May 11th Update

This is likely to be my last posting as I'm leaving Charikot on Friday to head back to Kathmandu. Hard to believe that it's been a month already. At times it seems like I've been here a lot longer and at other times it feels like I just arrived. I was thinking about ending with a top ten list (mine would have been "Top Ten Things I Take for Granted Living in the U.S.") but as I started to put it down on paper I realized that I take pretty much EVERYTHING about my life in the U.S. for granted. Yes there are things like electricity 24/7 and paved roads that take some getting used to but I've learned that you can adapt to pretty much anything without a whole lot of effort. But if I had to single out one thing that has struck me most it's the availability of choice. You really don't know what a luxury choice is until you have to live without it. I know at home I often complain that I'm bored with my choices for lunch at the Universal Gourmet across the street. But living here I've had two choices for lunch everyday - either noodles or Dahl Bhat (rice and lentils). That's it. And for most people that live here, that's their choice for dinner as well. There's no such thing as a Wal-Mart or Target that carries 8000 brands of the same item. They have small little shops that sell one kind of whatever (cookies, toothpaste, etc.) and you take what they have. Clothes? The children I see everyday maybe have two different outfits that they can wear. Most wear the same thing everyday. And many of them are wearing clothes with holes and shoes that don't fit them but they don't have a choice. What a luxury it is to put on a different outfit everyday and give away clothes just because we're tired of them! What a luxury to wear something once and then throw it in the laundry to be washed. Anyway, you get the idea. Don't mean to be preachy or philosophical but I know it's taken this trip to remind me of things that I know but find so easy to ignore when I'm home.

On a lighter note, a few little updates. Last week I made yet another new little friend. This one is a little boy they call "Babu". He is actually a little boy for which we are sponsoring a scholarship because he was found by the side of the road, abandoned by his family, and another family has taken him in. That family, however, doesn't have the money to send Babu to private school but if you could see this child you would know that he has true potential in him. His one little "idiosyncracy" is that he refuses to go into the classroom with the other children. One afternoon last week I was sitting outside and he came over to me and wanted to look at my sunglasses. So I let him try them on and he just lit up!!!! Then I decided to play Peek-a-Boo with him. Well, that was a huge hit!!!! Here's this little boy, covering his eyes, and then putting down his hands and yelling "Pookey!!!!" (close enough!!!) and just laughing away. That went on for about 1/2 hour (no joke). Then I took out a pad and pen and started to show him "A,B,C". He repeated right after me and then wanted the pen for himself. He didn't manage more than a scribble but the look on his face when he just made a mark on the paper would just melt you heart. He then looked to Surya and apparently said "Look, I'm writing!" He then let me actually lead his hand to make A,B,C and was so proud (even though he couldn't do it by himself) and kept motioning for me to do it again. So we spent the rest of the afternoon "writing". Wish I could stay longer just to see his progress!

Got sick at the end of last week. Just a cold (didn't grow a snout or a curly tail so I'm pretty sure it wasn't swine flu :)) but realized that yet another "luxury" I take for granted are tissues! Apparently you need to go to Kathmandu for them. Thank goodness I'm staying in a place that uses toilet paper (yes, another luxury in most places). So if you ever plan to come to Nepal, pack plenty of Kleenex just in case!!!!

Last night experienced what can best be described as a Nepali hurricane. We had rain in the afternoon and when it let up I left the school. It was still thundering and I felt like one of those stupid people in the movies who try to outrun a storm. All I kept thinking was "I'm climbing up to the top of a mountain in a thunderstorm and I'm about the tallest thing out here. When exactly is the lightning going to strike me?" Anyway, made it to the hotel just as the rain started again and soon enough it was a true display of Mother Nature. Thunder, lightning, hail, rain, you name it! Sitting in my room I was really starting to worry about the windows blowing in so spent about an hour sitting on my sleeping bag on the bathroom floor trying to read my book by flashlight (although most of the time I was just praying for the storm to stop). It eventually did die down and it left us with a truly spectacular view of the snow-capped Himalayas this morning. Really wish my camera could capture what my eye can see!!!

So that's the latest from Nepal! Again, this may be the last posting although will try to update at the end of the week if I can. See you all soon!!!