Goodbye Bangladesh

And good riddance. My India visa application was rejected. I'm a tourist! I'm not looking for a job in India! What a douche. I tried calling the foreign visa officer personally and he hangs up on me, not willing to hear me out. The US embassy can't help me because they have a week holiday until Sunday. I'm not waiting anymore.

I could have gone to the Banderbans, the border of Burma, which sounds amazing where there are Burmese tribes. But I couldn't go because of this stupid visa issue. It was either apply for the India visa and wait 3 days to get it and bone out to India right away, or buy a tour package to the Banderbans and wait for my permit (required) in 4 days, and then I'm allowed to enter the Banderbans for an extra few days. But the India visa was more important so I waited out for the visa. Bada Bing Bada Boom, no visa. But no time to go to Banderbans.

I'm going back to Nepal to get my India visa, find a bus/train to Varanasi and that's that.

Bangladesh...okay maybe I should say - Dhaka, the capital. What did I learn in Dhaka? This country has 89.8% Muslims. The people of Bangladesh are called Bangladeshis (Bandladesheeze) and the language is called Bangla. The Bengal Tigers are widely known around the world because they are from the Sunderbans, south of Bangladesh. And the currency is called Taka, US.68 to their 100.

This was a tough city to get around. Primarily because there are no women. I walked down a busy street full of hotels, restaurants, businesses, and a college! I saw an guess-timate of 200 men outside for lunch and a total of 5 women. 2 of them were beggars and the 3 were probably someone's wife and sisters. Even the florist has male employees! So imagine an intersection with 600 men, and 15 women. That is how I saw it.

I can actually count the times that someone was nice to me; The old man fruit seller that gave me 2 extra oranges, and was cool that I didn't have 30 more taka on me to pay for all of my food and water. One rickshaw biker actually watched the road and tried his best to not scare me when crossing the middle of the highway. My hotel manager gave me a new towel and toilet paper without me asking. The representative that helped me get my air ticket back to Nepal, he gave me my first Bangladeshi red tea. And the female security guard at the India embassy, telling me that I was beautiful.

So, I wish I went to the Banderbans and then I could say that Bangladesh ISN'T the worst country I've been to. But it is indeed memorable. I bought a can of Bavaria, non-alcoholic beer, and I will crack it open midnight tonight. Cheers to a dry country!

Family in Nepal?

Receiving an email from my mom telling me that I have a cousin in Nepal was a shock. I was in Nepal for 5 months...how could I not know this?

For real, I found out a few days ago. My first-cousin is 17 years old. My youngest aunt from my mother's side, married a Tibetan and their son grew up in Nepal. His name is Tashi and I was surprised to know that he lives 25 minutes away from me. So it was quite odd for me to call him, tell him who I was and to tell him that I can come visit. He likes basketball, art, and soccer. He wants to be a stock broker, because he's really good in math. I feel so bad, he's in way more shock than I was. He grew up thinking that he was the only child from his mother's side of the family, I told him that he had 5 other cousins living in the US. We got really close and I wish I knew this earlier, I had so much time in Nepal, and he and I could have hung out more often. At least I got to meet him. He calls me sister.
tashi and me.

Nepal Part 2

So it's been 3 weeks already in Nepal and it's been great. I have become closer to the boys than I did when I was here. I'm just here to hang out with the boys, I have no desire to go back to teaching anytime soon. Considering how intense my last months in McLeod Ganj was, I deserve a break, and this is a great place to do nothing and chill out.

few of my boys and his sisters family

Some problems, my main reason coming back to Nepal was that I needed to renew my India visa but my last one expired November 25th. Problem is that I didn't know I had to wait exactly 30 days to get a new one, that means...I can get my India visa December 25th, but that's a holiday, the Indian embassy re-opens the 29th, my Nepal visa ends 23rd. So I can't get the visa! Now guess what? I'm going to Bangladesh, I don't know too much about what's there, but I know it's similar to India. YES DAD, I WILL TRY TO STAY SAFE. I'm only going there so I can get my damn Indian visa. It's so funny to me, I'm so free...to do what I want, but it's not that easy because I don't have any other options to choose from.

Anyways, I have a week to enjoy Nepal, next blog in Bangladesh!

Yoga & Thoughts

I am in Rishikesh. Yoga capital of the world. I left Dharamsala last week and am taking a couple weeks off before I go back to Nepal to renew my Indian visa. Yeah! I'll admit, I'm excited to go back to Nepal. Many things I missed.

Yes yoga, I might as well get into it. It's like going to Saddle Ranch and not riding the mechanical bull...okay that was kind of dumb. I start a Hatha course tomorrow and will do it for one week. Auuuuuuuuuuuum.

