Just a little delay...

Apparently, the Student Union is striking today against the price hikes for petroleum and in so doing have blocked the major routes out of Kathmandu with burning tires. (Nothing to be concerned about as an American though). As a result, my taxi driver informed me that we wouldn't be able to go to Chapagaon until tomorrow. I guess this gives me a day to catch up on email and to have a bit more leisure time before I dive into work at the health clinic.

I think I'll be getting a cell phone here in Nepal so that it will be easier for you all to get ahold of me when needed and I have a backup for emergencies. So I'll keep you all informed.

I'll most likely be returning to Kathmandu this weekend, so I'll have more time to update with additional pictures and happenings.

Cotton Candy Without the Circus

Getting ready to move to Chapagaon tomorrow.










Tibetan handicrafts, Bodhnath.














Bodhnath Buddhist Stupa













The largest Buddhist stupa and monastery in the world.

My fantastic language teacher, Pramila, at Pashupatinath Hindu Temple.

A Hindu holy man wearing orange to symbolize sacrifice.

Cremation Ceremony along the Bagmati River at the Pashupatinath Temple

I saw pink cotton candy being sold for the first time in Nepal along the holy Bagmati River at the Pashupatinath Hindu Temple. Except it wasn't being sold for a fair or a circus, but rather right across the river bank from a cremation ceremony. "Am I really seeing this?" I kept thinking to myself. The corpse was wrapped in white and marigold orange linens symbolizing purity and clarity as well as sacrifice. There was a lei of marigold blossoms strung around his neck and his sons were stacking branches on the cremation pillar, starting a crackling fire. I couldn't believe that people were just hanging out along the river, buying cotton candy, and taking in the sight as if it were just a normal day as the fire billowed up around the deceased elderly man. One man was even washing his dishes in the river that was flowing with human ashes and marigold blossoms. Unbelievable. The brilliant colors of white and orange, the sacred ceremony presented to the Pashupati god, the flickering fires of the burning Arya Ghats, and the eerie lapping of the holy Bagmati river winding through the ancient temple. I walked away simply speechless. I couldn't make it fit into any of my former paradigms of relating to death.

I also visited what it said to be the largest Buddhist monastery in the world, Bodhnath, yesterday afternoon. That was another wildly eye-opening experience. The piercing white stupa of overwhelming proportions is beyond impressive. I couldn't believe how many burgundy-clad Tibetan monks were in one place. The entire village surrounding the stupa is one of the most peaceful and endearing places I've ever visited. The monastery is full of gleaming temples honoring the five Dyani Buddhas, incense wafting from Tibetan tea and bead shops, and golden prayer wheels holding the mantra of "Om Mani Padme Hum" that Buddhists spin as they walk clockwise around the stupa in meditation. I wish I could have stayed into the evening to hear the monks' evening chants after the rest of the tourists slowly dissipated. Nonetheless, I had a blast snapping lots and lots of pictures yesterday.

Everyday, I feel more and more like I belong in Kathmandu. The city no longer feels so foreign and unnerving to me, but rather like an old friend with many quirks and idiosyncracies. And every time I walk the street from my hotel to Central Thamel, I feel like I'm seeing it differently everytime. There is so much to take in sense-wise. However, I already feel like I've become a boring foreigner, since I've already settled on one cafe' that I absolutely adore for breakfast every morning and refuse to go anywhere else. It's amazing to me how much time I can spend enjoying breakfast there. This morning I got there around 8:30, my normal time, and got lost in time studying my Nepali language notes over banana oatmeal and "milk coffee" in a chipped china cup. I'm not exactly sure why I love that cafe' so much. Maybe it's the warmly painted orange walls or the hanging basket lights, the perfectly frothed milk coffee (I'm a huge critic of foam on coffee), or the friendly waitstaff who always greet me with friendly recognition and bring me the morning's Kathmandu Post or Himalayan Times. Or maybe it's thatt I can linger at my spacy wooden table for as long as I would like. It seems like there's a little group of us expats who have become quite the regulars: a Canadian, several Americans, and several Australian girls.

Something about Kathmandu charms the heck out of you, despite your initial reactions and the very visible poverty of the city. (Note of observation: There are more people wearing North Face jackets in Thamel than even in Seattle.) Thamel is literally teeming with the scent of ripe oranges, incense shops, and teahouses. I've seriously found the balance and simplicity that I came looking for here. I'm eating less and sleeping more. I'm reading more and stressing less. I wake up early and head to my cafe' to have my devotional and write in my journal over breakfast and study Nepali for an hour or two. I find plenty of time to take photos and to read leisurely. I love getting my news from foreign newspapers and not the television. I was actually irritated when the tv in the coffee shop was tuned into the South Carolina primaries and John McCain's voice was dominating my peaceful morning's breakfast. I also found the greatest bookstore yesterday called Pilgrim Book House where I was able to buy several paintbrushes and now I'm all set to check out the Garden of Dreams for an afternoon of painting.

