InHim: October 2006

We have been seeing how cultural values are reflected in language as we learn Nepali. Nepali conjugates its verbs according to the amount of respect paid to the subject. There are four (at least that we know of) levels of respect, each with it’s own conjugation. The lowest form is used for animals, sometimes with children, and with someone you want to insult. The middle form is used to address children, close friends, and family members of lower position. Today, we were learning the middle form of “you” for imperatives, and it led to an interesting discussion with our teacher.

In Nepali husbands address their wives using the middle form, but wives are required to use the high form with their husbands. I shared with Jyoti that this is not to my liking because men and women are equals – that both should show respect to one another. She agreed, but shared that this is part of the culture. She ended her explanation with the familiar one-liner, “Ke garne?” “What is one to do?” Then, she said something really interesting that caught my attention. She said, “In Nepal, the husbands have to love their wives, but they do not need to respect [honor] them.” An interesting statement, I thought. “Is it possible to love without honoring?"

She explained that a lot of the husband and wife social structure is based on Hinduism. In Hinduism, she explained, the husband is like a god to wife, and the wife is supposed to serve the husband. Paul commented that it is interesting how Hinduism, created by men (males), on this level (and many others) codifies what is advantageous to its creators. I shared how I think both husband and wife should serve each other. She agreed, and went on to share how she feels that both should be serving, not just one.

Paul often gets corrected by Nepalese men when he addresses me in the high form. We’re in discussion about whether he should explain why he is using the high form with me, or whether he should just accept the correction in the current situation. Our sense is that people aren’t correcting Paul’s honoring of me, they are just correcting his grammar. That is how deeply the pattern is ingrained in the culture – it is a grammatical error to address one’s wife in the high form!

Our language class was not in session in celebration of the biggest Hindu festival (Dashain), so we decided to go trekking up to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) at 13,550 feet. The scenery was picturesque, the people we met along the road interesting, and had plenty of Korean food! Read on if you're curious...

Day 1 (Nayapul to Ghandruk)
We started our trek in Nayapul with our guide/porter Tulasi. Our destination: Ghandruk, a traditional Gurung village nestled in the steep hills of the Himalayas. (The Gurungs are one of many ethnic groups in Nepal. Supposedly, I look like them.) This village is the largest and t

he oldest village in the Modi Khola valley.
It was a tough day—mostly uphill, climbing 3,500 stairs. As we were taking a break in Salibazaar, I told Tulasi (in Nepali) that I am trekking up the hills for my husband. He thought that was funny, but it was true! (As you can see in the picture, I do not look very happy!) This trekking trip was Paul’s 40th birthday present. There were a few moments when I had to remind myself that I am doing this for Paul. What a wife! We also had to pay a fee to the Maoists to enter their “territory.” They even gave us a receipt, with some information.

We met a Korean group (mostly consisting of professors) heading up to ABC like us. Their porters carried up Korean food and had a cook to cook Korean food for them! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them with Korean food…

Day 2 (Ghandruk to Chhomrong)
Chhomrong is the last major village before entering the Annapurna Sanctuary. Mainly corn and millet are grown here, and we saw lots of rice paddies on the way. We met some Finns and Israelis. I had an interesting conversation with two Israeli men about why we’re in Nepal. He asked me why am I leaving Nepal for India when there are so many people to convert here… I didn’t know how to answer this, except that our first contact is in India, but that we may come back to Nepal some day. It’s an interesting question… perhaps, God will send FECAI workers to Nepal! I learned that the Jews in Israel call Christians “Nazarines,” because Jesus was from Nazareth. He also asked a lot about whether Protestant “priests” (pastors) can marry. He seemed to really disdain the idea of celibacy! (He’s married with a child.) We got to see a little bit of Annapurna South and Machhapucchre.

Day 3 (Chhomrong to Deurali)
This was a killer day! We walked 10 hours and had about 8,000 feet of elevation gain! Our feet were so sore by the end of the day. Our original plan was to get to Himalaya, which is about 2 hours below Deurali, but when we got there, we found out that a couple of Korean groups had booked all the guest houses! They had sent s

omeone way ahead of everyone and had booked it by 10 am that morning. We had no other choice, but to keep walking. When we finally arrived, we celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary by soaking our sore feet in two buckets of hot water!

