Strikes and planes

So I only have a few more rupees and a few more hours, but I thought I'd write a short entry. Today there's a strike (of who knows what), so lots of transportation isn't running and I have to go figure out a way to get to the airport (might require lots and lots of many). Anyway, if everything works out my flight will take off at 3:30pm from Kathmandu and I'll get in to Seoul at 12:30am. Then I've got two nights in Incheon, where I will probably be bored out of my mind and hopefully get some college apps done (woot!). And at 5:20pm on the 22nd I'll be headed home!
I can't wait to see everybody...and for everyone far away, I'll talk to you soon!
LOVE

Trekking! Part 2

Here they are! In reverse order of the trip...oh well. Anyway from top right:
View to Annapurna South on last day, chocolate for sale, walking through the jungle, hut in the jungle, me on a really scary bridge, Bharat (our guide) playing spoons, view in the morning from our room in Tadapani, Poon Hill!, Katie me and Bharat, me, group again, me again (all Poon Hill), my bed in Ghorepani, donkeys in Ghorepani, Tikedunga lodge, view to the mountains from Pokhara.

Trekking!

I'm back from the mountains, and only have three days left in Nepal! It's such a weird feeling - it both felt so long and so short. The next few days should go by fast, with all the souvenir-buying (if anyone has any requests, let me know!) and last sight-seeing and general saying goodbye. But first: writing this entry about my trek!
After my last entry, I decided to go the safe route and book a trek with a company instead of winging-it with Shiva and his girlfriend. I thought it was just going to be me and a German couple, but when I got on the bus Monday morning the guy from the trekking company was there with another girl, who'd signed up right after me. Turns out the German couple got stuck in Bhutan and it was just going to be the two of us (plus guide and porter). It ended up to be pretty much the perfect situation. Katie's 27 and British, and was a great trekking companion - we shared rooms the whole way, laughed about the awful food, groaned when our thighs were burning and exclaimed when the mountains suddenly appeared after a bend in the trail. Our guide Bharat was 24 and our porter Subas was 21, so it was a fun group. Anyway there is so much to say but I have already spent like 200 rupees on the internet today (oops), so here's a quick rundown:
Day 1: Took the tourist (super comfortable) bus to Pokhara, which is about 6 hours from Kathmandu and the launching town for treks in the Annapurna Himalaya range. Katie and I checked into an overpriced guesthouse the company had reserved for us and I read Catch 22 (which I still haven't finished...I'm really getting into it but jeez it takes some work) in a hammok for about three hours. Then we had some last non-trekking food (pizza) and went to sleep early for the next day.
Day 2: Woke up at 7am and drove to Nyapul, where the treks actually start. We couldn't see the mountains at all and walked through more of a jungle-y type landscape, which was not at all what I had been expected but would be pretty common throughout the rest of the trek. Anyway, we got to the little village of Tikhedunga around 2:30pm and I took the best lukewarm shower of my life. I sat outsde on the sunny deck and read Catch-22, ate Toblerone, and had the best time just being there clean and rested. That night we played cards with the boys - some version of Rummy that a Swedish group had taught Bharat and some British game called "Shithead" - which we would do every night for the rest of the trek. And then I snuggled down in my borrowed sleeping bag and went to sleep.
Day 3: Trekked to Ghorepani, the biggest town and highest town in the circuit. This was the longest and hardest walk - we gained 1200 meters of elevation in 6 hours. The uphills of the trek are all stone slab stairs, which sounds like it would be easier but I swear was more painful than just incline. Anyway, when we got the Ghorepani the clouds finally broke a little and we could see the mountains! Plus the lodge had a HOT hot shower, a western toilet (although i have gotton to be a pro at the squat ones), and a fire in the dining room. One of the most fun parts of the whole trek was seeing the same people from place to place - lunch spots, in the lodge, on the trail. There was a pair of German women who were at literally every lodge but one that we stayed at, and we always laughed when we say each other again. But this was the night I finally felt like we were "doing it," especially when I had to pile a blanket on top of my sleeping bag and wear a hat to sleep just to keep warm.
Day 4: Woke up at 4:30am and walked in the dark with throngs of other trekkers up to Poon Hill, where the sun rises on the entire Annapurna range. I freaked out for about 10 minutes when I realized that my camara had run out of batteries, but some genius Australian girl told me to take them out of my flashlight and all was well. Anyway all I can say is that it was just an incredible scene: hundreds of bundled people on the top of the 3200 meter hill all smiling and laughing and taking pictures of the most beautiful panaroma I could have imagined (don't worry, I've got about 50 shots). Then we walked back down and I ate a delicious banana pancake and started off again to Tadapani. Tadapani should have been beautiful, but was entirely buried in fog by the time we got there. So everyone in the lodge sat in the dining room, where there were fires under the tables, for about seven hours to avoid freezing to death. Also there was no light in our room so we had to use a candle! So that was kind of cool...really felt like we were "roughing it." I think this was the day I also ate two Toblerones and a Mars bar, which is a record amount of chocolate I've ever eaten in 12 hours.
Day 5: Trekked to Ghinu Dara, about 5 hours and hot again. Ghinu Dara is right above these natural hot springs that everyone was very excited about, but I didn't have a swimsuit or anything and so just went in my clothes. Really stupid because I didn't bring any extra dry ones and had to trek back up to the lodge all soaking and cold. Plus Bharat said that we could wash our clothes in the springs, so I lugged everything down, and I think they all came out dirtier than before. Plus nothing was dry by the next day and I had to wear my fleece vest with nothing under it and ankle socks. Lesson learned: always keep one of everything dry, just in case.
Day 6: Last full day of trekking. We walked to Pothana, mostly downhill, and I felt like my thighs were about to explode. Stopped twice for tea - Nepali Mesala tea might be the most delicious liquid ever - since we were so worn out. That night we had massive card game tournement (I lost every one) and bought the boys beer as a celebration of the end.
Day 7: Woke up at 5:30am because the German women were clomping around to go see the sunrise, lay in my sleeping bag thinking about how soon I was coming home, and then packed up. My socks were almost dry, which got me in a great mood for the day. And then we all set off and in only 2 1/2 hours were in Phedi, our end point. As we were walking down Katie was saying that she didn't really want to stay in Pokhara another night and wait for the tourist bus the next day, and by the end we'd all agreed we wanted to get back to Kathmandu that night. So we managed to catch the local minibus at about 12:30 and, after 6 hours of jostling and bumping and wanting to throw up a little, we were home. It was the best feeling to be back. The little lodges with their bare, cupboard-like rooms and squat toilets and paper thin walls were definitely an experience I wouldn't give up. But my own room with my own bathroom and Deepak's french fries for dinner was like heaven.
So that's it! I am going to try to upload pictures very soon, hopefully later today. I miss you all so much, and I can't wait to be home. LOVE!

