Before this year-long educational odyssey of fun and adventure, I created my own brand of curriculum for my kids. I thought of books to read, projects to enjoy and fantacized about all the real-world learning that would happen for my kids. But Nepal schooled me too. Here is my listicle for the ten lessons I learned from Nepal.
1. Bureaucracy ain’t that bad Boulder’s building codes and seemingly arbitrary development restrictions used to drive me crazy, but after witnessing a real laxity of rules, from snarls of wires to newly built homes that crumbled in the earthquake, I have a newfound respect for red tape.
Wires and Traffic…
2. Generosity Yes, Nepal has a free market economy, but the people don’t really think that way. There is a collective happiness mode of thinking that is absent in the US. People, even the poorest of the poor, will offer whatever they have to Patagonia-clad travelers. I had people offering me corn, or biscuits or tea… lots of tea. It will boggle you.
3. Spirit Worship is in Every Vista Prayer flags, altars, statues, stupas, chortens, even these tiny offerings on the floor of a tea shop that went unnoticed through the first month or so before I realized where to look. There are little altars to the spiritual world everywhere. The bathrooms in most of Nepal (not ours) are not nearly as clean as the US, but there’s a different sense of where to put your efforts. As a traveler, you notice the grime before you notice what takes its place. And what takes its place is, ultimately, more important than a sparkly potty. I hope to create more of these gestures to spirit when I return… and have a clean bathroom.
4. We are Preoccupied with Safety After the first few days in Kathmandu, I gave up on seatbelts. Crossing the street, I gave a wide berth to oncoming traffic and then realized we would never cross the street. So, we just started to cross and indeed, we stayed safe. As a mom, I am wired to scan the situation for potential hazards, but watching moms cradle newborns in one arm while balancing, helmetless, on the back of a motorbike through potholed traffic, rejiggered my sense of what is safe. There was no sense of safety’s ground zero. And isn’t the cocooning of our American children a bit more about frivolous lawsuits and consumerism than actual statistics? I still will have a hard time being too lax but it really makes you think.
5. Clean Air I really don’t think I can live long-term in a place that requires me to wear a pollution mask. I love Nepal, love Kathmandu, but I have a new-found appreciation of the air of Colorado and look forward to no grit in the eyes and teeth at the end of the day.
6. Kids Need Space I love the parks and open space for kids in the US. Kids need a safe place to run and be physical. Kai played soccer of the roof terrace and threw the football in the street, but cars came and wires were overhead. And it often went into the neighbors’ yards. We spent three afternoons at hotel pools so the kids could swim and splash and run on the big, expansive lawns. They were going stir-crazy without a place to run.
We co-opted the playground at the Hillary School in Khumjung.
7. Women Juggle Work and Family The World Over It isn’t a Western woman’s balancing act, it’s a worldwide issue. Many guesthouse owners were moms who put their kids in front of the TV or video game to make us dinner or tend to the guesthouse. Professional working moms in Kathmandu were happy for job shares or three-quarter time opportunities. Women want and/or need to work outside the home and balancing family care is tricky wherever you are. But here cooking and housework, seems to be less automated and there is no alternative to slow food.
A typical Sherpa kitchen. Dinner starts with procuring firewood.
8. The Elderly Have a Purpose in Our Society I learned that life is richer when the elderly are enfolded into daily life. Actually, I relearned this from my time living in Thailand. I have so little interaction with older people in Boulder; I simply forget the calm and wisdom gained from spending time with a grandma or grandpa. The elderly in this country are visible and spend so much of their day in prayer. Read here about Kancha Sherpa.
Lorna with Kancha Sherpa
9. Commit to Color Nepali women don’t go half way with color. Their comfy cotton Punjabis are bright with surprising contrasts. There’s very little gray, or black or navy in the typical Nepali wardrobe. There are more and more people wearing Western dress and that lack of color does stand out. Why not live life more colorfully?
A group of colorful women out for a stroll in Pokhara
10. Walking and A Whole Foods Diet Help You Live a Long Healthy Life And in spending more time with older people, I was amazed at how fit and healthy the older people are. They walk (because their generation simply doesn’t drive) and they eat a whole foods diet – no prepared or fast food. One of our adopted 72 year-old grandmothers walked with us up to 13,000 ft. Another leaped to the potato patch in front of us and hoed up enough for dinner in five minutes. (We fumbled around with her and could admire her technique.) Keep walking and cook your food.
This grandma can climb over 13,000 ft and chops her own wood.