strikes and burning tires...wtf.

First things first. I am officially moving to Nepal the first week of January! While I have had my reservations working for a travel company, it's pretty much the best option for me at this point...and it will be a great way to explore the rest of Nepal and try to learn just exactly what is going on this land locked country. In case you are wondering WTF I will be doing in this internship, I basically get paid to write another blog all about Nepal, explore the country a bit more, and possibly do some trekking/outdoor adventures. unreal.
Aside from that, sometimes it's really easy to forget you are in a completely foreign country when you create a little routine for yourself, a bubble if you will. Well I definitely had a wake up call from this little dream state I have been living in.
After spending the night at a friends house down the road from my hotel, I had to escape in the morning to make the walk back. First of all I had to jump over a wall surrounding their house because the gate was locked, and I did not want to wake them up. So not only having a hangover from drinking one beer, I also looked like a complete stalker to any neighbor that may have seen me scale a wall spider man style. Great way to begin a day.
Anyway, as I'm walking back on the main road through Lazimpat, people all around just stop. Standing in the middle of the street, the sidewalk, people hanging out windows. A huge mob of adolescent Nepali boys begin rushing by in the middle of road, yelling in Nepali, and in their hands holding crumbling red bricks, some smashing them on the road.
Since I had no idea what was happening, and this was the first real disturbance I had witnessed, I thought there was about to be a "riot on an empty street." I managed to sneak my way through the shadows and make it a bit farther, only to find a giant green school bus sitting smashed up. Green shards of glass lay in millions all around on the road, and a halo of thick black smoke could be seen swiveling around in the distance. There were tires in the middle of the road, ablaze and burning. A massive crew of Nepali men stood in a circle at the intersection, for all I knew plotting their next move.
Well I made it home, and soon found out there had been two murders, by the Maoist's, a few weeks back and the bodies were just found. The events of the day were in protest of the Maoists, and what I later learned is what they call a strike in Nepal. As I was having breakfast later that morning, the same group of rambunctious running Nepali boys made there way through Thamel, the touristy destination of Kathmandu. As soon as they had passed, it was literally a symphony of slamming doors and sliding garage doors. The strike had begun, and nearly ever single shop, restaurant, bakery was closed for the day. Kathmandu became a zombie town. Streets were quieter and slower than any day before, and everything was at a stand still. Shattered glass spread on concrete.
Supposedly these strikes happen quite frequently, and this was just one of many to come..So I have come to realize that I really don't know or understand what is going on in this country yet. There are so many things I cannot possibly understand, and I'm not sure that I ever will. Maybe that's why we need to travel..who knows.