Round two

I realized today that I may not have internet access for a while after this weekend, depending on how long my trek goes...if it goes at all! Right now I'm debating between signing up for a clearly legit, perfect length and location trek with potentially only a German couple, or going with Shiva (who works at Student Guest House) and his British girlfriend "somewhere in the Annapurna for maybe 4-8 days" (according to Shiva in imperfect English). I'm not sure what to do, but have to decide by tomorrow.
I don't have tons to write since my last entry, mostly just that I am done with teaching and the first part of my trip. The last day at Bouda and my monastery was sadder than I had thought - three weeks seemed too short to get attached - but sweet as well. The kids all brought me little bunches of pink flowers and thin pieces of embroidered white cloth, which they hid behind them all shy when they walked into class. At the end they all ran up and draped the cloth on me till I could barely see and piled the flowers in my arms, all with lots of "Thank you miss, we'll miss you miss, very very thank you!" In the older class they all wanted my email and address and said they would write me, and in the middle of the lesson one went "So I come with you to America in your suitcase? Ok?" which everyone thought was the most hilarious thing ever. But I'll miss them...strange to walk out the gate and know that, no matter what I say, there's a good chance I'll never be back.
But I'm getting away from the point of this post, which is more pictures! Who knows when I'll have a usb jack again. So here they are!
From top left: older class, getting scarves in older class, my favorite monk (who asked to come with me in my suitcase), ditto, cremations at Hindu temple of Pashupatinath, Boudha at dusk, Boudha stupa (again).
I love and miss you all!

