A Very Nepali Sort of Day

On Thursday I was on Nepali time ALL day. In the morning, I left the apartment determined to find the Nepal Federation for the Deaf, as I was hoping to talk to people who work there and pick up a book on Nepali Sign Language. I left the apartment at 10am, and found the federation about 12:30, walking non-stop the whole time. It was not that the building is far from Hadigaon, directly, it’s about a 30 minute walk. I was not walking terribly slowly, nor did I go in the completely opposite direction. Instead, I made the grievous error of asking people where to go once I had become lost. In Nepal, the idea of “saving face” is very important, and it is considered rude to not give people an answer when they ask you a question. It is extremely rare for anyone to answer “I don’t know”. At least 75% of the people I spoke to should have answered that, but instead, to be polite, pointed me in various conflicting directions. Around noon when I was tired, hot, sunburned, and not a little frustrated, I decided to give up and meet my roommate at the Fulbright Office. I knew exactly where that was – you know how when you’re lost, all roads seem to lead to the same (wrong) place? My center of gravity yesterday was apparently the Fulbright office!

My saviors yesterday appeared as I was walking back towards the Fulbright office and were in the form of a group of young men from the local secondary (deaf) school who were signing. I walked over to ask them where to find the federation and they were so excited to find a signing American that they grabbed my hand and led me to the office (which in my defense was down an alley with a few twists and turns). It was a huge point of amusement to them that they had seen me wandering earlier and not known I was deaf or looking for the deaf federation. The apparent leader of the group had met a number of deaf Americans, and knew ASL very well. It turns out he had become quite close with the deaf Fulbrighter who was here several years ago. When we arrived at the federation (all 5 of us!) we were told that the staff were in meetings and ushered to a waiting area where we continued our conversations and the students did their best to teach me Nepali Sign.

I felt bad because I was supposed to be meeting my roommate, but unbeknown to me, I had just followed the Nepali standard for time – people and relationships come before schedules. After a while, I begged out, and let my companions know that I would come back to the federation at a later time. I finally met Swetha and ran some errands with her before going back out in the evening with another Fulbrigher (Marissa) to look for Kurtas. Buying Kurtas was an interesting experience for me, because I don’t really bargain. If I believe a price is unfairly high, I may bargain it down to a fair price, but never lower. I understand that bargaining is culturally acceptable here, but I feel that since by all standards of living in Nepal I can very well afford to pay reasonable prices, it is perhaps morally unacceptable? I’m not sure. That has been one area of I’ve struggled with arriving in Nepal. What are everyone’s thoughts?

Friday we had a security briefing at the US Embassy and received our passes so that we may visit the US Embassy in the future. The briefing was informative, and often common-sensical. Most of what we learned was things we have heard before, just not in such an official manner! I’ve been dragging through everything today and seem to be coming down with something. Lots of headaches, tiredness. It may be my jetlag catching up with me! Lots of rest tonight, as tomorrow (Saturday), is the Teej festival, and I hope to be out and about experiencing everything and taking pictures!

Still no luggage.