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.