Final days in Kathmandu

June 12
This will probably be the last post of our trip. Excited to come home but sad to leave...it will be nice to have the conveniences of home and to see family and friends. It will also be nice to have the fresh air that we have back home, and not the dirty/smelly/dusty air that is clogging up our sinuses, and making my eyes incredibly irritated. haha oh and also the heat the last week has been ridiculous, i think mostly in preparation for the monsoon season, so it is super humid...so not only are we getting allergies but I have also gotten some weird rash all over my hands. I went to a pharmacy and they gave me some meds for it, not really sure what it is, but i think its from the humidity and heat.
Today we planned a field trip/day trip with the orphans. We rented a bus and took them all to the Childrens park...which is like a mini-PNE. but wayyy more ghetto and all the games/rides are much smaller. Then when we had the bus drive us home, we stopped a pizza hut and ordered some pizzas togo and brought them back to the orphanage. They loved it. They eat dhalbat (rice and a gross soupy sauce) 2-3 times a day so pizza was definitely a treat. The kids are very iffy with rides though and they have a lot of motion issues...haha if that makes sense. They are not used to riding in cars/busses and so going on spinny rides or anything high up, makes them sick. Like for example, in the bus on the ride home, whcih was a 20 minute ride if that, one of the girls started barfing because she is not used to the motion of the bus. and at the park, the kids wouldnt go on rides that were similar to the pirate-ship at the PNE, or the Ferris wheel...AND these rides are MUCH MUCH smaller than those back home. the park is tiny and it really isnt very nice at all haha...pretty grungy. Their favorite thing was the bumper cars, and the younger ones liked the horse ride (that one that spins around, while the horses move up and down).
We are going to this little city called Baktapur tomorrow, which is a very old place with lots of old architecture and temples. SHould be cool. Weve been wanting to go for a while, so we are getting a ride tomorrow morning early with the woman who Bridget has been working with who runs the HIV orphanage. Her and her husband offered to drive us, and they wanted us to come and meet their family or something too en route haha. So, thats our plan tomorrow and we will probably bus home in the evening.
Anyways, going to go relax for a bit. those kids wore us out!

