Okay so alot has happened the past week and half

I can't believe it's almost a month. I have a hard time figuring out what day it is.

Let's try to re-cap my week:

The children are now back in school, this is their second week. But BEFORE school started I wanted to do an activity with my boys so they have one last day of fun. I created a "Photo Scavenger Hunt." I brought 3 cameras with me (yeah yeah) and had 2 groups of boys participating, 12 boys on each group. I made a list of things that the boys had to take a picture with; monkey, temple entrance, taxi cab, monk, volunteer from Umbrella, 2 dogs, swings, a buddha, Sugar Loaf House, and boys in a tree.

They didn't seem interested in the activity, that is until I told them that I would take the winning team to the cinemas. Their response was like "mmm...nahhh...I'm tired...oh...oh...uh...ohhhh...ahhh, cinemaaaaaa?? ahhh...yeeeees...yeeeees!!!" I got them locked dowwwwwn. So they're getting antsy to leave the house and start this game. I thought it would take them the whole day because a lot of these destinations are far away from each other. So I went back to the volunteer house to do my laundry. I got on the roof to hang dry my clothes and I heard a lot of boys yelling. I looked over and saw some of my boys running to each place, I even saw one of them limping. 20 minutes later, both teams came back to me at the exact same time. The winning team got 6/10 right, and the losing team got 4/10, mainly because they were missing one boy in the picture. So Team 1 triumphly won the activity and were jumping around the volunteer house.

photo with a monk.

Watching a Nepali film with the boys was an adventure. We walked to the bus station and rode for 15 minutes, and another 10 minute walk to the theater. Bought our tickets and waited for another hour till they open the theater. The line was crazy! I mean...these people are aggressive and eager to get good seats. People are pushing and cutting in front of each other to get into one single line. One stupid bitch tried to shove me and cut, and I was like "Oh hell naw," so I shoved her back at the end of the line and she shouted something Nepali to me. I turned to my boys and said "What did she say?" she then noticed that I was a foreigner and not a local and walked away. -sigh- I love my boys, they're so protective over me. After that shove and yell with that lady they formed a circle around me so people wouldn't touch me. It was like having an orphan boy bubble.

I saw a typical Indian film dubbed in Nepalese. The actors can't fight Van Damme style, so when they do an elementary round-house kick, the victim backflips to the ground and agonizes in pain. All of sudden it jumps into a 15-minute bollywood sing & dance segment. They do this sing-a-long 3 times during the movie. All and all, the film sucked, in need of an editor, but the kids loved it and they love me for taking them.

This is the line at the cinemas.

A few days ago I met a Nepalese guy named Sushil. He was an orphan since he was 6. He is now 19 years old and creates films, music videos, and helps street children stay out of trouble. He invited me to his little school located in Kalimati, 15 minutes from Swoyambhu. We walked into a square and he unlocks 2 rooms, inside was a classroom and a rack of clothes and shoes. He told me that it took him almost 2 years to get this organization happening; he wants to help street kids that live in slums to have an education. There are 22 rescued children, before they were picking plastic bottles in the slums, where all the city trash is. Now they spend half the day picking bottles and the rest at the learning center. All this is paid by Sushil. I also met Divia, she is a Nepali school teacher that is donating her time to this organization.

I didn't get to meet all the children but I was able to help the organization prepare for the 2nd week of school. We moved furniture, brainstormed how to paint the walls, and hand-washed their school clothes. Sushil is a very interesting Nepali country boy. I mean, the way his mind works and his goals are so not Nepali style. I think he is the only Nepali in Nepal that is independent and follows his own dreams. Hopefully I can visit this orphanage again.

Past weekend most of the volunteers and I went on a retreat to Begnas Lake, Pokhara. It took 5 hours to get there by bus. I paid $15 for 2 nights of camping accommodation, dinner, lunch, snacks, BEER, and transportation. Score. A great relaxing weekend. Appreciating beauty each second.

Begnas Lake.

Between those days I work at the volunteer house, creating a new logo, and layouts for the new website for the organization. Also I visited another orphanage in Bouddha that my family friend's own. If you can remember my second post, I visited a Tibetan temple in San Francisco, and the monks there told me about their friend Takaihashi that owns a Lama learning center in Nepal. I phoned the secretary Pachung and I met up with him in Bouddha. He took me to one of their orphanages that had 17 children, 8 boys, 9 girls. He leaves me there for 20 minutes so he can grab his motor bike and take me to the Lama learning center. These children speak Nepali, Tibetan, and good enough English. We played a game of tag and they seemed to enjoy my presence.

Pachung picked me up and we rode to the Lama learning center. Currently there are about 20 young monks in the school with 2 teachers. In May they will have 40 more monks attending and will need more teachers. I'M GOING TO TEACH TIBETAN MONKS! This is what I want to do. I'm already living my dream, and now this is a dream on top of another. I will start in 2 weeks.

