Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 5. März 2009 23:09

Every time I sit in front of the computer I want to make this a bit more interesting for you – and fail.
What are the reasons? Mostly, I feel a little rushed as there is always people around one wanting to check their email, too. Plus, I so get really tired at night
I’ll promise some more storytelling eventually though.

Anyway, I fell really blessed today because a friend I made in Nepal was taking us out for dinner.
His visit included pick-up service, free tour of the hot spots of Tel Aviv, great ice cream and dinner, detailed insights on Israeli politics and, last but not the least, making me happy just to see him again.
So, Nir, thanks for making this evening very special to me!

We’re off to Haifa first thing tomorrow morning and shall return late on Saturday.
Schalom.

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 3. März 2009 23:23

We finally made to downtown TA today. Yeahy!
Of course we were short of time since we didn’t get on the bus until shortly after 4pm and it took longer than we thought to travel there (45min). Anyway, even the sun peaked out for a couple of hours this afternoon and there was nothing to complain about.

The beach looked great and we’re longing to “explore” it soon (the next week is supposed to be warm and sunny). The only problem is sunset: it’s too early!

At the moment the hospital work isn’t anything to write home about (at least for my part) but we have so many things on our “to-do list” that I really wonder how we”ll be able to fit all this into our few days….
Already one can easily imagine to stay here for longer…..
Prices are certainly no cheaper than in Europe (at least with our touristy eyes) but people and atmosphere make you feel at ease and comfort right away. People sitting outside just wondering about…. We want more of that!

@Emails: sorry, but I’m afraid not all of you will get an answer right away! Please bear with me.

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 2. März 2009 20:43

I guess this will be one in German, too. Sorry

Mein erster Tag war leider nicht so herzlich, wie in Kathrin erlebte. Dies liegt vor allem daran, dass ich kein Hebraeisch kann und mein Arzt kaum Englisch.
Waehrend mir die Schwierigkeiten beim Umgang mit Patienten deren Sprache man nicht spricht nach Nepal sehr gut bekannt waren, stehe ich nun vor der noch groesseren Herausforderung es auch mit wenig Englisch bei den Aerzten zu probieren! Dies darf man, entgegen aller Berichte, wohl doch als Uebrraschung werten.
Zum Glueck habe ich eine ganz liebe “Gabi” gefunden, die mir zur Zeit alles ueberzetzt. So ist wenigstens das Aufnehmen der Patienten moeglich und nett.
Ich bin daher gespannt, was ich noch erleben werde und wie ich mich doch noch sinnvoll einbringen kann.

Enttaeuscht war ich gestern aber hauptsaechlich, weil ich alle Israelis bisher als ueberdurchschnittlich freundlich und offen erlebt habe. Jeder ist gerne bereit einem zu helfen, auch wenn man sich mit Haenden und Fuessen verstaendigen muss (viele Umlaute, wow!). Doch im ER stand ich genau 1.5h herum, bevor sich mir jemand vorstellte oder sich dafuer interessierte, was ich mache – schade.
Heute war allerdings, wie oben ja schon angedeutet, ein besserer Tag und ich bin weiterhin zuversichtlich und freue mich auf die kommende Zeit

Das Mittagessen ist tatsaechlich ein wahrer “treat” und das Wetter dann hoffentlich ab morgen auch wieder so warm, das meine Mandeln sich wieder in den Tiefen des Rachens verkriechen

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 2. März 2009 20:18

Shalom ihr alle,

Nils kann nicht mit dem Fernseher hier umgehen…aber egal

Der erste Tag war einfach super. Die erste erfolgreiche Intubation gemeistert,  viel durchs Krankenhaus geiirt, und gleich mal ein paar Gespraeche ueber Israel gefuehrt. Das Essen ist einfach fantastisch, die beste Mensa die man sich vorstellen kann.

Leider hat der Regen unsere Nachmittagsplaene im Zentrum in eine Tee+Einkaufszentrum-Alternative geaendert. Aber ab Mittwoch soll es deutlich waermer und sonniger werden, was dann auch ausgenutzt werden muss!

