Just Like That

Remember when I promised to blog again? And I didn't. I knew I wouldn't. But I like to think if I found time I could...

Here I am with one moment to take a breath. Life got busy, back here in the real world and now that I've been home for two weeks I'm starting to really miss that place I called home all summer long. My roommate and I burned incense last night and I just sat sniffing the box it came out of because, well because it was just so Nepal. I'm holding on to the little things that remind me of that great place and all those adventures.

People keep asking "How were your travels?" I think because no one can remember Nepal. It makes me sad, and then I answer "It was good." I don't know what else to say in such a short hand conversation. It sucked, I cried, It was beautiful, I laughed, I got blisters, I breathed the pollution in, I held the zippers closed on my back pack everywhere I went, I learned how to appropriately and not so appropriately use the phrase "chaidayna," I took a zillion pictures, I ate delicious food, and the worst food of my life, I got bitten by spiders, I drank tea, it was amazing, it was awful,- that's the truth. It sucked. It was the best time of my life. It was both. It sucked while being the best time of my life. It's possible to be both. That's the truth. It was no butterflies and rainbows, but I saw butterflies and rainbows. Am I making sense here?

The hard part is people want you to cry over being back, they want to hear you're counting down the days to go back. But I'm not. I'd go back, I would. But I need some time. I need time to think and process and let the frustration cleanse out of my system. I know everyone wants to think travel is glamorous and nothing more than a great time, but that isn't reality. Travel is nearly the opposite of glamour, or at least what I experienced of Nepal and India this summer were. But- what I think makes a person who loves travel is someone who loves traveling even though it comes with all the dirty crap, the puddles, the taxis whose doors swing open while you're in them, the spider bites that you think might be cause for full limb amputation, the allergies, the experience of eating nothing but dhal bhat, the lies, the manipulation, the constantly being ripped off, the publicly being touched, and the running to jump on a moving bus, the really really crappy stuff, and I still can't wait to travel the world.

So even though you all want to hear how magnificent Monkey Temple was, here is what I, someone who lived just a few miles from it all summer have to say: Monkey Temple is also known as Swayambunath Stupa. Buddhist Monks live and pray there. There happen to be lots of entertaining monkeys. The view is beautiful. People who look like tourists get charged to go in. If you are white, latino, arab, or chinese looking- you're out of luck. All of the shop owners are trying to play mind games with you and swindle you out of money. The monks themselves aren't always true to what you might think core Buddhist values may be, but let's not get into that. Taxi drivers wait at the bottom of the steps to drive tourists at prices sometimes even five or six times the actual cost. Those taxi drivers can't read english, nor really speak it. Women, except tourists, aren't really seen there all that often, if they are Nepali they are most likely found in a corner on a date making out and this holy site. Women once married around the common ages of 19 or 20 are expected to not leave the home. Homeless children run out the hills of the stupa all day long looking for tourists to beg from. --So while you want to see my touristy photos and talk about the monkeys, I want to remind you all that my heart is heavy for Nepal because I didn't just visit, I lived there, and I know just how broken that beautiful place is.

It was great. It was awful. The best time of my life, and the really not so greatest time of my life. All rolled into one. So, don't think of me poorly for being an aware world traveller. I'm not in desperate desire to see the fake parts of the world. I stood at Boudhannath Stupa and watched naked babies run around on burning hot bricks in the middle of the day. I stood at Boudhannath yes, and well let's all admit that is pretty stinking awesome, but please remember I stood at Boudhannath watching naked babies who clearly hadn't had baths run around on burning hot bricks in the middle of the day. I don't have the Eiffel Tower and The Great Wall of China on my bucket list. I have the people of the world, and the languages, and the food, and the struggles, and the laughter, and the joy, and the tears, the brokenness and the beauty on my bucket list. That's the truth.

Now that I've managed to devote way too much time to this- I'm on the run again! Back to life here in the US of A. Until next time my lovely blog readers!

Keep an eye out for a Morocco blog possibly coming in the next few months!

Transitions

Today I leave Nepal. And, as I did last summer I will leave a part of my heart here. I leave it with the little girls who live in Bungamati on a rice plantation. I leave it with the street dogs who have been burned by acid. I leave it with the security guard at Bhat Bhateni who smiles and nods when he sees me nearly everyday. I leave it with the bus yeller who always recognized me and made sure I got off at the right stop. I leave it with Tommy and I leave it with Ram's motorbike. I leave my heart with all of the interns still in the house and I leave it with the men that bike the neighborhood at six o'clock in the morning every morning screaming for cardboard. I leave it with all the cans of lychee juice I won't be able to drink. I leave it with the kids who live near White Gumba Monastery who swing on prayer flags everyday. I leave it with the monkeys, even the one who lunged at me and scratched me that one time. I leave a part of my heart with yak cheese momos and the men that follow you around thamel playing wooden violins and the men saying "rickshaw" time and time again. I leave my heart with the elephants that carried me and splashed water in my face. I leave my heart with all the organizations I've visited and learned from, I leave it with the orphans, and the street children I've met. I leave the largest part of my heart with Shila, my host mother and Jenica the home's "helper" more than anything else in this entire country. There isn't doubt in my mind that I will think back to them every day for a while to come and even years from now I will hope that they are doing well. 

It has hit, about 12 hours left in this incredibly complicated country. It is beautiful and it terrible, tragic and amazing; Nepal is too many things rolled into one tiny place. 

To be honest I can't believe I did it. I lived here for 10 weeks and I survived. No other place has ever taught me so much, and definitely not in such a short period of time.  

It is over and it is going to take time to readjust back to normal life at home.

I know I'll never forget this place I just hope all the little pieces to the story stay with me forever as well. My biggest fear is forgetting. 

Now- if you are feeling inspired to go on an adventure and get lost and just to experience life and the world, or- if you are looking to feel inspired in such a way, I highly suggest the film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which I believe truly inspired me to come on this unbelievable journey to Nepal. It's not always easy- no- it's never easy, but it is always worth it. I leave you with my current life motto:

"To see the world, things dangerous to come, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel.  That is the purpose of life." -The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Goodbyes

It is time for good byes.

My last trip to Bhat Bhateni.
My last time in Thamel.
My last giggle at the monkeys.
My last dhal bhat.
My last Saturday morning Shila's pancake.
My last time petting Tommy.
My last time getting a taxi.
My last time riding a bus.
My last time on a motorcycle.
My last night sleeping in these god for saken beds.
My last shower.
My last outfit.
My last hug and laugh and time saying "Namaste."


It is my last of a lot more things too, like my last time at the office and my last photo published in The Kathmandu Post. My last Hindu festival, and my last time walking out of that front blue gate.

I'm sad.
I'm sad to leave another home of mine behind.
I'll miss it for always. The feelings and memories and experiences here, I'll miss them for always.

All of that being said- if someone turned around tomorrow and offered me a chance to stay another day, week, or month, I would without a doubt in my mind turn it down. I want to go. It is time to go home.

So I will board a plane and wave good bye. Then board another plane, and then another, and finally in approximately 61 hours, I will be in Detroit, my birthplace and homeland, hugging my mom and eating McDonalds. Sounds gosh darn fabulous to me.

Expectations:

I'm expecting to arrive back in the states and experience some serious reverse culture shock. Here is what I'm expecting:

-Everything to be clean
-Everything to be quiet
-Everything to smell nice
-Everything will be big
-The ground to be very... flat
-Being overwhelmed by the air quality
-Being overwhelmed by flushing drinkable water
-Bottles of water seeming very small
-Stores to seem massive, yes Kroger, I'm referring to you
-Everything to be way too expensive
-Crying at the comfort of a mattress
-Confusion about how a couch could be so comfortable
-Joy over the speed of the internet
-Everything to be very bright with a million lights on everywhere
-Traffic to be extremely slow and calm
-Confusion at the lack of motorbikes
-Confusion when I can't find any cows roaming the streets
-My dogs to seem very, very, very, small
-Being cold
-Pop to fizz
-Food portion sizes to be huge
-Confusion about what side of the road to drive on and what side of the car the steering wheel is on
-Mass amounts of grass...
-Mass amounts of trees...
-Shock at seeing meat served on plates, and watching people eat it...

Namaste Mero Sathi

Today I was walking home and a little old lady who looked to be 112-years-old, though I'm sure she was a lot closer to 76 was just squatting in the road. Nepalis squat a lot, they have that agility in them. Anyway, she saw me looked up, and said something in Nepali then put her palms together and slightly lowered her head to say Namaste.

She- who was likely born in 1938, years before Nepal's independence, saw this white foreigner (wearing my OHIO t-shirt), and still had it in her to be so kind to me, for no reason other than recognizing I too am a human, living in this life also.

It is little happy moments, of sincere kindness I will miss from Nepal and Nepali people. I will miss the rare local giving up their seat to me on the bus because clearly I'm a foreigner and overly concerned about my back pack zippers staying shut. I'll miss the little girls in school uniforms excitedly saying hello to me. I will miss the dogs at the KAT centre, my favorites, who recognize me now, running up to me thrilled that I'm back. All those little moments, I hope I'll remember all of those, that made me feel like maybe, just maybe I could actually fit in, that I could belong.

Before I came to Nepal my roommates and I would practice Nepali phrases and write them on our room's white board. One of the first things we learned was Namaste Mero Sathi, which means Hello My Good Friend. Obviously you don't hear it much, because it is sort of an odd phrase, but it is a phrase I know. Today, that little lady for the first time in weeks reminded me of it. Little moments like that.

