Pet Peeves

March 31, 2014January 3, 2015 / wrightsolution / 17 Comments

Cartoon Credit: http://grooverpr.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/prca-2330-topic-of-the-week-pet-peeves/

Pet peeves are a ridiculous thing. We know that, but we continue to nurture and feed them anyway. I don’t have universal pet peeves for everywhere like bad grammar or rude language (well, maybe chewing with your mouth closed)… but mostly mine are country specific!

Nepal: I start with my absolute major peeve at this point in time: spitting. Do I ever hate it that people spit here! OMG! Sometimes I’ll be walking down the street, quietly minding my own business and before I can turn my head fast enough, there comes the sound of someone hacking deeply–all the way down from their toes– as they deliver a disgusting, ugly splat of phlegm just inches from my feet. And as I turn my head to the other side in disgust, yet another person –with horrendously perfect timing–hangs another, equally loud and disgusting. There is no escape!

Philippines: Manila is full of zebra crossings, or pedestrian crossings if you prefer. Unfortunately in Manila, I couldn’t help feeling they serve only to spruce up the city a little, make it look more modern. Decoration, if you will. They certainly serve no function. (Kathmandu at least has the good sense not to even bother wasting the paint.) In Manila, they are like death traps for expats who have the deluded notion that when you step out onto one cars will stop. I found myself drawn to them out of habit and then felt utterly frustrated when drivers would seem to speed up as I used them to cross the street.

UK: “Sorry! I’m so sorry to bother you, but this microwave you sold me doesn’t work. I’m really, really sorry to make a fuss, but would you possibly consider replacing it with a new one?!” Why do the British feel the need to apologize profusely for everything, even when something is clearly not their fault, even when they have been more than put out by someone else. When I go back to the UK and complain about something – people look at me aghast that I haven’t gone through this ritual. I’m not rude. But I am direct. “This microwave doesn’t work. I’d like it replaced please.” What’s wrong with that?

US: Last week, on a Nepalese airport transit bus from the terminal to the plane, I sat with a group of about 20 young trekkers from all over the world. The bus was crowded and uncomfortable, and as we all sat there tolerating the jolts and jostling, a young American guy told his friends in very loud detail about his adventures the previous day. Finally someone said, “Speak up a bit, John, the people at the front are complaining they can’t hear you!” It did actually shut him up for a while, and it made me realize how much he had added to the discomfort of the situation. Dear loud Americans, cliched or not, please stop. We don’t want to hear it.

So sorry dear Nepalese, Filipino, British and American friends and readers of my blog. I do usually try and focus on the positive…really I do. But just occasionally, I think I deserve a rant as much as the next person. And I’m sure its not you that spits/drives badly/over apologizes/or arrogantly takes over every conversation. Its the other guy! ;o)

This post participated in the Daily Prompt:She Drives Me Crazy!

Here are some other pet peeves:

Weekly Photo Challenge: Street Life

March 29, 2014 / wrightsolution / 16 Comments

March 2014. Bhaktapur, Nepal

The street is cleared at the end of the day, as an old lady picks up the pots that have spent the day drying in the sun alongside parked cars and motorbikes. Here the pottery is still spun by hand on a stone wheel and baked in fire kilns.

This post participated in the Weekly Photo Challenge: Street Life.

Here are some other takes:

Making Hanging Baskets

March 26, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

After living in a high rise apartment for almost three years, we were thrilled to get a house with a garden here in Kathmandu. The weather is warming up and the time has come to get outside and enjoy a little gardening. Our wire hanging baskets floated uselessly around the Manila apartment, but here they were ready for Spring! There’s no gardening centre here, so we needed to find all the components independently: chains for hanging, compost, seedlings and something to line the baskets. For the last part we decided to use jute, the hair from the outside of coconuts which a local store sold by the kilo. A lot of basket liners in places like Home Depot sell liners made from jute, but they are already pressed and pre-shaped. I would have to start from scratch.

A sack of jute, or coconut hair.

Five wire baskets ready to start

First step is to make thick, birds nest-like bases for the baskets by shaping the jute into thick layers

Then the nest are filled in with compost and the side plants are laid down along the edges. We used miniature pansies and allysium so they would make wonderful trailing bases for the baskets.

