Me and the Peace Corps (con't-p2)

There are so many little mysteries associated with Sarawak, especially; but also Kingston. For example, I have not heard nor has anybody else heard from the two volunteers that I roomed with the first year in Sibu, Barbara and Gretchen. These two were the very first volunteers in Sibu, the Administrative headquarters in the Third Division of Sarawak. This meant that the schools were multi-cultural with Chinese, Iban, Malay, Kayan, Punan and one or two European. On the other hand, in Jamaica, at the University Hospital of the West Indies, the patients were almost all Jamaicans. I am not going to attempt to define what is a Jamaican because there is a lot of inter-mingling already. For me, the PCV, my multi-cultural worlds did seem to get along quite well, but as soon as I was gone, I read that there was not that much change in Sarawak and I have no idea about Jamaica. Both experiences were amazing; but I had them before I became the global traveller that I am now. I think one of the challenging aspects of the world that I have and still do live in, is the spirit of globalization. For me, I hope the individualization will survive, in spite of the global markets tendancy to go for the cheapest price and not the best goods. I think it is better to go for the best goods because, in this way, quality is assured; when
you go for the cheapest price there are no underlying values to prop this world up.

These are my thoughts for today.

Me and the Peace Corps

I am going to try a little retrospect on my two different experiences with the Peace Corps. I was a PCV in Sarawak, Malaysia from 1964-66 and in Kingston, Jamaica from 1989-1991. I worked in entirely different areas. The first time in Sarawak, I was with the Dept. of Education as a Primary English Medium Scheme Supervisor; the second time in Jamaica, was with the Health Department in Kingston and I was in the Medical Social Work Deptartment. Both times, the professional level of the experiences was really good and I felt like I was earning my badge of acceptance in both areas. This is and was very improtant to me because I was in a car accident in Florida when I was 16 in Sarasota, Fl. and actually suffered severe trauma to the head. On and off, even up to now at 65, I am reminded of the trauma and how it has affected my life. The Peace Corps takes in lots of "damaged and wounded" people and lets them work on trying again. For an American Agency, they are most unusual. Anyway back to Sarawak and Kingston, the most outstanding memories and imprints are, of course, the social get togethers when we would discuss how things are going "at the Office"; and then we would really have a good time. The first time, in Sarawak, I was really a novice about educational teaching strategies, but not in working with the teachers. I did a lot of one-on-one demonstrating various things to do. I did not permit physical punishment in the classroom and, as far as I know, Peace Corps supported this value. In Kingston, I was a trained professional MSW and had the great priviledge of working in some ground breaking areas that had to do with cultural taboos and self image. I worked with Jamaican counterparts who refined their intervention skills. Of course, what you do as your assignmet is very important to the Host Country because it fills positions that might go unfilled because of no funds or no trained person. However, it might not be the heart and spirit of the Peace Corps experience. For me, my memory bank recalls the relationships with the Host Country nationals, the Peace Corps staff, the other volunteers, the other Agencies, etc. In the new world that we live in where much has collapsed down to a global village, there is a reasonable amount cultural clash as well as inter-mingling. In this world, there are no terrorists? I would have no idea; but the presence of guns is negligable.

This is just the beginning of this retrospect.

These are my thoughts for today.

Me and the flat in Kathmandu

Well, the last time I was talking about the chaos around Nepalese and Indians. I have just recently had an experience with the Landlord and some of his family that seems " out of context". I am here on a "tourist visa", so it seems appropriate that I be treated like a tourist. Well, not so in my case. In India, I was treated in an untouristy fashion; and now it is starting here in Kathmandu. The Nepalese that I am in contact with, outside of a circle of friends, are not honest about rentals, for example. I have no idea what this means other than they are trying to create some kind of conflict where none was before. This is a strange thing to do to a tourist. Maybe there is some blackmarket things going on that everybody is trying to cover up. When I read the Editorial page, you get the impression that Nepalese are playing by the international rules set down by the UN; but this is not the case. They are playing by their owns rules.

Anyway, maybe they are trying to create a bad spirit at my flat, which seeoms a strange thing to do to any elderly person. I have had some experience with bad spirits and they have not been pleasant ones at all. Furthermore, I have made a decision, that only friends and co-workers will be allowed in the flat; nobody else is welcomed by me.