Namaste is also the Nepali word for goodbye, so for now, Namaste Mero Sathi.

Life Lessons from Dinner in Nepal

When you are 20-years-old and a photojournalism intern living in Nepal for the summer you meet all sorts of crazy people. No really, I have stories; next time we're together don't forget to ask. The other night I had an amazing dinner with some friends at a place in Thamel called OR2K. It was by far the best meal I've ever had in Nepal.

The point is, sitting around this round dinner table at OR2K, was a 17-year-old from Spain, a 19-year-old from China, a 19-year-old from Nepal, a 23-year-old from Rhode Island, a 26-year-old from Germany, a 27-year-old from Brazil, and a 20-year-old from Michigan. One volunteering in an orphanage, one researching waste management, one studying photography, one volunteering in a different orphanage, one teaching english at a monastery, one a Buddhist Monk, and one an intern for a newspaper. We kept joking that if only we had an Australian or an Africa we'd really reach full circle.

We sat and ate and laughed and told stories and just enjoyed dinner together.

Traveling and throwing yourself into the deep end, (I consider a ten week trip to Nepal alone a form of a deep end), is the only way to meet these people, and to experience the world. It isn't about week long trips to resorts or even to visit national monuments, but trust me those can be fun too, but that is just different. Travel is to sit and listen and learn and understand and to laugh, to laugh and to breathe in a totally new place, a new culture, a new way of life, a new you.

The thing is when I got here, I felt very "under-travelled" with everyone around me seeming like experts. But, I've been here longer than most interns and not only do I think that says something, but, I'm also 20. I'm 20 and I wasn't born to parents who are foreign diplomats, or to rich european parents where world travel is just a part of life.

I'm a simple American girl with a very American family. We take pride in our roots and where our family lineage is from before the journey to The States, but I like to pick apples in an apple orchard, and carve pumpkins; I grew up on Applebees and Coney Island, I had a swing set in my back yard and played with Barbies past what I now realize was a "normal" age. I'm an American. Family vacations were to Up North, in Oscoda, and Mackinac, Petosky, and Traverse City. We would fly down to Florida for a week at the beach and stay with my grandparents. I went to Disney World and waited in lines for Princesses to sign my autograph book all day long, Ariel twice. My family, considered decently adventurous where we are from, took trips to Arizona, three times, and California, twice, and Oregon, and Washington, and New Mexico, and South Dakota, and Wyoming, and Maine, and Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, and so many other places. I honestly feel like I've seen more of the States than most Americans. And I haven't even started on all of the Caribbean Islands I've been to, because that is just a whole lot.

I've travelled. I've been places. I've picked up and left home enough times that my first two "real" jaunts out of the States have just inspired me to keep going. Because those short distance trips that people here might scoff at, have taught me to love plopping myself in some unknown location and just figuring it out. Because finding ostrich farms and rose gardens, and Wal-Drug, and the Kimberly-Clark house prepared me to take a six hour bus ride to Royal Chitwan National Park and get on an elephant in the middle of a river. Because I've sat in enough air ports to think nothing of a weekend trip to India and a day train ride trip to see the Taj Mahal. While I haven't come close to touching every continent I've been to Pow Wows in the woods of northern Michigan and taken a duck boat in Boston, I've stared at the Grand Canyon from every (god forsaken) angle, I've been whale watching in Maine, and eaten an entire freshly cooked lobster on the shore. I've been horseback riding in more states than I can remember, and one time my family stumbled in on a dress rehearsal of a local performance of the Sound of Music. While my family never took me to Asia or Africa or Europe or South America, they taught me how to travel, how to have adventures, to be brave and daring and risk it all for that little memory that you will cherish forever.

Between Mexico last summer and Nepal this summer, I'm reigning in with Morocco this winter, and most likely Spain next summer. I'm only 20 and I've just learned what it really means to travel and I'm coming, hold the plane, order me a second passport, because I'm coming.

If after reading this post you feel like you still don't know me that well, well, you're wrong. This is me and my life's dreams all wrapped up in a tiny little nut shell. I had a really great dinner with a bunch of amazing people and I'm so beyond thrilled to always have that stupid little memory. I'm freshly 20-years-old and I think this next decade of my life is off to the perfect start. 

Nepali Facts

Did you know:

• By the Nepali calendar it is currently 2071. There are signs in the local grocery store that say "Happy New Year 2071!" It isn't exactly the direction I thought I went when I arrived and felt like I had time travelled.
• Men with short hair grow tiny little pony-tail-like bits of hair on the crowns of their heads.
• Men grow out their pinky finger nails, as far as I can tell as a sign of wealth to advertise that they don't work in manual labor.
• Most all Hindu women have their noses pierced, getting them pierced as young girls is quite common. Nose piercings are always on the woman's left side.
• Tibetan women do not pierce their noses, making it easy to identify them from Hindu Nepalis. They do sometimes, usually older women, have their septums pierced however.
• When in Nepal you will hear the word "hajur?" 72 billion times a day, it means loosely "what?" or  "yes?"
• Solar panels are extremely cheap and popular in Nepal, and are often used for heating water for bathing.
• The caste system is still very much in place, despite how much some try to deny it.
• Power outages happen on a national schedule, called "load shedding."
• Nepal wakes up with the sun, and sleeps with it as well. The night life only exists for tourists, and it is impossible to sleep in here between the birds the dogs and the screaming men on bikes collecting cardboard.
• The weekend is one day. One day. Just Saturdays.

July 2014

In July I:

took photos
rode an elephant
went to Hindu festivals
ate dhal bhat
went canoeing
went to a Nepali paper factory
ate momos
bathed with an elephant
saw a wild peacock
obsessed over eggs
bought a salwar
tried lychee candies
went to a local Nepali market
saw a wild elephant
attended a Nepali wedding
tried a McVeggie burger from McDonald's
took a great picture of a puddle
went to a Tibetan Refugee Camp
ate a lot of Pringles
watched a Nepali photography award ceremony
saw a wild rhino
walked through a photo gallery
went to India
went to the KAT centre
sat at a mind numbing event in Nepali
saw the Taj Mahal
went to Monkey Temple
was scratched by a monkey
made new friends
was published
went to a Nepali orphanage
did bucket laundry
got caught in a monsoon
witnessed a motocycle accident
was sexually harassed on a bus
rode on a bike rickshaw
went to a mosque
watched children swing on prayer flags
went to a rice paddy
listened to Sunny Sunny Pani Pani

Times a Ticking

Okay, it has hit. I have 10 days left after today. I still have so much to do and see.
I have every last day planned out so that hopefully I can get everything done.
Can't wait to be home, but I'm really going to miss this place...

Sunny Sunny Pani Pani

You know how certain times of your life are defined by the most popular song at the moment? For instance we can all think back to the craze of Call Me Maybe the summer of 2012.

Well in Nepal the summer for 2071 (it is 2071 by the Nepali calendar which is very much dominant here), that song is Sunny Sunny Pani Pani. Sunny as in the sun outside, Pani means water. Sunny sunny pani pani; Sunny sunny water water. They repeat it over and over.

I have heard this song nearly every day. Okay not quite, but I've heard it a lot and when it plays the locals go crazy.

Here is a glimpse into Nepali dream culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTfkSDlDvM0

Culture Shock: It's Heart Healthy

The thing is Nepal isn't really scary anymore. I walk through oncoming traffic to ask a Nepali man if the bus he is on goes to "Bhat Bhateni." And, not only do they mostly recognize me now, (really one bus guy saw me yesterday and just nodded before I even asked) since I really only travel between Baluwater to Ten Cuni, and Ten Cuni to Bhat Bhateni, but I've also mastered the pronunciation to sound Nepali. If you say Bot Bottany, not Bot Ba-teny, they understand you the first time perfectly. Same goes for saying Teen Koonay, instead of Ten Kooni, and definitely don't try to say Kantipur (or you'll end up in Kiritpur). The men that collect money on busses have even stopped ripping me off-- keep in mind I had no idea I was being ripped off for about seven weeks, but all of a sudden I'm getting two rupees back at the end of my bus rides. The cashiers at the grocery store don't even try to bag my items anymore, knowing I'm the white girl that just puts it all into my backpack. The men at the momo stand outside the grocery store know my name, though they call me Prianna like everyone else in Nepal, which I've been told (time and time again) means something like "lovely" in Nepali. I know how to get a taxi and not get ripped off, a skill I must admit I've only acquired in the past week. I know how to get a micro bus to Bishal Nagar from Civil Mall. I know to answer that I'm from "America" and not "the United States," "the States," or "the U.S." - Nepalis will have no clue what you're talking about, to the point that they will think you said "Italy" (which I considered playing up, since sometimes I think it'd be nice not to be from where I am, based on the responses I'm left to deal with). I feel like I know all the secrets.

I get it. Now. But it has been a hell of eight weeks to get to this place. And it is kind of disappointing to have to leave this- everything I've worked for all summer. I finally get it, I can finally do it, and off I go.

But, I need to go, I need to. So from here, all I can hope is that, maybe the growth I've seen in myself here, the boost of confidence all of these baby steps have brought me, will carry over into my future travels and maybe even at home.

