Will we see our luggage again??

Our final day in Nepal was a relaxing one…until the airport that is. We had the majority of the day to reminisce, visit our regular sites and spend a bit more time with the remaining volunteers.

Then came the chaos of the airport. I took my usual precautions… checked my ticket five times, looked at the luggage allowance, weighed my luggage. Packed then re-packed and finally we were on our way to the airport. Upon entering the airport we were stopped. I had a brass statue in my carry on luggage and the security officer was asking me if I had a receipt for it or some kind of other certificate (I really had no idea what he was talking about). He said that without that I would have to go to customs where I would have to pay significantly to take a statue out of the country. Another security guard got somewhat involved and discretely mentioned that I should give him a ‘treat’ and walk away. I’m not exactly sure what he was referring to but I’m thinking he may have been looking for a bribe. I’m not sure so I played the dumb blonde routine and that seemed to get me to the next stage. He let me through but told me I should take the item out of my carry on and put it in my luggage or I would face a problem again when I went through security upstairs. This was going to pose a problem as I really was out of room. My earlier research told me that we were each allowed two bags so I decided to let my carry on bag be Hailey’s second bag. When we got to the front of the line at the baggage check they told us that we were only allowed one bag each and that we had to pay $200US for each extra bag! Yikes. We tried arguing and they just kept walking away…very frustrating. We eventually managed to cram more into our two suitcases, reducing our number of bags to three. Then flagged the attendant again to find a way to reduce the price. My argument was reasonably sound. Our luggage did not exceed the weight allowance and if I were a stronger person I would have brought my larger suitcases and we wouldn’t be having this problem. However I’m not strong and I/we brought only two small suitcases and a duffle bag. Blah blah blah… I think he finally got tired of listening to me and let our bags go through. I’m not sure however if I will ever see them again?? He said that the problem is with Air Canada’s baggage allowance, which I am aware of, as Air Canada will only allow us one bag. However they only charge $50 for a second bag so we may have to deal with that issue in London when we switch over. Provided our bag’s actually made the flight in the first place.

We have made it as far as Doha… hoping that everything will work out I was planning on this being my final post. An introduction to my new friends:

The house staff/team:

Shanti – Greeted us at the airport. Her English is very good. I think she organizes most of the transportation for the arrivals and departures and does various chores around the house.

Jenee – is our main organizer at the house, very involved and knowledgeable about the Mountain Fund Organization and it’s programs. She greets everyone and does an orientation. She has toured us to the Monkey Temple, has given us Nepali lessons and has tried to answer all of our questions and help us plan any excursions. She has a son that lives with her mother in Dhading. She attended Tribhuvan University and is currently working on her masters degree.

Usha – One of the house staff. Takes care of the house and helps in the preparation of our meals.

Saru– Also works in the Kitchen with Ousa. These two ladies do not speak much English but were kind enough to escort us to Patan for the festival as they wanted to go worship/pay their respects on Krishna’s birthday.

Namunaa – Is one of the house staff. She is 17 and is studying to get into the nursing program. She also has Type 1 diabetes so was very excited to learn that Hailey also has diabetes and would be staying at the house.

Chris – Is from Washington but has been in Nepal for 10 weeks working for the Mountain Fund.

Shwoita – Spends a lot of her time in the Rural community. She escorted Hailey and I when we went there and spent all of her time with us, translating, answering our questions, preparing our meals etc. She is a trained midwife and any spare time she had she spent studying to get into the nursing program. Good Luck Shwoita!

The Volunteers

Natasha – 17 year old travelled here by herself from Vancouver, BC to work in the hospital. In the two weeks she was here she learned more than some of the med students just arriving. She was a real go-getter. She left about two or three days after we arrived.

Bill – Was clearly a social guy who partied a lot during his two weeks in Nepal. He worked in the hospital but left two days after we arrived. We got a great deal of input from Bill.

Natalia – came and left with Bill. She worked at the hospital but spent about half her time travelling and sight seeing.

Ellen – Was here when we arrived. She and another lady have been travelling throughout Asia on work. Something to do with assessing NPO’s. She has already moved on.

Ian – A university student from Minnesota, we met him when we first arrived but he left that same day to go work in the rural community. He is back now as he is in Nepal on a Grant from his university. He will be in Nepal for two months in total, leaving around the same time as Hailey and I. Prior to being in Nepal he spent several months in Australia. While in Nepal he has been writing a paper on trans-genders, lesbian and gay relationships etc. in Nepal. He has found that they are much more advanced in their acceptance and thinking in Nepal compared to the US. Very interesting to talk to.

