Nepal- Week Five

Nepal- Week Five

Kathmandu, Nepal

November 13, 2017 to January 9, 2018

I am in Nepal for 8 weeks, teaching for the World Academy for the Future of Women.  I will be teaching college women how to be global leaders with the focus on the UN Sustainable Goals.  I am going to travel a little bit during this time.  This should be an enjoyable 8 weeks.

Monday, Dec 11-  This week we will work on how to develop SMART goals and effective daily habits.

I ask my students to respond to this writing prompt: what are you going to do, starting today, to make your life more meaningful?

One student wrote: “I can make my life meaningful from today by giving more time to studies. By controlling my anger. By stop overthinking. By hardworking. Being hopeful. By listening my mom advice. Being polite. By increasing capacity to ignore criticism. To believe myself. Less use of internet. By creative. By less talkative. Being patience, honest and punctual.”

Another student wrote: “Doing daily exercise and meditation and being claim (sic), Be passionate. Find some job and make group of friends and travel to different places with them. Being loving and equal to all. Don’t hold then thinks and wishes on heart and let it die instead explore it cause until you are silent nobody can hear you. Being grateful to what I have. Doing the creative task like writing poems and etc. not using mobile phone for long. Sleeping on time and waking up early. Not letting my thinking change hearing some bad view from others and to choose what I want and do as I wish not what other make me do.”

Tuesday, Dec 12- we are working on the United Nations Millennium Goals. I asked my students to take one goal and identify one thing they could do to aggress one of these goals.

For Gender Equality: “standing up for women who are victim of domestic violence and trying to make their family that’s illegal and if they don’t agree then call the people of women organization who help women.”

For Decent Work and Economic Growth: “in roads we see even healthy peoples ware begging and sometimes we hear goon’s kill person for money and to stop this instead of punishing and blaming them, I can ask them why they did this and give some ideas of job they can do”.

For No Poverty: “I can teach somebody sewing and stitching and handicraft for earning.”

Wednesday, Dec 13- I asked my students to compile a list of 10 daily habits that could improve their leadership skills.  One student wrote that she will brush her teeth and comb her hair every day.  I think the lesson was lost on her.

Thursday, Dec 14- we are finishing up our bucket lists and one of my students tells me she would love to cut her hair one day.  “Why don’t you cut it now if you want shorter hair”, I ask her?

“Because I am not allowed.  My mother will not let me”, she responds sadly.  

Another student responds, “Me too.  I want to cut my hair but I cannot”.

“I don’t mean to be disrespectful to your mother, but will you cut your hair when you are an adult and no longer living with your mother”.

“I don’t know”, she tells me.

“For instance, if you are 35 and you want to cut your hair, do you still have to obey your mother’s wishes”?

“OK, maybe I can cut my hair when I am 35”, she responds and she writes this down on her bucket list.

Friday, Dec 15- I finally, finally found a clean restaurant in Imadol that also serves a variety of foods.  The only problem is the very slow service.  There were six people working when I was there and I was the only customer.  I had to wait one hour for my food to be prepared.  The nan was “damaged.” When I asked the waiter how “damaged?”, he told me, “it is black Madame.”

Maybe I will give them one more chance.

Saturday, Dec 16- I am back in Thamel and in search of a felt shop I have seen several times.  But I can mot find it anywhere. I circle around the maze several times but it is to no avail.  Just when I am about to give up, I look up and there it is. I buy two felt scarves that I love.

Sunday, Dec 17- it was a pleasant day.  After a nice breakfast, I make my way to the Garden of Dreams, a small oasis in the middle of the filth and noise of the city. Mostly young couples come here and sit in this calm, clean environment for the afternoon.  It’s a garden of grass and greener and a pleasant alternative to the pollution and dust on the other side of the wall.

I have a nice lunch with a warn mint tea.  And then I wander off to a fantastic facial.  The woman massaged my head and my feet and I wished she could do these two areas all damn day.

I wandered off to my favorite bar for a beer but I had to hurry up and get to the local bakery by 8PM as all of the breads go on sale for 50% off.  I stocked up on enough baked goods to last me for the week.