And Now From the Other Side of the Ocean

Saraswati and I climbed to the top of Sundhara (203 steps)!

Just outside the house where I am staying. I'm staying with my friend Dechen's family. They are such a sweet and kind family.

The 170 million steep steps up to the Monkey Temple. See the platform that looks like the bottom? Very deceiving, that's only the half way point. Now I know why the Nepalese are so fit.

My friend Dilip and I went to go to Central Zoo.

After 35 hours of airports/airplanes, burning brownies and being jumped by a monkey, I think I finally survived part one of Nepal with the help of the Big Guy. I slept for what seemed like a month and finally came out of hibernation. I had these overwhelming feelings of doubt and inadequacy. I asked God, "Okay, I'm here, it's a long way back home, so give me the strength to get through the day. We'll tackle tomorrow later." The days definitely got better as time went on. I also realized that simple tasks like getting a PO Box, setting up a bank account and activating my phone all seemed easy, but are a whole different ball game in a foreign country. I am definitely more dependent on others for help, which is a lesson in itself for me. Thankfully I had a lot of help from the family I'm staying with. They are such an amazingly sweet, humorous and hospitable family, who I am trying to teach Ticket to Ride.

I live in a part of Kathmandu called Swayambhu, where it is mostly buddhists. There is a huge Buddhist temple nearby called the Monkey Temple and no kidding I think it's where all the monkeys in the whole country congregate. The kicker is you walk up about 170 million stairs and then at the top they charge foreigners to enter, but it's definitely worth it since you can see the entire Kathmandu valley, which is actually very large. On my way back down I got jumped by a monkey who desperately wanted my Sprite. Monkeys make me appreciate squirrels more.

Saturday I went and visited a Nepalese church. I was trying to pick out words I recognized, which were few and far between. One word I kept hearing over and over was "Prem.....prem....prem". I was so curious what Prem meant. Later I found out prem means love, so for my first Nepalese church gathering I understood "love, love and love". I hope as time goes on I can understand more.

Things so far that I love about Nepal:
1. Musical horns on buses
2. Pani Puri from street vendors
3. Hospitable people
4. Doding cows on motorcyle rides through the city
5. Laughing about words I mispronounce

Well that's all I have for now from this side of the ocean...