Trekking with the Princess and the Tiger

Oooh, I'm a bit embarrassed. It has been almost a year since I posted anything here. And I will cheat and just put a lot of pictures too. Last week, Toby, Noa and I went trekking together...without Mads and Clare...for 5 days. And we survived. We had our moments. It was difficult for them to sleep in a new place every night and the rhythm of the days didn't always give me enough of a break, although I could walk really slowly or really quickly and get out of earshot of any whining. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that we had an entourage: 2 porters and a guide.














But Toby and Noa did walk sometimes. I chose a relatively easy route: drove from Pokhara to Nayapul then walked to Tikhedunga, Ghorepani, Tadepani, Gandruk and back to Nayapul. They probably could have walked more than they did had I been more aware of distances and how much flexibility we had with the time. Yes, Noa is wearing a princess dress; you can't see her tiara. She wore it everyday and every night; it was filthy by the time we finished. But boy did she entertain the other trekkers!

Toby was his outgoing self with children and some adults at the tea houses but generally with other trekkers he did his tiger growl in greeting.







Both kids are developing a knack for photography so now you might start seeing a few more photos of me.



Good eating habits went out the window. I don't know how they survive on what they eat. They lived on boxed mango juice, the odd apple pancake and eventually I broke down and bought packets of coconut biscuits, which are available everywhere. We made it back to Pokhara and they happily shared a pizza.






As always, it was great to get out of Kathmandu and it gave me ideas for our next trek, which should be in the first week of October, in case anyone is planning to visit... Think my princess, tiger and I will go to Jomsom and do day trips.

Love
C T N

Trekking in Solu

I had a week off at the end of May- from work and children- and went trekking in Solukhumbu district with Mads and Clare. It was fantastic. It is also called the Lower Everest region so we were south of the main trekking routes leading up to Namche Bazaar and Everest Base Camp. We reached a maximum of about 3700m in altitude at a dairy and tea house at Pike Peak. High enough to see yaks and naks (female yaks) and to feel pretty tired putting one foot in front of the other. But I had loads of energy, both physical and mental, once we were back in Kathmandu at only 1500m. I really needed that break, out of the city, in the clean air, in the mountains. It is only a 25 minute flight in a Twin Otter from Phaplu back to KTM, but I felt like I was returning from a different country.

This one will mostly be pictures since they say 1000 words! Since I last wrote a post, we have gone for a short trek with Clare and Kavita, just east of Kathmandu and had beautiful views of snow covered mountains. We marked Holi in our own way. Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and Toby and Noa turned 3!! They are mostly toilet trained during the day, which has made an incredible difference to my life! Being free of one of the day in- day out chores that was making my life feel quite tedious, has made it easier to deal with the other ones, not to mention the trying behaviours of 3 year olds.

Work is still rather busy for me. We're looking for funding to continue the work we have been doing in inclusive development and at the same time trying to get the physical rehab project on a better organisational footing, one focused on sustainability of the services within partners' organisations and on ensuring sustainability of the rehabilitation sector in Nepal. It's interesting stuff and slowly, slowly I am able to work more on the quality assurance things that I enjoy.

But enough of that... enjoy the pictures!

Love
C T N

It feels like December and January have passed as a series of dark days peppered with swearing and shouting. I attended a seminar in Amman, Jordan for a week and returned on December 13. For the following 5 weeks I didn't sleep alone for a portion of a single night. (For those of you getting your hopes up, my company was in the form of at least 1 but usually 2 2-year olds.) It made for a very tired me, resulting in a short fuse and a loud voice. I took a week off around Christmas and couldn't wait to return to work. The combination of an exhausted mother, toddlers who are pushing limits and not enough family around the holiday season was not a happy one. I wished we were somewhere else, or really for any break in my suffering.

But a couple of weeks ago I had a field visit to 3 districts in the Mid West with our advocacy team, slept better (alone) and am redetermined to be a good, calm mother.

The weather in Kathmandu is warming up. It seems like the really cold period didn't last nearly as long as it did last year. We are still using the same gas canisters for our 2 heaters that we started in December. Good thing too, because there is a gas shortage right now. People are having trouble getting gas for cooking so we definitely won't be refilling gas for heating.

As the temperature rises, the loadshedding (power cuts) also increase. We are now up to 11 hours per day. Still a lot better than this time last year but we aren't at the peak yet. I have heard differing predictions of how high it will go, with the worst saying 14 hours per day. Having lived through 18 hours last year, anything less is easy. Easy but still inconvenient at times. Toby has to wait for his habitual morning banana milkshake until the power comes on. And I have to plan ahead to take a shower, anticipating how long into the evening the water, warmed very well by the solar panels all day, will stay hot, or calculating when I can turn on the geyser and wait for 30 minutes for it to take effect.

We are also dealing with a cash shortage in the country, with banks limiting the amount that can be withdrawn from an ATM at one time to NRs10,000 (about CDN140). Not a big deal except each time I withdraw it costs CDN5! So I am adjusting our shopping practices to do big shopping once a week at one of the two places that accept my credit card.

