February 16, 2012

I hardly slept the night before as my throat was once again on fire. I chewed on one lozenge after another as I prayed for daylight so I could order another pot of tea to soothe the irritation. I promptly got my tea and started to feel slightly better. I joined the table where Beth, who’s serving in Afghanistan, was sitting and she was telling us the security measures she must take every day in order to get to her university.

We then had a session on change so as to examine why our counterparts and colleagues might be reluctant to implement the changes we recommend even if they are perceived as being beneficial for all of those involved. Corrie, Caroline and I then presented what we considered to be our challenges and successes at our respective posts and asked for advice on how to deal with it. Since I had just been moved to another group of students, I didn’t know yet what kind of challenges I’d be facing. The other ELFs felt sorry for my situation and the two RELOs present felt they needed to intervene in this case. I don’t know exactly what they meant by that. Caroline indicated how proactive I had been in seeking answers from both the staff at the PedInst and the embassy, but to no avail.

Harry held me back when everyone else left for lunch and was sincerely apologetic indicating he should have made an effort to visit the institution when he was in Dushanbe and been more proactive when a problem cropped up. He’d like to have me work with him in Kazakhstan next year where he swears working conditions would be much better and I’d be treated like a professional. I have an appointment with the director of the ELF program tomorrow and Harry would like to be present. I have no objections to that.

Barbara, who’s posted here in Kathmandu, offered to take us to the Buddhist stupa and about twelve of us agreed to go. We piled into three taxis and made our way through the dusty, narrow lanes barely missing motorcyclists, pedestrians and still more dogs. It took about forty minutes to get there and daylight was already fading. I took a few photos and did the clockwise walk around the stupa while marveling at the throngs of monks of all ages and faithful Tibetans that continued to do their prostrations and prayers despite being ogled and photographed by us, the insensitive Westerners.

We took another taxi, for what seemed like an eternity, to reach a local restaurant Barbara recommended. I’m glad no one is depending on me to guide them anywhere as I still don’t recognize the city I left ten years ago. We went past many tall buildings advertising all sorts of merchandise, usually with signs in English that were misspelled.  The restaurant appeared to be new with lots of glossy wood trim and tasteful art work on the walls along with Tibetan bowls set in niches to display them. I ended up sitting across from Magda, the ELF program director, and learned she had been to the Dominican Republic years ago when they used to have a fellow posted there. She’s originally from Poland and likes beer with her food, as most Germans do. I ordered the Tarkari plate with fish, had a momo from Beth’s plate and some spicy appetizer from Joe’s. My plate had a mound of mashed taro root in the center as opposed to rice, but it was like eating our mangu except it had no salt or oil in it. The meal was delicious and the group chipped in to pay for Barbara’s meal as a gesture of thanks for taking us there. The food cost less than half what our hotel charges and Joe and I plan to return tomorrow for lunch as it is not that far from the hotel.