New places will always be a little weird and take a little time, but I think if I do it enough, maybe every time will be just a little bit easier. And easier sounds nice.

I counted yesterday, and I have about 123 days in The United States once I get back from Nepal before I leave again. Just enough time for me to re-adjust, and then throw myself into the foreign "deep end" again. I was talking to one of the interns the other day about culture shock. And isn't there something to be said simply  by its existence? I think feeling it and experiencing culture shock can teach a person so much. As painful and terrifying as it can be, I think its healthy. It makes you feel something on the inside, it makes you question all of your ideals and intentions and dreams and goals and you are forced to find something within yourself to adapt to accomplish those dreams. Like running a marathon (not that I've ever come close,) but you set your body in front of this insane challenge that is going to take it so far away from what is normal to you, but in the end you'll be stronger for it. Culture shock: it's heart healthy.

So I'll enjoy my two weeks of Nepali normalcy, then I'll take probably four weeks to go through some serious reverse culture shock thats awaiting me at home in Novi and Athens. Then I'll have just under 100 days to be in my comfort zone at home, and then back to culture shock, and I'm not going to lie, I'm really excited to see what that will be like after what Nepal has put me through.

If I thought I had a travel bug before, I must have a travel dinosaur now, because that little thing inside me pushing me to go and see, it seems to have grown.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/kellie-donnelly/2014/07/the-hardest-part-about-traveling-no-one-talks-about/ 

A Home in Transition

I live at Lovely Home. Lovely Home is known to a lot of people here in Kathmandu. It is called Lovely Home because, well the house is quite lovely. We introduce one another to outside friends by saying "he/she lives at Lovely Home with me," and people understand.

I have lived with five constant Nepalis, several not-so-constant Nepalis, and two French girls, one French guy, two Canadian girls, one Canadian guy, one Chinese guy, one Chinese girl, three Saudi Arabian boys (we think?...) , one (sort of) British/Canadian/Costa Rican girl, one American guy, and three American girls in just the past eight weeks of my life.

This home is always an adventure, there is always a friend and rarely an enemy. I feel like I've learned more from all of them than possibly any Nepali... maybe... that or it's a really close tie. We eat three meals a day together, we sit around together at night, we do bucket laundry together and when it starts to rain when one of us isn't home we run out and grab their drying laundry from the line. We eat toast, and share peanut butter, we eat dhal bhat, and celebrate together when we rarely get noodle soup for dinner. We learn Nepali from Shila at meal time and we get asked "enough?" by Jenica. We wake up and fall asleep at the same time. We take turns buying toilet paper and we scream frantically to squish massive spiders together. We name the rats and the mice that live at Lovely Home with us, Carlos, Rodolpho, and Siddartha respectively. We chase Tommy (our host dog) down the street when he breaks his way out of the gate. We make "late night" Bhat Bhateni (the local grocery store which closes at 9:00 pm) runs for chocolate together. We make inside jokes until we are crying we're laughing so hard. And some nights? The really good ones? We sit up on the roof together and talk about life. 

This is Lovely Home.

So, when someone leaves, at first it just feels so empty. Then, it starts to fall back together and feel normal, until new interns come, and we count down the days for new interns to come. We love new people. Because sharing this house with so many crazy people you'd otherwise never meet, is half the fun, and the other half is getting to show them the ropes, which is when it really hits you... I've been the veteran of this house since my second week. And right now there are only two people here currently that will be here after me. So new people will come soon and its odd to think that now I don't know them, but they will be the hugs I receive on my last day in Nepal, and they will be the faces standing in the yard waving as I drive off with all my luggage.

Its an odd cycle of life here but it keeps everything new and exciting.

Only 15 days left... Holy Cow...

Initiation, Puddles, and a Countdown

Yesterday I watched a 1-year-old vomit into it's mother's cupped hand on the bus, and then she would dump it out the window, she wasn't sitting next to the window, I feel like I should mention that. Did she jump up and rush off the bus? Did she find a bag? Did she stick her kid out the window? Nope. She just kept cupping it and dumping it. Then the baby cried. Then she began to breast feed it. Having seen this, well, I feel like it was a sort of initiation into Nepali culture; no longer can anyone deny that I saw the real Nepal.

I also fell asleep on a different bus ride and successfully woke up at every stop to see if it was my stop. I got off perfectly at the right time. I also feel that it was sort of an initiation, only locals can master that skill.

My assignment was to take photos of the effects of the rain in the streets. So, pretty much, I was told to take pictures of puddles. I was determined to find the best photograph of puddles I could. And, to be honest? I think I did it. I felt like Rory Gilmore in season two when Paris assigns her a story on the re-pavement of the parking lot of Chilton, and in the end the teacher complements Rory on turning a "seemingly mundane" story into something heartfelt and touching. Turns out other people liked them too and I was published online, in The Kathmandu Post, and a short photo story in The Kantipur Daily. You want a puddle? I'll show you a puddle.

Not going to lie I'm counting down the days until I get home... hours even, 419 hours until I'm in Detroit. That being said- I am starting to feel the sadness creeping in as well. This place has become a strange little home for me, and I've found so much of myself here. But- as a Nepali man once told me "Home is home, some even say home is sweeter than the heaven above," and well I couldn't agree more. Home is home, and I'm a big believer in "home is where your mom is," and my mom is in Detroit. So I will count down these last 419 hours with a touch of sadness at the thought of leaving this new strange home, but just looking forward to hugging my mom.

That One Time In India

So around 11:00 am I landed back in Kathmandu, Nepal. The flight from Delhi was really short, I fell asleep nearly before we were off the ground and woke up to read my book. It was a quick and bumpy landing then a cheap (ish) taxi ride back home, not much has changed, except for the one business in my neighborhood has come quite a long way on reconstructing the wall in the front that holds the gate, not that any of you care about that. I walked in and about a half hour later I was eating dhal bhat again... It wasn't the dhal bhat alone that made me wish so desperately to be back in Delhi...

The weekend went like this...

I arrived in Delhi around 9:00 pm, just a little later than expected due to the monsoon that was occurring. I exchanged some money so I could have Indian Rupees and headed out the doors. There she was in a glistening see of Indians: Amanda. She even made me a sign that she held over her head that said "Brianna Griesinger," and for those of you wondering it didn't have a smiley face on it.

Due to the monsoon, there were no taxis available so Amanda and I struggled our way around until finally we got one. After Amanda gave all of the instructions necessary to the yah know local cab driver, we arrived at her guest house. Her room was wonderful, equipped with bright lights, an air conditioner, and a TV that had English channels. She also prepared for my visit with a few snacks in the room for that night. We went to bed pretty late because we both had so much to say, and well let's face it, I was mesmerized by the TV.

We slept in, since we'd been up so late, and Amanda had the day off from work. We woke up, got ready, and the guest house made us egg sandwiches (I'm currently obsessed with egg, so I was quite pleased). We headed out and Amanda bought me a metro card and we went on our way. First we went to this super old little village type place of ruins right off of a lake. It was raining so we sat and talked all about the last seven weeks. From there we went to a market that in ways reminded me of Oaxaca and in others reminded me of Kathmandu. We bought some salwar tops and a few gifts for a few of our favorite people ;) . Next we headed to get South Indian food and it was just as good as I hoped. We headed home to rest, because even with the rain in the morning, Delhi is hot. We hung out in the room until, ya know, well, our stomachs settled down a bit... and then we headed out to the mall to buy pants to go with my salwars. We also stopped and got ice cream cones (from McDonalds, nice and safe) and then headed home.

We woke up around 5:00 am on Saturday got dressed, and woke up our taxi driver off the couch to remind him he'd agreed to drive us to the train station. (While that last sentence was a loose translation, lacking the details, everything I just stated was oh so very true). We made it to the train station in time and found our platform. If anything has ever smelled awful in my entire life its the Delhi train station we were at. Poverty and dirt at its finest. Mothers stand facing the tracks on the platforms and their children squat without pants on and hold their mothers ankles mean while crapping, if you can even call it that, more like diarrhea-ing neon yellow, into the train tracks. Sorry for that, but hey you're the one that kept reading past "crapping, if you can even call it that, more like" which really is probably where you should've stopped, I however had to say it, for I feel it important for you to know the state of this train station.

Then we went to the Taj Mahal.

No really that's about how it happened, after some haggling and ya know paying way more than we should have... we got in an auto rickshaw, and then walked through a "neighborhood," down some dark stairs, through a few more streets with curves and twists and asking a few locals... we reached the Taj Mahal. The security is actually pretty decently intense considering it's India, unfortunately we lost some valuable items in the process. But just past security, there it was, in all its glory, the freaking Taj Mahal (as Amanda and I kept calling it). It wasn't one of those places you hear about where like you see it and your like oh it's tiny and dumb... it was magestical, as I like to call things, it was big, really big, and white, really, really white. We walked all around and saw it from all sorts of angles and views, we took photos and we strapped on our little booties and we went inside the freaking Taj Mahal. It was bizarre to actually be there. Amanda and I kept just looking at each other and laughing, in disbelief.

After we went to the Red Fort I believe it was called which was beautiful and had super cool views of the Taj Mahal. The problem was it was hot. Very hot.

We did other stupid pointless things and then, literally ran to catch the train back to Delhi.

