buh bye christy

...as if the king leaving isn't bad enough, christy leaves today for delhi, india. her work couldn't come through with a visa for her and since her tourist visa expires in about a week, she has to go. although they're still trying to get her work visa, the focus now has shifted to try and get her a student visa. she's enrolled in a class at the local university where she'll take a nepali language class from 9-11 every week day, beginning mid july. the class and visa last a year which put her very close to the end of her contract anyways, so she should be ok. she'll have to maintain a certain g.p.a. and attend 70% of the classes. she will probably have to be in delhi for about 6 weeks and i'll definitely go visit. she's made some nice contacts and is staying in a nicer, ex-pat part of town so i hope, despite the temps being in the low 100s, she will enjoy her stay. she'll be helping out a branch of her company that is starting up in delhi. lots of organizing and planning...right up her alley! : ) as for my work visa, i go in today to the international school, lincoln, and hand over my passport to get the process rolling. they told me it should take 2 weeks. lincoln's directly connected to the u.s. embassy and processes work visas all the time...there shouldn't be any problems. and yes, several people have already commented on the irony of me getting my work visa and, christy getting, well...to go to delhi. it should all work out in the end, though...another lesson in 'the best laid plans'! at lincoln, i will be a sub for an american teacher on maternity leave. she leaves for the states in a couple weeks (they are on the u.s. schedule) and then i'll start next school year in august. the post runs through just before christmas when i come home! i'll be teaching english and history to 10th grade international kids. it is the school where all the embassy and affluent nepalese parents send their kids. they also want me to assist with coaching girls' basketball and soccer. it's a real job! yikes!  let me hear from you! love, j

buh bye king

today marks the end of a 239 year old hindu monarchy. it's the oldest one in the world's history. the flag was lowered from the palace and the king and his family are reported to be leaving in the next day or two. during the night, trucks take their belongings out and during the day, heavy police and military presence swarms around the palace. it is a strange time in history. nepal is now, officially, a republic. the future is anyone's guess here...we shall see how it unfolds. what kind of coverage is it getting in the u.s.? love, j

drinking like a nepali

happy birthday buddha!!

today is buddha jayanti, which is buddha's birthday and also, therefore, a government holiday so no school for me! to celebrate, however, the wendy i house crew took the kids to boudhnath (or boudha as locals call it, pronounced 'bo-duh') on sunday. mostly buddhists worship there, but it's also a huge tourist site, as it's one of the largest stupas in the world and a great place to see tibetan culture. the white dome is drizzled with saffron water to resemble a lotus flower. they are seen as auspicious symbols in buddhism for purification and enlightenment. so we schlep the kids to the temple in typical nepali fashion...highly unorganized and racing like a bat outta hell down small streets in a big bus, but we made it there and took the kids into boudha. when you go in, the traffic automatically sweeps you into a circumambulatory flow around the stupa. the kids were partnered up for safe keeping and they really enjoyed spinning the prayer wheels really, really fast. we went up onto the white dome and saw the monks chanting below. we took a few pictures and then noticed the ever darkening clouds looming above. as we snapped our last photos, the big drops came hurtling down forcing us to quickly walk off the stupa and take refuge under another part of the temple. that's when it happened...the show began! poooof! apparently the butter lamps don't mix well with big drops of water which caused them to ignite like a kitchen fire. this also caught the wood planks upon which they were sitting, on fire! it was quite a display...to me, at least! the other on-lookers were all very calm, watched for a second, and then walked past. the butter lamp 'minders' also were quite calm. a guy in flip flops finally found the break he needed and kicked over the tables one by one to save the wood and attempt to douse the inferno. afterwards, while the smoke was still clearing, they were already setting up the tables again, drying off the butter lamps, scraping the oil off the ground and getting ready to do it all over again. the monks were no where to be found, however, they had moved to drier, less combustible space to continue their chanting. when the rain had stopped, we took the kids up into a beautiful temple and let them look around, after removing their shoes, of course. then it was time for one more group photo before we were all exhausted and headed back to the bus for a snack and the crazy bus ride back to school. happy birthday buddha! : ) lots of love, j  p.s. i've added 2 other links of interest, if you'd like, one about bodhnath and one about buddhist symbols.

happy birthday buddha!! (in pictures)

what's on your balcony?!