I would like to blog more often and upload my videos, but electricity here SUCKS. 8 hours a day we don't have electricity. So it has been technically difficult. But please check out my flickr, I've been uploading low-res files.

love you guys.

Nepali New Year Week

Okay this week went by quick. Last Monday was Nepal's New Year.

The other volunteers and I were working hard. We had to set up a festival and party for the new kids that were arriving from another orphanage in the city called Gongabu. These kids used to be in a orphanage that was in poor condition. The country director of my NGO visited Gongabu and was shocked on how these kids were living, so he paid the owner to take the kids here in Soyambhu. So anyways, it took weeks to build another orphanage for 20 new kids, it's called Sugar Loaf. All of us were running around buying supplies and setting up drawing competitions, talking to sponsors, and playing with the children. All that hard work deserved a night of drinking, but we were so tired we decided to stay home and drink.

We bought bottles of Vodka, Gin, Whiskey, Juice, and Soda. We started playing drinking games such as Kings. It was annoying because I made up a rule that everytime you say the words 'yes' or 'no,' it had to be in Nepalese, which is 'chha' and 'chha-na.' But I kept getting it wrong. Results: Piss drunk. We even made the kitchen room the new dance floor.

The next morning was unbearable. Nobody went to their children's houses cause we couldn't afford them seeing us half-awake, and dizzy. Didi the house keeper ran out and bought a bundle of cilantro and she showed me how to make 'miracle' tea. She boiled water and rinsed the cilantro. She then takes a sifter and pours the mixture through it. She poured one cup and tried to run away, I brought her back to make her and the other volunteer Benji to take one too. Benji told me to down it, so I started to drink and I thought to myself "oh, this isn't so bad," then I got to the bottom and I thought I was going to throw up. I downed it and I just sat there with my eyes closed trying to keep it down.



Later that night most of the volunteers came back from work and walked around the Soyambhu Monkey Temple. A volunteer named Doc from Ireland has been here for over a year and told us that the temple was lit up with candles and we should go and check it out. We walked around the opposite direction so we would hit the entrance at the very end. Immediately we felt a warm energy and knew we were close to the entrance. Candles were lit everywhere! I must have stared at one monk catching each melting candle drop on the palm of his hand for 20 minutes.



It was so beautiful it could make you cry.

Are you smarter than a Nepali 5th grader?

I am not smarter than a Nepali 5th grader.

Yup, I said it, and I'm suppose to tutor these kids. I couldn't answer more than half of their science exam. I'm very impressed with the education system here in Kathmandu. I'm also very proud of my boys that recently got their exam results, they're all over 80%. Here are some examples that were on their exams:

What is crystallization? Next question please.
True or False: Vitamin A improves Night Vision. Can I cheat?
Is irrigation important in Nepal? Irrigation...irrigation...what the hell does that mean?

I'd like to share more examples but I'm already embarrassed in front of my boys.

First week felt like 2 weeks

I arrived in Kathmandu about 11 pm. It was raining and a guy name Gwenvaal picked me up. This whole time I thought Gwen was a chick. Anyways he gets me a taxi and meets me at the monastery, we stayed the night there and I woke up to roosters cock-a-doodling, dogs barking, and children playing. (My favorite part arriving in a new place at night is opening the curtains the next morning). I see prayer flags hung around the monastery, young monks tending the garden, and miles and miles of houses.
Kathmandu is a BIG city. It's not a good city, the pollution here is horrible, that's why everyone here is always sick because there isn't any clean air to breathe. Electricity comes and goes as it pleases, 4 hours in the day and night it's off. There are candles and mini flashlights everywhere in the house. Dogs and monkeys everywhere.


I walk down to the garden and that's where I ate breakfast. As soon as I sat down, I sneezed 5 times. (Not a good sign) During my breakfast I meet JuJu (Jullian) from France. He introduced me to the organization and the city Soyambhu and told me everything there is about Umbrella organization. Later that day I met the other volunteers. There's about 20 of them from Ireland, France, Holland, and Italy. I move my stuff into the volunteer house that is situated in between all the children houses (8 houses that hold 50 children) I am currently living in a room with 2 guys and one girl, thank goodness they don't snore. But the dogs bark constantly throughout the night....I think I would rather hear snoring.

I am assigned to a house of 48 boys age 12-20. I'm glad that I am in this house because not only is it a challenge to take care of older boys, but they also teach me Nepalese language, now I don't have to take classes. They call me Sister May, or Bimlee (nepalese actress). It's so cute, they have crushes on me; they make me bracelets, they get all shy when I say Hi to them. The boys teach me to play Marbles (I suck) and Futbol (I rule). They even have a game where they play dodgeball with hackeysacks, so when I have more time, the boys and I can make hackeysacks and play. The boys love Akon...I know right?! I told them Akon is not a great musician in America and they think I'm crazy. Everyday they watch tv for a good hour of Indian drama, Tom & Jerry, and Indian music videos (I laugh my ass off whenever I see Indian Hip Hop music videos) Beyonce, Shakira, Chris Brown, and Akon is HUGE in Nepal.

