Third shower in Nangi. Yes, I’ve been here almost one month. Hot water + bucket + cup to douse yourself between soap/shampoo lathers. It felt gooooood. The armpit fuzz is in full swing, Sara would be proud. I was meant to shower on Monday but I got sick. Yes, obligatory third-world funk. After being primed with worst-case scenarios from the US State department and my doctor, I basically made my peace with God at the first sign of a temperature. A few days later, and I’m as good as the out-of-shape I was when I arrived. About Nangi: This past month [View Full Entry]

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I wrote a long blog and saved on another computer before the power went out- so you'll have to wait on that one... I have so many gorgeous pictures of the jungle trails, waterfalls, and Nepali friends! I wish the internet was fast enough here- but I am in the middle of the Himalayas- che garne? (what can you do?) At night, there have been some great thunderstorms with lightning lighting up the whole sky! When it is clear (and there is no moon) there are thousands of stars and tons of glowbugs :) While I'm still out of breathe walking [View Full Entry]

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The nursery is a plant nursery, to clarify. The little kids like to run around our round house balcony at 9am each day. They have few layers of dirt on their uniforms and even more layers of snot running out their nose- unless they are blessed with one of those shrewd mothers who attaches a snot-rag to their shirt with a safety pin. Somehow they manage to steal your heart just the same. I'm sure I only encourage the thunderous racket by chasing after them around the house. After a few rounds, the teachers downstairs yell something in nepali (perhaps "stop [View Full Entry]

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Sorry for the wait, but the internet and phone system and knocked out by storms, and there is a storm everyday around 3pm. So I'm in a village called Nangi, volunteering. This means I wake up in the morning, help out in the nursery, eat lunch, teach 4th and 5th grade English, make dinner, then go to the occasional traditional music class, or get better acquainted with my fellow volunteers (you'd be surprised how many topics you can cover when there's no power…). There is a Canadian couple and 2 older American guys doing tech stuff. Everyone is really funny, and [View Full Entry]

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After one night in Beni (aka shithole), we ate a BIG breakfast, then headed for the mountains. Mahabir convinced me I didn't need a porter to carry my bags, so we switched. Sure, his was only 2 lbs- but it's a mental load. I went with Mahabir (brains behind the Nangi volunteering/development/everything), one Australian helping advise on possible trekker hostels, and a fast Nepali guy. So here's some mental notes I took on the journey ascending 2,400 meters: Hour 1: I can do this. My shirt is soaked with sweat and my heart is beating fast, but I'm keeping up with [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Nangi village at 7 pm. It took us 12 hours to walk (and climb rocky hills) from our guesthouse in Beni to reach the hillside village of Nangi. The trek usually takes 7 hours, but I was really slow. Plus we took a lot of breaks - lunch breaks, snack breaks, tea breaks, wait-a-minute-I-have-a migraine-breaks, im-sooo-tired-i-need-to-drink-water-breaks. I really didn’t mind. This is why I preferred to trek on my own - I was able to do everything my way. What I cared about was I wanted to reach Nangi village before it gets dark-this was a rural [View Full Entry]

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