Whirlwind

The last week or so has been rather hectic.  Where to start.
      Last Monday I went into Kathmandu with Sangram, Yvonne and Jasmine.  I went for the purpose of shopping with Yvonne for the Muscular Dystrophy center.  We spent most of the time, however, at the US Embassy and the travel agent.  (I did eat an entire pizza at Fire and Ice in between the two places.  Delicious.)  Five days earlier the embassy had told them they could get Jasmine’s US visa easily, but after her paperwork had been sent off to the US and hadn’t yet returned, it wasn’t looking promising for them.  That Monday they were told, “Well, as soon as the paperwork gets back, we’ll call you in for the interview and then we can get the visa within 48 hours.”  Their original flights had been scheduled for Wednesday, but we then went to the travel agent and moved their flights to Saturday, in hopes that the paperwork would come back in time.  The catch was that Jasmine’s passport expired on August 9th, so they needed to get to the states by that time, or else entirely start over on the paperwork.

  Well, by Wednesday, the embassy still hadn’t called, and after another disappointing trip into Kathmandu, it looked impossible.  I have to admit I was a little relieved.  Wednesday night we went into Banepa and bought mattresses, sheets, pillows, blankets, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc., for the Muscular Dystrophy Center which was scheduled to open on Friday.

  Mid-day Thursday, the embassy called.  They rushed off to Kathmandu, and within 2 hours of their interview, Jasmine had a visa!

       That’s when things got even more crazy.  The Muscular Dystrophy care center was opening Friday, and Yvonne still had Nursing exams to grade, a new PT to train in, and an entire house to pack.  We got ahold of the caretaker and her family, and they came over in their truck with a whole horde of drunk nephews and cousins to help them move in.  I have never seen moving become a more difficult process.  It took about 16 tries to get the bed frame into the room.  The guys then went to move all Yvonne and Sangram’s stuff into their truck to bring it down to the center.  (They donated all their furniture, and most everything, to the center.)  Meanwhile at the center, Santosh used Sangram’s key to cut a thin piece of string tying the blankets together.  The key broke in half.  Since Sangram and Yvonne could no longer get into their house, the drunk movers left for home.  Sangram called a maintenance man to help, and he refused.  The second maintenance man came and barely managed to break their lock before he had to rush off to help in the ICU where someone was dying.  The sun had long since gone down, and at the center, electricity load sharing started at 8.  With nothing moved into the darkened center, we all went to the Canteen to drink tea (or hot chocolate in my case) and make a large list of all the things that needed to be done on Friday.  Poor Yvonne!

Drunk movers.

That night I went home around 11 and for the first time ever, my housemate wasn’t back yet.  I always go to bed long after she does.  I got a little worried, which is abnormal for me.  But I started to think about all the things that could’ve happened to her on the way to our house.  I went to bed at midnight, and I vaguely remember her coming in at 12:15 or so.  She was helping with a baby delivery, so as not to be worried.  Sometime around 1, a truck tooted it’s song-playing-horn numerous times just outside my window and I was rudely awakened.  Later I dreamed that I came across a man who had been hanged on a long zipline-like rope on the hill just below my house.  I slept a disturbed 5 hours or so before getting up to start helping Yvonne move her furniture into the MD center.

I spent all Friday helping Yvonne.  In fact, we spent so much time together that we started saying things in unison.  I helped move their things down to the sweet rototiller drawn cart that was the moving truck.  I cleaned, graded exams, carried stacks of anatomy books to the nursing school, and otherwise helped her remember what she was doing.  As is the case when any missionary leaves this place, I was gifted many things.  “Jenny, do you want this? .... Can you use a lighter?  Do you want this bean bag?  Toothpaste? Books? Games? Scrubs?”  I now have a blender, badminton set, soccer ball, an extra magicJack, charcoal, UNO, Skipbo, a couple of saris, lots of random foods, a nice collection of Hindi movies, and 34 avocados, among bags of other things.  By the end, I just started taking things off their hands so they could get their house emptied.  I have sacks of things to give to other people here.

Moving truck.

By 5 pm, the center was finally ready to open.  The ceremony was less dramatic than planned, but it went smoothly enough.  One of the people working at the center is not easy to work with, and by 9 pm, we were back at the center having a meeting with him.  It went something like this: “Look, we don’t have money for your internet, personal computer, mobile phone, slippers, and personal slave.  And if you don’t think your wife is able to handle the job, there are plenty of other capable people who want this job.”  There were other issues as well that I’ll leave unstated.  He finally stopped demanding things, but Santosh and I left very exhausted and worried about the future of our center.  (We’re the directors.)  Management is not something I plan to go into for a career, but I am fairly certain I’d be able to fire someone if needed.  Here in Nepal, people just don’t get fired, so I think the man was a little shocked.  However, out of concern for these boys with MD, I think they need to take their jobs seriously.  We ate dal bhat for supper at the Canteen at 10:30 pm and enjoyed our last evening with Yvonne, Sangram and Jasmine.  I slept maybe 6 hours that night.

Umesh playing with Jasmine at the MD center.

  On Sabbath I helped out with Primary Sabbath School, fell asleep during church, ate an enormous lunch with the Cardonas and other missionaries, and went to Pathfinders.  I’m afraid I’m a horrible pathfinder leader for my girls’ unit.  Quite frankly I didn’t even know there was Pathfinders on that day (the day switches from week to week), and I had nothing planned.  They did a 30 second drama to fulfill an AY requirement and spent the rest of the time teaching me Nepali and asking if I had a boyfriend.

Yvonne, Sangram, and Jasmine left in the evening for their redeye flight.  I got to be really good friends with them in the last 5 weeks, and I’ll definitely miss them.  They spoiled me for sure, always taking me out to eat in Kathmandu or feeding me pizza and smoothies at their house.  Every time people leave from here to go back to the U.S., I always imagine what it’ll be like when I finally get on American soil again.  It’ll be glorious, that’s for sure!

Saturday night, I had a bunch of my soccer buddies over to play UNO.  It was a party.  They are so much fun.  Today, Sunday, has been interesting as well.  Physical Therapy without Yvonne is a story for another day, but I do want to mention that the care center is running very well!  This morning I went there to do PT with the boys, and they were all smiles and helping each other out.  I loved it!  It felt SO rewarding!  I’m glad that side of things is running smoothly, because on Santosh’s and my end, things are a little stressful and chaotic.  Setting up a center on basically no money is not something I’d suggest.

After a Nepali lesson, a soccer game, and tea with friends in the Canteen, I enjoyed the first of my 34 avocados with supper.  And I got a little distracted blogging...I just evaporated a liter and a half of my boiling drinking water.  It’s a little humid in the house now.

UNO team.