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 1. März 2009 21:54

We fled the rain today and moved on to Petah Tikva where we found a new home at the Dina Nursing School. This will be our spot for the next month. So far we are very pleased with this accommodation just across the street from Beilinson Hospital.
The lobby is equipped with an antique computer that provides us with free but endlessly slow internet access while Kathrin is checking on the future  nurses (an not me!) as they watch the Israeli VIP Big Brother.

Von gestern sind wir euch auch noch einen Tag Jerusalem schuldig.
Nachdem ueber Nacht unsere Sachen einigermassen trocknen konnten, wappneten wir uns fuer den neuen regnerischen Tag, der aber dann zu unserer Ueberraschung mit einem strahlend blauen Himmel begann. Alle Einzelheisten dazu nun von Kathrin

שלום
>> Alles weitere dazu dann wohl doch morgen. dafuer alles auf ivrit!! freut euch!

Nils:
Nachdem wir das gute Wetter nuzten wollten um vom Oelberg aus einen tollen Blick auf die ganze Stadt zu bekommen (und bekamen!) verpatzten wir uns leider einen Besuch der hochrangigen christlichen Heiligtuemer am Fuss des Berges, da diese auf dem Rueckweg bereits geschlossen hatten. Der Ausblick und auch ein erster Blick auf “die Mauer” entschaedigten dafuer allerdings, wie ich meine.

Im Anschluss wanderten wir langsam in Richtung Israel Museum, doch der Regen war schneller als wir. 30 Schekel fuer ein zu teures Taxi aemer und in Hoffnung auf Waerme im Museum wurden wir leider enttaeuscht:  dieses war erst im letzten Gebaude auch warm.

Durch nasse Strassen patschten wir in nassen Schuhen schliesslich in die Neustadt wo wir, wie ich finde, ein wunderschoenes Abendessen hatten. Danke Kathrin!
Aus einem Treffen mit Ralf Ramacher wurde leider nichts mehr, aber es besteht noch Hoffnung, das sich unsere vor seiner Abreise doch noch kreuzen.

Zurueck im Hostel waren wir eigentlich fest entschlossen frueh schlafen zu gehen, aber wie es manchmal ist, war es auf einmal so spaet, das wir doch noch mit einer Tasse Tee und einer deutschen Caro auf meinen Geburtstag anstiessen.

Damit schliesse ich heute: vielen herzlichen Dank fuer all eure lieben Gruesse und Glueckwunsche! Zum Tag selbst dann morgem mehr.
Thanks to all of you who dropped an email tody – even if I just had a few minutes tonight to read through them: this is what I am the most thankful for.

Peace.

Kommentare (1)

Von admin, 27. Februar 2009 19:26

As I am sitting in our ancient, narrow stone hostel writing these lines to you the rain just pours down outside!

And I really mean it pours. Shoes wet, socks wet – everything got soaked as we explored the old city by foot.
We covered a lot of ground and had an especially nice (and free!) three hour walking tour which included a stop at the Western Wall and much more. Due to the cold and winds we decided to warm up in our beds afterwards before hitting the streets again.
By the end of the day we were both pretty frozen and happy to be back around 7pm without really having looked at any of the great shops lining up at the streets. Such a shame, I know! But one had to look very careful not to slip on these narrow pathways and to find your way through the city.

I guess our plan is to warm up with some soup and tea inside the hostel now and pray for the rain to stop tomorrow (thus making temperature rise, too!).

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 26. Februar 2009 22:53

Dear friends & family,

tonight we arrived in Jerusalem safely. The flight was nothing to write home about but got us here in time (Kathrin war auf Toilette, sodass der Flug bei ihr einen ganz anderen Stellenwert hatte ).

Now, we stay at a cute little place called Citadel Hostel right in the old city after having enjoyed a quick walk through the empty city….
Our hostel manager is looking Arabic TV: a story about a suicide bomber – welcome to Israel? At least Security was no issue at all today.

Already this place looks great and I can’t wait to explore it tomorrow.

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 24. Februar 2009 19:00

Petach Tikwa (פתח תקווה)

ist eine Stadt in Israel, wenige Kilometer östlich von Tel Aviv und heißt übersetzt so viel wie “Tor der Hoffnung”, da sie eine der ersten Siedlungen in Palästina war. Petach Tikwa hat ca. 180.00 Einwohner und gehört damit zu den größten Städten Israels (nach Haifa der zweitgrößte Industriestandort des Landes).