Joanna & Amelia: travelled together from Singapore? They are med students from Australia and arrived the day after us. We are grateful that we have met Joanna and Ameilia, they have really added to our enjoyment of this whole experience.

Joanna is from Switzerland, currently lives in Australia, spent three months in Europe, a month in Singapore and is now in Nepal for a month and a half. Although she is much younger than me we share a lot of the same interests and are enjoying sight seeing together. Amelia has also travelled a great deal and studied biomedical sciences. She is a twin and has been a great friend to us.

Michael – Comes from Virginia. This is his first time travelling away from home!! Culture shock!!! He is also a med student and arrived the day after us. He is one of 9 children

Jennifer – I have introduced myself to her twice and spent enough time with her that I am embarrassed to say I know very little about her. Hailey tells me she is pre-med and has done a lot of travelling in Asia.

Charlie – Arrived on our day 5 he is a 19 year old university student from London, England. This trip was a birthday gift from his family. He will be working at the Himalayan institute teaching women English. In the week he has been there he has really made an effort to make a difference. I’m very impressed and this sounds like a great place to work.

Rachel – Arrived on our day 5 she is a 21 year old university student who’s goal is to be a stay home mom to 7 children and teach piano. She is recently engaged to a neuro surgeon. She is now volunteering with me at the Orchid Garden School. This trip was also a birthday gift from her family.

Karly, Christian, Shion – I didn’t really get a chance to get to know them as well as the others they were at the remote location and only at the house for a few days while I was here.

Thomas – Arrived on the 17^th mid way through our stay. He is from France but has been studying in England. He is studying business & management but is interested in Journalism. He will be volunteering at a newspaper in Kathmandu called New Age. He went on a trek with some of the others only a few days after arriving and now his first article for the newspaper will be on trekking. Everything happens for a reason.

Alex – arrived Aug 19 from the US. She is here for as much as four months working on a project but won’t necessarily be at the Mountain Fund house the entire time. She impressively created her own opportunity by contacting an elderly lady in Nepal who has been creating a database of all of the people who have climbed Mount Everest. She is now involved in interviewing the climbers before and after their trek. Where they will go from here or what they will do with the data they have collected I’m sure will be interesting and eventually published.

Kasia – Arrived Aug 19 from Warsaw, Poland. She will be staying for a month. She was also scheduled to work at the Orchid Garden but switched to a school with older children so that she could feel like she was contributing something. I completely empathize with her situation and wish I had known of this option. Kasia arrived only a day or two before most of the gang left so she has been with a much smaller group. We have shared as much of our experience with her to save her some time and effort.

Struggle with loyalties...

Since we have been in Nepal, or more so the past couple of weeks, I have been struggling with loyalties (among other things). Several taxi drivers have given us their business cards and asked us to call them if we need a ride or a tour etc. My first instinct is to do that. After all you have made a connection. He has taken the time to solicit further business. Every cab ride in Nepal is a negotiation that leaves you feeling like you just stole from someone who has nothing. I feel that I should take them up on their offer. However Nepal is overcrowded and there are a few thousand taxi’s. When you want a cab you just hop in the closest one you don’t wait 5 minutes, Nepali time (which could be an hour) for your driver to come and find you. I bring this up because today a taxi driver took us to the airport as we were going to take a one-hour mountain flight. He was going to wait for us and then bring us back to the house. The flight ended up being cancelled due to poor weather conditions and when we went looking for him he was nowhere to be found. How long were we obligated to keep looking – keeping in mind that the 100 other cab drivers at the airport were all trying to solicit our business? Is there a right & wrong here?

My other struggle with loyalty has been with the church.  The teacher I have been working with belongs to ‘The Church of God’ I think I mentioned this previously. She brought me to her church a couple of weeks back and has wanted me to return for more instruction/teachings. I somehow got cornered into going there today after school. I spent an hour and a half being shown passages in the bible and video’s supporting their interpretation of the bible and the holy mother. Everything they showed me completely supports that there is not just one God but two Gods, the second being the holy mother. Now I’m not saying I don’t believe what I read but I think taking a sentence from one chapter and a passage from another disciple and mixing and matching I could probably make the bible say just about anything I wanted it to. As I sat there for the hour and a half I was trying very hard not to be rude and just stand up and walk out but at the same time I was thinking to myself do you really think I am going to throw away everything I have learned for the past 46 years after two small meetings and start following ‘the holy mother’ who apparently is alive, is Asian, and looks to be about my age.??? Am I being disloyal to my own faith by sitting and listening to all of this…oh and yes I was put on the spot and gave them my address and e-mail so they can follow up with me later. Am I being disloyal to them by politely giving them my information allowing them to think that there may be hope that I will join the ‘Church of God’ and be saved from destruction when it comes? Apparently it is coming soon.

