Bots

A belated summary of my time in Botswana. Some of you may know that I am working for an international human rights org called Minority Rights Group International (MRG) based in London consulting for their street theater to combat racism project in Kenya, Rwanda, Botswana, and the DR.

Well, I lucked out, not only in getting the job, but also in getting to travel to our partner countries to help move the project forward in each country. Two weeks ago, I flew to Gaborne, Botwana to tour with the Botswanan street theater group. 

Botswana was lovely - it was warm and I love working with our project officer and artistic director, so I was especially excited to see them.

The first performance I saw was a cultural event organized by our local NGO partner, RETENG, and our project office, Chanda. The Acting Vice President of Botswana was there, and he was amazingly supportive of our and RETENG's work. The group also performed in a church, a school, and community centers in Gaborone and Francistown.

The performance itself was in Tswana, so I understood not a word, except the name of the main character, Ndwana, yet I did understand the meaning of the performance. After seeing it six times in a row, I did not get tired of it, and the design of the performance and the commitment that the actors demonstrated inspired me to get back into my own art-making.

MJ Returns

This weird thing happens when you are in Nepal for a while. You start to see 'Nepali versions' of your non Nepali friends and family. Today I realized who my new dance teacher looks like: Michael Jackson. It's super entertaining to watch him....even when he's not dancing.

Dance dance dance

Very cool: Today I went with five young ladies from my office to a DANCE CLASS taught by this awesome Nepali guy. Today we did 'jazz contemporary' with a little traditional nepali dance (sort of) thrown in. Apparently they have also done Bollywood, the jive, and tango is on the schedule. This is going to be awesome.

Not so cool: I remembered why I hate office jobs and hierarchies...boo. 

Public Transportation

I was super proud of myself because today I finally figured out how to get to work on the public transportation: white mini vans with signs - written in Nepali - telling the patrons where the van is headed. You can flag them down and jump in while they are still rolling or hop on at one of the stops, designated only by the fact that there might be a few people congregated in a certain area on a main street, but those people might just be trying to cross the street...you never really know. Anyway I had figured out how to get home FROM work, but I hadn't figured out how to get TO work. With the help of a coworker, I figured out the destination of the bus I needed to get on, but, when searching for it, accidentally asked, "Where is Lagankel?" instead of "Does this bus go to Lagankel?" in Nepali...oops. (I guess it's better than when I tried to outsmart a shoe salesman who had been selling the same shoes at a cheaper price one week before and said, "Next week, it was 260 rupees..." I always get next and last mixed up.)

Anyway once I figured I had mastered the bus system I was chatting with some other coworkers at lunch and asked them about the pricing system. Apparently, there isn't really one. Each bus charges what it wants to. I was giving all the drivers 11 rupees because that was the price the first time I got on a bus years ago, and I thought that was the fixed price for all public transport, but when I learned I may have been giving them my 11 rupees and shortchanging them as I jumped off the bus, I felt bad. That, apparently, was a hilarious notion. Oh, and I got lost walking back on a supposed 'short cut' this evening. I guess I still have quite a bit to figure out...

Ninja Zombies Premieres THIS WEEK!

The long awaited film, Ninja Zombies, premieres THIS week at the Litchfield Hill Film Festival (last year Underground Sonata screened here - it was called the Ken Film Festival then and we recruited one of the main actors for NZ at the festival!)

Not only am I totally stoked for the premiere and wishing I was a millionaire so I could fly back to CT to see the final film, but I am also psyched because my long distance press attempts paid off: Noah and my joint effort press release was published in the Litchfield County Times (that's right...) online: http://www.countytimes.com/articles/2011/04/05/entertainment/doc4d99ff10a034f081527198.txt 

I've never gotten anything that I wrote before published in a news source!

Anyway for all you nutmegers out there, go check it out. The town of Kent is delightful and surrounded by an incredible golf course and water fall in addition to housing lovely bars, restaurants, and a chocolatier if I'm not mistaken, and the festival is one of the most intimate in the country.

Good luck NZ! I wish I could be there!

Elation in Nepal

When I was eleven years old, my super cool older cousin, Graham, visited my mom and me in Nepal. He was in the middle of years of traveling what seemed like everywhere and anywhere. I still remember him telling us about sharing a flat in Spain with a group of people who were so poor, they couldn't afford to buy food. Thankfully, one of them happened to be a gourmet chef, who would sautee canned tuna and cornflakes in honey and garnish it with grass from the lawn downstairs.

Not only did I envy Graham's glamorous and exciting travels, I envied his passport. He had so many stamps, he actually had to have extra pages added into his passport. Well, for the first time in my life I am SO close :) My Nepali 90-Day on-arrival VISA took the last blank page of my passport, which means I will have to apply for those glorious 'extra pages' when I return to the states in June.

Woohoo!

Frustration in Mumbai

Well, I am back in KTM, but with a sad story of bureaucracy to tell. Well, it's so boring I won't rely it, except to say that my transit VISA, which I waited for which I waited about 2.5 hours for which I paid $50, ended up only allowing me to leave the airport in Delhi to collect my bags and recheck them in the domestic terminal to go to Mumbai. My VISA, did NOT however, allow me to see my good friend Kaushal and get a night tour of Mumbai as my first experience outside of the airports of India. :(