Barbara Nauman

Barbara Nauman

[Photo by Chery Smith]

"Things I Remember" posted by Barb Aug 2002

namaste saathihaaru!!!

i hope i have everyone's emails correct, if i get error messages i'll check my typing.

i remember.........

---seeing the swiss alps in the moonlight from the plane ---playing frisbee during the plane repair time in frankfort ---the stewardesses on the flight getting a little annoyed at us when we kept wandering around the plane in the middle of the night flight ---how hot and muggy my first breath of nepali air was ---the wilted flower necklaces (i can't spell lei or whatever if my life depended on it) they tossed around our necks when we arrived a day late ---freak street ---the world emperor, who handed out his scribblings to us at aunt jane's restaurant (that was actually owned by gopal)--- the pool at the american compound

---the various marine groups who either let us or did not let us frequent the bar at the embassy

---the snow-covered peaks of maacchaapucchaare, in the day and floating

against the night

---teaching our first classes in nepali at pokhara

---getting used to eating spinach

---the time i was standing at the rear of a math class (next to our language instructors)that bev was teaching; hearing bev use the word chhiknu instead of jhiknu, our instructors turning red faced, but not letting her know, letting her continue this way through the whole lesson. i believe this led to them informing us of the "bad" words.

---getting yelled at for riding on the top of the buses

---the elephant ride sharon and i took with our trusty kelty packs from

bhairawa to buddha's birthplace, lumbini

---the NDS students in pyuthaan who told me their charpie was 'bhaisile

khaayo'

---eating nothing but potatoes and rice one year, and the next year the

whole potato crop was destroyed by root rot

---washing in the maadhi kholaa; washing in the irrigation ditches during monsoon

---having the number of girls attending my school go from 7 to 60 ---the male teachers reaction to my teaching sex education without a lot of hoopla

---getting a letter from chery, when a student asked her if she wanted a couple of radishes, explaining how surprised and pleased she was to find that they were a LITTLE bigger than our radishes.

---the four day walks east to my nearest bus stop, tansen ---karen, the N-81 water supply volunteers, and i getting stuck in the delhi airport without confirmed seats to nepal.

---sikh pilot, small plane, mountains---maybe that's why i don't go to cedar point more often, i've already had my thrills

---getting yelled at by the inhabitants of salyan because skylab was falling ---merle gardner borrowing a glass of gas from a friend in nepalganj for his scooter (before craig brought his motorcycle)

---merle, me, a japanese volunteer, a german volunteer, and a british

volunteer drinking raksi and causing no end of amusement to the nepali

patrons because our only common language was nepali. a night that nepalganj will never forget.

---riding on the back of a motorcycle hoping i would not have to deal with my baku being wound around the back tire

---craig thompson driving merle's motorcycle out to the far west ---breaking my arm; waiting 2 days for the helicopter; finding out that the only helicopter available was the canadians' cuz royal nepal was on strike and the king & prime minister had the 6 military helicopters tied up. i hear the canadians got some bottles of booze out of the deal. ---being high on demerol at the american compound and having rich rosen pop in to see how i was doing, and his comment, after i told him i had neatly decapitated my humerus 'you never did have a sense of humor'-by the way Rich, i owe you 20 rupees i found in that shirt that you loaned me to wear while my arm was tied to my body.

---and, sadly, i also remember the murder of the pcv going through dolpa..i also remember the massacre in surkhet, and the headless bodies in the pre-election violence of kathmandu. all countries have many faces.............

take care people AKA raamro sunga jaanus na! barb