What else, some thoughts...I guess I can say I'm lucky, beacuse I'm not working anymore! Many people have told me that I'm lucky. But I see it as me working hard getting what I want, and that's what I did. I worked very hard to be where I am now, plenty of patience added. However that doesn't make me lucky. I'm just like everyone else, with debt to pay, and future career goals. And I left it. Gone. There are moments collected during my trip where I had felt lucky. For example, yesterday I sat on my balcony during sunset and peeled an apple (still can't peel an apple with one long strip) and I was looking at the river flowing. I was just sitting there eating my apple and looking around. That moment, made me feel lucky. To see this, this beauty. It's hard to explain how I feel when I see beauty. The smallest things move me. Which was why I had it tattooed. Take out all the famine, war, and hate...everything man-made. Look at the world, it's so beautiful...and I know I will never see it again.

27th B-day in India

I'm 27. Fucking shit. 27. I'm on the border of mid-late twenties!! Oy! My birthday, day, was great. When I came to McLeod Ganj, I wasn't expecting to meet anyone that I would be close with and celebrate, considering how many people just come and go within a few days. But, I feel really lucky to have met these 4 people. My time here is almost to an end and I will miss them A LOT.

Let me flash back to the past on my 22nd birthday-my first bday away from home- I was in Prague, Czech Republic. (Karl, can you believe it was 5 years ago!?) I remember not remembering anything. Just woke up on my bed with all my clothes on and oblivious to how many drinks I had consumed the night before. Here's a sample of my bday drunkness; there was a free-use computer at the hostel I stayed in Prague, and I must of had time to write an email to ALL my friends in black-out mode.

"its my birhtday... i'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo drunk that i have free intermet and i have no idea what i'm doing...but though....l i have free intenet. i fridcking miss all you guys and having the ball o fmy life."

Some of you may remember this and I'm sure it is still in your email archives, October 29, 2004. Checking my email the next morning was quite interesting, cause I couldn't figure out why I had so many replies with the same subject line. Anyways, good times.

Okay, back to present time. My birthday, day, was great. It started with breakfast on our balcony (I share a double bedroom with my co-worker Jay, we are FRIENDS, that's it. Stop laughing Przemek) with a candle next to my eggs. Jay and the guesthouse owner was singing me Happy Birthday. Spent the entire morning waiting for the internet connection from all over McLeod Ganj to come back so I could Skype my parents. After the Skype conversation with my parents I relaxed at home, enjoyed the view, and read my book. Drinking/Dinner started at 6pm, at a nice roof-top restaurant Carpe Diem. It felt nice to laugh the whole entire time, have bday hugs with people coming in and out to see me, my tattooist, and ex-neighbor.

Erica, Przemek, Jay, me.

Also, adding to the celebration, we finished the website! LOOK . After a few miserable weeks, we are finally done. We all feel good about it. Jay (England), Przemek (Poland) , and I were working on the website, and Erica (Ireland) was the assistant at the organization. We are all completely different people, but we click so well together. When we're in the same room, it is non-stop laughing, there hasn't been a day where we don't talk about balls and Bruno. I'm really going to miss them. At the end of the night, I had a few beers, a powerful flashlight as a gift from Erica and Przemek, and a paper-mache notebook gift from Jay, and a beaded bracelet from my student Pema. -sigh- good times.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone!

Some new things...

Dad...you can't be mad at me. It's done, it's pretty, and forrrrrehhhverrrrrr. I've wanted this a couple years before, so I was very well prepared. It didn't hurt, I enjoyed it. My tattooist is bad ass, his name is Tamding. If you ever come to McLeod Ganj and curious about getting a tattoo, go to Tamding's Studio. There are 3 studios here and I think he's the best.


My right arm: Follow Your Heart, my left arm: Beautiful World. In Tibetan script. Yes, it's red.

I started to do a 2.5 hour Power Yoga class. It isn't like the power yoga back in Cali, which was extremely intense and physical. The one I went to was slow yet challenging. My instructor was great, however he reminded me of someone...remember Dhalsim from Street Fighter? Yeah, my instructor was like that, instead doing crazy knotted yoga poses, he's bendy.

The past few weeks I have been working on Volunteer Tibet's (non-profit organization) website; designing the layout, filling in new information and content, which takes me all day and all week. It also seems that I'm doing other office work as well, such as finding placements for new volunteers arriving everyday. I'm still tutoring in the morning and every now and then I'll attend the conversation classes. I gave my teaching class to another volunteer because I had to spend more time on the website. Which is good, it's beneficial for me and the new volunteer. I don't know when we'll finish the website, hopefully by November.

All in all, I'm fine and loving life. Miss you all.

