Half Way There

It is so beyond bizarre to even think that thought. How could I possibly have reached the five week mark? How could it possibly already be half way over. This trip has been planned and counted down for for so long to be living it and feel is swoosh by is the oddest sensation.

I feel like I've done so much and seen so much and at the same time I feel like I haven't even seen a thing. I'm grateful to have five weeks ahead of me, and also severely daunted by just the thought.

The most important things I've learned here aren't about photography at all. I've learned how to adapt to cultures and different media systems. I've learned to decipher foreign accents. I've learned that being a woman in other parts of the world can truly truly mean a real struggle. I've learned a bus system. I've learned how to barder down a taxi. I've learned that lychees are my favorite fruit and that I'm probably allergic to lychees. I've learned that going it alone is terrifying and exhilarating. I've learned how to best take photos while on the back of a motorcycle and I've learned that I truly despise shooting landscapes. I've learned that Siddartha Gautama is controversially believed to have been born in Lumbini. I've learned that I absolutely love to meditate. I've learned that I truly, truly love trees, a trait of my mother's I didn't know I had. I've learned that momos, and yak cheese momos at that, are by far the most delicious thing to in eat in Nepal. I've learned to live off of dhal bhat. I've learned about political tension and cultural celebration. I've learned about Sherpas, and I've learned about the Rai. I've learned that my knee is strong enough for yoga again. I've learned how to become friends with people I would otherwise never be friends with. I've learned how to gently remove street childrens' grasps from my arms as they beg for money or food. Ive learned how to do laundry In a bucket. I've learned how to plant rice. I've learned what local raksi tastes like. I've learned that I have a slight fear of cows- the hard way. I've learned what spider bites look like and I've learned that sleeping with headphones in drowns out the sound of the single mosquito that finds its way into my room every single night. I've learned that no matter how many people rip on the US I will always be proud of the place that raised me. I've learned that chaidayna means I don't need it in Nepali. I've learned how to befriend perfect strangers on the bus and I've learned how to ward off Nepali men in every direction.

And so, be it that not one of the things I've listed above was a single thing I've learned about photography, almost everyone of them, if not everyone of them, has taught me so much about surviving in this world and how to be a better visual journalist. The more I see the more I understand. I'm a big believer in that one. And I think my life long goal of growing into the best photojournalist I can be will benefit so much from the summer I was 20 and went and saw and lived and breathed Nepal for the first time. I think being here is teaching me how to travel, how to survive, and how to get across a message to a people so different from your own. For me this internship is about learning how to tell a story with photographs while struggling to understand loose translations with nothing but dhal bhat in my stomach. Honestly. It's waking up to a huge black bruise from slipping while getting on a motor bike. Hell- it's getting on a motor bike with quite literally a perfect stranger because you're lost and about to just give up on Nepal and walk all the way home. It's about meeting people, as many as you can, and letting each of them teach you something. And I can only hope that meeting all of these people and learning something from each of them will help me to clearly see and understand the human condition. Because- my work is illustrating the human condition in a way that will cause other humans to react and understand and know a situation different from their own.

My supervisor sent me an article here that I read recently which was about a photographer who talked with a street boy who was looking at a news paper. She asked if he could read and he, as is extremely common in Nepal, replied no. No, but he could see the pictures, and from those photographs in that paper he saw more than he probably ever will have the chance to see himself in person. And so even if he couldn't read the captions under the photos he was able to make a story in his mind to go along with the photos.

The point is- as much as I'm longing for home and all of my favorite foods and a good mattress, my internship here in Nepal is feeding this photojournalist in me and teaching me so much about international photojournalism, which is exactly why I came here.

Today on the fourth of July I had dhal bhat for lunch. And I'm longing for one of my dad's amazing nut burgers and BBQ chips. I'm longing for corn on the cob and fireworks in the dead end. I missed the parade with the donuts and the orange juice. It's hard to be away on days filled with memories and traditions but it is also fun, to celebrate here by wearing my blue pants and taking it easy. I know I'll always remember the Fourth I spent in Kathmandu the same way I have crystal clear memories of the Fourth last summer in Oaxaca.

It's been an amazing five weeks in that regard. Halfway done- but manyyyy an exciting adventure to come! Stay tuned for Part II...