56 days here already..I can't believe how quickly the time has passed and that I'm only just updating this blog... Am slowly immersing myself in the Nepali culture and adjusting to the pace here while enjoying the company of old and new friends every day.
I've realised today how much I really love this beautiful country and its strong, gentle, friendly people.
These are a few of my favourite things:(apologies to the original songwriters)
"People on rooftops with toothbrush in hand
walking the path to the top of the land
gas stoves with burners that light up the room
insects that hit you with barely a boom
power cuts, patience, and bright glowing smiles
hilltops with views that go on for just miles
in the market, in the classroom, and all through the day
this is how things happen the Nep-ali way..."
- people on rooftops and balconies between 8-9am every morning brushing their teeth while walking around observing the neighbours and local goings on
- people walking the path up the hill, through the tea gardens and back down to the main street/market greeting each other with a smile and a few words between 5 and 6pm every day
- using a 2 burner gas stove & large gas bottle to cook amazing meals & keeping the kitchen absolutely spotless and tidy with dust, flies, mosquitoes, moths, beetles and other unidentified insects crashlanding all around
- 18-20 hours without power every day, and managing to complete work and run a small business, and preparing, cooking and eating meals by candlelight
- hot, hot, hot days but continuing normal day to day activities with hardly a drop of sweat....NOT me though, I thought I was melting away
- heading up to the shop in the market at 5am every morning or 5pm every night with the bottle in hand to buy fresh full cream cow's milk
- hearing the moving vehicles beeping at you but not moving out of the way ...well, not much anyway
- laughter, yelling across rooftops to have a conversation
- kids keeping themselves occupied for hours with just a stick and a rock
- beautiful sunrises and moonlit nights
- colour, colour, colour
- the tenants radios blaring at 6am on 4 different Nepali stations
- hearing soft, beautiful singing wafting up from downstairs every morning while preparing my breakfast
- stopping in the street to chat with people whom you recognise but just can't remember their names
- laughing when things don't go as expected
- patience....it will happen approach to difficult situations
- beds like rock and pillows the same
- cold showers every day, washing dishes and clothes by hand
- grinding spices using one large rock and one small rock - the aromas are mouthwatering
- squatting while toileting, cooking, sweeping, talking, eating
- buying meat from the guy on the side of the road who has the meat hanging up in the heat for hours....ewwww! no thanks!
- watching the shopkeepers wipe the dust from the articles you've just bought
- 5am on Thursday mornings hearing the piglets squealing while they're being carried in 2 or 3 bamboo baskets on someone's back to the weekly market
- people buying tiny chickens from a guy squatting in the middle of the street
-finding ANZAC biscuits in the little supermarket with the cute young guy behind the counter, who gave me the shop's bottle opener as a special gift because he had none that he could sell to me ....
and more...
We take so much for granted in our lives! Can you imagine the uproar if the whole of Australia was without power for 18 hours a day for months on end? I won't even try to imagine it...
The scenery is breathtaking and surprising at every turn - and even on the Mahendra Highway which is flat and straight there is so much activity and the scenery changes constantly....
Now that bloody dog up the road is barking again...but the owners just let him bark - after all, he has the right to have his say long into the early hours of the morning.. they've probably been sound asleep for hours now and can't hear him anyway
I would never have thought that I'd be happy living in 2 rooms with just a bed and 2 tables, washing by hand in a bucket, bathing using a bucket & jug, preparing and cooking meals by lamplight, not having a fridge or cold white wine on hand...and much more....but I'm completely relaxed with the simple life and so happy that destiny has directed me to Nepal where I can strip away the 'things' and get back to basics...
