link to photos from friends' visit

the trek from when our two friends came to visit, beverly and karen, was up in annapurna. it was epic, to say the least with all kinds of craziness from flights being cancelled (again) to scary local busses to lunar looking landscapes. i'll try to post more about it, but for now, karen was kind enough to post all of our groups of photos online. the trekking photos are obvious, but then there are some from our stay in the lovely, lakeside town of pokhara and then some from sight seeing around kathmandu. this is the link to mine...enjoy! you may have to cut and paste it into another webpage...love, j

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karenschreiber/sets/72157609137242639/detail/

SAISA soccer in pics

3 days at a dhaka hospital. good times...

i last left you with our team going to the semi finals, right? i had spent 3 hours on thursday evening in the hospital with one of our players getting x-rays and ultrasound to her abdomen after she got nailed with the ball to her sternum. everything checked out ok, but she was extremely sore and didn't play the next day... friday we managed to pull off a win over lahore, pakistan after penalty kicks and then sudden death p.k.s. talk about exciting! it was really good because one of our goals got called back during regulation by a very poor official's call. i'm not playing the 'poor us' card...the refs really sucked and alllll of the coaches agreed with this point. they made crappy calls for and against everyone; they did not discriminate and did not call offsides... (suzie, i'll explain later!)  but, unfortunately, they let a lot go, as well, so on saturday during the semis, our pencil thin, 8th grade goalie who although was playing fantastically, was already sore from being decked the day before. well, she got pounded again and had to come out because she couldn't breathe and was in severe pain. in went our back up goalie...another skinny 8th grader, who after about 10 minutes into her stint, got kneed in the head after making a save, by a wreck loose dhaka forward. there were no calls by the referees in either instance. she needed to be carried off on a stretcher and passed out. the trainer said we needed to take her to the hospital and we might as well take the other goalie, too. so, off i went with 2 girls to the hospital, missed the 2nd half (we wound up losing by 1...grrrr) and then proceeded to spend 4 more hours in the e.r. with the 2 of them. spriha, the first goalie was conscious and scared, while the other one, manisha, was unconscious which made me scared. i split my time between cots and trying to explain to bangladeshi doctors what had happened while comforting spriha and waiting for manisha to regain consciousness. it was quite hairy for both of them, actually, for a while the doctors feared internal injuries.  spriha was released in time to make the consolation game, but manisha, although she came to, was admitted to be closely observed overnight. i stayed in the bed next to her and we watched a movie and a few 'friends' episodes to pass some time. nurses and all kinds of caretakers came in to look at the foreigners and to take care of us. they were very friendly and hospitable...a nurse by the name of 'happy' was with us through the night. bangladeshi people are very small and smiley. many of them wanted to practice their english with me and would just come in to 'chat'. i don't think i mentioned that bangladesh is predominantly a muslim country so women wear long saris and many cover their heads. here i was, feeling all comfortable in shorts and a t shirt within the american school grounds, and then finding myself in the local hospital...in shorts...eeks. at least i had my head covered with my baseball cap. what was i to do? i tried to keep a low profile, but the 5'10" blond amongst the teenie tiny bengalis, well, ... i found it hard to be inconspicuous... manisha was a trooper the whole time and did very well through the litany of testing...x-rays, ultra sounds, manual tests and even an mri. of all things, the iv bothered her the most! she slept alot of the time and i was in and out of the hallway answering calls from her guardians, the dhaka school and lincoln school. we missed the banquet and all of the other games, but it was the best thing for her to be safe. the kicker of the whole thing was, though, that because of a head injury, they didn't want her to fly with the team on sunday. i waited in dhaka with her and the next available flight wasn't until wednesday! ugh. 3 more days of missed school for both of us and hanging out in dhaka was NOT what either one of us wanted to do. the doctors wanted to keep manisha another night, too, but i put some pressure to let us the hizzell outta there and they finally did at 5 sunday afternoon. our team was already back in kathmandu, but manisha and i checked into a hotel near the school and hung out for the evening. a driver from the school took us out to eat and then we came back to the hotel. it was only then that our principle got ahold of me and told me that they found another flight on another airline to bring us home on monday. hooray! ...except that it was with biman airways which the dhaka a.d. told me 'they avoid' because it's a local airlines, old, and unreliable. crap...i was willing to risk it though! so, off to the airport we went the next morning and luckily it was on time and a decent plane aaaand a good flight. i even got to see everest out the plane window when the pilot drew out attention. i've had enough crazy flights lately and since i don't like to fly to begin with, i was veeeeeery happy to touch down in ktm. whew! manisha has a concussion and surprisingly came to school today, but not so surprisingly, went home with a headache. the other 2 girls with abdominal injuries went to local doctors today, but overall, it is good to be back. our girls are very sore, tired and disappointed by the 4th place finish. i am very proud of them for their effort and attitude throughout, though and i really believe we were the best team there. 3 fewer injuries and more consistent refs and who knows. for now, however, all i reeeally know is that i am so happy to be HOME! ahhhh.... love, j