PetachTikwa

Beilinson Hospital

gehört mit ca. 900 Betten zum Rabin Medical Center, dem zweitgrößten Krankenhauskomplex des Landes.
The medical center has 1,383 beds, 4,500 staff members, 9,000 annual births, 37 operating rooms, 34,000 annual operations and 165,005 patients went through the emergency ward in the same year.

Beilinson Hospital

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 14. April 2008 02:43

I made it back home safely yesterday.
Please bear with me to catch up with all of you since there are several boxes to unpack, classes to start tomorrow, a test to take and all of that…

KATHMANDU, April 13 – On the third day, Sunday, of the vote counting of the historic Constituent Assembly elections old hands and stalwarts have continued to lose constituencies while the Maoists continue to pick up seats unrelentingly.
These results go on to show the overwhelming support of the people for the Maoists and for change. Moreover, the fact that Maoists until the midnights vote counts on Saturday have claimed the highest number of seats and are leading in most of the constituencies also point out the fact that the people might be ready for change in the system.

KATHMANDU, April 13 – The historic Constituent Assembly election has thrown at us a lot of surprises. There have been quite a few underdogs who have had significant victories over their rivals who were tipped for easy wins. And some of the major figures of the Nepali politics have been dumped out by virtual unknowns.

KATHMANDU, April 12 – Nepal has been receiving messages of congratulations from the international community, including the UN, for holding the Constituent Assembly (CA) election successfully on Thursday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended the Nepali people for what he said was their enthusiastic participation in the poll.

KATHMANDU, April 12 – The Carter Center Saturday said that Thursday’s constituent assembly election was remarkable and relatively peaceful and that polling stations were well-organized and electoral workers carried out their responsibilities competently and professionally.

Whoever followed this blog:
1. Thank you.
2. This is it

Take care, -me

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 11. April 2008 00:28

The city was very peaceful today. Just to let you know. See you soon.

“EC confirms polls postponed at 33 booths nationwide, over 60% turnout in historic polls”

“The EC informed that the elections had to be postponed in those areas as some party cadres tried to capture booths, blank-fired and chased the voters away from the booths.”

““I congratulate the people of Nepal, who have demonstrated their commitment to democracy by turning out in large numbers to vote in today’s historic Constituent Assembly election,” UNMIN Chief Ian Martin said in a statement today.
Noting that the election was conducted by and large in a peaceful and orderly manner, Martin also said that today’s election has been Nepal’s most observed election, and in the coming days and weeks both international and national observer groups will be making public their findings regarding the electoral process, including preparations, polling and the post-polling process.

More also on http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/world/asia/11nepal.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Kommentare (1)

Von admin, 10. April 2008 00:27

Hey everybody!

Only one more day and then my trip will be over!
At the moment I am as sad as happy about it. Sad, because I really like this country and who doesn’t enjoy to kick back like I do these days? But then I am ready for a change too and Germany will be a nice treat afterall.

We arrived in KTM yesterday afternoon and needed today to wrap up some “shopping” in just a few hours after the whole country (especially KTM) is worried about the election day tomorrow.
That meant shops closing early (we couldn’t even finish our beer yesterday evening) or not opening at all – even today. This all feels very odd to me. How will it help safety?

We were told that there wouldn’t be any cars today but while traffic was not as heavy as usual one could move around freely. This all will change tomorrow and nobody knows what will happen thereafter. The tourists are taken care of by the tourist police (there will be three special buses tomorrow) and I hope I can make it to the airport safely on Friday morning. If anything happens, the hospital ambulance will take me, I hope
While I was moving around the city at great ease today I must say I was surprised to hear that there was a blast very close to where I was at that time. I don’t want anyone to worry to much though! What you learn from this is that the security situation might sound worse in the news than it does in reality.
For me it is very sad to hear all this violence before the election (mostly just minor violence like fist fights but there have been killings too). While all the officials advise everybody to go voting I can see how many people might not go to the polls out of fear. It is at days like today that you realize that this country has still a long way to go before things will turn out more “smoothly”…

Anyway, whoever wants to follow up the news is once again recommend to check on www.ekantipur.com. Here is the wrap up of today:

“Unidentified persons detonated a bomb under the overhead bridge near Bir Hospital in the capital Wednesday afternoon. According to police, the explosions took place at around 2.10 this noon. Nobody was injured in the incident, police confirmed.”