Tomorrow, I move out to Chapagaon to begin working at the health clinic. I was so excited to hear that another new volunteer, a pre-med student named Aly from San Diego. will also be working at the clinic with me. It will be awesome to have someone to come into Kathmandu with on Friday afternoons for our short weekends off.

Sweet Home Nepal

Reasons why Terminal 3 in Singapore's airport is truly amazing.

Really excited about landing in Singapore for 8 hours.

Cool fountain in Terminal 3

The Himalayan Mountains from the air.

That's Mount Everest folks.

Miniature stupas recognizing hundreds of Hindu gods.

View from Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple)

Prayer flags sending mantras into the wind to be spread around the world.

Day 2 in Nepal: Getting ready to head to my language lesson

One of the largest stupas in Nepal (representing the fusion of Hindu and Buddhist religous beliefs).

Well, I just got back from some afternoon sightseeing with my language teacher, Pramila. She took me out to ancient Monkey Temple of Swayambhunath which is an incredible fusion of Buddhist and Hindu stupas and prayer wheels atop a hill with sweeping views of the city. The name is fitting because there are packs of monkeys everywhere! While we were enjoying the World Peace Pond, one of the monkeys swung down to take a drink of the water while hanging from one of the decorative pillars and fell into the water. He started to panick because the sides of the pond were completely smooth stone and there was no way to climb out. He started screaming in sheer panick as he started to sink and then his mother swung down and rescued him from the water. It was crazy to watch his little brother wrap his little monkey arms around his half-drowned brother's neck and wipe the water away from his fur.

I'm getting ready to grab some tea with my new friend, Mani who is going to be my guide for Everest Base Camp trek and Lang Tang trek. He came highly recommended from Brenda, and I immediately adored him. He now owns his own adventure company called The Great Adventure Trekking and Expeditions. So I feel very lucky to have the owner be my guide coming up this April. He's also given me the lowdown on how to get into Tibet for reasonable cost. I'll be able to do a package deal for 7 nights for around $450. I told him it was a done deal. I already wish it was April. :)

Kathmandu has really blown me away. Nothing can prepare you for the heartbreaking poverty of this city. Nobody really told me what to expect and I really didn't read anywhere how devastating the conditions are for the people who live here. Maybe that's because the foreigners spend about a day in the touristy section of the city and then immediately head out to the mountains. I almost was tempted to run for the mountains myself when I got here yesterday, and had a very strange bout of culture shock. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Rickshaws, microvans, bicycles, and scooters all speeding right at each other at breakneck speeds nearly colliding with orange vendors and cows, children playing in piles of garbage, people bathing in the streets, loins of sheep being hacked into bloody quarters, a mother digging through the demolished remains of a brick building scavenging for extra bricks, boys playing ping pong on a stone slab with a divider made from crumbling bricks. All of a sudden I felt very alone and confused about why I was really here. I checked into my hotel, unpacked, and just sat there waiting for the coordinator to arrive for about two hours. I just wanted to get out into the city, eat something, and get immersed, but I had to stay at the hotel until he arrived. During that time, it felt so strange to have noone to talk to and to have no idea what to expect would come next. As soon as I met Matrika, the coordinator and another American volunteer for dinner, I felt immediately at ease and knew that I had made the right decision to come here.

It seems as if the entire city is near collapse and filled with the loudest, most unsettling caucophany of noise and pollution I've ever witnessed. I thought I had seen it all in the Philippines and Peru. Wow, I was so wrong. Cheryl, one of the American volunteers, and I meandered our way around Thamel and Asan Tole last night looking for her to buy one of the popular Tibetan singing bowls. Despite being nearly mowed over by taxis and rickshaws numerous times, I was fascinated by the endless market streets of shimmering metal wares and bolts of brilliant fabrics and saris, grass baskets brimming with saffron and curry powders, enormous sheets of cauliflower, peppers, and mushrooms. It was chaos, but it was so enjoyable at the same time.

I was so dead tired that when I returned to the hotel last night I just dropped like a fly into my sleeping bag, with my headlamp still on and almost fully clothed.

To-Be's and To-Do's

Mom and I have talking about the one word we will choose as a theme for our lives in 2008. Mom chose "Vitality" and I think I have finally decided on "Create". Creating moments that I will proudly remember, creating beauty in every space I possibly can, creating gestures of love and acceptance to those who share my life so closely with me and to those who are still strangers, creating art, and creating lasting, deeply rooted relationships. I would like my life to be rich in every way of creating in 2008.

I was just thinking back to my childhood when my grandmother would give my sister and I brand new sketchpads or watercolors and encouraged us to create whatever we could dream up during summer vacation. I remember that Jenny and I loved to sketch designs for elegant evening dresses. However, I never felt that I had true artist talent because my sketched figures had monstrously disproportionate heads to their slender bodies with wide-set eyes and could have been easily cast as the aliens for the movie Independence Day. On the other hand, my sister drew beautiful high fashion, elegant women in flowing dresses that could have walked right off the page and onto the runway. She has always had impeccable talent at sketching and painting. Pure talent.