Sunday we slept in and took the metro into Old Delhi, it was a bit more like Kathmandu there. Tons of people out and about, people screaming and running at us simply for being white, markets and religion and monkeys and mosques and it was just really wonderful. On top of everything else our bike rickshaw driver had a good soul, but really I loved him dearly, he was amazing at his job.

I also have to admit, we went to McDonalds (there are none in Nepal, and a zillion in Delhi alone), and I tried a McVeggie Burger, because when in India, and at McDonalds with a McVeggie Burger on the menu, as a vegetarian I HAD to. It was utterly delicious.

We went back and rested in the room and went traipsing out for a good quality dinner before I returned back to the land of dhal bhat.

And well here I am, sitting in Lovely Home writing a blog post, missing Amanda dearly, counting down the hours until I reach Detroit, and desperately desperately trying to re-inspire myself as a photojournalist for these last three weeks.

Ready Set Go!

Well I'm off for my flight to India in about 45 minutes! I'm beyond excited to see Amanda and to be in a fresh new place to take photos! I'm excited for everything I will get to see there and hopefully capture! I won't have my laptop with me though so I won't be able to post any new photos until most likely Monday night. Look forward to that though and I'm hoping to be able to blog while I'm there! Namaste!

Chitwan... Finally

To start, I've gotten a lot of comments lately that people didn't know there were multiple tabs to this blog! Well there are, so you should check all of them out! Especially the photos tab because it is probably the coolest of them all. So as soon as you are done reading this go go and look look!

So let me tell you the stories of that one time in Chitwan... the shortened and only the interesting stories...

The story of going to Chitwan started like this... I had heard of Chitwan National Park before arriving in Nepal, and I knew if I wanted to ride an elephant while over here in Asia, Chitwan was the key. I wanted to ride an elephant. Badly.

I waited a few weeks to get my bearings on Nepal, and quite honestly I was hoping I'd meet someone who would want to go too. Then the halfway point hit. I knew if I didn't just jump right in, I wouldn't get to go at all. So I reminded myself that I'm twenty, I'm independent, and I was going to go on a weekend trip to Chitwan National Park all by my big girl self.

So I did it. I went into Thamel one day and walked into a tourism office, paid the money, and got my bus tickets; two nights, three days, two longgggg bus rides, life changing experiences here I come!

So I woke up at 5:00 am on Friday morning, I put my big trekking backpack over my shoulders and I walked 45 minutes to the entrance to Thamel where, hopefully, my bus would be waiting. It was.

I loaded the bus and it wasn't until I was seated that I asked the man how long the bus ride was. Six hours. It had rained my entire walk there and it was early so I sat there for 45 minutes waiting for the bus to leave freezing cold with goose bumps trying to think of how hot I would be once I got there.

The bus ride was funny, a chinese guy sat next to me and kept trying to offer me food. He spoke no english so at one point he literally just handed me a banana, like put it in my hand. I looked at it confused then caught on and again reassured him I didn't want it. It was sweet, no matter how uncomfortable it made me.

Finally in Chitwan, after having panic attacks as the bus continued to stop and emptied out, that I had no idea where to get off, I found a guy with a sign to my camp. I got in a truck and we went on our way. My room was nice and I sat down for lunch as soon as I got there. A tuna fish sandwich and fries, which led to me having to explain that no it all looked delicious thank you, I just don't eat meat. Furthermore having to fight to keep the plate to just eat the fries and not have it replaced with vegetable rice was quite the battle. (I really detest rice lately, ya know with dhal bhat and all). I then met a guy from the Netherlands and we went on a park tour and to see the elephant breeding center. It was super cool. Beautiful land with water and fresh air, what more could I ask for after six weeks in one of the most polluted cities on earth?

I ate dinner, again delicious, and went to bed sooo happy and excited for Saturday.

I woke up at 5:30 am, breakfast at 6:00 am (EGGGGGGGSSS!!!!) and I headed out on a canoeing adventure! It was a long traditional canoe the entire thing made from one piece of wood from a single tree, it was pushed by one guy standing on back with a bamboo stick in hand. With all nine people in the boat we sat WAY too close to the water, less than an inch separated us from dryness and alligator infested waters. On our way we spotted a wild elephant, locals are terrified of them as they've been known for destroying villages and even killing people, so against the current we back tracked up stream until the land was safe enough for us to walk on.

Later we were walked to see elephants we were told. And there it was: a river with elephants and people in life vests laughing and screaming. It was elephant bathing. It wasn't part of my package that I'd purchased though so I'd have pay if I wanted to go... an entire whopping $2.08. So with that I put on a life vest without hesitation and climbed down the muddy shore. From there the elephants "owner" stood in the water with his hand ready for me to stand on as I lunged my entire body weight up and as far across this massive creature as I could in one giant effort. I settled myself, prepared to be thrown off and into the water like I'd just been watching be done to every other person. I had a split second to take a look down, and pet my elephant, tough skin and all, and realize holy crap I'm totally on an elephant right now. Right after I completed that thought I was tossed into the water, smacking my entire body in the river and pushing under to the bottom. I got out and right back up, this time I was determined to stay on and really soak up the view from the back of an elephant. She soaked me by throwing water back at me throwing it up in the air, pelted time and time again, dropped me in the water twice more and I was on my way. Back to the hotel to dry off for a bit.

Next came hour and a half elephant rides. It was fun, and really cool to see the world from so high up along with so many wild animals on the walk. Elephants are like bigger, tougher horses but really its a little scary how much the experience was like horseback riding. To ride an elephant though, the "owner" sits on the elephant, and then four people sit in a little box on the elephants back. Who did I sit with you ask? Just three people who live in Ann Arbor, Michigan... seriously though, someone tell me the chances of that. The world is a teeny tiny, rinky, dinky little place.

I ate dinner with a group of british students also on a weekend trip from Kathmandu, who were super nice and beyond funny. It was really refreshing to be with people my age just hanging out for a bit, (and listening to them say things like chips, jumper, lovely, and speaking of "that one girl who is dating Prince Harry", didn't hurt one bit, in fact I think I'm now obsessed with British people...)

I woke up and headed home soon after for my 9 hour, yes it took about 9 hours, not six, journey home to Kathmandu. I was completely exhausted by the end.

And here I am! Three days until India and Amanda and I'm nearly to the point of counting down the hours I'm so excited!!! But for now, work, work, work, as mind numbing as it may seem on my seventh week, I'm trying to remind myself how much I'll miss this place a month from now.

Chitwan- Pause.

Today was one of the best days of my life- but- I have to press pause. Because this day was soooo beyond epic- I feel it needs an epic blog post, and some uploaded photos to go along with it- andddd it just so happens that days that are one of the best of your entire life- make you tired. And so-I'm  exhausted and I cannot possibly do this day justice through a blog post written in my delirium sooooo, for now pause- I will post about this magnificent day. Promise.

Chitwan!!!

Well guys I made it! It was quite an adventure getting here, (a six hour bus ride on Nepali roads is exactly how I define adventure), but sooooo worth it! So far I've had lunch and dinner here and let's just say I am in no way complaining! Yummmmm. I had a great tour guide today to show me around the village and I've already seen so many different animals including wild crocodiles and wild rhinos! I saw tons of elephants too but those weren't wild. I met a guy here from the Netherlands and he seems to be doing a similar program as me so we stuck together today and went to the planned cultural program tonight. Lets just say there was a dance with a man dressed as a peacock, and well, if you  know anything about me it's that humans dressed up in large outfits pretending to be something they're not, aka Rufus the Bobcat, clowns, any mascot, etc., NOT my thing. So I laughed awkwardly and am now super wiped out from my extremely long day.

Tomorrow has great possibility but I'm not going to jinx it so hopefully I'll have great surprises for tomorrow's blog post!

And on a great note I have wifi here!

Chitwan is awesome though and just having a break from Kathmandu to breathe fresh air and sleep in a new place outside of the noisy city is just a great opportunity. So I'm going to soak every last bit up and get ready for bed. ... It's so quiet here, really, I'm so excited to sleep!!! Namaste from Chitwan!

An Adventure in an Adventure

Tomorrow early I leave for Chitwan National Park. That's right, I'm taking a weekend vacation by myself. It should be lots of fun as long as I can find the bus I'm supposed to take at 6:30 am!

I'm excited and nervous and I really hope it will be worth it! I'm not sure I will have Internet there but I can hope! If not I will be back on the 13th! Hopefully I will be able to blog my adventures as they happen!

Now I better sleep so I can get up at 5:20 am!

Good night!

India!

I AM EXTREMELY EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT I WILL OFFICIALLY BE GOING TO NEW DELHI, INDIA TO VISIT MY FRIEND AMANDA ON THE 17TH!!! We have plans to go to the Taj Mahal in Agra for a day trip and explore Delhi and suffer through the heat together! I AM SO BEYOND EXCITED!!! 

Success!

So today I started the day with two slices of peanut butter toast and a small cup of milk tea.

Then I went back to the Indian Embassy to drop off my passport to hopefully get my visa. Here's the story- at 10:33 am I walked in and they were on number 15, I got my number... 42. It was already past an hour since they'd opened but breakfast was late and I took a taxi there as quickly as I could. Would we get to my number in time if it closed at 12:00 pm? At 11:52 am exactly my number was finally called. I handed over my passport willingly and answered a few simple questions to prove I remembered what I'd put on my visa application I suppose.