“News reports of blasts and violent incidents have been flooding in as the much-anticipated Constituent Assembly election nears”

“In his special message on the eve of the crucial polls, King Gyanendra has urged all Nepalis, who are eligible to vote, to exercise their democratic franchise in a free and fair environment maintaining harmony and unity in the crucial polls”

On other news: The days befrore, Chitwan NP was a great treat.
We did lots of cool stuff, saw awesome sunsets of the dschungel, elephants, rhinos, deer and – once again – ate way too much. Ahh, too bad it’s over already!
Since the internet is so slow today we cannot upload any pictures this time.

Well, and since I just had a great dinner with (new) friends next door I am very tired and need to go to bed now.
I hope all of you are well. I am very much so

See you soon,
Nils

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 5. April 2008 19:45

Namaste.

Do you long for a peaceful setting with good weather in the morning and views of three 8.000m peaks? Then get up early in Pokhara!
I usually miss the great view of those snow capped mountains though. Not because we would get up too late but rather because of bustling Lakeside (the tourist ghetto), where, on my way to breakfast at the other end of tow, I am frequently offered various things such as:
“Wanna smoke?” – teens offering dope
“Sir, snake?” – ‘Fake-Sadhus’ offering to play his flute to bring up a snake
“Sir, small buy? Just looking! Look, look, …” – Nice Tibetan refugee women selling their crafts

Usually one will then find us at the “Laughing Budha”, a restaurant without style, in fact without anything nice to it except price and food. Both get us there around 10 in the morning and we know the whole family by now! It [u]will[/u] be one of the things that I miss. Those greasy but just so well done potatoes, the great bread with jam, the omlette, the big mug of coffee and the banana-topped muesli – all for less than 60cent. Your really feel bad when taking them up on that offer. On the other hand: it’s just so good

The careful reader knows already what life is suddenly all about: food. We pretty much move down the street to grab some tea, a cake, a good dinner. In between we get busy though! Not only with our books that we tend to read at a spot of our pleasure (mine is by the lake) but with some more walking, too.

Yesterday we went to the World Peace Pagoda, a shrine on a hill above the lake and then made our way down again to check out other districts of the city. While Pokhara is big in number of people, it is small in things to do; it is even small in things to look at (except the lake maybe). That way we ended up browsing some shops again and I treated myself with some new things and therefore need to find a bank pretty soon…

All I really want to say through this is that we are doing very well and enjoy life!

On other news: Election day is coming closer and we are greeted by loud advertisements of the communist party / Maoists throughout the day. There are flyers on every door that explain on how to vote but still in mock elections people tend to not knowing how it works. Further, 300(!) candidates failed to register properly and one can see from that alone that the first election in Nepal will be everything but easy and rewarding.
The country is a little bit scared on how things might develop right now which is why the current government called for a three-day public holiday and closed down all schools for two weeks straight. The border with India will be sealed for at least three days as well. Those news develop over hours and I kind of hope that they won’t shut down transportation altogether! So far we are told that tourists will be taken care of and for once I am glad to be white and German.
The UN is always present and we can spot more and more vehicles with election observers. More on that in the news (nepalnews.com) and on Matze’s website.

We will continue to Chitwan tomorrow morning at 7am and I pray for temperatures to stay below 30 degree but who knows….

Wish me well on my travels back to Kathmandu!!
I guess I will see you in Germany soon.

Love -me

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 2. April 2008 22:00

Hey guys,

I made it back to Pokhara safely after an awesome time in the mountains!

The trek was just the right thing to do and I wouldn’t want to miss it at all. On the other hand, it’s good to be back and enjoy the city since prices are much cheaper down in the valley than up in the Himalaya – to name just one out of many reasons. Other might be: a hot shower, great food, not having to carry a 10 kg backpack all day, not having to pack every morning, …

Wrapping up 16 days in this blog just doesn’t seem to work that well and I hope you will understand. This much though: we were presented a great diversity of landscape, culture and people (and height) and met some really nice people on the way, two of which we might even continue our travels with.
I think Matze will get some pictures online (before I might get a chance to do the same) so you should check on his website (see right column) to get some idea of the whole thing. It’s juts much better than writing it all down again – he did a really good job of wrapping it all up in the past half hour!!