Next continue building up a wall of jute and fill the basket to the top with dirt. Plant. Looking good!

Our TDY cat, “Pickles” (or temporary feline visitor for non-FS types)….giving us a hand

The finished basket. Now to watch them grow…..

The Bhatbhateni Experience

March 24, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

Figuring out how to feed yourself is, of course, a basic first step when you arrive anywhere. As I’ve been blogging regularly from Nepal, I’m surprised I haven’t told a story yet about Bhatbhateni, our local supermarket. After a while in a new place, food shopping becomes a way of life and the story disappears into daily routine, as there isn’t so much to say. However, six months into our life here, I found myself shopping one lunch time at another supermarket, Saleways. I started marveling at how clean and organized it was. Remarkable even. Everything was neatly stacked, the shelves were clean. I could find what I was looking for. Then I realised that it wasn’t remarkable, it was normal. At least normal elsewhere, and my usual Bhatbhateni experience had lowered my standard of expectation to such a point that chaotic had become the new norm.

That’s not to say that I’m not grateful for Bhatbhanteni’s offerings. Its almost the only place in the city where you can shop department store-style (sort of). You can practically get anything you need from olive oil to shoe polish, without having to hunt it down in the small stores locally.

But, boy, is that place a mess. Here’s a little photo story of what its like to push a cart around the store:

This is probably one of the neatest sections in the store. The aluminum ware is all stacked and sparkly. Only one third of the floor is covered with stuff. It gets worse….

….and here’s an example of how bad. Not sure who thought it was a good idea to dump stuff and completely block the plastics aisle, but I was glad I wasn’t pushing a cart.

And from bad to worse. This is actually a cross section between two aisles, but is it so blocked with stuff that it looks like a dead end.

As for the shelves themselves….I say “just chuck it in!”

If you use the floor along every aisle (on both sides) as a storage area, the bottom shelf gets completely blocked. Then someone will come along and start pulling out everything in front because they cant’t get to the stuff on the bottom shelf. And guess what….the aisle gets blocked even more!

To really top off the confusion, you must maximize the number of people aimlessly wandering around the blocked aisles by hiding stuff in weird places. Shaving brushes and razors? Next to the orange juice. Eggs…? Why they are under the coffee! At least this week.

Come on Bhatbhateni. If Saleways can do it, so can you.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

March 23, 2014January 3, 2015 / wrightsolution / 1 Comment

The view from our 4 meter high stone wall out across the island to the Saronic gulf. Every summer I return to this spot, and every summer its different. I’ve sat here with friends and family looking back, looking forward, or just watching the reflection of the moon on the water.

Lingering in the Garden of Dreams

March 17, 2014January 3, 2015 / wrightsolution / 28 Comments

This very pretty bench is the perfect place to take some time to enjoy the sunshine, read a book, or just linger for a few minutes and take in the view. There’s nowhere else like it in Kathmandu.

Literally, nowhere. Kathmandu streets are dusty, noisy and difficult to navigate. Motorbikes don’t pay much attention to sidewalks. And pedestrians have a very loose idea of where they’re supposed to walk. So both mingle in a continual stream of near disaster and, if you’re not vigilant, you may well be standing in the wrong place when disaster happens. And if you’re not looking down, you can trip, or twist your ankle or tread in something nasty. There are no benches, public parks or quiet spots, only gaps in the chaos where people dump their garbage. It ain’t pretty. Not surprisingly–especially as a foreigner–there is nowhere to stop and take a breath.

Except the charming Garden of Dreams, a paid park close to Kathmandu’s tourist district of Thamel, and a little haven of quiet and solitude amid all the chaos. Getting out of Kathmandu to the beauty of Nepal is not always possible, but here at least you can escape for a little while.

Hanging out on the grassy amphitheater at the Garden on Dreams. Here in the dusty dry season, its not so green. But is pretty, calm, and no one bothers you.

The park grounds are from the former Kaiser palace and still retain their feeling of Neo-Classical splendor.