From there I walked to Thamel. A friend had told me about a tourism place that he took to visit Chitwan. I have wandered every corner of Thamel to find it and couldn't so I just stopped in the nicest looking one I could find. They were wonderful, and charged me way more than I should probably be paying however--- it has officially been arranged that I will be visiting Chitwan the 11th-13th! I'm super excited, and just hoping it all works out. The men arranging the trip were beyond nice and even sat there and looked up my website to see my work once I told them I was a photographer.

Next I wandered and found a place to have lunch and had an amazing, practically life changing iced tea with my lunch.

From there... I took a, let's call it interesting, taxi ride to the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre. Once there (might I add getting there was quite the adventure, but hey I was only lost for about an hour) I spoke on the phone with the founder briefly to go over my plan and then got my first real sight of the centre. They recently moved locations so things are a bit of chaos right now but I met some truly amazing people there. I was really happy to see work actually being done there. It seems like a really interesting place to hang out and what could be more fun than taking a break from the city and taking photos of some puppies! I had a lot of fun, and saw some pretty gruesome injuries to these dogs. I met a guy who works there who was wearing a University of Michigan shirt, a month ago he was in Chicago and he has some friends that study at U of M. I was extremely happy to have a conversation with him about his shirt. I was offered a ride home in their truck as they went to pick up another dog from an area near where I live. They are so, so kind, and its the work I love to do. I love shooting for organizations that are passionate about their work and are for the good of others. It honestly felt like being back at Last Chance Corral, and if you don't already know- I love Last Chance Corral. A lot.

So anyway! From there I did a bit of shopping and met some extraordinarily nice people. And walked home to meet two new interns in the house and have dinner. We then went up to the roof for a bit and now I'm blogging then soon off to bed.

Today was super successful and I just feel really accomplished. I needed a day to just do me, even if that meant getting stuff done, I needed to do it alone and independently. I hope tomorrow is just as successful I'm ready to really do some serious work!

Birthdays and Weddings

I started my day off with breakfast outside on the roof. Two slices of peanut butter toast and a small cup of milk tea. Soon after I headed out to a birthday celebration. Who's you ask? Why the Dalai Lama of course! It was held at a Tibetan Refugee Camp, (which is not what the Nepali governments calls it might I add), with hundreds maybe thousands of Tibetans in attendance. There was traditional clothing and children running around everywhere with small toys. It was absolutely fascinating to see that many Tibetans all in one place like that. They dress differently than Nepalis and most women do not have their noses pierced which is shocking to see in Nepal (almost every woman in Nepal of all ages has her nose pierced in atleast one way). It was really really fun to see and just be around that many Tibetans all at once.

From there I went to a friends family's wedding. I got to take a ton of pictures and eat lunch there and it was beyond fascinating. You hear so much about Nepali weddings but really it was as beautiful as you imagine it.

I sat down for a while during the lunch break for the bride and groom, (weddings are all day events so lunch breaks are needed,) and a group of kids sat down next to me. Children who are in school in this generation in Nepal have pretty good English, at least the wealthy ones, and they love to practice it, so lets just say I saw it coming. "Hello, excuse me" followed shortly after two younger girls dressed in beyond fancy dresses with silly high heels and small purses sat down. I was soon questioned how I was, where I was from, what my name was, where I live (in Kathmandu), if I went to school, what I want to do when I grow up (no joke it was phrased that way too), if I had siblings, how old was my sister, what was her name, where is my sister, what does she do there, what is my last name (which really threw them), if I could pronounce their names, if I knew Nepali, if I could understand Nepali, if I knew how to say certain phrases in Nepali (which is really awkward when your Nepali language teacher is literally sitting right next to you), what was in my bag, was the stuff in my bag from America, if I had American chocolate in my bag, if i would go down stairs with them to see the birds (which they kept calling seagulls but were pigeons), if I would go get ice cream with them (they even offered to pay for mine if I didn't have money and tried to persuade me with how little time it would take or how refreshing it would be in the heat), I'm not kidding it wouldn't stop. My favorite questions of all though we're most definitely if I was married, they were quite dissappointed when I said no. They followed that up with how old I was- I'm twenty. This response illicted exactly the response I expected: shock. To which even though in my culture it's perfectly normal, I still felt pretty poorly about myself to be twenty and not married and to have let these girls down. Haha. They then told me quite happily that the bride was twenty. Which illicted in me a touch of sadness. She's only twenty. Yikes. Better than fourteen I suppose.

However through this quite hysterical conversation with these two eleven-year-old girls, the best part was yet to come. "What caste do you belong to?" I'm not kidding. I just smiled and was so taken a back that this, in 2014, was still considered a publicly appropriate question. Never having had expected to ever be asked this question in my entire life, I hesitated, uhmmm how do you answer that, I settled for "we don't have that in America, it isn't like that." Which looking back probably wasn't the best answer possible but I tried my best.

And in the time that it took to type all of that my laundry sitting outside in a bucket in the dark should be done soaking and it is time I rinse it and hang it up to dry! Namaste

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...

Productiveness in Kathmandu

It is really impressive to have a very productive day here in Kathmandu. The lifestyle is so slow moving that getting anything done takes quite a while. What I got done today might not impress any of you back home but, considering, I am quite pleased with myself.

With a recent spur of the moment decision to visit a friend in India (hopefully) I went to the Indian Embassy this morning to apply for a visa. I then met with my translator to discuss upcoming project ideas. I then grabbed a bus and walked to the post office... hmmmmmm I wonder what I did there??? ;) I then walked a bit and got some momos for lunch. Next I met a friend and walked her through what we call the Blue Market. Next we headed to the Monastery where she teaches English to Buddhist Monks with her brother (Tessa and Nick) , which was really fun to go see! Then we headed to the place where her family is staying her in Kathmandu and picked up her sister! From there we went to the Orphanage where she is teaching English and that was really fun to see, (I'm a big lover of children of the orphan and semi-orphan variety). We then made it home for dinner and some hanging out on the roof.

Long day though and I'm working on trying to buy a plane ticket.

Sleep is needed though. More detailed posts to come. Been so busy lately, but happy and really starting to love this place now that all of the culture shock has worn off. I know my way around sort of, and can manage the busses now which is the best feeling ever. Anyway I have to sleep. Namaste.

Culture Shock II

So today, I went with Tessa and Nick, who live in my home stay with me, and have been here for three weeks now, to the United States Independence Day Celebration that was held at a compound in Kathmandu which is owned by the USA. We went in hesitantly and expecting it to be utterly ridiculous. Especially after the very serious email invitation that had a strict RSVP by June 26th rule, and encouraged everyone to arrive promptly, (how very American... especially in Nepal.) On top of that US citizens only, plus Nepalis who work for some specific place, and their immediate family, passports required for entry.

I have to start with, I think all three of us faced culture shock II. Culture shock is what you know, culture shock II is the much more fascinating, and for me depressing, version of culture shock that you usually experience upon going home after a long trip. Re-adjusting to a culture that is in so many ways your own is much more difficult than having the excuse of "this place is new for me" that you get to use when experiencing typical culture shock.

Here is a descent link which can probably explain it better. http://kultureshock.wikispaces.com/DEFINING+CULTURE+SHOCK

So we went in prepared for it to be darn hysterical. And it was. We went through security and had to show our passports multiple times. It was funny. It really was. All of it was humorous. I mean just the idea that US citizens all in Nepal were invited pretty much to a big barbecue, it really is a funny concept. However within the first two minutes... we all just got pretty quiet. Why is this happening? Why does this place exist? I even mentioned as we stopped and stared at first that it really felt like a twilight zone to which both Tessa and Nick eagerly agreed. Were we in America? Were we in Nepal? There were mountains in the background, but red white and blue balloons and flags and tents serving beef burgers (Nepalis don't consume beef since Hinduism is a primary religion here). There was a blow up bouncy slide, and a dunk tank and a cotton candy stand. There was a watermelon eating contest and loud speakers blaring "Born in the USA". It felt like home. Which was nice. I love home. Don't get me wrong on that fact. But it just felt so wrong. SO wrong. There were Marines in uniform with their families in red and blue sundresses. Women wore tank tops and khaki shorts. Even typing this right now I'm just so confused by that. Like, we were still in Nepal. But really where were we?

I had a barbecue veggie burger, which was delicious beyond belief, and french fries with ketchup. We were really happy with our food. But we just sat there and stared. It was really hard not to.

It was this in between world of white people in clothes from home and Nepali women in saaris eating cotton candy. It was Marines with their blonde wives and blonde daughters in their little kid tank tops, sitting around a table under a tent eating hot dogs and drinking beer. But the air smelled like Kathmandu and just beyond the big walls of the compound were women leaned up against those same walls begging for food for their children, crouched over with more wrinkles than you could ever count. If I've ever been thrown into a really strange situation it was definitely today at the 4th of July, Independence Day Celebration held on June 28th in the middle of Kathmandu, Nepal.

Can you just tell how scattered this post is? I promised to blog but quite honestly its hard when the whole thing completely felt like a dream.

Okay, so to save you the time, since I know most of you are busy North Americans who value productivity; we walked out of the gate and back into the crazy city of Kathmandu and we all pretty much took a deep breath. Like it honestly felt good to be back. It was a sense of a relief to be removed from the culture shock. I'm not even kidding. We were happy to have left. The streets of Kathmandu felt so much more "right" to my system. I was more than happy to walk around Thamel through the muddy sidewalks with power cords hanging over my head.