So the only really fun part of all of this is that the ploy to get me to the church was the offer of a ride home after school. I took a walk on the wild side and rode home on the back of a motorcycle without a helmet in the middle of the crazy Kathmandu traffic just like a true Nepali!

This was my last day at Orchid Garden and while everyone else who has left has received a thank you and certificates of appreciation I got a religious book, a video about ‘God the Mother’ and a sermon. Oh well, it was a life altering experience that I will never forget. (The children that is)

I have left my mark on the school. The alphabet has been put up. Managed to learn almost all of the kids names and taught them a few English songs. I held a few hands, rubbed a few backs, wiped a few tears and in the end I think I made a difference. Not exactly the contribution I was thinking of when I left Canada but a contribution none-the-less.

So much for equal rights...

Everyone here has impressed me so much with their knowledge that I have been trying to read the local newspaper and Google everything I have questions on.

Men in Nepal work an average of 7hrs per day while women in Nepal work an average of 15hrs per day.

Looking at the local paper for a job, one position I found would pay an accountant 20,000-30,000Npr’s per month depending on experience. That is the equivalent of $224-337 a month. Although my education and experience would be enough for me to qualify, they were not accepting applicants over 40 years old. Apparently even with long hours and low pay there are no discrimination rules

I AM CANADIAN

Last week when I stayed late at the school Chimmi, the teacher brought extra snacks and shared them with me. All of the children were staring in hopes of having a taste. How could I refuse although I did not want to appear rude and unappreciative to Chimmi. Since then I started bringing cookies and snacks with me to share with the children for their afternoon snack. When we were in the rural community brought home pineapple as a treat for the family to show my appreciation that they were sharing their home with us. Today I brought a new block set for the kids to play with. They had a great time with it. I now have toys, crayons, paper and stickers so they will have something new each day that I have left.

Things I am grateful for:

I am grateful that I do not have to travel far to get food or water and I have never gone to bed hungry.

I am grateful that I have fresh clean hot and cold running water in my house that I do not have to worry will run out before the end of the day or will make me sick if I drink it.

I appreciate that our province and country, my neighbors and friends are all concerned about the amount of garbage that we generate and we don’t pollute.

I am thankful that our air is reasonably fresh and I do not have to wear a mask to feel safe walking down the street. It is unlikely that if I stay in Canada I will suffer from respiratory problems thanks to our governments monitoring of emissions and our public smoking policies.

I am grateful that our government has ensured that I can live in a house with an identifiable address so that I may receive correspondence from anywhere in the world.

I am grateful that we have maximum capacity laws for public transportation.

I am grateful that we have traffic laws in place so that I can safely cross the street.

I am grateful that I can go to the hospital and/or a doctor when I am sick even if I have no money.

I am grateful that we have power and rarely have to go without.

I am amazed at the incredible selection of mattresses we have in Canada. From size, shape, density, number of springs, box spring, type of foam or cushioning used…it goes on and on and even our cheapest and most uncomfortable mattress is more comfortable than any I have slept on this month!

I promise:

To be more mindful of the amount of waste I create in the way of food, garbage, water consumption, electricity, and exhaust fumes. I appreciate the Country I was fortunate enough to be born in and will stop taking it for granted.

Evil eyes

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."

After a morning with Jo and Mia in Pokhara on Phewa Lake, at Barahi Temple Island, at Devil's Falls, at the Gupteshwor cave, cramming in as much site seeing as we could before we had to say our final tear-filled goodbye’s.

Looking out the airplane window, flying above the clouds we realized that some of the clouds were not clouds at all but snow covered mountaintops. How amazing is that!

Flying over Kathmandu I am reminded that we have only seen a small portion of this vast city. From the plane I saw a running track maybe at a school and what appeared to be an Olympic sized competitive swimming pool and then the slums…the row upon row of tin shacks crammed together on the dirt ground.

Not so Fun Facts for the day:

A common site among Nepali babies is kohl makeup around their eyes. It is believed the kohl will shield the child from the dangers of the evil eye. The kohl can have a powerful effect, but not in the way the parent intended. Unfortunately, the kohl paint often includes lead that is toxic and quite dangerous to the wearer.

Jumping off a cliff.....

