daalbhaat

If only I could portray all the sights, feelings, sounds, emotions, scents, and sweat of the transition from California, USA to Dang, Nepal.  If only I could give you all a virtual tour of everything I've seen and experienced in the past few days.  Jumping back into village after a semi-long break in the States has been a wild ride.  My naniharu are walking and gabbering a storm when just the other day in May she wasn't even potty trained enough to avoid pooping in front of the home.

Coming back to earthquake ridden Nepal is very different from the Nepal I knew before April 25th.  Tourists are no longer to be found and NGOs have popped up tents all over parts of the country.  

The destruction of my former village where I lived during my pre-service training back in 2013 (wow I'm old) is a different place now.  NGO tents are scattered in the little spaces between corn fields and schools, and most families are now living in temporary shacks nearby their former homes.  It's tough stuff to bare witness to, but the spirit of the villagers are still alive, and that is a great feeling.  My former neighbors and family continue to force upon me tea and chiso (soda) and food even though I came back to visit with the intent to be of aid to them.  They continue to badger me that I've only come for a few hours and not for the night, and the next time I visit I must sleep over.  I'm grateful for the offer, and before the earthquake I would have made sure I kept my promise, but now I am compromised by the fact that they are burdened with living in a shack and that they may overwhelm themselves in the attempt to please an American with their wooden beds.  

The monsoon season has begun before my arrival.  When I pulled up to my home in Dang, the surrounding area was lush, muddy and beautiful.  My room is swollen with insects (and a rat that took the pleasure of sleeping in my bed while I was gone).  All is different, yet wildly familiar.  It's a fascinating feeling to feel at home in two very different parts of the world.  In my opinion, two completely different worlds, in fact. 


Keep in touch, 

Bora