The bandhas (strikes) we were dealing with in the fall have eased somewhat, as Maoists and other parties appear to be getting serious about ending the political deadlock that started last May. But we are in the countdown to the deadline to draft the new constitution here. The Comprehensive Peace Accord signed in November 2006 between the Maoist rebels (at the time) and the government set May 2010 as the deadline. Don't ask for my prediction; leaders flip flop on statements and positions and then adopt last ditch efforts that are - in my opinion- highly undemocratic and untransparent, so I can't rely on their past activities to say what they will do next.

We are into our routines here. Toby and Noa have busier social lives than I do: playgroup on Mondays, playground and library on Tuesdays, and from Wednesday to Friday they alternate hosting and visiting friends' houses. They are usually home for lunch followed by a nap and awake again by about 4. Dina is a super cleaner, doing housework in the 2 hours they are sleeping! The twins are an outgoing pair. I have been to library with them and watched them singing along with songs and doing all of the actions, or standing right in front of the story reader listening intently. Toby likes watching DVDs; his current favourites are Cars and KungFu Panda, not to mention any Thomas the Tank Engine or Franklin story. Noa likes the odd movie, often going along with Toby's choice unless she really feels like watching Curious George or Berenstein Bears. She comes to life at office parties when there is music and dancing; she seems to like Bollywood soundtracks and Latin songs.

With my recent patch of bad temperedness, they have started to ask me,'Mama, you happy?' They can tell me when they feel sad or scared or shy. Toby can also now tell me when he 'loves' something like pancakes or milkshakes or Lightning McQueen (Cars). I called him from the field the other day and between little sniffs, he told me he wanted to see me - while Noa nattered on about her new table and chairs that had been delivered that day! What a pair.

We are growing lettuce and basil in the garden and with the official start of spring here, I will go in search of other vegetable seeds to diversify. The building opposite us, which has been under construction since before we arrived, still isn't finished but has started its work as a nursing school. Better than another noisier type of business- the only drawback is that t blocks our sun for most of the winter afternoon.

Well, it's a bit negative but it is an update. Sometimes we're up, sometimes we're down. Looking forward to a long weekend in February when we hope to get out of town for a series of short walks. And then to March when Grandma and Grandpa will come!!

Love
C T N

Hallowe'en!

Toby and Noa have not dressed up for Hallowe'en before, so we started low-key. One of the families from playgroup- one of the more 'balanced' ones- invited us to a party at their house in the afternoon. We had costumes from Grandma and from a friend at work, so we chose the ones that fit more or less. The others will be perfect for next year. At the party the kids decorated pumpkins on paper and glued them to treat bags. Then they had a snack (hoping to feed them something nutritious before they had access to a bag of candy!) and played with the family pet: a soft white bunny. The adults were then assigned to a room in the house and a bucket of candy, while the children (12, ranging in age from 1 year to 10 years) were gathered outside the front door. They proceeded to knock on each door of the house, from the ground floor to the roof, and yell 'trick or treat!' Toby and Noa really didn't understand what was happening for the first few doors, but then they were chiming in with 'trick or treat' and opening their treat bags. Can you imagine what goes through their heads?! 'Hmm, someone opens the door and gives us candy- how cool is that??'

What we have done in October

Here we are already at the last week of October. It has passed in the blink of an eye. Work never seems to slow down. I spent the first 2 weeks of October writing a proposal to submit for funding for our physical rehabilitation project. It has been running for 4 years and we think we need another 3 years to hand the running of the centres over to the partners completely. The partners already do a good job managing the day-to-day operations but it isn't easy to find the money to cover the cost of prosthetic or orthotic devices and physiotherapy services, not to mention the cost of running a mobile camp in order to reach more remote areas. So we plan to spend the next 3 years helping each partner (there are 8) identify financial sustainability strategies that will work for them and gradually fund less of the costs while the partners assume greater financial responsibility. We are also doing a midterm review of the HI Nepal Programme strategy, which is a worthwhile and interesting exercise but does take some time.

So that's what I have been doing this month. Toby and Noa have been pretty busy too. We have a couple of new children in our circle and the four have become quite attached to eachother. Well, let's be honest, their didis like to get out of their respective houses and meet eachother too! On Mondays it is playgroup with the whole crowd; Tuesdays is playground and library with the whole crowd; Wednesdays is Sonny's house; Thursdays is our house and Fridays is Mica's house. Mica turned 1 last week and had a birthday party on Saturday, for which Toby and Noa were suitably dressed - at least to start the afternoon. We stayed for 4 hours, playing on the bouncy castle, riding toys, having faces painted and eating cake. I ran out of diapers, so Noa went home commando and Toby went home with wet pants.


We are navigating our way through the terrible 2s I think. Toby likes things just so and if I do one thing wrong, he cries, pinches, and is generally grumpy for an hour. Noa is only slightly more forgiving and is much more stubborn. She can cry 'uppy' (she wants to be carried) for 15 minutes straight in a very whiney voice, attracting stares from everyone around as we walk quickly home. One woman even asked me,' What is wrong with your child?' I answered, 'She's 2.'