The Trek

Have just arrived back in Kat. The trek was amazzinggggggg. We arrived in Pokhara on thursday and then spent the day/night there and left for Beshi Nagar, which took another 5 hours from Pokhara. Pretty brutal bus rides. We started the trek at about 1:30pm on Friday (it usually starts to rain around 2:30...really intense downpour, not just a light drizzle...it is the beginning of the monsoon season right now) so anyways, the first day was supposed to be a 2 hour walk to this town called Bhule Bhule...it was more of a walk along a dirt road and within an hour it started to POUR with rain...bridge and i wore our flip flops cuz it wasnt too intense, and had our matching rain jackets (and matching umbrellas that we snatched up) and were attempting to cover our backpacks. it was hilarious, and of course we all bought umbrellas from town, whcih are CRAP made and within the hour were turning inside out from all the wind. We took a pit stop in a town before Bhule Bhule for a drink while it was pissing with rain, and as a bus drove by (literally JAMMED packed with people) we decided to hitch a ride for the next 30 minutes of the walk...not a normal bus ride though...we rode on the roof of the bus along a road that shouldnt even be considered a road, because it is so ridiculously bumpy/muddy/rocky (with boulder rocks, not small pebbles)...so 6 of us westerners and some random Nepalis were sitting on the roof rack for the rest of the ride untill the road got too bumpy and we had to come down and get jammed into the bus. at the point where we transferred all our stuff into the bus, it was pretty packed. a bus that should comfortably" sit like 16 people, had about 35 at the time...and we'd approach these groupings of people standing inthe rain waiting for a bus to come by and we would all be like to eachother "oh shit that sucks, theyre gonna have to wait there for quite some time for the next bus" but noppeeeeeee....the bus pulls over and picks up all 15 or 20 people waiting...people are sitting on top of people, and hanging out the door on the side. hahah it was hilarious and this happened more than once. so anyways we arrived in Bhule Bhule and stayed the night. Because of all the rain/monsoon season coming, trekkers are warned of the leeches that fall from trees/linger in the puddles/etc...so we stay the night at a guest house in this little town, and right before we all decide to go to bed, one of the girls we are with screams, and so we all start freaking out cause this place has no power, and there were weird creatures haha, and it turns out a leech has somehow landed right on the veins between the forearm and the upper arm (where you get blood taken from) and it is latched onto her...soo gross! the only salt we had was our oral rehydration salts for in case you get sick, so we busted opena pack of those and dumped nearly the whole thing on her arm! the next day was much more intense...since you go to bed around like 9:30pm (cause there is nothing to do with no power and these "towns" are really like 4 houses/huts with maybe liek 20 people there) we woke up at about 5:30 am and had breakfast and then started the longer day of trekking. we also had to leave early because the rain starts in the afternoons and we wanted to get to our destination before then. That day the trek took 5 hours...supposed to take 6 -8 but we kept a steady pace. it was pretty f-ing hard! there were parts that was like climbing the grouse grind, they didnt last for long but it was definitely tough considering the heat and the altitude. The most amazing views though, everywhere, the pictures can not do justice to it at all. Bridge and I both wished that we couldve stayed longer or done the whole thing but we had to be back in Kat for this last week of work. the place we stayed the second night, after our long trek was soooo much bettter than the first, in this beautiful little town called Ghermu, it was so quaint, and so nice, and so rural. all of these places we pass through were. It is sooo different, its hard to even describe. Some parts of the trek were so ridiculous too haha, we would get to parts where there had clearly been a mudslide and taken out like a portion of the trail, so we had to like physically get into the dirt to climb up this hill which used to be a trail, but was now just straight mud/dirt...the locals working on the roads were just laughing at us cause it was clearly a struggle, but something that they deal with regularly. Returning home today was pretty ridiculous too. Basically everything in this country is, we have learned that you really cant go anywhere with any sort of expectations because really, everywhere you go and anything you do is NEVER what you expect...even if you are warned or told the details by someone else. Today we had to catch a jeep from the last town that is accessible by car called Syange, and in the lonely planet guidebook it warned us of this 'uncomfortable ride' back to where we started the trek, but even that cant warn you of what to expect. so we get on the jeep, and of course everything here is inefficient, and nobody is under any time constraints, so the jeep driver would just stop in the little villages and linger for what felt like sooo long. Meanwhile, there is this old woman (maybe not old, it is really hard to tell how old Nepali people are because the work that they endure could age them or their health, or they could just be old) but anyways, she was suppppperrr sick, and something was definitely really wrong with her back/stomach region and she had to endure this 2.5 hour jeep ride from hell. she was laying in the backseat on her daughter (or maybe granddaughters) lap, while we were in the back part of the jeep. I felt like i was in the Jurassic park movie on this 'highway' of a dirt road that is no more than 12 feet wide, following the river, along the edge of a cliff, with this woman moaning the entire time, f, it was just ridiculous! Then once we got to where we started, we had to get on another bus back to Katmandu...and after that production we got on what they call a microbus...a van that is SUPPOSED to fit 16 people...but again they love to ram them full, so it probbaly had maybe 25 on it...all smooshed in this stupid bus with no airconditioning, in like 45 degree weather all through the mountains, and us in the backseat. Nepali people are really funny that way, they havea completely different sense of space than westerners. They have No problem whatsoever with being right up next to you, right in your face, or squished between like 10 people. meanwhile me and bridge and this other girl are dying from overheating and sweating profusely. hahaha so funny (at the time, maybe more annoying, but still you cant help but laugh because everything about this place is just soooo ridiculous/unpredictable/inefficient BUT somehow it is absolutely amazing at the same time, its weird. Anyways, this is getting pretty long. but we are home safe, back in dirty, dusty, and loud Kat with a week and a bit left before we head back home!
xoxox

