The arrival of the Princess

So, Princess Christie, as I like to refer to her, arrived at MSPN yesterday. We were all brought over to the PA office where we had a meeting with Shanika and Sajani, the director of PA Nepal. I got there before Maya and Christie, as their ride was delayed by the strikes in Thamel. Shanika, Sajani, and I all talked. Most of what we said I'm not going to repeat here, because I've said it all before, and it's not important. BUT, Sajani also told me some of the girls stories from happy house. I was shocked at how much these girls had suffered. The home really fits it's name; the girls all seem really really happy. They are always excited to see us and are always smiling and playing games. To be honest, I assumed they must have all lead fairly peaceful happy lives. If I'd been asked to guess how they got there, I would have probably said that perhaps their single mother had died in childbirth and had been happily living at HH with the other girls and their loving caretakers all their lives. In reality, the stories I heard involved mothers who were prostitutes or essentially slaves while their daughters starved next to them on the streets. I was completely shocked. I don't remember all the details of the stories and I don't want to divulge which girls they were attached to, so I'll leave it at that.

When Maya and Christie arrived, Sajani and Shanika basically just backed me up. They said they'd gathered the meeting to discuss the different tasks at MSPN. They advised Christie and Maya to look to me as a resource since I'd been doing well and following the footsteps of the other volunteers. They talked to Maya and Christie about the food and accomadation (which they'd both been complaining about), and Maya and Christie were totally sweet and complimentary. It was like two completely different people. I wondered if perhaps I'd misjudged them... That is, until we walked out of the office. As soon as we passed through the threshold, they completely switched gears. They complained about everything and claimed they'd been lied to about the type of food they'd get. (Side note, it was on the website and in the information we received, written very plainly and directly.) They also ignored me completely. Instead, I befriended the driver, Narin, and talked to him about the strikes in Thamel, which have been occurring almost daily for about a week.

When we got to MSPN, we didn't have much more time there, and it was pouring rain. Maya and Christie asked me if I could "handle" the children, and went into the office to help the manager to make a brochure. This was totally fine with me. They did the same thing today, and it looks like it will continue. Again, I'd rather them ignore and avoid me than be mean to me. Plus, the office work does need to get done and I'd rather be working with the children.

The only time we do interact is during lunch. However, I'm using the term "interact" lightly, because they only talk to each other. Instead I used this time to befriend the two Nepali cooks, who are both super nice. I told one of them I liked the bracelet she was wearing and she gave it to me! I tried to refuse, but she insisted. It's just a plastic bangle, but I think it's gorgeous and it's special because it was a gift. I'm planning to buy scarfs for the two cooks before I leave as gifts. I could see the the jealousy bristle in Maya and Christie as they eyed my new bracelet.

Their conversation during lunch was totally hilarious. It was all I could do not to laugh. First, they both HATE Nepal and everything about it. This is funny because Maya's here for 3 months and Christie is going to India after this, where she'll encounter similar food, accommodation, and poverty. Due to a mixture of boredom and curiosity, I asked Christie why she'd decided to come to Nepal, and her response was priceless. What follows is pretty close to a direct quote.

Christie: "Because it's, like, the poorest country!" She laughs. "And, like, I need to experience poverty, because, like, I never have before." (It was really really hard for me not to say "clearly." I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes).
At this point she turned back to Maya and commenced to ignore me again.
Christie: "I'm, like, really stuck up! Like, my family's really rich and I went to private schools all my life. At one point, I owned by own business, so I always had cash. Plus, I have and apartment and a condo that I just bought."

This peaked my curiosity again. I asked "Oh, so is that how you're paying for your year?" (Christie is volunteering in 3 countries and then gallivanting around Asia.)
Christie: No, I had a job at this pharmaceutical company for a year.
Maya: Yeah, we worked HARD for the money to come here. *Looks pointedly at me*

Now first of all, I found that really rude and obnoxious. Are you kidding? How blatantly mean can you be? Second of all, I think this is a little ironic. Despite the fact that I'm borrowing some money from my parents to come here in addition to what I'd saved, I'm clearly enjoying my time here much more. Maya and Christie spend so much time concerned that they're getting their money's worth that they hate it here. Plus, if they're both so worried about how deserving they are of coming here and how hard they worked, they're clearly missing one of the messages of Nepal. Regardless of whether you earned the money, or your family is wealthy enough to lend you some, we were all born in countries where that is possible. In Nepal, it's not possible to have a job that will earn you enough money to fly around the world for a year and experience other cultures. Even the poorest American is more privileged than most Nepalis, because in our country, it is possible for anyone to work hard and make enough money to live by and usually even take a vacation or two. For many Nepalese, their caste and the weakness of their currency forbids them from even having a chance. This is a lesson I'm starting to absorb. No matter how deserving we tell ourselves we are, the privilege you are born into is completely arbitrary. The important part, I believe, is appreciating what you have and using it for good.

Today at lunch, Maya and Christie also threw an obnoxious jab my way. Again, one quite karmically ironic. They were talking about how their diet here is really unhealthy because we are never served meat. (The Nepalese rarely eat meat, usually only on holidays). I said there were other ways to get iron than meat (that was mostly what they were talking about) and that I'd been a vegetarian since I was 8 and my iron had always been high. A few minutes later, Christie said "I don't get vegetarianism, it's totally unhealthy and stupid."
"Yeah," said Maya. "I don't get how those people live without meat. It's unnatural."
I chose not to touch this one. However, Nepal has no sort of meat standards or checking system. I know so many people who have been sick from eating meat here. Christie in fact got a terrible bacteria infection and was vomiting everything she ate, including water, for an entire week. I know this because she constantly complained and blamed it on her host family. Had she gone to a doctor, which Shanika eventually forced her to do, she would have learned that she just needed some anti-biotics. Now, if you are in any third world country with high disease rates and no standards for meat, eating meat is not such a good idea. Coming up is the biggest Nepali festival, Dasain. During Dasain, hundreds of animals are sacrificed. Then the meat sits around for weeks before being sold to restaurants. Almost every volunteer I've met is vegetarian while in Nepal, other than Christie and Maya. Despite my warnings about the meat here, they ignored me and will try to eat a bunch because they think their iron is low. I wish them the best of luck.

But on to a happier subject. Yesterday afternoon, Happy House was really fun. Maya and Christie decided not to go. Too much work... I helped the girls write sentences with new vocab words.

OH SHOOT! I gotta go. Shanika's picking me up to take me to J House to help paint. Bye for now! More later!