I'm not sure I'm even ready to make this blog post about comparing the two cultures, or pointing out the faults in each system. I can't even make any educated statement quite honestly. What I can say is, if I got culture shock II today, I'm really in for it during my seven hour lay over in Philadelphia before reaching Detroit six weeks from now...

Patan Museum and beyond!

Today I went to the Patan Museum with one of my housemates Tessa. I learned so much about Hinduism and Buddhism and saw some really amazing and super old stuff, like really old, really beautiful stuff. We had a great lunch in the gardens of the museum which were beyond beautiful, and actually quiet.

We got home and cleaned a bit, since, well... it really needed to be done. We then headed down to Thamel for some shopping. Monsoon season started quite literally on our walk there. So we stopped in Himalayan Java to try to escape. We then realized it was unavoidable and pretty much swam through the streets of Thamel to do a little shopping. We took a taxi home, ate dinner, changed into dry clothes and crashed.

We have plans to head out to Swayambanath Stupa for this thing that happens everyday at 6 am and 6 pm. I can't remember the name of what it is called but it is pretty much just a giant circling of the stupa.

Thennnnn, tomorrow we, (me, Tessa, and Nick) two of my housemates, who are US citizens, have the United States Independence Day Celebration. Don't worry. An entire blog post devoteddddd to this event will be written and posted as soon as possible. In short- many a joke have already been prepared and we have been nearly counting down the days to go hang out with a bunch of Americans and celebrate the 4th of July on June 28th. Oh man. It is going to be good. Entertainment at its prime. Anyway you can look forward to that, while I sleep! Suva Ratri!

How I Came to Love the Kathmandu Bus System

Okay so, I know I used to hate it. Trust me, I've been taken to all the wrong places in the darkness of night thanks to these same busses. Kirtipur instead of Kantipur, I'll never get over that, (for those of you haven't looked that up, its the further than the distance from Novi the Southfield, for those of you who don't know Novi or Southfield, wow that really sucks that you aren't from the lovely state of Michigan, I guess you'll have to do some Googling). 

Anywho- Yesterday I took a bus to work, as soon as a seat freed up- get this- a man, who was closer, offered it to me. When I go to work I have to carry my camera, all of its pieces and spare pieces including other lenses, my laptop, hard drive, card reader, on top of waterproof bags for it all, a wallet, a raincoat, a water bottle... it weighs a lot okay? So getting a seat on a bus is prime, especially when a foreigner is trying to protect her zippers from pick pocketers and trying to hold onto the bar on the ceiling that is nearly too high to reach. I was so shocked at this chivalry that I'd yet to experience in Nepal. I sat there so happily my whole way to work.

Today I took a bus to work and slowly got pushed to the back as it became packed during rush hour. Struggling to stand two girls motioned to me to sit next to them, (I was the sixth person to squeeze into the back row, yes the sixth, backpack and all). They were so kind to me, and spoke english very well I might add. They were wonderful and talked to me for a while.

Then once they'd gotten off, the guy on the bus who takes the money and yells where the bus is going was trying to direct me on where to stand in Nepali, I didn't understand. Let me explain something quickly. They try to get you on and off as fast as they can so they yell the upcoming stop name so you can send your money up to him before you get off. I wasn't sure if that was why he was looking at me or not and rambling in Nepali so, when he was trying to tell me where to stand I said the name of the stop I wanted to get off at. Though this made me look like quite the stupid foreigner it ended up working out quite well for me. Now I never listen when they yell the names of stops because quite frankly I have no clue what they're saying, so I usually just hand them my money as I'm getting off. However, since today the entire bus knew I was getting off at Ten Cuni, when he yelled it in advance to get everyones' money, a guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked "Ten Cuni?" and I said "Yes." he then pointed to the guy asking for my money and I got off perfectly at my stop with ease!

Getting a bus home- waiting for a bus, a man tried to befriend me and was quite impressed to hear I was working with the paper, then he really tried to befriend me and hand me a massive packet about some university. I had already told him where I lived and so I kept trying to ask the golden busses to see if it was going where I needed to go while he was attempting to befriend me, then finally he saw a bus coming and looked at me and told me it was my bus- how? you ask- he can read Nepali! The magic of a kind Nepali, I asked anyway to make sure and jumped on! Shortly after a seat freed up and a women gestured specifically to me to sit next to her. Which was also kind. Then as the bus packkkked itself, and I a small, caucasian, female sat near the "aisle" Nepali men began to nearly fight to stand near me. This was highly inappropriately charged, and I'll spare you the details. However, my lovely friend next to me, a woman might I add, at first scooted herself as far out the window as she could to make more room for me and kept gesturing for me to scoot as far close to her as I could. You cannot possibly imagine how grateful I was to shove my body against hers as opposed to well, ya know, the alternative. Eventually she worked her way up to yelling at the men for me. I don't speak Nepali but I have a few guesses of what she said based on a few people's reactions. Then near the end of this particular ride, she even reached her arm across me and began to shove at a man whilst yelling at him in Nepali. At that point I really, really loved this woman. It is the shenanigans I deal with everyday here, but I usually don't have a female body guard. I was too close to look at her while I was sitting next to her, but as I put my back pack back on my back to stand up I turned and looked at her and thanked her from the bottom of my heart, or at least I tried to have my eyes say so. She said "welcome" and smiled; it was extremely genuine.

So with that, my faith has been restored in the humanity of Nepalis. At least somewhat.

Nepali Yogurt

Today I tried Nepali yogurt. Let me take you on a ride with your imagination to help you grasp what I willingly put in my body today.

Take a clear thin plastic cup.
Got it?

Now pour some milk into it.

Step away from the cup... in fact... let it sit say I don't know a week or two weeks or so.

Come back to your cup. Do you have curdled milk? Un-refridgerated curdled milk? Yes, yes you do. A big white clump in the middle surrounded by clear liquid.

Now take a spoon, put some of your concoction on your spoon. Now slowly and hesitantly put it up to your mouth, open your lips and swallow.

Yep. Nepali Yogurt.

In all fairness it didn't taste bad at all, a little sweet sort of. It was just that looking at it and thinking about the journey it'd been on since the cow... well it was hard to swallow. I even mentioned to Ram that I felt like Andrew Zimmerman, he had no idea what I was talking about, as per usual.

The Mother of All Blog Posts

Okay so. Since my last lengthy blog post I've faded out of my ignorant bliss of Nepal and hit a point of getting really, really angry. The thing is you arrive in a new country and it is like culture shock blinds you. All you can see is the difference and it leaves you in awe. You are so happy to finally be experiencing the culture shock you've always dreamed of that you immediately decide how much you love it wherever you are. Then you adjust. You take a few micro busses and motor bike rides. You pay a guy on a street corner to fix your helmet strap. You want to vomit eating dhal bhat so you just eat plain white rice. You get ripped off by taxi drivers. You try the coke and realize it tastes different, but still good. You try a lychee for the first time and fall in love. You see beautiful children whose beauty is so under appreciated. You do your laundry in a bucket of dirty water. You get sick from swallowing one single bad ice cube. You try yak cheese in momos and you try local made rice wine called raksi. You get taken to Kirtipur when you clearly said Kantipur. You plant rice in a rice paddy, and you answer "hello" back to all the school children who are always so eager to practice their english with the white people they see on the streets. You get blisters and break your shoes. You get bruises and huge spider bites. I've made amazing friends and had some wonderful laughs. And with all of this amazing different shocking wonderful stuff going on, at first you are really blinded to what is really happening around you.

And then- and then you start to see it all. The slavery that is smack in front of your face every single day. The pollution. The lack of equality in ethnicity and gender. The general treatment and expectations of women. Did I mention the slavery? And when you see it, you get really, really, realllllly angry. Like long rants to multiple people and some tears kind of angry. And you start to question whether any of the work of all of the organizations out there that we see and hand money to every single day in the western world will ever have any effect on a culture that has no problem saying in 2014 "women need to work in the kitchen all day," nearly literally.

So I said it before that everyone here is so happy, and yes this is true, it is. Really Nepalis are very happy people. However, as I came out of my culture shock fog last week I realized that there is a very thin line between happiness and complacency. Happiness is great, wonderful even, and it is a very strong characteristic to have in a culture, accepting that life isn't about brand names or material goods at all is phenomenal. Recognizing that having enough to eat means being lucky, is a grateful culture. But there are people who are in dire situations who do nothing about it and no one in the wealthy situations is trying to help. Yes of course this is true everywhere in the world but please hear me out. There is no, "make your own luck" attitude, there is no "if you work hard enough you can achieve anything you set your mind to" though process. There is slavery. "Okay. So what. Nothing we can do about it. That is just our culture. You have to look at our history and where we are coming from as a society." That is the mood I'm getting at least. So when I see a painted wall that says "Stand up for women's rights" or talk to the people at Maiti Nepal of course I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled there is awareness. I'm thrilled that people voice that there are issues. But- culturally I don't know these people to be "go getters", so is anyone turning awareness into action? And okay say they are, I know the pace of this country, and for the rate of slavery that exists here, someone needs to pick up that pace, and I really question whether or not it can be a group of Nepalis.

