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.