Now we will “chill” in Pokhara for a couple of days (3-4) before we might travel to the Terai region and visit Chitwan National Park for 3 days. I plan to be in Kathmandu no later than April 9th and hope everything stays calm and the election will work out fine.
We didn’t have a clue about the situation at the moment. While it feels really safe there must be some bad things happening in the “outer” parts of the country… Nothing that I would know of without a newspaper though!

By the way: due to the high(er) internet rates and partly because I don’t want to be online that much you might not get that much more information here. Thanks for your understanding.

Take care, Nils

>> Our phone is working again How often I can check my email until my departure, I don’t know – but I will at some point!

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 16. März 2008 21:32

Namaste!

Waehrend meine Freunde in Deutschland anscheinend so spannende Sachen wie 3 Laender und 4 Klimazonen in 4 Tagen machen, freue ich mich schon, wenn ich an einem Tag 200 km heil ueberstehe!
So sind wir denn am Samstag um 6.30 Uhr nach Pokhara, der zweitgroessten Stadt des Landes, aufgebrochen und dort auch schliesslich gut und heil abends angekommen. Ca. 40min nach Abfahrt hatten wir allerdings einen Motorschaden und 3h Zeit die naechsten Geschaefte zu erkunden Travel Nepali Style?!

Pokhara ist wunderbar!
Wir haben es schon geliebt, als wir im Regen ankamen. Ein See, wenig Touristen, wenig Verkehr, wenig Muell: genau das, was wir nach dem lauten und dreckigen Kathmandu gebrauchen konnten! Heute haben wir viel entspannt: ausschlafen, durch die Stadt laufen, am See sitzen, Postkarten schreiben und die Sonne geniessen – bei Ausblick auf 8.000er, die schon zum greifen nahe sind!
>> Matze hat wohl auf seiner Seite (s.r.) ein paar Bilder hochgeladen! Absolut sehenswert! Einmal ein peinliches von mir, die beruehmte Kantine und den super Ausblick hier

Morgen geht es dann endgueltig auf den Trek, das teure Ticket fuer den Nationalpark haben wir heute gekauft und uns registriert.
Ich bin schon ganz neugierig und gespannt, was uns erwartet. Wenn alles gut geht, geht es wie gesagt hoch hinaus und durch alle Klimazonen. Hier sind wir auf ca. 600m, es waren heute bestimmt 35C. In 10 Tagen sind wir dann bei 5C oder so… 10kg ist der Rucksack und ich hoffe, alles ist dabei

Ich melde mich wieder, wenn wir zurueck sind.
Sollte ich was wichtiges wegen Uni (Klausuren, Anmeldungen) etc. brauchen, schreibt mir einfach eine Email, auch wenn ich sie erst nachher lesen kann.

Ach ja, die Situation in Nepal ist “ruhig”
Es gab wohl in Kathmandu groessere Demonstrationen wegen der Lage in Tibet, aber hier ist alles noch im Rahmen.

So far. Take care!

Linktip: http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/soldatenselbstmord2.html

Personal Note: Bus = “Unerschlossen”, PKR = “peaceful”, Traenen im OP, Abschiedsparty

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 12. März 2008 22:00

1. My German cell phone isn’t working over here but we got a Nepali number: +977 980 370 2548.
2. Email is really slow. However, I do read my email more or less regularly.
3. We will be leaving Kathmandu this Saturday or Sunday to go trekking in the Annapurna region.
   This might leave us without internet for the next three weeks!
4. I will be back in Mainz on April 12th.
    

Three out of four current German volunteers at the morning conference

Hospital update

Originally we planned to stay in neurosurgery our last week.
However, this was more complicated than we first thought. Four German electives would’ve been fine but we didn’t take in account those Japanese-students who are staying this week at our hospital. As this wouldn’t have been enough, the department is misteriously lacking patients …… which left us with just ONE day in the operation theatre (OT) and without any knowledge of neurosurgery.
This made me sad a little bit because the head of the department, Dr. Pant, is a famous person over here and a really nice and fun teacher as well!

