I'm an anomaly

I feel very at home here in Nepal, and am happy to have had a bit of an unconvential upbringing and education, with a lot of travel, being home schooled, etc.. But every so often something happens that reminds me of what an anomaly I am. Like today.

I've been studying art at the government campus here for several months now. The tuition fees are very reasonable. I get a cheap study visa, and am learning about painting which is something I love. So it works out well all around.

It's time for exams now and I've had a bit of a time figuring out the whole process, schedule, tracking down translations of the texts in English, etc. Since my Nepali isn't fluent I haven't been able to attend some of the classes, but so far that hasn't been a problem with the tests. There's even an Alternative English test that can be taken instead of the Compulory Nepali. That was the test that I needed to take today.

The morning started out good. I managed to get transport straight to where I needed to go making only a 15 minute trip instead of the 45 minutes it took me last time. When I got there though, I realized that there were only announcements up for the Complusory Nepali exam.

Undetered I went up to the office and showed them my entrance card. "This exam is not for you." I was told.

"I know. I'm not taking Compulsory Nepali. I'm taking Alternative English."

They turned and talked to themselves in Nepali. I understood that one of them was saying there wasn't an Alternative English exam. Another one said, "Yes, there is but it isn't today." At this point I asked them if they had a schedule. I'd looked it up on line to make sure I wasn't getting up early for nothing, and it was on the schedule for today.

When they pulled out the schedule I pointed it out to them, and they became even more confused. "I need to phone the office," one of them said. On the phone to the head office he complained that there was a forigner asking for the Alternative English exam and they didn't know what to do.

Then he told me to "wait for some time". Here when you are told to "wait for some time", some time can mean anywhere up to a couple of hours. But there was nothing else to do, so I sat down to wait. Every person that walked into the room while I waited asked what I was doing there, and was told that I was waiting for the question sheet to come. I hoped I wasn't waiting for someone to physically bring it all the way from the main university as that's about an hour and a half trip. But fortunately they did have enough modern technology to get it faxed over -- and the power was working which is always a plus. So after "some time", meaning about 45 minutes, I got my question sheet and was directed to the exam room.

So, I got to feel like a special case, being the only person taking an English exam. And even though my Nepali is no where near good enough to consider taking the Nepali one, I congratulated myself that at least I could understand all of the conversations going on around me while I waited.