Obama and giardia...

Right now I'm sitting in my usual internet cafe, and about every other person around me is scrolling through Google News or exclaiming to their friends and family about Obama. I still can't quite believe it - I've been grinning all day. This morning I grabbed my toast and jam and sprinted down to the lobby, where someone had found a very fuzzy CNN and a group of confused looking Nepalis were huddled around. I sat down as the "Obama declared president-elect!" announcement was flashing across the screen. It was so weird because I've never experienced tears of joy before - I didn't really think it was possible - but all the sudden I was crying. The Nepalis noticed after a few minutes and got very concerned, and it took me a while to convince them that I didn't need a doctor.
The rest of the day has been surreal, but great. Erin (a 20-something from LA who volunteers in a nearby village and stays at Student Guest House) had heard of an election event at the "American Rec Center," so we went down the street crying and skipping to a huge compound a little south of Thamel. It was so fun to flash my passport and suddenly feel like I was home. The entire main room was crammed with Americans circling around a big, glossy TV and watching Obama's speech, and everyone was wiping their eyes. Just hearing the familiar accents made me happy - I've never considered myself that patriotic, but turns out, I really love America.
Anyway we saw some girls who Erin had met before, they introduced us to a couple guys who they were friends with, and we all sat around eating free pancakes and smiling. I guess I should mention that for I've been sick for around a week, and worse the last couple days: upset stomach, fatigue, etc...symptoms of giardia, a common Nepali parasite infection. The guys had been in the Peace Corps in Nepal and were back for a visit, so I asked them what they thought. They said they'd both had it at least 10 times and agreed it sounded like I did too. They also knew the Nepali name for the necessary drug and offered to take me to pick some up. So after a lot of wandering at Nepali banter we found some for 45 rupees and I took my first dose - hopefully tomorrow I wake up better!
The rest of the day we walked around, got some pizza ALMOST as good as Pagliacci's (can you believe it?) for lunch, talked about the Peace Corps, and tried to figure out my trek. So far I still haven't booked anything, mostly because I was waiting to see what was wrong with me and whether I could fix it. Most of the companies I've went to don't have any groups for when I need yet, or aren't doing the trek I want (5-6 days in the Annapurna, the range north of Pokhara). The guys took me to a couple trekking centers they knew of and I posted requests for trekking partners with my email, so with any luck I'll get some responses! But if not, I think I'll just take the bus to Pokhara on Monday and see if I can find someone there to go with...everyone keeps telling me that there are thousands of people looking for company just like me. I hope they're right!
Other than today, the week has actually been pretty uneventful. Sylvia left last Sunday and it's been a little lonely without her - I miss having that mother figure around. Sunday was also Steph and my last day at the orphanage, so the night before we took out one of the very friendly older boys to dinner. I think he was a little overwhelmed with the five of us chattering in English, but seemed ecstatic when he got to order hot chocolate. Then Sunday morning Steph and I spent three hours making origami stars as a present for the kids...of course, once handed out half of them were soon on the ground. Even though it's a relief not head off to the orphanage every day after teaching, it was also sort of sad to leave them. It's hard to imagine that we go off and continue with our lives - return to hot food and clean beds and modern countries - and they stay there in the dirt and the corruption.
Mostly this week (my last at the monastery...weird) has been teaching through a giardia daze. Steph gave me some phonics worksheets to do with the little kids, which was a disaster at first: instead of circling the words which started with the same sound as "ball," they circled all of the words and colored the entire picture before I could look up the Nepali word for "WAIT!" But the last couple days have gotton better and better. Yesterday they could even recite the difference between a long and short "a" sound by the end of class! And I'm continuing on the "environments" theme with the older class by discussing the animals, plants, and people of each habitat. They seem to love animals especially - one said he wanted to go to the zoo this weekend and see everything we were talking about!
So that's it for now. The next couple days are going to be busy, because I've got to figure out what I'm doing for the next two weeks. But it's only two weeks! I can't wait to see or talk to all of you again. Much love and more updates soon.