So, these are my thoughts for today.

Saturday, Aug. 25, 2007: More of me and the flat

Tomorrow I move into my new flat here in Kathmandu. This is the first time since I left Florida in 2004, May 4th to be exact, that I am stopping and living in a place for awhile. If things work out, maybe I will be here for a long time. So far, my trip to Nepal this year has been completely different than any of the previous trips. For starters, I am quite busy all day long. Now I have quite a bit to do on the Internet; and then, there is the visiting with friends and talking over things.

Anyway, my flat is in a real nice neighborhood where, hopefully, there will be less chaos around me. The chaos that is engulfing India and Nepal is really strange. In India, it is packed up everything from trains, buses to hotels; in Nepal it is lots of people still trying to "pretend" about life and politics so they don't have to deal with the Maoist situation in a conflict resolution type of way. It still seems to me that the Maoists are only into intimadation and demands as a way of getting what they want. There are lots of talks, but little negotiating. As a "foreigner" here, I do not understand why they do not bring some kind closure to this issue seeing as how all parties to the conflict have promised the UN that they would keep to their word.

Anyway, tomorrow I am going to move over to the flat and get the last few things for my new home.

So, these are my thoughts for today.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007: me and the flat

Last Saturday, I found a nice flat near the Blue Horizon Hotel. I have been looking for about 6 weeks with not any luck, so I feel pretty good about my find. I am on the top floor with a view to the mountains. Everybody says, that in the winter, I will be able to see the Himalayas. This is great because most of the tourists who come to this place is too see the Himalayas. This is my 4th visit and I have never even had so much as a glimpse of the mountains. They are shrouded in clouds most of the time and should be called "Hidden Mountains".

My flat has a outdoor balcony and a separate Guest room with attached bath; not that this will get any of my friends here to see me, but, at least, I am prepared. The coming days for India and Nepal could be shaky because the Chinese road to Mt. Everest is almost finished. Now the mountain will be bathed in trash, to put it mildly. Apparently the trekkers are environmentalists only so far as their own personal pleasures go; they are not, generally speaking, eco- whatever with their eyes on the cleanliness of the trails, paths and trekking routes. On a regular basis, tons of trash are taken off of Mt. Everest. There are some that say when the road goes all the way to the Base Camp, it will spell the end to the eco-Everest movement. The numbers of visitors alone, will trash up the moutain.

I am glad I am not a part of the political vaguaries of Nepal either because the future could be fairly unstable.
If all the mountain trekkers go to China, Nepal Trekking will dry up and the trekkers will disappear. They are of a breed that does see or care about the "locals" all around them. So now we shall see.

Got to run; just when I am getting started too.
These are my beginning thoughts for today.

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007: friend from CGH in Auroville

Today I ran into a friend from the Center Guest House in Auroville. Catalin is here in Kathmandu getting his Indian Visa. Last summer we both were at the Center Guest House at the same time and had some good conversations about Europe. Today when I asked him about his opinion about the cash crunch in the Global Market, he did not offer any. Obviously, it is going to be a difficult situation for both the Euro and the Dollar because of Dollar shortage. Too many $'s being spent on Iraq and the Olympics; the net result being that the whole world will be cash short for one year. I also told him about my unpleasant experience in Delhi with the Exit Visa Officer. In fact, we talked about it at length so I was sure I had told him, word for word, what had transpired in Delhi. He said that "Border" Officers will always have this power over a person like myself; it is theirs to say "yes" or "no"; nothing about what is right or wrong, just yes or no. I, of course, had always felt that Indians could be fair minded about matters like this, but I am in the process of possibly changing my mindset about this whole thing. Maybe, Indians are too caught up in their own trip to care about the rest of us. This makes them very questionable personnages, indeed. Anyway, my friend said to "think it over good" before I come to my own conclusion about this. I know that I experienced the last exiting days as strange and out of context with the rest of my last 3 years travelling around India.

These are my thoughts for today.