Our hospital is also famous for its plastic surgery team. They get a bunch of support from Australia (financially and through visiting doctors) and seem to be doing great work.
Since there was a really nice surgeon from Australia working in the OT we decided to check out their work and were interested from the beginning on. He was willing to explain his work throughout the operation and we told ourseves to be back in the morning. But bad luck continued since a huge operation was cancelled altogether which left is with nothing more than one to go before he left for vaccation!

That way we ended up in internal medicine again.
It just seems like our “Nepali-rounds” get longer and therefore more tireing which isn’t helping our motivation. We got to visit a different hospital at Kirtipur for a couple of hours on Wednesday which was a treat!
Tomorrow will be our last day and I am not sad about it. It was fun working with two of the doctors but since we weren’t able to do ANYthing ourselves (due to a lack of work!!) time gets by very slowly. Further, most of our patients presented with COPD and other chronic conditions (like DM) we weren’t able to treat very well anyway.

Kathmandu

The city was (and is) a great place to spend your time. Three weeks were not enough to fully get to know this amzing place and there are still places and restaurants we want to visit.
At the same time I am ready for a change! In the end you always end up browsing through shops, looking at poor kids or enyoing the crazy traffic or the beautiful and insaine buildings and three weeks is enough of that. It makes you crave for some quiet(!) garden (with GREEN)

One thing I was originally planning on writing about – how do we live vs. how to the Nepalis live – turned out to be too hard for me to describe in a propper language and probably needs some more thinking anyway.
Just so much: yes, it’s very poor and it still touches me while at the same time I am always troubled how good everything is for Nepal is supposed to be one of the poorest countries in the world! One thing that probably troubles me the most. Due to a lack of research(-options) I still have very poor knowledge about the “facts”.

From here on…

…everything is up in the air
The plan is to go to Pokhara this weekend, spend a day or two there and then set off for our trek around the Annapurna (a huge mountain massive close by). If we do the whole round-about it will take at least 18 days but there is an option to fly back from a city after 14 days or so. The highest point will be around 5.400m and I’m kind of scared how my body will adapt to this.
The funny things is, even while we plan to be gone for more than two weeks, we haven’t really read up on the trek itself for we were too much “occupied” with everyday-life. So, as I meantioned, from here on my journey will contain a certain amount of not-knowing…
That much we know already: since there will be elections on April 10th (the first after the kings was killed six years ago) we have to (and plan to) be back in Kathmandu a day or two earlier.

Even though I just had some cheese cake and good coffee on a rooftop with the sun at full power, I long to be back in Mainz somehow and just want to take it easy. Some Heimweh, maybe? Not too bad, though! Juts miss my cutie…

You all take care…
…and please keep me posted on your life, too.

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 11. März 2008 23:00

To give (the Germans) a two minute update on the country read the following, copied from Uni Kassel.

Nepal
- 27 Millionen Einwohner, darunter 85 Prozent auf dem Land
- Hauptstadt: Kathmandu (670000 E.)
- Zahlreiche Ethnien: Mahesi (30 Prozent), Chhetri, Bahun (jeweils 13), Magar, Tharu (jeweils 7)
- Sprachen: Nepalesisch (43 Prozent), Maithili (9,5), Bihari (6)
- Religionen: Hindus (80 Prozent), Buddhisten (10), Moslems (4)
- Jährliches Durchschnittseinkommen: 270 Dollar; starkes Sozialgefälle zwischen Stadt und Land
- 50 Prozent Analphabeten

Monarchie am Ende
Zurückgekehrt nach Kathmandu erklärte Gajurel im Namen der KPN (M) am 24. Dezember 2007 in der Regierungszeitung Rising Nepal, das regierende Sieben-Parteien-Bündnis und die KPN(M) hätten sich darauf verständigt, »daß das Übergangsparlament das südasiatische Land in einer Resolution zur Republik erklärt«. Damit steht »die Monarchie in Nepal nach 240 Jahren vor dem Ende« (FAZ, 24.12.2007). Von den 329 Abgeordneten stimmten am 28.12. dann 270 für die Abschaffung der Monarchie, drei dagegen, die übrigen enthielten sich oder blieben der Sitzung fern. Inzwischen traten die Maoisten erneut der Regierung bei, die sie im September aus Protest gegen den schleppenden Verfassungsprozeß verlassen hatten, und stellen nun fünf Minister.
Am 10. April soll eine verfassunggebende Versammlung gewählt werden.