Pictures!

I finally figured out how to upload, so here are some hightlights! From top left-bottom right: Bouda stupa, Safel orphanage, with my favorite girl at Safel, with monks from both classes at the monastery, Kathmandu during Tihar at night, Deepak's dung house, about to climb down the mountain to Deepak's house, street that I walk down every day in Thamel near the guesthouse, my little monk class, and just walking around in Thamel.

This is dung?

It's the last night of Tihar, the Hindu festival of lights, and it feels a little bit like Christmas here. Every shop is draped with marigold garlands and at night the streets are all lit up with candles and little colored bulbs. Yesterday there was a motorcycle rally outside the guesthouse, and everyone was in the street dancing to a mix of Nepali techno and the Rolling Stones, drinking clay saucers of Roxy (Nepali alcohal that tastes like kerosene) and eating from big bowls of spiced goat meat. So we called the monastary and told them that "the road was blocked" and joined in. Turns out Roxy + goat meat (so much for this month of vegetarianism) + dancing was not a good combo, especially after two of the guys from the guesthouse decided to take us out on a motorcycle ride and we swerved through backstreets til I felt like I was going to puke. But until then, wow, it was fun!
Even weirder/more incredible than Tihar was this past weekend, when Steph, Gina (who's gone now...we all miss her) and I went to the cook Deepak's village with a couple of boys who also work at the guesthouse. The first bus was easy but there was no room on the second. So we rode for almost two hours on the top of the bus with about 20 other people and a goat. It was both the best and worst ride I've ever had - the bars on the roof made welts where I sat, but the complete panoramic view going over the ridge to the next valley was worth the bruises. By the time we got off we were sore and starving, and the boys said it was just 15 minutes to the village. I don't know if Americans are just really, really, really slow, but it took an hour and a half to walk down this monsoon flood stream to the house. We were pretty pissed by the end.
Deepak has seven brothers, and their houses - just kind of scattered on the steep, jungley slope - are basically the village. We sat for a while on the porch while his whole extended family stared at us, then had some dinner. I tried to eat with my hand like everyone else but spilled curry all over myself. Then after dinner we were all just huddled around the stove (a fire pit in the floor of the main room) and Deepak's niece started cleaning the eating area with what looked like a piece of clay. The three of us sort of looked at each other and finally Gina asked one of the boys what it was. He went:
"It's, how do you say, from animal? Oh yes, dung."
Turns out the whole house was made from dung. But it was cozy - we all sat cross-legged on the floor of the cavernlike living room and the candlelight against the rusty orange walls made it glow. Someone brought out some Roxy in a big plastic canister, and the whole family stayed late drinking and talking and playing cards. We slept in a line on the (clay? dung?) floor, a five-inch grasshopper jumped on Gina, I woke up paranoid about bugs about 50 times during the night, and in the morning had a few bites and even more throbbing limbs...which the bus back didn't help. But it was so great to go. Even though Kathmandu is a lot different than Seattle, the village was on a whole other level.
Teaching has been going okay. I'm doing environments (forest, desert, etc.) in the older class and yesterday brought in some markers for them to draw the concepts, which they seemed to enjoy. The younger class has been a struggle...the last couple days I've been trying vowels and consonents and just not really getting through. The only one who's getting it is, ironically, the Tibetan teacher.
So that's pretty much it for now. I miss you all...please send me an email or something and tell me how you're doing! And I'll update again soon. Love!

