Nepali Notes

I love Asia

The culture fascinates me and draws me in

unlike any other place in the world

I have only traveled to Thailand and Nepal in Asia

but I am so in love with these two countries!

Things that I have been struck by thus far

Mostly while I people watched for 7 hours on a bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara --

(I'm only a few days in to this 6 week adventure) 

• Kathmandu, the capital and largest city in Nepal, is incredibly polluted, filled with human waste, garbage, cremated bodies in the river and so much more... yet everything about it seems beautiful to me (not the waste/garbage part, but the people and their lives) 

• It occurred to me that the reason there is so much garbage everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE, is because there is no garbage system. It is not a polluted city because people are too lazy to find a trash can... there are NO trash cans! There are no garbage trucks to take trash from people's homes. There are no landfills or dumps to drop off trash. They simply throw it outside; they sweep it into the rivers, streets, parks, or anywhere they can find. It amazes me the amount of time they spend sweeping trash away from their store fronts or home porches, just to move the trash somewhere else and continue a never ending cycle of dirt.

• It seems that most people don’t have running water, as I observed family after family using the public water system on the street to brush their teeth, wash their face or bathe their children. There is a type of hose-like-water stream that is in front of most homes/store fronts that people were using. They also used this water system to wash their dishes and fill buckets for cooking and cleaning. There are also “water fountain” type public water systems for filling bottles and washing clothing.

• I will never complain about doing laundry again. Not only do they hand dry their clothes on a clothing line which I have grown accustom to while traveling to different countries, but everyone washes everything in this public water fountain system. There are many fountains along the road. Basically, a family will take all the clothes, dip them in a bucket of soapy water, lay them on the ground, stroke them with a stone or hard brush to get the dirt out (while it’s laying on the dirty ground) & rinse in the “clean” water. They repeat that several times for each piece of clothing until they are satisfied, before hanging it to dry. 

• Electricity in Nepal, if people are wealthy enough to have it, only works sometimes. That doesn’t mean that people who forget to pay their bill don’t get to have electricity… that means the entire country only has electricity a few hours at a time every day and every night.

• EVERYONE is SO friendly! Every person I pass in the streets will form their hands as if in prayer, bow their heads and greet with “Namaste”. It is such a beautiful greeting, and I love saying hi to every friendly human in this country that I pass along the way. It may be because I’m white and blonde so I stand out but every child I meet/pass in the streets just stares at me. When I smile at them they get the biggest, most happy smile I’ve ever seen. I love friendly Nepali people.

• School is so different. The teachers smack the kids ALL THE TIME, it’s no wonder that the kids then go and smack each other all day long. I think the teachers would get arrested in the States if they did the same thing they do here. Sometimes (all the time), teachers just don’t show up to school. There are no substitutes. Therefore there will either be a class filled with children and no one to look after them, or the children will just not have school until the teacher returns. There are also SO MANY holidays. I suppose because they worship so many gods and each god has their own holiday. Tomorrow is Shiva’s Day…which lasts for the next 5 days apparently, so no school until Sunday.

It is very cheap

 it is very beautiful

 it is extremely dirty

 it is full of so much life and love and culture. 

I can’t wait to grow and learn from these people; 

hopefully I can make a bit of a difference in their lives too.