It wasn't until I started college that I began to realize that art can take so many other forms, and I mustered the courage to buy a sketchbook for myself again. I began to sketch and paint for my own enjoyment and expression. I would make colorful to-do lists with pastels and watercolors. I would even tack them up on my dormroom wall like a proud little kindergartener. :) I've slowly come into the realization that creating can take place on so many levels and one's style is constantly transforming as well as the way one expresses it. I know that I don't have flawless sketching technique, but I do know that I love watercolor pencils, swirling paints together on a wide open canvas, the field of graphic design, and snapping pictures that impeccably capture what I'm so inspired by in that very moment. That's the form that creating has taken in my own life.

Here's my list of must-do's for 2008:

1. The Lang Tang Trek
2. 14-day Trek to Everest Base Camp
3. Visit the Royal Chitwan Park
4. Paraglide at Sarangkot
5. Visit Bhaktapur
6. Paint, journal, and pray in the Garden of Dreams, Kathmandu
7. Run through Asan Tole in the early morning light
8. Watch the sunrise over the Himal from Nagarkot
9. Buy a clunky, cheap bike
10. Visit Bandipur
11. Spend a weekend in Pokhara
12. Visit the World Peace Pagoda
13. Bike to the Tibetan village of Begnas Tal from Pokhara
14. Buy colorful bead necklaces made locally
15. Buy locally grown tea
16. Book a hotel room in Kathmandu once a month
17. Treat myself to a high-end restaurant each month
18. Take a photo everyday. Capture something of beauty each day.
19. Live out the meaning of "Namaste" and truly wish it upon each person I great
20. Strive to take on each piece of the culture in its entirety
21. Set aside time to enjoy the beauty of mornings
22. Enjoy peaceful morning runs
23. Support local initiatives
24. Look deep for creative solutions
25. Cling to Scripture
26. Take a trip all by myself
27. Find more discipline in my life
28. To write everyday, even on a sticky note.
29. To run the San Francisco marathon in November
30. Strive to leave each place I visit better than I found it

.........

January 10: Introducing My New Year...

Treat your words as the mighty instruments they are - to heal, to bring into being, to remove, to nurture, to cherish, to bless, to forgive - to create from the whole cloth of your soul, true love.-Daphne Rose Kingma

Since moving from Loma Linda, I have definitely stolen away into the quiet and peacefulness of my little hometown. I've readily welcomed this quiet retreat to put my life in order once again before setting out on another lifechanging chapter. I've taken to steaming marshmallowy mugs of hot chocolate and chapters of microbiology. Such an enchanting pair, yes? I had come to miss cooking real meals for myself and others this last quarter at Loma Linda (I didn't throw one dinner party), so that has been a real treat as well. Most importantly, this transition between the questions and accomplishments of the past year and the arrival of the new year's promises and hopeful opportunities has been a time of reminiscing.

Driving the 12 hours home to Northern California gave me ample time to replay the memories and lessons that my time in Loma Linda enriched my life with this past year. Picture this here little blonde driving her little white car home while squeezed in between all her junk that was threatening to pummel her in a deluge from the backseat as she is singing along to every emotional Sarah McLachlan song with a lampshade in her lap. It was enough to throw a passing car of young Hispanic teenagers into a fit of giggles as they sped along next to me, pointing and laughing hysterically to the point of tears. So, yes, there was plenty of time to process all that became of 2007.

The real beauty of the year revealed itself in the comfort and reassurance of a few precious old friendships and the making of many new friendships within my program. I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to finish a Master's degree with some of the most remarkable and intelligent individuals I've ever worked with. The blessing of friendships with those who are motivated by the same ideals but approach the same problems with such a spectrum of creative solutions can't be overstated. I've never felt so challenged, stretched to what I perceived the limits of my abilities to be, and perhaps never have I searched so deeply for answers and solutions. On so many countless occasions I felt overwhelmingly inspired by the compassionate genius that stood behind our projects, proposals, and research. I am so proud of everything that stands behind my MPH. Every village touched in Peru, the homemade soccer goal posts that sit on the future site of a real soccer field in one of the poorest, tragically underserved neighborhoods in San Bernardino, and each bulging proposal pounded out during sleepless nights for the expansion of surgical units in struggling hospitals in countries like Nepal.

Saying Goodbye to Loma Linda

Snowflakes and Snowscapes: A Winter Escape

I really can't think of another perfectly complete Christmas holiday as this year's was. Give me loads of time with my family and I'm perfectly content, but give me loads of time with my family in a spectacular snowy retreat and I can't think of anything more perfect. Our holiday in Idaho was filled to the brim with lots of powder days for snowboarding at Tamarack Ski Resort (a practically brand new and undiscovered ski mountain that I absolutely love), hot chocolate, card games, sledding with my adorable nephew and niece, making snow forts, plotting the elusive paintball war, Jen and I pulverizing each other on Wii boxing (haha!), and painfully laughable moments involving snowmobile crashes and snow-covered stone walls around the lake. Lots of joy and love. The proof is in the pictures. :)