so this morning, because it's a holiday--buddha's birthday...more on that in another post, i was sitting on the couch having my cup of tea and slice of home made banana bread while doing some things on the computer. all of a sudden, in the corner of my eye, i noticed something moving 10 feet away on the balcony. i looked up and much to my total shock, it was a MONKEY climbing on the other side of the railing! we are on the 3rd flooooor!!  i froze and my eyes got as big as saucers. the sliding doors were open and it was just a flimsy screen door that separated us. i have neeeeeeever seen monkeys anywhere but at the big temples and sai-baba is big, but not that big... so, the monkey paused for a moment, looked around and then continued on. i blinked and felt my heartbeat increase even more as i saw a SECOND one follow right behind the first!! OMG! this one grabbed the bars of the railing and started to climb up, but hesitated and hopped back down to continue on its way, too. what would i do if it came onto the balcony? offer it some banana bread??! i tried to remember where my camera was and as i ran to the table to retrieve it, a THIRD one entered the window of my sight. holy cow...or monkey, i should say here, cause they are just as holy as cows. by the time i got the camera out of the bag and turned on, it had passed, too. but then, i was freaked out and didn't know if there were more! i cautiously opened the screen and stepped out onto the balcony looking for any trace. i saw the first one hop down and go over the fence to the sai-baba temple with the other 2 following pretty quickly. wow...it took quite a while for my heart rate to settle down! hilarious!! our friend downstairs doesn't have screen doors on her balcony and often sits with her doors wide open! she would have been in for a surprise had she not been at work!! even when i lived in africa, it was only when i was camping did monkeys come around my tent. not in the cities!!!! crazy. the pics are the only shots my shaky hands could get... : ) love, j 

18 years ago to the day

seems hard to believe, but my dad's been gone 18 years. how could that be? i remember him commenting at various times during the year about anniversaries like this: d-day, vj-day, his mother and father's birth and death days. all seemed quite distant and benign at the time and now i wish i would have known enough to pay more attention. many things i would love to ask him or talk to him about, but i think about the little things and that keeps him with me. he had this wit about him that was so silly and goofy and we would tease him about it...but alas, i find myself doing and saying similar things to endear people to me. how does that happen?! i think it's funny...i can hear his voice as i quip about something or play with a student. i can even feel his smile and see his eyes from behind mine. so many things remind me of him, still, and as i grow older, i realize that even in 21 years of life, i had been even more greatly influenced, and affected by him than i ever realized. i'm very fortunate. love, j

the master...rambabu subedi

mother's day

nepal celebrated mother's day a week before the u.s. and for that day, we at wenddy I house, had the kids make their mothers a card. mothers are revered here and although they do 99% of the work and are very much second class citizens, on paper they are highly respected. as i was going through some essays for one of our teachers, i came across this gem. tenzing norbu sherpa (of the sherpa caste) from the 4th grade wrote this tribute to his mother. i wrote it exactly as i saw it in his notebook.

Mothers day.

Today is mothers day. So I will clebrate by doing whatever she says, And studing hard to Make her proud. We should respect her. We should not give her many troubles. And even not telling her bad-bad words. And we should even help her when she is doing her work. We should not disturb her when she is doing any work or while she is sleeping or even when she is cooking food for us. We should even love her.. We should not kill her because She has given the birth to us. She has also respected us. We should not keep poison in her food. She has loved us very much so we should also love her. and also not to scare her. We should do whatever She says everyday. We should not hit her with the stone or we should not kidnap her.

what mother wouldn't want a tribute like this??!  i wish i could have scanned the drawing that went along with it! : ) love, j

weekend in nagarkot

after having been in the city for months, christy and i decided we needed a get away. luckily there was a holiday so i was off and she could leave early in the day. we caught a tourist bus from a local hotel and low and behold were the only passengers for the 75 minute drive up into the mountains and away from the bustle of the 'du. the air was fresh and crisp and the sights spectacular. it's one place people go for a 360 degree view of the himalayas and even, on a clear day, get a glimpse of everest. the hotel faces east and caters to people who want to see the panorama by providing private balconies with an unobscured view of a beautiful sunrise. there are balconies and terraces all over the hotel with natural beauty in every direction. we went for a hike and soaked in the splendor of both the people and the landscape. it was just so nice to be out! after our sweat-filled endeavor, we came back to relax and have massages before dinner and retiring with a good book and some peace and quiet. very nice and much, much appreciated. hope you enjoy the pics. love, j