KP Nepals (Maoisten)
1994 gegründet; Vorsitzender Pushpa Kamal Dahal, genannt Prachanda; seit 1996 führende Kraft im bewaffneten Kampf gegen die Benachteiligung der Landbevölkerung und gegen die Monarchie; kontrollierte große Teile des Landes mit Hilfe ihres bewaffneten Arms, der Volksbefreiungsarmee.

Kommentare (1)

Von admin, 11. März 2008 22:00

Momos: Tibetan-style Fast Food

Dear future visitor,

please be reminded that Kathmandu offers splendid shopping opportunities. The quality is cheap and the price is up to you (and your”opponent” when it comes down to bargaining) but the options are widely (and wisely!) spread. Who doesn’t need one Nepali Music CD? Who doesn’t need a Scarf to take home? Who doesn’t need those new trecking socks?
Well, as you can imagine, that leaves you with many visits in several stores that pretty much offer all the same things and all the same quality but differ in price and layout. That way you really kind of “shop till you drop in Thamel” (as the Lonely Travel guidebook puts it) and all you end up with is one pair of socks!
So the question I’m asking myself every evening is: “what exactly did we do all day? Shopping? Then, what did we get? Those bananas? Geezz….”

What’s really a treat though is that we go out for dinner every evening (except for the past week when diarrhea put us on hold ).
There are plenty of restaurants in town that offer quite good food at unbeatable prices. There might be cheaper options but we as tourists like to avoid those “Momo’s from the street” kind of shops. That way we probably miss out on the real and original taste (and a crazy cheap lunch) but since there never seems to be power in the evening you get the great treat of having a candle-light dinner free of charge no matter at which place you decide to stay.

Our favorites so far:
* Feed ‘n read for the coziest atmosphere (in between books or outside in a garden with a fire)
* Helenas for its the only place where I felt save enough to have ice-cream and the wide and splendid range of the menu
* Nargilas for its Israeli food that is really different from anything else
* Mothis for it’s closest to our hotel and the only one not recommended by the Lonely Planet and therefore we treat it as a local place which makes us feel like locals

Well, since it’s late and we like to go to bed by 11 pm to survive our long days I will close for now.
I just wanted to let you know that the sun came out today and our diarrhea is much better and therefore life seems to be more fun again.
We plan on going trekking next week so if you need anything from me you should really consider writing sooner than later because chances are 99% we won’t have internet from next Monday on…

Y’all take care.
Peace, Nils

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 7. März 2008 22:00

Dear folks,this was our first unpleasant week and this wasn’t only due to the bad weather we were suffering!
At first Matze got some descent food-poisoning (I was at work alone for two days) and then it was my row (I wasn’t working today). I lost more fluids than one can imagine over the last 24 hours. Since it started off earlier, I decided to take some antibiotics which might help my sinusitis, too. I guess it’s just something everybody will get at some point but it’s really no fun!

Further, I was very unhappy to get robbed the other day during a festival at Pashupatinath temple (Mahashivaratri ).
It doesn’t even bother me so much what got stolen, but I thought was taking every precaution necessary – still, as the crowd was so tense somebody must’ve grabbed our cell-phone and some change.
As one can imagine, I couldn’t really enjoy the festival afterwards even though it was great to be there. It is kind hard to describe what was really going on. To “the Germans” it looked very much like a gathering of young people who enjoyed to take a legal smoke (marijuana) and get excited about it at a holy place. What it was really all about though:

Hindu devotees in thousands are thronging the temples of lord Shiva and worshipping him for well being in their lives. The traditional Shivaratri ritual of raising donations by using rope-blocks to stop vehicles could be seen in most side streets of the capital. Kids are often seen stopping drivers and sometime even pedestrians and allowing them to go only after they are given some money.

The headline of yesterday’s paper, “The PADT said that nearly 350,000 devotees and about 3,000 sadhus is expected to visit Pashupatinath temple this year”, was probably true and I encourage your to check up on this on any video online.

Well, other than that live goes on
It seems like we have our own little routine in the hospital and afterwards. Even the fuel situation has eased as tensions in the Terai (South Nepal) are of the past!
We met two other Germans currently volunteering at the Model Hospital who are great and we enjoy hanging out together. We even seem to get closer with the sisters and our doctors which is a nice treat, too and makes time go by even faster!