Few days ago, some of the boys took me to a monastery on top of a hill that took over 2 hours to walk up and down. I taught them how to use my camera, I think they have an interest in art and photo taking. Soon I will print out the photos they took and give it to them. Hopefully this will attract interest to the other boys that are private and would want to come out of their bedrooms (I'm not allowed in) and talk to me.

imagine them screaming Garden State Style


It's been 1 week and it felt like 2 weeks. I do so much in one day. I already know where the supermarkets are, how to bargain with cab drivers, using the tuk-tuks into town, and I pretty much know everyone that walks pass by me and we say "Namaste" all the time. This is why I LOVE traveling, staying in one place long enough to fully adapt to the culture, living the life of a Nepalese person.

My normal day goes like this:
5am- Roosters cock-a-doodle-doo, try to go back to sleep.
7:30 am- I wake up and drink coffee or tea with the other sleepy volunteers.
8-8:30 am- walk to the boys house and have breakfast with them. We eat Dahlbaat, a dish with rice, lentil, and potatoes. It's really really good. On some days they add chicken or buffalo.
9:00 am-Walk the boys to school, I alternate on some days because the boys go to different schools and they all want me to walk them.
FREE TIME until 3:00 pm. On my free time, I will work in the office, creating a new look for their website or preparing a photo book for the organization. I think I will be working at the office 2 times a week. When I'm not in the office I can shop at Thamel which is a 20 minute walk from Soyambhu. Or take day trips to other sights around Kathmandu.
Soon I will visit another orphanage that my friends from Tibet own. I already spoke to the owner and he said that he needs someone to teach Tibetan monks English that will be here in Nepal for holiday. I will start next week when the kids go back to school because now they are on Nepalese New Year Holiday.
3:00 pm- Pick up boys from school and play.
5:30-6:00 pm-Dahlbaat.
7:00 pm- Back to the Volunteer house. Sometimes we hang in the kitchen and talk, play card games, listen to music, smoke, drink beer or tea in the dark with one candle. Sleep around 11 pm-12 am.

I met Tibetans...in SF

It was semi-emotional leaving my parents at the airport. I tried really hard NOT to cry, cause I have been majorly emo the past couple weeks and the day I left. Happy, sad, excited, nervous, family drama all mixed in. So...I'm there, about to walk through security and I hug my dad. I know my dad isn't going to cry so we hug, when I pull back there are tears in his eyes, and he's doing that weird thing with his mouth that babies do when they're about to wail. GREAT! So he's about to cry and now I'm going to cry, my mom sees me about to cry, and she starts to cry. Dammit! You know what happens.

I am now in San Francisco staying with my brother Brian for one night. Recently, Brian has started pro-bono work for a Tibetan Temple located in SF, there is a nun named Taoroung there who is my Grandmothers God Daughter. My grandmother is a nun in South China, she has her own temple. My brother told them that I was traveling in Nepal, Tibet, and India, also finding volunteer work. They said I can come visit them while I'm in SF, and they can tell me what I need to know about those countries. When I got there Taoroung was waiting on the porch, with her robe, and shaved head. I walk into their home and take off my shoes. She lifts a door curtain and inside is a tea room with a low table, sitting pillows, and 2 Tibetans internet surfing. We introduce ourselves and they recognize that I am the little sister that wants to volunteer in Asia. I am fed strawberries and Indian Tea. One of the Tibetans, Rinchen (a real Lama), tells me that this is probably my first Indian Tea at the beginning of my journey, and that we should toast.



On and on they tell me where to go, who to talk to, how to be safe, Tibetan phrases (they gave me an old phrasebook). They changed my whole entire outlook in Nepal. One of the Tibetans told me that they have an orphanage in Kathmandu, poor kids, no parents, and no volunteers. Just like the film "Slumdog Millionare." Now I feel that I should visit their orphanage and compare to the program that I already joined. But, it's best if I go there and see how it is. Get use to my surroundings. Understand what's going on and make a rational decision to switch.

I am so grateful that I met these wonderful people. They helped me so much and gave me A LOT of information that is overwhelming for me to take notes. Gondo, the main monk, asked what is my motivation to volunteer. I just froze, my mind went blank for a second, everything that I had told my friends/family prior to this trip on why I want to do this couldn't come out. Instead I said "this is my calling, I don't know why it is, but it is, and I have to do it." Gondo said my motivation is beautiful. This makes me humble. On my way out, I take a quick group photo, and bow to Buddha. There is no word to say 'goodbye' in Tibetan, so I say 'thugje che' (tu-gia-chay) which means Thank You, and a bow.




I am leaving tomorrow at 12:30 pm to Hong Kong. Can't wait.