High Fidelity

(disclaimer: this has nothing to do with volunteering) I saw the movie ages ago and I didn't GET it. I knew it was a guy movie, had guy issues, with guy jokes, which is probably why I didn't understand at the age of 18 maybe. But now I am reading the book and I GET it. It makes me feel so happy that I'm a woman and not a man, and I feel sorry for you guys! I'm so sorry!

I decided to make an ode of this post for the BOOK, High Fidelity. I had encountered a little squabble (I have no idea how I got that word) a couple nights ago and it made me think that I shouldn't entirely bag on men but also on my fellow female race. One night, I had dinner at a small restaurant that consisted only 5 tables, fitting 2 people in each. I sat in the very back and was facing the wall and reading my book, High Fidelity. Anyhow, an Indian couple walks in and decide where to sit, the man immediately sat next to my table, facing me diagonally, the woman snapped something in Hindi, and the man gets up from the chair, then moves to the chair across of him and was sitting next to me and facing the same direction. I resume reading and in my peripheral vision I could see the man's head turn to face me, I don't look. I could tell by the sounds of the woman that she was frustrated with something, I pretend I don't know what's going on. A few times I could still see him turn his head to me and then the woman abruptly said something that translates into the English word 'enough,' (I know Hindi!). In my head I thought 'Dude, you better turn away before she kills you, turn away! Turn away you Idiot!'

She started to mutter something and then got louder and louder, the dude just sat there and was taking every bit of word. I couldn't help but look because it was amusing, and how could I not look! I looked at her first so she knew that I didn't care about him at ALL!! We looked at each other and she had a normal blank stare, we both glanced at him, and he was staring at me, the woman and I looked back at each other and she had the worst Stink-Eye look I have ever seen. She grabbed her cup of water and threw it in his face, who was still looking at me. She looked at me again with frustration and grabbed for his cup of water, she attempted to throw it at my face but the guy pushed her arm and the water flew onto the empty chair across of me. All 3 of us stared at the water dripping from the table. I remained in my seat, calm, not upset or annoyed, but calm. I stood up so I could address the issue that I was there minding my own business and should not be bothered at all - the woman looked like she wanted to punch me in the face - that was BEFORE I stood up from my chair. I stood up and was clearly bigger (even though I'm skinny) and taller than her...and him. She gasped before I could say anything and she turned and stormed out of the restaurant. The man said he was sorry and ran after her. I looked around the tiny restaurant and no one was there to see this! What the hell just happened?!

This is what happened...the guy was being a boy, a stupid boy to look at a girl with his woman in front of him. The woman was being a woman; jealous, dramatic, whiny, throw-her-drink-at-another-person-because-that's-all-she-can-do-to-make-herself-feel-better- type of girl. It's interesting how basic we can be. From reading this book, I've been able to 'read' guys just by looking at them, I never tried because I never cared, it's so simple! I can flag guys down the street and announce their flaws towards women:

Hey you! - a muscle guy wearing a muscle shirt - You have a small wiener!

And you! - a nerdy guy with highlights in his hair - I bet you still don't know where IT is.

Ah Hah! You! - a skinny guy wearing hippie clothes, with brand new short dreads and a hemp headband- YOU...POSER! Stop telling women that you've always been a hippie and was a hippie before it became hip. I feel good...saying those in my head.

Okay now, I will start bagging on the female gender. I was buying momos as a snack and I was waiting by the food stall for it to be ready. This American white girl came next to me and waited to buy some too...her voice was so annoying. Everything she said sounded like a question; I would like to have 3 momos please?? I want the vegetable kind?? and no hot sauce?? it's too hot for me?? hee?? hee?? Jesus, I had to look at her, fucking shit...she LOOKED more annoying than she SOUNDED. She was wearing suspenders, suspenders! SUSPENDERS! With skinny jeans and a belt! I even catch a glimpse of one of her 'flares' - a freaking flare - it said 'ROCKSTAR.' This girl deserves a kick in the ass. I bet this girl is from Salt Lake City, Utah. Studying graphic design because it's 'cool' now, loves The Doors when I know she was probably born in 1990, and traveling here because she wants to 'find herself.' The momo Lady asked Suspenders "Where are you from?" Suspenders replied "Ohio, USA??" Close enough.

So if, I said my thoughts out loud; there is a possibility she could be a witty keen girl herself and reply back to me "Why are you wearing that skinny scarf then???? It's quite warm, you don't even need it!???"
"Au Contrare honey, it is warm and my hair gets frizzy! When I put it in a ponytail, I use the scarf as a headband to keep my fly-aways from sticking up! I hate using the plastic headbands because they're too tight. It's a personal-comfortable issue, not trying to be TRENDY! Big difference Suspenders!" And then there, I would stick my fingers underneath one of her suspenders and whip it back onto her shoulder, a flick. That would be the finisher.