This post participated in the Daily Post’s prompt, Linger

Special places for others:

Happy Holi: Run!

March 16, 2014March 16, 2014 / wrightsolution / Leave a comment

You better run if you don’t want to get hit! Today in Nepal it is Holi, a colourful local festival that celebrates joy and happiness. On this day, men, women and children throw colored paint, vermilion power and plain old water on each other and (hopefully) unsuspecting passersby. It gets pretty messy!

After dousing his sister in purple paint powder, this little devil is about to super soak her too!

Above every street or around any corner is someone with a paint bomb, ready to take you out!

This little guy was hidden on a roof, waiting for his next victim. Little did he know I was watching him!

This little red-faced guy was hidden on a roof, waiting for his next victim. Little did he know I was watching him!

Holi is a religious festival with its own set of legends celebrating Krishna, but I prefer its social message: putting color on each other symbolizes amity, friendship and mutual trust….although I’m not quite sure how ambushing someone with an unexpected shower of coloured water quite installs trust! But its fun and the kids love it.

It was very hard to take photos surreptitiously. The second they saw a camera I would have been a major target! However I did manage to sneek a few through the window. Here are some very colourful people returning home from the festivities:

Waiting for a lift?

For some very colourful people, they are looking very sombre. Maybe they lost the pink powder fight?

A Word a Week Photograph Challenge

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

March 15, 2014January 3, 2015 / wrightsolution / 14 Comments

Po, our Manila cat. And, ironically, our first “inside” cat…trapped on the 21st floor of a 53 story building. Just like us, she was forever finding a new home! Here she is inside the apartment, inside the pantry and inside my nested mixing bowls.

This post participated in the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

See other interpretations on the theme:

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Friendship and the Serial Expat

March 13, 2014January 3, 2015 / wrightsolution / 10 Comments

Thirty years into this mobile life I can truly say I have friends all over the world. Not international Facebook buddies I’ve never met, but real friends who I’ve known for a while, or in some cases, forever. Of course with advent of Facebook, it so much easier to stay in touch. I remember the pre-internet days of typing, faxing or snail mailing letters – or worse – writing the dreaded Christmas letter, trying to summarize the major events of the year into one boring laundry list of milestones that were of little or no interest to anyone who receives it.

Or even worse – participating in the annual Christmas card ritual that become increasingly meaningless to me, much to the annoyance of my husband. I don’t think I’m alone in dropping the ritual of sending Christmas cards to distant friends, even when its the only method of communication left. I think its been slowly dying a death independent of my negligence. I have only contributed to their demise, and others aren’t writing them either, although some might argue that friends aren’t mailing them to us anymore as they’ve just given up trying to figure out our address! But I am suspicious that I’m not the only one that feels the drudgery of repetitively handwriting masses of envelopes outweighs the connectivity that they are supposed to bring, especially when weighed against the personal connection of a Skype call or even an email.

Despite all the meaningless white noise of Facebook, it does bring me everyday nuggets of trivia that I care about. Photos of my nephews and nieces growing up, my friend’s new house, details about places and faces where I have lived but may never see again. These are the kind of everyday minor details that we’d share if we lived across town or even in the same country. Its trivia, but its meaningful because of the person sharing it. And with real friends, we switch to Skype to share real news, to hear each other’s voices, or to explain important things privately. Being an expat was much, much harder before the internet.

Yes, real friends are people that you can reconnect with after a long time apart, and that accept you for who you are. (And, in our case, people who forgive us for completely wrecking the “w” pages in their address book!) But they are also the people who remember all the crazy small things you’ve shared, and the little things that are important to you.

Sometimes I envy people who live in the same place all their lives, and have a real sense of place. But that isn’t really who I am or what would really make me happy. So I’m grateful that, for at least some of the time, the internet – almost – makes me feel like I live in a global village.

This post participated in the Daily Prompt: Something So Strong.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Perspective

March 12, 2014January 3, 2015 / wrightsolution / 1 Comment

American Cemetery, Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines. A solo Star of David amid a sea of crosses. The American Cemetery contains the largest number of American dead from World War II with over 17,000 graves.