SAISA tournament-dhaka, bangladesh

because i'm the assistant coach for the girls' high school soccer team at lincoln, i got an all expenses paid trip to the season ending tournament. because there are no other teams in our area, we scraped together a couple scrimmages, but all the kids aim for this one tournament. saisa trips are easily top highlights of their years at lincoln and the parents pay anywhere from $500 to $900 for their kids to go depending on who's hosting it. there are 4 saisa seasons per year...and some kids do a sport every season...you do the math! we left yesterday and arrived in dhaka an hour and 20 minutes later. it's easy to see how this area floods so much coming in on the airplane...sooo much water! some teams needed over 12 hours of travel time...yuck. other members of the Southern Asia International Sports Association, or something like that, include, delhi, bombay and chennai india, lahore and karachi pakistan, and colombo sri lanka. islamabad pakistan had to withdraw because of political unrest. we will play 6 games in 3 days and hopefully will wind up in the top 3...we're a very young, yet athletic, team. school goes on as normal back at lincoln, so the head coach and i had to leave lesson plans and our kids have homework to do on the road. there's lots of camaraderie and laughs between the girls so it's a fun atmosphere. we're all staying with host families from the american international school dhaka (aisd) and, of all people...i got placed with the librarian! too funny. she was gone last night when i got there due to a famous author doing a workshop here at the school. apparently, she's coming over for dinner tonight, so i'll get to meet her. people who work at this school have it pretty phat. it's a really nice facility completely outfitted with macs. plus, their commissary is stocked with everything they could want from the u.s. including ben and jerry's ice cream. how they get it over here in this incredible heat is a mystery. today it's in the mid 80s, full sun and high humidity and this is going into their winter! hot, hot, hot. good thing is i'm able to wear shorts and a t shirt while here because although it's a muslim country, the school is a little enclave of tolerance. it's strange, because i haven't worn shorts outside in such a long time i feel a little exposed! ...naked almost! so, we have another game in a couple hours and then 2 tomorrow and 2 more on saturday before flying home. i'm sure we will all be exhausted by then. i still have pics to post from annapurna, but haven't found the time. once soccer is over i should be able to get to that. time's going to fly before i come home...i'll be in a game reserve for thanksgiving break and then on a school event called 'explore nepal' where we take students on educational trips. i'll be going up to the tibetan border with the 10th grade class where we'll do canyoning, rafting and some outwards boundsy kinda stuff. it should be a lot of fun! alright, gotta run, but i'll post again soon. i love this school!! : ) lots of love, janice

langtang part 2

HELLZ TO DA YEAH!!!!

...it's been very interesting today because our friends are still here and so christy and i took the day off of work to go around sight seeing with them. i can't count the number of nepali's who commented about barack...albeit in a heavy accent...winning the presidency. watching the election and seeing how it has affected the 'rest of the world' is a good thing. hopefully our global image will improve and america can move in a positive direction. since we've been home, we've been glued to the tv watching cnn, bbc, and aljazeera. great coverage. we are quietly celebrating and happy to witness history. whew. love, j 

langtang part 1--briefly in words...

sorry i've been lax on blogging this past week. tons going on at school and now i'm coaching our high school soccer team after school which basically means i leave at 7 in the morning and don't get home until 7 at night. plus, i was fighting a cold and recovering from this trek; i was exhausted! i have tons of photos, but don't have much time to post. we have two friends in town and are leaving later today for another trek up in the annapurna region. 7 more days out in the mountains...hooray!! now our langtang trek was challenging, yet great. our two porter/guides were 22 year old kids who cracked us up the whole time with their wrestling and constant teasing of each other. despite their immaturity, they did get us vital transportation to and from the region and certainly helped with the language. one funny point is that j.b., the one with the vespa t shirt and flower shorts, wound up getting a cramp in his leg and couldn't carry our bag. he had to hire another porter who was already all loaded up with other people's stuff! the porter beat us to our destination which was 6 hours away and all up hill...the porters are amazing. the first few pics are of the drive leading up in the morning. it was dark and dreary until we rose above the low lying clouds and then it became so beautiful to look out over the sun rising and this river of clouds settling into the valley. the little girl was hilarious as she didn't quite believe and understand that i could get her photo in my camera...she kept doing different poses, waiting for me to snap the pic and then scurrying up to me to check the display. she was adorable. so, i have lots more pics, but will hopefully post more later. in the meantime, i'll be gone for 7 days up to annapurna. one of our friends is an awesome photographer and has already taught me tons in just one day...i'm so looking forward to soaking up all her knowledge. so, i'll be back next sunday. have a great week! lots of love,...oh and happy halloween!! we've brought goodies to pass out on the trail. j