A Nepali I know here has told me about a time that, under professional circumstances, he was talking with prostitutes working at a brothel in India. He tells me they would sit and play cards together and then be called for a customer and they would just get up and go, they told him something along the lines of "its the job". His interpretation of this as a Nepali is that some people can be happy in these odd jobs that we don't respect, some people choose this. He deducts that it is her decision to work in a brothel simply because she can be happy enough to play cards in her free time. I deduct this as slavery. Slavery in its most pure form. That woman has been coerced, and threatened to be there, most likely with physical violence. Her ability to play cards plays nothing to her choice to be there or her happiness but rather her internal will to survive. That woman is fighting for her life and she has, after most likely years of abuse and unimaginable circumstances, learned how to best get through each day as she has accepted there are no other choices for her.

The slavery and the lack of respect for women is particularly hard for me to see so first hand.

*cue ending rant*

Amongst my frustrations I've realized that anger is no way to solve anything. I think anger can act as a motivator for me, but nothing more. And in that decision I've worked over the past few days to look again at the beauty of this place, and in trying to understand what brings this place together and what makes it all work, maybe it will help me solve all of the issues.

So on Saturday, the one day off here, I took the day off. Hannah, who was my sort of roommate was leaving soon so we decided to live it up and go to a three hour class on the basics of Buddhism taught by Dolpo Tulku Rinpoche at a yoga studio in Thamel. His speaking was translated and pretty vague, for someone who has studied a bit about Buddhism in the past. However, there was time for questions and his answers were at times decently profound. Everything he spoke about seemed like it should be common sense, but we all know that it isn't quite reality and we should strive for it to be. Anywho some of his answers were also quite funny such as when someone asked the difference between Tibetan Buddhism and mainstream Buddhism and he said that monks in places like Thailand and Burma get to wear thinner robes, and he is likes their robes, he wishes they had them here in Nepal. No joke. We ended class by meditating with him and it felt like a true honor to meditate in the same room as someone as well practiced in the art of meditation as him. We were all so glad we'd went by the end, even if just for the experience and to say we had gone.

We then did some shopping in Thamel which is always fun, and I discovered singing bowls and I'm so obsessed. My friend Hannah went to an awesome place in Bhaktapur that uses singing bowls as a method for therapy which she told us about and it sounds like the coolest thing ever. So, I'm hoping that I'll be able to go to the same place she'd gone to possibly buy myself one before I head home.

This morning, Hannah, Tessa, and I all headed out before breakfast to go to a yoga class at the same studio in Thamel we had been at the day before. The class was amazing, quick paced but manageable. This was the first time I've been able to do yoga and get through a class, since I injured my knee last November. I couldn't help but want to call my physical therapist the whole time I was in class. It felt so amazing to be back. We focused on our core chakra with stomach issues and releasing our anger from this part of our body. It was amazing. And the meditation at the end, was seriously the best meditation of my entire life. It was wonderfully instructed and extremely well worth it.

The rest of the day was spent out shooting with Ram. I won't go for the typical photographer's joke here but- I was fortunate enough to photograph many important political figures of Nepal today including the vice president and president of Nepal himself. It actually was pretty awesome.

So- Nepal has living goddesses, it is a pretty interesting concept. You'll have to do some research because I don't know much about them myself however, today I photographed the Kumari of Patan I believe who sat a total of maybe five feet from where I was crammed in the press pit. It was pretty interesting. Not to demean their goddess but, she is just a little kid, and it was quite hysterical for me to watch her fidget and nearly whine out of boredom and discomfort during this ceremony/festival thing. I have photos of the whole thing but I didn't much understand the significance of a man holding up a small black vest. Everyone cheered as if he were holding Prince George up into the air though, so hey, I went with it. After the chariot of something similiar to a Rain God, which leaves the Bungamati Temple for six months out of the year, is returned and the people celebrate by burning massive clumps of straw. It is extremely smokey so much so that you can't breathe and your eyes burn. It is very interesting. It was fun though for a "festival" to finally actually mean something.

I came home to Hannah shortly after leaving to head back to Canada. I'm going to miss her so much!

And now I'm exhausted soooo, on to another day of adventures tomorrow! Something about a vote something or other is happening tomorrow so we will see how that goes!

Namaste!

Saturday

I had an amazing day. It started with being published, and ended with my realizing I didn't take a single photograph all day for the first day since I've been here. I finally had like a true day off and it was wonderful. Wonderful. Ahhh so great. It deserves a really good blog post though. Hang in there for my stories please! I'm in love with Nepal all over again, and I'm so happy about it. I didn't eat any dhal bhat today and I had an amazing day with amazing friends! I have to save my stories for another longer post which will hopefully encapsulate all of my anger, frustrations, love, and great experiences of the last week pretty much. Sorry again but I'm waring myself so thin everyday trying to soak it all up!

check out my name!
http://epaper.ekantipur.com/kantipur/epaperhome.aspx?issue=2162014

Allergies and Apologies

I've been plagued with some of the worst allergies of my life for the past three weeks. Today I got some medicine from a pharmacy... it costed $1.97... So yes I'm not completely expecting it to work or do exactly what I need. Any who, I'm really wiped out from dealing with them, I'm going to pass out soon here. I will hopefully be posting in the next few days though! Sorry for the lack of adventure stories. With that comes a lot of frustration on my end as I slowly start to recognize some faults in the society here, not to say that different is bad or wrong in anyway. There are so many things going on in my mind lately as I struggle to come to terms with Nepali culture, a dhal bhat diet, a zillion mosquito bites and some serious allergies. Keep looking for new posts though! Hopefully a decent story will come about worth telling in the next few days. Namaste.


oh and here. yet again, I promise it is mine. don't I seem thrilled?
http://www.ekantipur.com/photo-gallery/2014-06-20/1956/21814

21+

I'm seeking advice from anyone who has ever had 21+ mosquito bites on one foot at a time. By this I mean I am not seeking advice, it just really sucks and I'm choosing to publicly complain about it. Yes, 21+. Yes I woke up from the itchiness; if only I'd woken up from the mosquito actually biting me...

Yet, again,...

http://www.ekantipur.com/photo-gallery/2014-06-18/1954/21800

I remain nameless... the trend has begun with photos of important people...

Looks like I have some talking to do with my boss...

Not so happy, still, I promise- this is my photograph.

668.00 Nepalese Rupees

Are you in fact aware that, all for the very low rate of 668 Nepalese Rupees you can have:

• 4 rolls of toilet paper
• 16 small packs of tissues
• 1 bottle of coke
• 1 miniature packet of 5 Oreos
• 1 jar of off brand Nutella

that equates to = $6.92 USD

Sometimes living in Nepal has it's benefits.

Food I'm Craving:

It has officially been 19 days of dhal bhat, dhal bhat, and more dhal bhat. In celebration of surviving I have allowed myself to admit to myself that I've been accumulating a list of food I'm craving from home.

Food I'm craving:

(listed in the order in which I began to crave it)

1. Hot cheese pizza
2. A poached egg
3. Fake bacon
4. Peanut Butter
5. A donut, preferably with pink frosting and sprinkles
6. Fettuccine Alfredo
7. French Fries from Leo's Coney Island dipped in Ranch
8. Berries, (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries...)
9. BBQ sauce, just plain BBQ sauce
10. A peach
11. French Fries from Red Robin with the seasoning and ketchup
12. Starbucks Iced Caramel Macchiato
13. Popcorn
14. An apple
15. Spaghetti
16. A massive Michigan Cherry Salad
17. Dots
18. A boiled egg
19. Doritos

A Purple Water Bottle

This is so stupid but I think it generalizes Kathmandu for me, today I finally after 18 days bought a water bottle. We (Me, Hannah, and Tessa) went into Thamel this morning to pick up posters we had printed yesterday for our photo show on Thursday and to start hanging them. We had to stop in a "super market" to find some tape... and finallllly I had the chance to stop and buy a water bottle! No more re using plastic ones or buying them while I'm out! I finally am the delightful owner of a new Nalgene (made in the USA) purple water bottle. Water is like gold here and having a sturdy water bottle can make all the difference in the world. Little things like buying a reusable water bottle can take up to 18 days to get accomplished here, and so when you finally do it, it is cause for celebration!!!

And again!

Here is my photo that was published today! With my name!
http://epaper.ekantipur.com/epaper/kpost/page/16


Yesterday me and two housemates, Hannah and Tessa, visited Maiti Nepal which is an awesome organization here that works to combat Human Trafficking of women and children in the area. They have rehabilitation homes, transit homes, prevention homes and programs, they work with the law, they lead busts of brothels, that provide health and medical lessons and treatments, they do so much. Though I recently just heard of them I can tell you that their facility is run differently that most places here in Kathmandu. Be sure to look them up!

The day before yesterday I had my first visit to Monkey Temple, and it was beautiful. Tons of monkeys of course, and they are so so so cute.

Yesterday I ate some momos with Ram and had some milk tea as we waited for the rain to stop, after getting his flat tire fixed. I had emailed in some photos to the post earlier.

We are planning another show in Thamel for Thursday so we've been trying to spread the word about that and get posters made and hung, as well as photos together from all the photographers.

I'm also in my spare time trying to get certified properly for coaching figure skating to make sure I can bring my students to tests and competitions formally this season.

So to say the least I have a ton going on! Off to have another adventure filled day!

No Name

Well I've been told it is common to get published without a name here, and so it has happened to me too. I promise though- here is another photo of mine taken yesterday of Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize Winner on a visit to a museum just outside of Kathmandu.
http://www.ekantipur.com/photo-gallery/2014-06-15/1951/21781/

Could Yesterday Have Been Any Better?

