red ma red

Found a red pen, so I drew this monk. He says "yes or no?" (རེད་མ་རེད།).

Radio!

One of the most difficult about being in Nepal is the lack of access to music; I didn't bring my iPod, my netbook doesn't have much room for music, and the internet isn't fast enough for much streaming or downloading. So I was happy to discover that my cheap Chinese cellphone has an FM radio in it. Since then, I've been listening to the radio a lot.

There are some differences between radio in Nepal and radio in America. There's the same talking stations to skip over, but one thing is that there are distinct shows with DJs who seem free to play what music they want. The shows often have a theme rather than the station as a whole; you can hear Nepali songs one hour and then Korean pop the next hour. I particularly enjoy the classic rock shows - classic rock was the music of my youth and it makes me feel like I'm at home when I hear it.

Here are the stations and some of my favorite shows. Unlike in America where all the stations end in odd numbers (to avoid stations being too close together?) lots of stations here end in even numbers which still seems weird to me. Anyway, here are my favorites:

• 90.6 - Times FM ("You deserve better") : They play some good pop music, also have a cool show called Rock Vibes (10pm on tuesdays).
• 91.2 - Hits FM ("Hits you where it matters" / "Intelligent people listen to hits FM") : This is usually the first station I check. My favorite show is called The Choice of the Voice which is the best classic rock show on Nepali radio (9pm on wednesdays).
• 94.0 - Citizen FM ("Citizen FM ninety-four megahertz, your voice") : They have a lot of talking in Nepali, but they have some great techno at night and occasionally I find blues or jazz on here. 
• 96.1 - Kantipur FM (I don't know what their catchphrase is ...) : Also a lot of talking in Nepali, but I like a request show called Global Connection (10pm tuesdays). 
• 99.4 - China Radio (Also no catchphrase ...) : It's a little faint sometimes and often has Chinese talking, but they play some good pop music sometimes. 
• 103.0 - BBC World Service : Not music, but my main source for news and English talking. I actually really like the way they report the news, a little bit classier than in America. I heard a story about Libya and the West and their resident poet (yes, they have a poet) read a poem about it! And it was actually pretty good - you can read it here. (Although Alan Johnson has a really weird voice I think ...)

Well that's what I'm listening to ... I can't tell you how happy I get when I get to hear some Pink Floyd or Guns 'n' Roses or Beatles. I think absence does make the heart grow fonder ... 

Ups and Downs

Drew this one when the power was out last week, but the newspaper said load shedding will decrease soon. However, it looks like there will be a pretty bad fuel shortage...

Insomnia + Worry

Doesn't happen too often anymore, but it sometimes happens. 

Current reading: Plutarch

When we have a fever, everything tastes bitter and unpleasant, but once we have seen other people taking the same food without revulsion, we stop blaming the food and drink, and start to blame ourselves and our illness. In the same way, we will stop blaming and being disgruntled at circumstances if we see other people cheerfully accepting identical situations without getting upset. So when unwelcome incidents occur, it is also good for contentment not to ignore all the gratifying and nice things we have, but to use a process of blending to make the better aspects of our lives obscure the glare of the worse ones. But what happens at the moment is that, although when our eyes are harmed by excessively brilliant things we look away and soothe them with the colours that flowers and grasses provide, we treat the mind differently: we strain it to glimpse the aspects that hurt it, and we force it to occupy itself with thoughts of the things that irritate it, by tearing it almost violently away from the better aspects. And yet the question addressed to the busybody can be transferred to this context and fit in nicely: 'You spiteful man, why are you so quick to spot someone else's weakness, but overlook your own?' So we might ask: why, my friend, do you obsessively contemplate your own weakness and contantly clarify and revivify it, but fail to apply your mind to the good things you have?

                           - Plutarch, "On Contentment"

In case you were worried ...

He's back again to calm you down.

Updated Doodle

Alex posted a cool new doodle she did so I thought I'd post an updated version of the one I posted earlier.

Lumbini Photos II

The LIRI

Cutting the grass by hand

Gecko on books in the library (this was a 15 second exposure!)

Tibetan style books

Headache

I had a really bad headache yesterday. I was able to draw this before it got really really bad. But on the bright side, when you wake up and have no headache it feels like being born again; all of life feels wonderful ...

Lumbini Photos I

Some monks at the Maya Devi temple (the Buddha's birthplace)

Me in front of the Ashoka Pillar

An unpainted Thai monastery (it's under construction)

Lumbini

Sunday morning I'm going to take a short trip to Lumbini, famous for being the birthplace of the Buddha. There's also one of Asoka's Pillars from the third century BCE and temples from various Buddhist traditions.

My main purpose is to visit The Lumbini International Research Institute, which has a collection of about 35,000 volumes on Buddhism. So hopefully I'll be able to find some good references for some of the things I'm thinking about. I'll post some pictures when I get back to Kathmandu.

Sometimes it happens ...

Though I try my best to keep it to a minimum. Thankfully it happens less than it used to ...

Holi

Holi, the Hindu "Festival of Colors" was a few days ago. Hindi movies make it out to be more colorful than it seemed to be here (like this). Here it seemed to be mainly gangs of kids roaming around with water balloons ('lola') and people on rooftops dumping dirty water on people walking on the streets. The kids in the next building were jumping between their rooftops while taunting and throwing water:

Totally safe

One kid kept shouting "Tenzin is a loser, Tenzin is a loser" and they replied with "skyag pa zo!" (Tibetan for "Eat shit!"). Good old family fun!

okay okay ...

I'm still getting used to the ink / paper situation here but I made this little sign for my room. 

COFFEE!

I'm finally able to make nice coffee at home now; in fact, I'm making better coffee now than I ever made in America! My parents sent me a moka pot (trivia: a moka pot does not technically make espresso because it doesn't make enough pressure, but it makes strong coffee similar to espresso) and I can get good coffee roasted freshly from Top of the World Coffee. Since the moka pot works on the stove, I can make delicious coffee even when the power is out. I've been using coffee grown in Nepal and I'm really happy with how it tastes. Most days, I try to approximate my favorite drink, the cortado. The cortado is usually 2oz of espresso with 2oz of steamed milk (with a little bit of foam). Here are some photos:

Moka pot & coffee

I learned that using a medium or coarse grind gives you less "sludge"

I also learned that you have to use low heat or else the coffee will be too bitter.

You can get the milk a little bit foamy by pouring the heated milk into a jar and then shaking it for a minute or two. It works pretty well!

That's my daily ritual. I'm really happy with how good they come out now!