where the engineers work. I have a space at one of the far corners below the white board, which I've used a lot while I've been here

The Build Change Nepal staff at Tihar. Aliza Baidya, the office's lead HR person and one of my many new Facebook friends, posted this photo

Lunch is usually served at the office by a 2-3 woman service staff who cook rice, soup, and meat every day. I usually take lunch there because the food is good, the price is great ($3 or so per lunch, beat that LBNL cafeteria!), and you can't beat the convenience. However, the same meal every day can get tiresome, so occasionally I go out with some of my colleagues and get lunch elsewhere. One place we went about 2 weeks ago featured Newali food that my friends wanted me to try.

This is Yomari, rice dough filled with molasses & sesame.

Sherpa is local craft brew, one of 3 I tried here (not all at this sitting ;). The others were Everest and Gorkha. They all pretty much tasted the same...

And on occasion I have gone up to the roof and looked at the view:

Click on the photo to see the panorama

When work is done for the day I walk home and either cook something in the kitchen (often pasta because it is quick and easy) or go out. My favorite place has been the Roadhouse Cafe, which specializes in pizza but also has a really delicious Caesar salad with bacon.

Hmmm, bacon. And greens too. That's a win/win

When the day is done I usually catch a couple of hours of TV. The Sopranos are still shown during the week and there is Premier League football on weekends. The rest of the time it's pretty much all cricket. Most of the English language sports channels here are from India, and when you think of sport in India, you think of cricket.

From the India-England test match series. I believe India is cleaning England's clock in this series, but I can't really tell...

On weekends I usually walk around the neighborhood to the store, or to lunch, or just around. This is not as easy as it may sound with the sidewalks around here. Many roads don't have them, and the ones that do exist are uneven and full of obstructions like trash, dirt, power poles, and the occasional animal feces. You really do need to watch your step around here.

Yeah, this pretty much covers the condition of some sidewalks in Kathmandu.

Then there is the traffic that is usually snarled with cars, taxi cabs that have drivers that drive like cab drivers everywhere do (insane), and lots and lots of motor bikes, some of which have drivers that like to cut as close to the curb as they can (perhaps to make a sport of it?). Then there are these unusual vehicles that I would swear were built in someone's garage if a) there weren't so many of them and b) there were houses with garages:

It's always nice to try and get home before sunset, so I can see views like this from my bedroom balcony:

And that is my everyday life in Nepal.