June 2

We are going to Pokhara tomorrow morning to start our trek on friday. we are doing a 2 day trek of the Annapurna Circuit. The first day of trekking is 2.5 hrs and the second day is about 6 hrs...haha, should be pretty entertaining. Our friends that we are going with are pretty big trekkies (mostly just one) and so he knows his stuff! There will be 6 of us in total. 2 boys, one of their sisters, and then me, bridget, and another girl from our house. We should be back by sunday night, maybeeee monday but they have internet up in Pokhara so if we have time we will try to update.
Today was pretty awesome at the monastery. Yesterday I bought the monks in my class these little handmade and really nicely decorated notebooks for them to write and draw in (they told me they like to draw/write in English/Tibetan). So I gave them these gifts yesterday and they were pretty confused by it aha they thought I was just showing them the notebooks, and when they realized it was a gift they were sooo appreciative and soo happy. THEN today, they show up to class and I didnt even notice but they had this big robe covering something in the classroom, and when we all got in there they said that they got ME a gift! definitely wasnt expecting that...and it was soo cute, it was all wrapped up in wrapping paper with a card that said "best wishes...your best students". Inside was a photo album (cause I always show them pictures of what I have been doing in Nepal so they know I like photos), and they got me a pink bracelet, and this little dangly thing, that is a high-heeled shoe, to attach to your keychain/camera/cell phone. hahaha it was so cute! They also showed me around the monastery today, it is unbelievable, we went into the temple where they pray and it was stunning, I will try and post pictures at some point. THey also invited me to go swimming with them this weekend/next week (have no idea where this pool is they speak of cause we definitely havnt seen one but anyways), so i asked them today what they wear swimming (they call it their "water costume") and they drew a pair of shorts, just like men wear in america, and then for the women they drew this dress-type thing haha (they thought this was funny) and when they asked about what north americans wear i drew a bikini and they said that "it is ok to wear that, miss" (all with giggles of course)...clearly not going to be wearing a bikini in Nepal haha!
Bridget spent the day at the HIV/Aids orphanage today...2 of their teachers quit because they got offered better jobs elsewhere, so they asked bridge to teach the classes there. the kids speak 0 english and she speaks 0 nepali so she says it is pretty hard, and doesnt really know where to start. she said that today went well though, she bought some books and stuff for them because they are very undersupplied and they were really appreciative of that. They also asked her to write a proposal for them...about what sort of funding they could use and for what programs etc...pretty intense stuff, but really cool! So she is meeting with them on tuesday next week i think to talk about it.
Will try and give updates on our trek, not really sure what the internet status is at these guest houses/villages we stay in, but if I find internet somewhere ill try and write something quickly! xoxo
2 weeks left here!

May 30

Bridge has started working at this HIV/Aids orphanage-daycare-school type thing, we were going to go there today but it is a holy day so we couldnt. She said it was really sad, the kids there either suffer from HIV/Aids, or someone in their family does. They have been expelled from school because of it too, and htey are basically looked down upon within the community. The woman who runs it also told Bridge that they are in need of volunteers and the last one they had there was too afraid to play with the kids...very sad. Bridge likes it because she is needed there much more than the hospital which she is also doing. The HIV orphanage also asked her to write a report on the status of their school/learning facilities, so that was pretty cool. The orphanage that we both work at has been good too, the people are so nice. we are thinking of planning a little day trip with the kids (there are only 13 there), where we take them to this zoo which is like 100 rupees a person...a little over a dollar. The kids have never been, and never really have the opportunity to go so we were thinking of doing something like that for one of our last days here.
Were going to do a portion of the Annapurna circuit next weekend with a few of our canadian friends who are doing the whole thing. We will bus to Pokhara on either wed/thurs and then leave the day after and do the first couple days and then bus home from one of the villages. So that should be exciting/interesting...haha we arent really the typical trekkies that you see here! everyone is so hippy-ish/trekky-ish haha.
This weekend we just stuck around in Kat, worked and puttered around. We had a pretty sweet day today...relaxed, and then went to Thamel and walked around and then 4 of us went and found a spa where we got full body massages, soooo great! and it only cost us about 10$ for an hour.

Orphanage may 27...really frazzled!

NOW Everest and the Monastery

Monks and Everest (the tip is covered by the cloud)