a coup is in the air

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1894061,00.html?xid=rss-world#

cut and paste the above link to the latest TIME article about nepal and their governmental woes. at school, our director's voice came over the loud speaker today at around 2:00 to check our email. when i did i was informed that we would be having an "emergency dismissal" in 20 minutes and to have the kids get all of their belongings. out we went almost an hour before our normal departure time, taking back roads because our typical route would take us past ratna park which was the rallying point for the political demonstrations. after getting home and consulting kumar, who was repotting our plants, he said he thought there was a 25% chance of a coup. the army (royalist supporters) and the p.l.a. (maoists) aren't getting along and the army just may very well try to overthrow the maoist leader, prachanda and company. we shall see what transpires in the next few days. we are wondering if we should pack a bag, but hopefully we won't need to high tail it outta here. i'll keep you posted. love, j

quetta cup

ambassador nancy powell and the quetta cup

the two teams together

the victors!

enough cheese for ya?!

ala stanley cup!

this past weekend brought about the event we've been practicing for over the last 3 months...the quetta cup tennis tournament. team north america (u.s.a., canada and mexico) vs team british common wealth a.k.a. 'the colonists'. : ) it's men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles seeded by a local pro who had been been watching us practice. each 'match' consisted of 11 games and every match up's scores were tallied to determine the winner. last year north america won by a mere point (game), so the brits were not happy and wanted revenge. the night before we all were invited to the u.s. ambassador nancy powell's house for cocktails, hors d' oeuvres and a little trash talking. we had been practicing with quite a few of them and gotten to know them so this was all in good fun and purely in the name of exercise and socializing. the morning of the tournament, we team north america members were in their hot and heavy, dull cotton shirts while the brits out styled us with their wicking, brightly colored ensembles. that's where out-doing us ended...we won the tournament handily and had a fun day. in the end, a big bar was set up and ambassador powell (who i called nancy to her face...oops!) handed out the trophy. champagne was popped and photos were snapped as lots of laughs and camaraderie was shared. the venue is the american club which is the closest thing to a country club here. it can be a little pretentious, but they have really good courts and facilities, so i cave into being an ugly american a few times a week! i must admit it was strange to see the stars and stripes so prominently displayed and, because i rarely see the american flag anymore, it seemed to be so bright! i hope to continue playing tennis...i really enjoy it. i remember when my mom started playing...she must have been in her 50s; she loved it. i use her racket here and love that connection. hope you're all well. j

nepal's national games

last friday at school, one of our board members was around. i know him more as the owner of the baskin robbins frequented by me, but he's also a figure at lincoln. so, i struck up a conversation with the very sweet nepalese man, rabi and asked him what he was doing these days. he told me that he was helping with nepal's national games that were going on at that moment. two of our students were absent earlier in the week to take place in swimming, but that's really all the thought i had given to it. well, it was the final weekend and after what rabi had told me about what a red, hot, nepali mess it was, i had to go and take a look for myself! he explained that they haven't had games in 10 years because of all the fighting and unrest and this is the first year they've had a go at it. everything was organized and, at the last minute, prachanda...nepal's maoist leader, said the organizing committee had to allow the P.L.A. (People's Liberation Army) into the brackets. now, none of them had qualified in the nearly year long qualification process, but that didn't matter...they were to be let in sight unseen. the problem with this is, yes, that it is certainly unfair, but also, the army had lots of participants, but after they heard this mandate, withdrew. they don't get along with the P.L.A. members as they've been fighting against the rebels for most of those 10 years prior. it's still a big point of contention between the 'old' army and the 'new' rebel addition...they have not come together nicely, at all. because prachanda forced his athletes to be admitted into the games and the army athletes walked out, all of the brackets had to be redone and all the events got pushed back a day. when the track and field meet came, the plain clothed officials walked in and sat down at mid field saying they weren't going to officiate until they got track suits or some sort of official looking clothing to distinguish them from everyone else. rabi went out and bought over 100 track suits for about $700 and was scolded because they had budgeted more, but since rabi told the press how much he had paid, now it came out that the maoists hadn't released funds and had budgeted twice that amount for the officials' uniforms which they had never intended to buy. over $3 million (u.s. dollars) was budgeted for all of the events and they were very poorly run. athletes were supposed to be 2 to a hotel room and they jammed 8 into each room....food was horrible, equipment was broken or the 'budget' didn't allow any one who knew how to use it to come and work it properly...it was basically a farce. maoist (P.L.A.) athletes ran barefooted and in hot, mismatched clothing and much, much more-some even ran in army boots. so, i wandered over there in the morning and caught the last part of the track and field events. hardly anyone was in the stands and the javelin was going on. sure enough, there were barefooted competitors and the first place finisher was far ahead of the other guys, but still, very far behind international standards. as you can see from the pics, people were allowed on the infield as the guys were throwing and while warming up, the guys would just huck it hopefully in an area where people weren't standing...seriously! so many interesting stories from this day, but at least they were able to have the national games after such a long break. hope you're all well. love, j