We also met a South African couple, the same Israeli guys, and two guys from Spain. Paul, who is (or used to be) quite good in Spanish could not speak a word of Spanish that night! His Spanish got replaced with Nepali. Only Nepali would come out of his mouth. He couldn’t even remember how to say, “What is your name?” in Spanish. Spanish would only come out when he didn’t know a specific word in Nepali. What an experience!

Day 4 (Deurali to Machhapucchre Base Camp)
Thank God we only had to walk about 2 hours! We could have gone up to ABC, but we decided to stay in MBC, thinking that all the Korean groups would end up in ABC. We later found out that all the Korean groups were staying at MBC, but we were able to get a room!

I met a Korean businessman who came up to go trekking on a short notice because he had not realized that it was Dashain time, the biggest Hindu festival time, and many offices and businesses were closed. He kindly shared Korean cup of noodles with me! I also met his guide who spoke some Korean, and the guest house owner also spoke some Korean. It was lots of fun to be able to understand 3 different languages simultaneously! I met another Korean woman who shared with me Kimchee stew with mackerel! Yummy!! I had no idea that Koreans were really into trekking, but from what these people told me, it’s really popular. I remember hiking a lot with dad when I was a kid. Basically, I learned that Korea has lots of mountains, and hiking is what people do for recreational activities! I go

t a quick lesson in Korean geography, culture, and hobbies!

Of course, I can’t forget to mention the views! Quite spectacular. A picture is worth a thousand words. So, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Day 5 (M.B.C. to Annapurna Base Camp)
Stunning, marvelous, gorgeous, majestic, absolutely beautiful! Never seen anything like it. As I was hiking up, I was overwhelmed by its beauty, and couldn't help but to sing praises to our creator! 360 degrees—surrounded by white shimmering peaks. It was incredible! It was worth the hard work to get there, with headaches, colds (Paul) and all. Paul is pretty sensitive to the altitude, and was feeling a little sick going up, but he made it.

More Koreans….this time, Paul was surrounded by Koreans and Nepalese. Our hotel was occupied by Koreans, and all their porters and guides. But, we got to take a bite of their feast—kimchee stew and more kimchee!! There was a group of nine ranging in age from 23 to 50+ who had come to Nepal to do volunteer work for 2 years. It was fun to interact with them, although darn Koreans! They can be sooo loud!! :)

Day 6 (A.B.C. to Chhomrong)
It took us 4 days to get to ABC from Chhomrong, but we decided that we want to get to Chhomrong in one day! Tusali must have thought we were absolutely crazy, and in some ways, we were! We walked for over 10 hours, and the last hour of the trek was spent climbing over 2000 stairs! We lost over 8,600 ft of elevation – and then climbed back up 2,200 ft. We arrived at our guest house at 6:45pm, just before it became pitch black and started raining hard.

Day 7 (Chhomrong to Pothani)
We decided to take a different route back home, so that we could do a loop. Weather permitting, we were hoping to see Machhapucchre from another angle. We met 3 Korean families heading to ABC with small children. One was being carried in a baby carrier by a porter. They had lived in Kathmandu for over 10 years. They seemed quite surprised when I spoke to them in Korean, and they asked me how I learned to speak Korean. I told them, I’m one of them! I surprised a few people when they realized that I was Korean. One man said, I was carrying a Japanese bag, so he assumed I was Japanese or from Hong Kong! Anyway, you can usually tell if someone is Korean, Chinese, etc. by what they wear and how they carry themselves….I think people were confused because I was with a white man, spoke some Nepali, and carried non-Korean looking bag!

We walked another 10 hours today. Not as difficult, but still hard. The trails were quite slippery and we had few small falls. It was quite eerie to walk in the fog… I made sure that my imagination didn’t go too far.

Day 8 (Pothani to Pheri)
It only took us 3 hours, and we were back at our taxi by 11am! There were some leeches along the way that we had to be cautious of…. Those leeches are fast, and they’re hard to get rid of! It was a cloudy day, so we didn’t get to see any spectacular views, but it was cool. It would have been nice, but we also didn’t mind walking in shade rather than in the hot sun!

I wish I can add more pictures to capture all that we saw and experienced, but it's difficult to do it with a dial up, and there's a limit to how much I can post. Hopefully, this gave you a little taste of our adventure!