I love lice

It's Saturday, and I'm done with my first week of volunteering. I'm starting to feel sort of at home here: I have my room (with newly fixed shower head!), my internet cafe, my friends, and my routine. In the morning I wake up, eat jam and toast, try to write the day's lesson plan/spend all my money on the internet, and then catch the "bus" to Bouda with Steph and Sylvia. Then it's two hours of teaching, two hours of orphanage, and back to the Student Guest House for dal-bat and usually (because I am still on some wonky sleep schedule) bed.
Teaching is both easy and hard, mostly because I make up a lot as I go (oops) and it only sometimes works out! The little monks - who are about three feet tall and always tripping over their big red robes - knew pretty much nothing, so I'm starting with the alphabet and going from there. I taught them the alphabet song, which they loved even though they couldn't help laughing when they heard my singing voice. But the funniest is the Tibetan teacher, who comes to every class and sits cross-legged on the floor in the middle of all the tiny little kids. He tries really hard and always gets so embarrassed when he has to ask the others for help (which is most of the time).
The older class is learning about food, which was probably a bad idea; I just get hungry. I brought them in some mini Twix bars one day for them to "describe" as they ate, but ran out with about 8 kids left. I felt really bad and starting apologizing all over the place when one boy said "It's ok, don't worry, we share." They all started handing back their Twix or breaking them apart for the others. In what classroom in the US would kids ever voluntarily hand back Twix? I guess they really are monks!
It's such a weird contrast going straight to the orphanage from the monastery. It's not really an orphanage - most of the kids are there because their parents are in jail - but they are so starved for affection (or any attention at all) that they might as well be. The kids each wear one outfit, wash maybe once a week, and always have some combination of snot, lice, and rash. Mostly we just sit while they hug/kiss us (gross, as comes with snot). I've also been playing soccer with the older boys, even though the goal is a single brick and they puppy-guard like crazy, which I think has really earned me their respect. But Sylvia says they just like me because I'm blonde. So who knows.
Even though I'm settled in, I still can't quite believe I'm here. I miss you all so much, and wish you were with me instead of an entire day away! More soon...love.

Monks are cute

I'm in Bodhanath and just finished with my first day of teaching. After all of my worrying and tearing up and freaking out, it was mostly just fun. I've got two classes (beginning and intermediate) and by the end of the beginning class one boy left repeating "I am not sad, I am happy!" which made me feel great. I didn't really have any idea what I was doing with the older class and all i could think of was to have them describe my backpack, but it actually turned into a pretty-ok lesson about adjectives. Also they all called me "miss" which was funny. So overall, a semi-success!
I think I'm finally starting to like it here. The other people from the program are all weird in their own way:
Sylvia is an older Australian woman whom I was afraid of at first because she went on and on about how young I was and how impossible teaching was going to be. I'm pretty sure, though, that she's just a motherly type who's worried for me. So now she calls me "dear" and all is well.
Steph is a 20-something Canadian who seems to be the most normal of them all so far. She's going to be here longer than the rest (until I leave) , so it seems like a promising friendship.
Gina is a 20-something from upstate New York. She's one of those loud, dramatic, over-the-top type people who normally I wouldn't be friends with, but since that's impossible, she's really starting to grow on me. She's also an army wife who hasn't seen her husband in 15 months. So that might make anyone crazy.
Kyle is an American who's been living in Bulgaria for 10 years. He's in a wheelchair and, according to Sylvia, "needs to get out more." She gave him a big lecture at dinner last night and he just looked like he wanted to die.
Last is Chris, the in-country director, who at first I thought was just a nice, bumbling British guy and now irritates me like no other. This seems to be a pretty common opinion among the group. He also has a Nepali wife who looks to be in her early twenties (he's over sixty), and a two-year-old son. Sylvia thinks that the wife has "someone else" who "helped" her with the kid. Hmm.
SO things are really starting to work out. I switched my teaching time so I can take the bus (aka van stuffed with 50 people) with Sylvia and Steph, and since my teaching is only an hour and a half, I think I'm going to help them out at the orphanage in the afternoon. I'm going there today, so that'll be interesting. Sylvia says that "they're lovely, but with loads of snots."
Anyway. That's it for now. Hopefully the upward turn will continue! How is everybody? Love, I'll write more soon!

