Neighborhood and knowing your neighbors.
This week in Nepal: The traditional two-year Peace Corps service starts with three months of language and cultural training, usually followed by a three or six-month community integration program. It’s half a year of easing yourself into community life and building a solid social foundation to support the other twenty-one months of service. Since Peace Corps Response is “short term, high impact,” PCRVs are expected to hit the ground running in our neighborhood, and I did.
I’m fortunate to be placed in a site more developed than many, with a very kind family looking after me. I have my own apartment, but they’re just upstairs if I need anything. That support has substantially eased my transition and enabled me to settle down in the neighborhood right away.
I spent a full week observing at the high school to which I’ve been assigned and, yesterday, I presented five actionable goals to the school administration for our shared work through January 31, 2025. They offered some very good feedback and we’ve begun our work together. In Peace Corps terms, this is “Goal 1” work, i.e., providing technical assistance to the host country and I’ll write much more about this in the weeks to come.
This week’s cheers: My birthday was this week and my hosts (a married couple in their 30s, their five-year-old daughter, along with the son’s mother and grandmother) threw a little party. I asked the father not to make a fuss but he said, “we’re not doing it for you. The little one heard ‘birthday,’ looked at her mother and said: “CAKE!” And she WAS excited. So much so that her little friend from the neighborhood slept over to share the cake.
Pause here and reflect: how excited are kids in the US for a birthday cake–especially when it’s not their own? In these distant corners of the world, finding joy in the ordinary is far more common than we find it in the U.S. In Peace Corps terms, we call the party experience “Goal 2” work–sharing US customs with Nepalis. You reading this blog is considered “Goal 3” work, as I share my Nepal experiences with Americans.
This week’s tears: As you can imagine, after only three weeks in Nepal, my language skills are barely practicable. I do my best and, thankfully, English is widely spoken in this neighborhood so I get by. I think we’ve all had the experience where we can’t convey to someone what we truly want to say and it’s humbling to have that experience so frequently. But that is the work.
The week ahead: Although I’ve just settled into the neighborhood, our Peace Corps supervisors have requested the group to return to Kathmandu this week to share our positive experiences and challenges as well as brainstorm our work with fellow volunteers. I look forward to seeing the other nine members of the group, but I’ll be thankful when the week is done, I’ve returned to my site, and can really focus on experiencing the rhythm of daily life here in Nepal.
