It was a dark and stormy night…
After a long day of final school visits on Monday, Kelly and
I decided to stop by our favorite Vietnamese restaurant across the street from
our apartment. Stomachs full of banana lassie and delicious vegetable pho and
brains full of Nepali words that just won’t
seem to stick, we stepped out onto the street. We were surprised by the
unexpected greeting of wild shouting, torches of fire and a swarm of boys
running through the traffic. My first thought was bhand! These strikes are common in Nepal and shut down roads and
businesses (and consequently schools, as we will soon experience) as a
political protest.
But instead of deserted streets and closed businesses,
Nepalis were flocking to the street to witness the commotion. Out of the
darkness, we saw a painted white figure sprinting in and out of the beeping
taxis and tempos, followed by a mass of young boys chasing him and dragging a
small, leafy tree.
Turns out I’ve seen my first Nepali ghost!
In some of the traditional tribal customs, Monday marked the
celebration of the “ghost festival.” Stemming from Hindu belief, the soul
cannot be destroyed and therefore “bhoots,” or ghosts, haunt the earth with
unfinished business. Some traditions call for a ritual called atma-shanti,
which is a modified shraadh (death anniversary) in which those haunted promise
the rebirth of the ghost or finishing their works. Others celebrate festivals,
such as this one, to ward off ghosts, repelling the bad luck they bring with
them.
After chasing the painted ghost-man back up the street, it
looks like our bad luck is taken care of for the next year!
In addition to supernatural sightings, this week has also
been exciting, as the other ETAs and I sat down with plates of momos and
selected our school placements for the year! (In case you haven’t already
noticed, a lot of what we do revolves around food. And Nepali milk tea. It
might even be more fitting to call us “EATs”…) You are now reading the blog of
a proud new English teacher at Mohendra Joti Secondary School in Gorkha! I will
be working closely with four English teachers at the school to teach in grades
six and seven. Like all of the other school placements, Mohendra Joti is a
governmental school, serving students in the Dalite community. However it is unique
in that it not only has a community for mentally challenged students, but is
also the district resource center, offering teacher training and development
workshops, which I hope to get involved in.
We will repack our bags (which have gotten significantly
more bulky from the purchase of new kurtas, books, and teaching supplies) and
head out a week from Monday! Until then, we still have a bit more Nepali to
work on…
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