Things are looking up (a little)

Today's my last day at the Kathmandu Guest House, and officially the start of my English-teaching program. Today I get in a rickshaw (scary?) and try to find the Student Guest House...hopefully I won't end up paying 50 dollars and getting completely lost. Who knows what this place will be like, but I think I might have my own bathroom (hurrah!) so that's something. The in-country coordinator is supposed to meet me there and tonight we are supposedly having dinner with all the volunteers. So crossing my fingers that we all get along...and that maybe I make a friend!
The last couple days have been a lot of the usual (feeling really lonely and wanting to go home, etc.) but also some fun. On my second day here I was lurking in the garden as usual and saw a young-ish woman sitting alone so I finally got up my courage and went over to talk. She was British and had been traveling by train for two months, stopping here on her way to a job as a massage therapist (hmm...) in India. Anyway we decided to venture out and walked from the guesthouse to Durbar Square. It was great to get out and be smack in the middle of it all, and also really nice to just have someone to talk to! Thamel is such a weird mix of modern (knock-off North Face stalls, internet cafes) and old (fabrics, pots, and random shrines and temples all randomly thrown together).
Then yesterday I called Raj's (my dad's just-moved-to-the-US Nepali friend) sister, who came and picked me up with her 16-year-old daughter and younger son. They took me to the Buddhist monastary of Swayambunath where there were tons of MONKEYS everywhere (they laughed at me becasue I got so excited), then to the big Hindu temple - I forgot the name - where really loud Nepali music was blaring and about 50 bodies were being cremated along the river, then finally to Bodhnath, the Tibetan community/mondastary where I'll be teaching. They were all really friendly and it was especially fun to talk to the daughter...she spoke good-ish English and on the way back whipped out her cell phone/music player and started playing me Rihanna and singing along in semi-English (her cell phone was also all in English...much be weird to live in a place where so much is not in your language). She also asked for my email and said she would write me. Which was cute...Raj's sister also said she wanted to take me out again so I am supposed to call her later this week. Yay!
Anyway my time's running out on the internet but that's the gist of things so far, I'll definitely update soon about the new hostel/program/weird people I'll hopefully meet. As always though I can't explain how much I miss you all and please write me things!
Much love.

I want to go home

I'm sitting in the 'business center' of the Kathmandu Guest House. I think I may have made a huge mistake. So far, everyone seems to have come with someone and even though I've sat out in the courtyard a few times looking desperate and alone, the only person who's talked to me was an old lady from New Zealand on tour. Anyway, I got here without a problem. I love Korean Air and watched about 5 trashy movies, had an easy night in a semi-fancy Korean hotel (turns out that Korea basically looks like the US, including English signs). The flight to Kathmandu was pretty boring except for when the Japanese businessman next to me spilled his entire bowl of seaweed soup on himself. Landing in Kathmandu was pretty surreal. The difference between it and Seoul was immediately obvious: in Seoul, when the guy from the hotel picked me up and carried my baggage to my room i started reaching in my wallet for a tip and he backed out of room blushing and repeating "No, no, it's ok, no." In Kathmandu, when a wheezing old man carried my bags three feet from the airport to the beat-up Kathmandu Guest House van, I accidentally pulled a twenty out of my bag instead of a one. The five "pick-up drivers" immediately started shouting and gesturing "Yes, good tip, give it to him, yes!" and finally i got so flustered that I just gave in (after all, the guy was about 80 and about the same weight).
The drive from the airport to the guesthouse was pretty overwhelming. Everything was just more: the noises and the sounds and the colors and the smells. Everyone was honking and kids were banging on my window begging money and we almost hit about 50 people. I've been a little to scared to go back out into it, and trying to make a few friends here first. Mostly so far I'm just really, really lonely and wish someone was here with me. But I've decided to walk to Durbar Square this afternoon no matter what! So here's to independence and hopefully a friend very soon.
I miss you all like crazy. Write me an email or something, I'll be ecstatic to hear anything from anybody! Love.

I leave tomorrow!

So. I've made a blog! Right now I don't really have much to say except for that tomorrow I catch a plane for Kathmandu and I am terrified. Little back-up: I'm going to Nepal for 5 weeks to teach English in a Buddhist monastery and then trek/bum around, etc. I'm all packed (taking possibly the ugliest set of clothes ever) and ready to go (ish). Anyway I'll try to update this when I can and hopefully post pictures so check back when you'd like! And I'd love to hear from everyone so write me back and tell me how your lives are going/send me an email (srforman@gmail.com)...

I'll miss you all!!!