Of course their are good milestones too, though. As of today, Noa can say 'Toby' rather than 'Boby.' And earlier in the week her own name was more recognisable too. And man is she a climber. Toby has an amazing memory. He loves to watch Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs and now recites the preamble along with the narrator. Both like to sing and Noa dances too.



















Last weekend was the Tihar (Deepavali) festival here. One of the days is special for dogs so we gave Kusi a tikka and a malla. She turns 1 this week! Any excuse to make a Happy Birthday cake...


Love
C T N

What we did on our summer vacation

Just so there is some record of the fastest 5 weeks of my life, I will recap our trip to Vancouver. Toby and Noa were fantastic on the flight over. Toby was glued to the window of the departure room in Kathmandu, even though it was 10:00 at night and there were only 3 big planes at the time. He did the same thing in Hong Kong but holy cow, there were more planes! 'Mama, look, airplane!' They had a hard time adjusting to sitting in their own seats with seatbelts on for take-off and landing, but that was really the only time they were noisy.


























We arrived at Mom and Dad's house in Richmond in the afternoon and the twins were immediately at home, recognising their old toys and trying out the new little table and chairs. It took us a good week to recover from jetlag and we all caught colds to boot. I had grand plans for our time home, which included as many yoga classes as I could find and frequent trips to the swimming pool with Toby and Noa. None of that happened, so I returned to KTM with the same flabby core that I have been nurturing for a few months. But we had fun anyway. Trips to the beach, many hours out in the backyard, helping Grandma garden and playing in the dinghy filled with water.


And of course a lot of time with family. It was so nice to be able to see most of the family on the 16th, in Richmond, when all branches in B.C. gathered at Mom and Dad's. We missed Suze, Paul, Tyler and Aimee, who were in the process of settling into their new house in Halifax. And we missed Mike, Melissa and Caroline but were thrilled to see them when we passed through Toronto coming back from visiting Great Grandma in Michigan. That was a quick trip, only 4 days, but we also managed to see Auntie Angie, Uncle Ray, Laura, Maria and Elena, and Deana and Ava. We don't get to see cousins and their children very often so even an evening barbecue with a bit of time to chat is valuable.

Back in Richmond we took every opportunity we could to see Uncle Pat and Aunt Felicia and Uncle Jim and Auntie Deana. Ollie and Parker were big hits too. I'm glad we have Kusi in Kathmandu because the kids are growing up to be very comfortable around dogs they know. As planned, we joined the 'Show me the Smerdons' team for the SuperWalk for Parkinsons on August 30 and Noa almost walked the entire 2km route around Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park, while Toby did more than half of it. I was so proud of them. Our team raised the most of any team in B.C., something that is becoming a tradition.

We had many highlights of our time home but one of the really memorable ones was a visit to the Vancouver Police Department's stables, also in Stanley Park. We were invited by Susan, the daughter of one of Dad's oldest friends, and a member of VPD's mounted squad. She introduced us to all of the horses and then let us pet Dalton. Toby was very impressed. Noa was a bit nervous. But come next year, when they are a bit bigger and possibly able to sit on a horse, I think she'll be game! A stuffed horse and cow, gifts from Jim and Deana for the trip back, are now both named Dalton.














As I predicted, we came home to KTM with much more luggage than we left with. It was a combination of shopping for shoes, bike seats and helmets for the kids and gathering up more of their toys and handed down clothes that they are now big enough for. When we went to Nepal last year it was on a trial basis initially, so I really hadn't brought too much but now that I know we will be there for another year and a half, I thought we may as well treat it as home and not another way station. I am used to temporary homes but am trying to be a responsible and proactive mother!

On a similar note, one of my key purchases was a cookbook by Jamie Oliver. His basic cookbook. It even shows how to boil an egg! The good thing is that it has step-by-step pictures so Dena can follow it too. Don't get me wrong, she is a much better cook than I am, but I would like to have some reference recipes so I can suggest things to her. She likes it too. I have a lot of ground to make up if I am ever going to be half the cook any of my siblings are, but I figure it's never too late!

So anyway, we returned to Kathmandu the same way we came: looong flight to Hong Kong, looong layover in Hong Kong (can't say enough about the Regal Airport Hotel where you can pay by the hour), and then the 4 hours to KTM. The twins had a bit harder time on the return, mostly because I decided to leave the stroller in Richmond, and Hong Kong Airport is rather large. They both had a minor meltdown at security and refused to move, poor things. We straggled to our gate, hunkered down and watched Monsters Inc and all was right with the world. When they called us for pre-boarding my children ran down the gangway to get on the net big airplane. Can't tell you how disappointed Noa was not to find a personal TV screen and headphones at her seat; she kept pointing at her ears and asking for them!

The kids still miss Grandma and Grandpa's house. Now and then they ask to 'Go home Grandma and Grandpa house.' And I tell them we will go when they are 3. Does time ever slow down?

Love
C T N