Monday, August 27^th

The language barrier is tiring. Everything we do feels like such an effort because we are never entirely certain whether the message is being conveyed properly. Compared to most of the tourists we have met, Hailey and I have put a reasonable amount of effort into learning at least some Nepali but this allows us to barely scrape by. This morning we were chastised because we had tried to order breakfast at the hotel/retreat centre before we left. The lady we spoke with did not speak a word of English and proceeded to clean the bathrooms after we had asked her about breakfast so we gave up and decided to go to a restaurant. As we were leaving one of the other staff got mad at us because we were leaving after ordering breakfast?? We attempted to explain that we thought she hadn’t understood us but in the end we were just tired and it was an excruciating amount of effort just to get a bowl of porridge. I imagine they must be thinking something quite similar having to deal with multiple languages being hurled at them.

Pokhara is just starting to develop a tourist area/appeal. We got a quick summary of the history of Nepal in the last 10 years from the meditation instructor. As a result of the civil unrest and monarchy problems in 2005/6 there really hasn’t been any tourism in Nepal in years and at the rate things get done it may take many more before this becomes an attraction for most westerners.

Mia and Jo were at the hotel when we arrived first thing this morning. Yeah, one last day of being tourists together. They have been trekking for the past week and have told us about their adventure. I can’t wait to see all the pictures.

Paragliding is one of its main draws. We successfully jumped off a cliff and spent 20 minutes (not the hour that was promised) sailing down to the landing below. What a great experience. It was not near as scary as it looks and what a beautiful life a bird must have! The instructors (if you call them that) spend most of their day flying tandem with tourists like us. It reminded me of the scuba divers in Thailand getting to spend day after day taking groups of people diving two and three times a day. Why did this kind of job never occur to me when I was 20? If you are in your late teens or early 20’s here are some job ideas – scuba master in Thailand, paraglide in Nepal, operate a catamaran in Mexico, be a trekking guide in Nepal, be a yoga instructor anywhere...live life large!

Went to see the World Peace Stupa way up on the top of a mountain!

PS the new hotel is worth the $20. A hot shower with great water pressure has become priceless to me at this point.

Meditate...Yoga...Meditate...Buddhism...Meditate

Sunday, August 26^th

Our Buddhist meditation and yoga weekend was interesting. The meditation and Buddhist teaching was interesting but a lot of it was a repetition of what Our Buddhist meditation and yoga weekend was interesting. The meditation and Buddhist teaching was interesting but a lot of it was a repetition of what I have already learnt. I also did not enjoy the monk’s method of teaching. He was trying a more philosophical approach and trying to make us think about things. Question what is real what is not, how do we know what is real. He asked us to define ourselves; he asked us what we thought happiness is etc.. All very great questions that promote discussion only he laughed at and argued every answer by every person. It was intended to make you think but for me it was making me angry and I felt he was treating us like idiots. I know this was not his intention however I couldn’t get beyond the emotions it was stirring up.The yoga was extremely basic so it was disappointing. Five of the group of 13 of us left after the first night as they had come primarily for the yoga.I really enjoyed the meditation teacher. He did some yoga and several meditations with us every day. It was a good experience and I hope I can continue it at home and bring some of the yoga exercises to my own students.

We are learning that ants and small insects are everywhere however as part of our Buddhist weekend we made a promise not to kill anything. The bed was comfortable; there were two main toilets for everyone to share and three showers (two of which were in with the toilets, this is very common in Nepal). No towels were provided so now despite Hailey’s criticism that I always over-pack, I’m glad I threw one in at the last minute.

They have power outages here in Pokhara just as they do in the rest of Nepal however this place is well set up with solar panels so it is less noticeable.  It seems only certain things turn off. Nobody seems to rely on electricity for cooking, as everything stays open. There are however certain foods that cannot be prepared when the electricity is out.

I learnt over the weekend that hotels in Pokhara are as cheap as 150Npr, which is about $2 per night. The meditation centre that we are staying at right now only charges 200Npr per night (about $3). We booked our hotel for Monday night through a travel agency in Kathmandu. We are paying $20. Per night! I’m thinking it had better be a palace! I guess that’s not very Zen of me is it after a weekend of meditation, Buddhist teaching and yoga. I don’t even want to know how much we should have paid for the paragliding.

Noise bugs – There is some kind of weird bug in Pokhara that attaches itself to an object and then vibrates. They make a tremendous amount of noise. Like a metal gear that needs oil?? Or breaks that need to be replaced?? Anyway it goes on for a long period of time and then just stops.

We said our goodbye’s Sunday night as Monday morning we were heading out first thing to go paragliding. I received several compliments/comments that it was very nice to see mother and daughter travelling together and participating in this weekend retreat together. Made me feel good about myself and the choices I am making.