Okay so, yesterday was another one of the best days of my life. For real. It was Saturday (the only day off in Nepal) and we had planned a trek,  a short one, but a trek none the less. Every intern living in the house, our host father, our host brother, and our program supervisor all went. We left the house around 10:30 am after a pancake for breakfast, which we get every Saturday morning, made by our lovely host mother.

We all had our back packs and best walking shoes and we took off towards the bus station. We squeezed onto a very crammed bus and rode until the city bus park just a ways down the road. There we met up with our program supervisor. We jumped on another bus and headed out of the valley to start our trek. We got off the bus and started walking. It was gorgeous views from the get go. We could barely get anywhere because we all kept stopping to take photos.

Beautiful old women, and kids who could reach the water spout filling up their bottles. Locals looking after their goats and cows, people bathing and doing laundry in rivers, could the day get any better? We saw farms and parks and before we headed down the road towards the small town we climbed a super steep path that led to no where but a gorgeous view. It was quite fun to climb and make it back down all while protecting the life of my camera. From there we set off down the path of a town. We saw an old man brush his teeth in the public water pump and some teens passing out pamphlets in Nepali on converting to Christianity. We saw and old woman sit outside and sort through seed as she watched her rooster. We stumbled on a mushroom farm and took some photos there. At one point I climbed this little dirt ledge cliff thing and full fledge leaned my body weight on my program supervisor and pressed the shutter of my camera held up in the air with my other hand. The things we do to get the shot.

We kept walking and saw workers on the side of the road using tools we see in museums back home. We then had to cross a bridge. I saw people swaying across. Swaying. The bridge was made out of metal and should not have been swaying, but was. I watched motorcycles cross it, and began to cross. I stopped to take photos while on the bridge as motorcycles passed me by. This bridge was narrow. Not wide. Not wide enough for people and motorcycles. As we reached the other side (praise to Shiva) little boys climbed the wires that held the bridge in place and slide down. As I shot photos they'd yell and flinch and begin to let themselves slide down the thick wires. My program supervisor told me they were pretending my camera was a gun and that they'd been shot and killed. The lives of the kids around here, I swear.

We kept walking and this little girl sitting next to her mother saw our cameras and started yelling "camera camera" "photo photo" and we would take a picture and then she'd yell "money money" as all the Nepali's do- she has learned fast. As we walked away her adorable young voice kept on "money money" "chocolate chocolate" "money money." We reached civilization again slowly but surely and stopped for lunch and the WindyHill Restaurant. I only remember that name because we were on a huge hill that had an amazing view and it was windy up there and it felt amazing. Amazing. I had Veggie Momos and Sprite. We sat around and looked through our photos that we had so far. Pretty decent compared to other days.

Here comes the high light of my day.

From lunch we walked down a massive hill to the rice paddy I shot at the other day. Walking there my program supervisor had turned around to run into a small shop to buy some chocolate, so my host dad was trying to lead but he had no idea where he was going. So he stopped when the path got twisty and turned around waiting for my program supervisor, I then butted in and said yep just follow that path around and down and he said "oh you know the way?" and in that moment I realized something- I realized that in the middle of nowhere Bungamati, Nepal, headed to a rice paddy- yes, I knew the way. So he took a step back and I led the whole way for the group. We crossed the same sheet of metal that acts as a bridge as last time and leaped over other puddles and streams and we got there, the same way as before. We walked up and I waited for my program coordinator since well ya know, I don't speak Nepali and the path only fits one person at a time. After a bit of Nepali and everyone else being so excited to be there our program coordinator said "okay now we take off our shoes and get in." We all looked at each other, quite hesitantly. Literally out loud we discussed, "okay is he kidding?" A kid even said "I can't tell if he's kidding, I'm waiting until he gets in to know if he's serious." He was. He offered the chocolates he'd just bought and they shared with us their local candy. It was hard and tasted a bit like caramel, I liked it though. Soon we all had our socks and shoes off as we slid down the hillside into the rice paddy. Passing the camera back and fourth as we got in so that it wouldn't catch a splash. Then the women started handing up handfuls of rice plant? Really though, what do you call the green stuff? I kept my camera in hand, knowing I couldn't miss the chance to shoot this. It was beyond beautiful and wayyy too good to be true. I shot as the others learned to press the root into the mud, pulling the small bundles apart piece by piece. It was hysterical to watch the women do it like nine times faster. Suddenly children started to toss mud. I could tell my program coordinator, behind me at the time, was yelling to the kids in Nepali "be careful of the camera!" Towards the end of the area I had to try myself so with a camera in one hand and some rice in another I too planted some rice.

We were then invited to try their homemade Raksi. Raksi means alcohol in Nepali but Raksi is also used for Nepali rice wine. There were two kinds. I knew this wasn't about to be good, but how often are you offered Raksi while at a rice paddy, well quite honestly probably every time you go to a rice paddy in Nepal. Rice paddies are infamous for their Raksi, and for drinking a lot of it. The first kind looks like dirt and sand mixed together with some water. It tasted that way too with just a touch of sour. The next was clear and watery with pieces of rice floating around. It tasted like rice water, sour rice water. After the tiniest sips possible I felt like, well I felt like I could forevermore say that I tried local Raksi in a rice paddy in Bungamati, Nepal. I also felt like that might be my last local Raksi ever tasted.

We then followed a path down to the local showers. Right at the foot of the paddies is a bunch of rocks, and out of a tube in some rocks some cold water spurts out. "You can wash your feet off there" and then we put our shoes on said our "dhanyabads'" and "namastes'" ("thank yous'" and "goodbyes'" and headed off back on a trail towards civilization. We walked along side a river were people bathed and fished. We saw pigs running free along with goats, chickens, buffalo, and cows. We walked pretty much through locals' backyards' and stumbled on a field where boys were playing soccer on pretty much a cliff. You could see tons of tiny buildings far off with nothing blocking the cliff but some goats and cows.

Background story: Last week I simply posed the question "What would happen if I tried to pet a cow? Is that rude? Do the locals touch the cows? Would it even react?" This quickly got changed by one of the interns, as a joke I might add, into me having a desire to spank a cow. A) I've never had a desire to spank a cow. B) That would probably be disrespectful in a place that believes cows to be holy. Well anyway, last week some time, walking home at night from Thamel with two other interns I slowly began to walk towards a cow, I'm really a scardy cat at heart and I wouldn't have actually touched the thing, but as I came closer, a long with another intern, the cow suddenly became quite enraged. He made eye contact with me that believe you me said "get away from me now or I will buck you so hard in the rear with my horn, watch me." Yes his eye contact said all of that. I wanted to run but I realized he'd just chase after me and so the rest of the way home the other interns kept yelling "Cow!" and I was just that afraid to flinch every time. Any who- In this soccer field there were buffalo, and I touched it. It was calm and let me but, I don't know man they are just some freaky looking animals. I then got a lecture from my program coordinator about how they have good hearts and mean well no matter what they look like and all I could think was how I was the last person that needed that lecture. Jokes then came about every time we passed an animal they were trying to say my name. My program coordinator, the funny guy he is, couldn't stop laughing the rest of the walk and he kept saying "Brianna" like a cow or a goat.

Then once in civilization again it began to rain. We were ready to hop on a bus at that point anyway but we didn't want to stand in the rain waiting for one. The perfect solution you ask? A Tuk-Tuk. Yes, a Tuk-Tuk, just like in 19 Kids and Counting (TLC show). I've been dying to take a Tuk-Tuk and even made an intern take my photo inside. It was amazing. Everything I could've imagined it to be. Crammed in the Tuk-Tuk, 13 people at once, the man on the end dropped his phone out the back, in the rain and traffic. To make a Tuk-Tuk stop you simply bang on the metal roof. He banged and jumped out grabbed his phone and made a running dash back to the Tuk-Tuk. I was dying laughing the whole time. Only in Nepal man, only in Nepal. From the Tuk-Tuk we got on a micro bus to head back to the big grocery store near our house which we then walked home from, luckily it'd stopped raining.

We got home to our host mother asking us if we wanted dinner. And what did we get?... NOT dhal bhat! Can you believe it?! She made noodles and they were delicious.

After dinner my roommate (sort of) and I did laundry together. My first time doing laundry here. In the pitch black dark might I add. How does one do laundry in Nepal you may ask? You take your clothes, put them in a bucket, add some soap, add some water, and you take those weird tools that exist on the ends of your forearms and you squeeze and you press and you scrub. You then let them soak for a bit, and you rinse and repeat. Then everything gets hung up on the clothes line to dry. Not sure if my clothes are dirtier or cleaner after that experience. Oh well.

I then took a shower, which felt amazing, and drifted off to sleep.

It was seriously an amazing day. I got home thinking oh my gosh I didn't go into the office today, I have so much to do tomorrow, etc. Then, I realized, I had been shooting all day, I filled 64 GB of memory cards. I'd worked all day. I love the places that photojournalism can take me. I love my career choice. I love story telling and I love the art of photography, and melding the two together to make everyones' story a piece of art? I know I'm in the right career path.

Here is the down side to taking so long to tell you my story of yesterday... I still have to catch up now and tell the story of today, yet again another great day here in Kathmandu, Nepal. But, for now I'll save those stories!

Namaste :)