langtang trek part 1

reflection

so i've had a few close calls in my life...cancer, armed student death threat, slips, near misses, car sliding on ice, etc and i've certainly been around my share of death, but for some reason, the yeti airline's crash last week has touched me more than usual and in a personally unfamiliar and unexplored way. christy and i were going to the everest region for the nepali, week-long holiday of dashain and due to time constraints, hiking 2 weeks to get there was out of the question. our only option, really, was to fly up to lukla. it's one of the highest airports in the world, but is mostly known for the precarious landing. apparently, the twin prop, 18 passenger, otter plane is flown by pilot sight only, no radar, and the runway is uphill, beginning at a cliff and ending at an enormous mountain. a sharp right turn must be made after a really quick deceleration seconds after touching down. then, on the return, when you take off, the plane gains speed coming down the runway and literally drops off the end hopefully with enough momentum to keep it airborne! well, this is only what i've heard because after flying to lukla on saturday of last week, we had to turn around just before landing because the airport had, only moments before, been closed due to cloud cover. 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back in this tiny, twin prop, so-loud-you-need-cotton-in-your-ears, non-pressurized (i was lucky enough to sit next to the door where i could see daylight around the not fully sealed door and feel a cold breeze rushing in through the crack), bouncy, no frills plane. we embarked up and onto a fold down stairway, but couldn't stand once inside; it was too compact and you had to crouch your way to your seat belt equipped bench seat through an aisle way you could only traverse shimmying sideways. the pilot and copilot were mostly visible in the doorless cockpit and the air hostess sat next to me holding a basket of mints to help with popping ears and cotton to decrease the loud buzz of the churning propellers just outside the windows. the flight was interesting, to say the least, but once i settled in and calmed my nerves, the view was spectacular! after about 45 minutes, though, the captain's hand motion swirling above his head told me something was up. sure enough, seconds later the air hostess leaned over and told me we have to return to kathmandu because the airport is closed in lukla. she made her way up the aisle and repeated her statement a few more times until all the passengers were informed. now this alone was freaky to me...because we had to fly through clouds in order to get there, but going back the sky was even more filled. i don't know how the pilot knew what was in front of us! i must admit, it was quite eerie. i was thankful to finally touch down back in kathmandu, but disappointed to have to go back and haggle for a new flight in the airport. yeti airlines is classically nepali and inefficient, yet boasts the most efficient and 'together' reputation of all national airlines. our guides did all they could to argue us back on an early flight the next morning, but all we could get was an 11 am flight. and seeing as we had already spent so much time in the airport we decided to not waste another day and rent a 4 wheel truck to make the 7 hour bone jarring drive up through winding, twisting, river covered and landslide buried at times, narrow, wash board and chuck hole filled, non guard railed roads to another region: langtang. doesn't that seem like a great trade off?!! well, it was...especially after 3 days into our trek we heard that a flight to lukla on yeti airlines had crashed. somberness abounded, but we gained some solace in the fact that our family and friends wouldn't worry, if they even heard of it at all, because all of the unfortunate passengers were australian, german or nepali. we went about our trek in our new destination and were exhausted with each passing day. it was fantastic to be outdoors and in beautiful scenery, but also nice to return home after such an intense week. i was rocked, however, upon getting on the internet and realizing that a few friends had, in fact, been quite worried about me being on the flight that crashed tuesday morning. i think most people hadn't put two and two together, but unfortunately, the ones that did looked further into things and discovered that based on my blog posting, the plane that had crashed, was in fact the exact one i was on 2 days prior. through some further research, they were able to discover the flight mandate and deduced i was not on the flight, but until that time were convinced i had perished. it's very strange to think how close things can be, but then to realize how people are affected by it...that was the most touching part of the whole experience. a few friends heard about the crash and genuinely thought i was on it...grim, but a loving reminder to not only be in touch, but how much my friends care and how important they are...thank you girls...and sorry for the scare. i've been exhausted since returning and fighting a cold which has delayed posting sooner, but i've been thinking about it all week. i can't wait to hug you extra tightly when i'm home! lots of love, j

DOH!

we were soooo close! about as close as you can get actually. after arriving at 6 am to catch our 7:15 flight, we found out we were bumped due to all the flights that were cancelled the day before because of weather. lukla, the world's highest airport we've been told, is way up in the mountains and since the pilots fly by sight only, no auto pilot, we can only fly if they can see the runway! we missed the window by 5 minutes! after tons of typical nepali nonsense, it was 12:45 by the time we took off and we were the last flight to lukla for the day...all flights to other locations went out with no problems. so, after 45 minutes of a bumpy, bouncy flight through clouds and over magnificent scenery and with the hum of the propellers in our cotton filled ears, we had to circle in the air and return to kathmandu. a whole bunch more nepali nonsense ensued back at the airport, but let's just say we got on an 11 am flight this morning after leaving the airport at 4 pm yesterday. what did we do with our free afternoon? called up lydia and went and had a fat meal with 2 glasses of wine before coming home and crashing...we were exhausted! hope today's better and...i hope you don't hear from me for another 8 days! bye...love, janice