Hopefully I will feel well enough to go to Patan (a samll town in the South of Kathmandu) tomorrow.

Please, keep me posted on your life in Germany as I enjoy reading your stories!
Take care. -me

Kommentare (0)

Von admin, 1. März 2008 20:43

T H A N K S
to all who were thinking about me yesterday and found the time to let me know!
I really enjoyed reading your emails and appopogize in advance if I don’t get to reply to you in person.
It may seem strange that I find the time to “blog” but not reply to emails. Well, I hope you understand that the internet is REALLY slow over here and GMX seems to be the worst. Therefore I  try to update ‘everybody’ by writting about this and that here.

Birthday
I was very happy to get the opportunity to spend the “weekend” in Duhlikhel – together with my dad. What should I say more than it was awesome?!
Well, as some of you might know my dad is working in a great hospital just on the eastern edge of the Kathmandu Valley. It’s 30km from Kathmandu, but if you drive on the local bus like we did and you count in “Nepali time” and the bad streets and fuel shortage, it takes you up to 2 hours to get there! However, it was a very smooth and wonderful ride with lots of sunshine and a seat
It was great not only to meet up with my dad but to stay the night in their wonderful resort. Not that we would’ve spend much time over there but it was great to someone bringing you a hot water bag into your bed after 9 pm Further, it was great to simply get out of Kathmandu and enjoy the peace and easy in this small mountain town. That way it felt a little bit like a holiday without changing more than the city!

Our day at the hospital was great! (This is friday, my birthday.)
We got the chance to meet most doctors, got a special guided tour of the whole complex (even though we just stayed the day) and were free to do whatever we were pleased afterwards.
We decided to check out the Operation Theatre and saw three operations – one done by the CEO Dr. Ram Shresta and two by two German doctors currently staying there.
Then we decided to check out the ER, where we saw a massive (M A S S I V E and open) testicle infection, a penis CA and a women wo got her foot into a motorcycle wheel. All cases were samwhat disturbing but very interesting.
Ferwards we joined the dental department where we had some great coffee (actual coffee!) with my dad and took off early.

Later on we had a great dinner a very fine restaurant! So good! No party though – I went to sleep at 10.30 pm.  //hehe

Saturday = Hiking
We started with an early but huge breakfast around 8 am (I was still tired) and then read the newspaper from A to Z. So great!
In short: fuel is distributed again and even the terrifying situation in southern Nepal (there was some fighting and strong tensions between the government and a communist political group which caused curfews, deaths and the fuel shortage) seems to be resolved! We were happy about all of that and will keep a close view on how the situatin resolves from here on.
Further, there was a great story about a mother giving birth to a child on a train-toilet in India. The child slipped right out, down the toilet and was found alive on the tracks later on!

Then we started to hike to a Tibetean monastery 2 hours south of Duhilikel. It was rather ‘rough’ trek since we both were clearly out of shape and the climps we rather steep too. However, it was a great 6 hour walk to Panauti and we were blessed to see some of the ‘real’ Nepal!
It started off with a seeing a lot of help that the Rotary Club put into this city, then we ended up in a military camp with even hearing some firearms and then we had lunch a a Tibetean monastery with real monks, some fair views and two other Germans currently volunteering in Kathmandu in Physiotherapy (Tomke aus Hamburg und Christoph – you can’t escape the Germans, never ever!!!) and it ended with some nice temples along terraced fields (of rice) besides s rather clean stream of water. The only downfall was that there was a lot of mist in the air! We were supposed to see great landscape and even Himallaya and all we got was the next kilometer! Such a shame!!
I guess tomorrow I will feel most muscles and have to tape one blister already. Such a shame, too!
We were happy to take the bus back to Kathmandu right afterwards where we returned around 6 pm.
Now, after dinner, we are both so tired and worn out, we will probably be in bed by 10 pm again (and since there is no power, what else should be do) ;)

Self
Anyway, I found the time to get on the computer down here and even got the chance to upload some pictures (one hour for 8 or so!). Feel free to check them out.

I am feeling much better after having to deal with a virus infection of nose and throat. Now Matthias seems to have it, but that’s just how it goes, I guess.

You all take care. -me