Adaptation

Adaptation is an interesting thing. I have been surprised at myself at how fast I have adapted and meshed with this culture and society and life. I remember my first taxi ride into town when I had first arrived from the airport. My jaw literally was dropped the entire ride. I was shocked, amazed, disgusted, ecstatic, and full of wonder. I remember my first walk around the city with a few law students I had met at the airport. It was mesmerizing! Everything completely different. The street vendors, poor children, amputees, open air butcher stalls, vegetable markets lining the streets, goats wandering, cows munching, monks on motor bikes, stupas, cigarettes, holy shrines, trash piles, dead dogs, new born puppies. This seemed a land of endless contradiction. I thought to my self: I will never, ever, ever be able to figure out the streets of Kathmandu. Some are paved, some are not. Some are gravel, some mud. No street signs, and multitudes of dark alley ways. Now though, I can get around anywhere in the city I want to on foot. I know the long scenic routes, the short cuts, all the different possible paths to any destination. I know where to walk if I feel like walking in the shade, or the sun. I know which routes are paved, and which will lead me through an abundance of mud puddles. I know where the worst trash piles are and how to avoid them. I know at exactly which moment to start holding my breath when walking by one of these masses of putrid garbage. I know all the street foods, and which ones will upset your stomach and which ones are ok. I have my favorite vendors of "burned corn," a tiny Nepali lady who squats on the ground and fans cobs or corn for a living (a most delicious treat by the way!!) I know which beggars sit where and for how long. The little blind boy who sings and plays the drum for a few rupees sits on a bridge, the old woman with the kind smile who reaches for a few coins. I know where the man sits with cataracts who shrieks all day. I know where the woman with an amptated leg and the new born baby sits. The hand ful of leprosy survivors and amputees, and polio victims. I know where all of them sit. I know how much things should cost, and if people are trying to take advantage of me. Where all the gangs of street dogs hang out I know and cross the road to avoid rabid ones. How to cross the streets I have learned, to dodge speeding motor bikes, taxis, rickshaws and buses. I've learned the best restaurants, the cheapest, the places with the best milk tea, the best tourist and local restaurants alike. I know how to bargain with a taxi driver for 20 minutes, watch for the massive potholes in the road, tell if a dog is dead or alive, avoid the drug dealers, and when to tell if it is going to rain in 10 minutes or not.
The process of adaptation is very interesting. It amazes me at how normal this environment is to me now. Just 2 months ago it was the most foreign thing I could ever imagine, incomprehendable almost. Now it is normal. I live here and learn how to do all the minute things that take up our everyday life but become a huge obstacle in a foreign land. I am surprised, a bit shocked at how fast assimilating here has been, and also pleased that this place has become so home like. Things that were shocking I now am so used to for example: the rotting trash mountains, the drug addicted street boys, seeing dead animals or even people(!) in the street, or seeing a stray dog chewing on a hand. Things that I was amazing and mystified by are still amazing, but are more normal now. The beautiful dress of the Nepali women, the magnificent mountains, the gorgeous religious ceremonies. The temples and signs of devout religiousness all around me I was at first not used to. But now seeing people doing prostrations on the street is not out of the ordinary. School children, business people, beggars, and families alike all stop and pray quickly and touch their heads in front of the tiny temples sprinkled through the street.
Adaptation is an interesting process, and interesting insight on to the human condition and human tendancy to adapt to surroundings to matter how foreign they may be. I am glad that I have had the chance to observe myself adapting and how I have become a part of this society.