Sunday, the 5th of August, 2007

Some more thoughts on leaving India, 2007

I guess the most disturbing one is the fact that all of the progress, learning and fun with the friends in McLeodGanj is on hold for the moment. I can't but wonder if this does not have something to do the Chinese Olympics; as we all know, Tibet does not exist. So, I will be telling all of my friends that I will not be back until after the Olympics. For me, Tibetans do exist and they are Tibet; so to actually conjur up and believe that you can exterminate something like this is absurd. So, from now until the end of the Olympics, it could be pretty crazy in McLeodGanj as, while the Indian Gov't is perfectly happy to help the refugees, the Indian people in McLeodGanj are not. Himalchal Pradesh is still pretty much of a "frontier" region and the Himalchalees like the situation that exists only the T-money, but not for anything else. If the Exiles were to leave, the whole place would pretty much dry up and shut down.

As for my own situation, I have left all of my back-up copy of the digital pictures that I have been taking with Chaitan in McLeodGanj. I am going to have to get them to Kathmandu somehow. I consider these pics to be a part of my "spiritual learning"; and for the Visa Dept. to have interferred in this way to be a breach of my practices and an attempt to stop what I am doing. So, even in India, the quintessential "spiritual" teacher; for me, I have had a baffling, screwed up, dark and dangerous trip. I sure do not know why because this is a personal matter; but not for me.

These are my thoughts for the moment.

Aug. 2, 2007: Update on Leaving India

I don't want to belabor the points, but, in my own self defense I feel like I should make some further statements.

I read the India Travel Advisory from the State Deptartment that I had on my email. In there, the Embassy makes it very clear that a violation of the Visa regulation(s) is a serious matter that can result in jailing and deportation. This is all the more important that I kept insisting to the Indian Visa Officer that the Pondicherry Officer had mislead me and that I had not overstayed my visa "intentionally". I feel I had a right to expect fair treatment by the Exiting Visa Officer. I do not feel that they cared not at all for what I would have to go through.

Most of all, I was low on money because I had had a large theft in McLeodGang and so I was strictly budgeted until I got to Kathmandu. I told the Visa Officer this and was told it was not
their concern; it was mine. I have no objection to punishment if the party is guilty of some willful wrongdoing; I do have objection to punishment if the person is telling the truth and is innocent of any willful wrongdoing, which was my case. Before I could exit India I had to go the Ministry of Home Affairs and the FRRO and document the story, which I did. I was believed at both Agencies and so got the Exit Visa; but was stamped "overstay" in my Passport. I am guilty of ignorant overstay because of wrong advice by another Visa Officer; I am not guilty of willful "overstay".

I write this especially for the Embassy because I have no idea what they may have been told, but I am not certain it would be the truth.

What I have printed here is the truth.

Should I speculate that this is some kind of "gotcha" for other things that I may be involved in?

These are my thoughts for the moment.

Auust 1, 2007: Kathmandu

Well, I have been in Nepal now 3 weeks and I have been fairly busy. I went out to Bhoudinath for a week, but came back because of construction noise at the Monastery across the street from the Guest House I was staying in. I did get a chance to spend an afternoon with Shireen from Delhi and she seemed in good spirits. We spent some time together in Delhi going to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the FRRO for Exit Visa permission. In my case, it was a situation where the Visa Officer in Pondicherry decided to give me wrong or inaccurate advice and so I had to spend a week and a lot of money in Delhi getting the leave permit. The Indian Visa Officer chose to not check with Pondicherry to see if I was telling the truth. For Shireen, the story is much more complicated and she had still not been given the X-Visa: 5 Years for Foreigner married to Indian National. What she also got was the Exit permit on an overstay of Visa. I guess the best thing to do is go and register on any Visa over 6 months and don't ask any questions. because you will not get a straight story.

Now, I am in Kathmandu and going to stay here for awhile; after this is Thailand and SE Asia. First, I would like to settle down here, but not very easy because Nepalese only like Westerners who are tourists, they don't like Westerners who are people who are living here. I have a number of friends who are also doing this; and. on one level or another, having perception problems about Nepal.

There is August, September October and then the cold. I do not like the cold, so I guess I will have to come back in March to do the settling in. Maybe I will try and get a Residence Visa then to.

I have also spent quite a lot of time with some unfinished Peace Corps business on the last application that I made. Because of difficulties with the Washington Desk Officer and a very expensive medical clearance, I dropped my application. I submitted a statement to the Advocacy Committee about it. So, that business is finished and I definitely recomment that medical clearance be modified for only the essentials.

So, these are the outstanding thoughts for today.