I don't know how they do it...

I will never look at a washing machine the same. Today we've officially been in Nepal for 1 week and already experienced 2 power outages, an earthquake, washing clothes by hand, and simply stated, life in Kathmandu. One of the craziest things here is driving and when we're not in a taxi or microbus, trying to cross the street on foot is a whole different story. I'm convinced the drivers think they're in a video game with 5 lives left. So even if they do crash into an oncoming vehicle, they'll just be sent back to the starting line. I really don't know why they think it's necesary to pass the car in front of them when there's a bus coming straight for you about 30 feet ahead but somehow they swerve around in their 1986 suzuki taxi and squeeze in. However, we've arrived safely at our destination every time. I don't know how they do it, and I didn't even mention the road conditions.

The past 5 days have been our orienration to the city and to Nepal. We've either had Sita, our language and culture teacher, or Sam, Ashley's friend take us on sightseeing trips every day. We've seen Swayambhunath aka the Monkey Temple (known for all the monkeys that hang around), Bodhnath Stupa, Durbar Square, Pashupatinath (a Hindu temple on the banks of the holy Bagmati river). Here they cremate bodies and throw the remains in the river. Yea, we saw the ceremony happening for a young woman who had passed away and we saw her face. It was pretty creepy.

We have had the opportunity to go to an area of town called Thamel, pronounced Ta-mel, where all the westerners hang out. I have to admit, it is a welcomed respite from the craziness that is Kathmandu. The endless honking of car horns continues, the streets are filthy, the stray dogs abound, but at least we can head to the Himalayan Java coffee shop and get a blended mocha or have fresh hummus at our favorite spot Or2K an Israeli restaurant.

We all are really excited because on Friday we'll be heading to Bigu to work at a monastery and a Sherpa school for 2 weeks. We'll be teaching English and Math as well as helping around the grounds. In order to get there we'll have to take a 4 hour bus ride out of the Kathmandu Valley and then hike for 3 days. I'm really looking forward to trekking in the Himalaya. It'll also be really nice to get some fresh air. The air quality in Kathmandu is extremely poor. Because we're headed into the mountains we'll have no Internet access for 3 weeks (trekking time plus time in Bigu). No Facebook for us! There is one phone that makes international phone calls so I'm sure we'll all try to use that a few times.

It's finally sunny today so we're all doing our laundry and since the volunteer house is solar powered, taking showers. Off to the baby orphanage today.

Hugs and kisses to everyone!!

Namaste!

We made it!!

We made it to Kathmandu!
It still hasn't hit that we're actually here...in Kathmandu...in Nepal.

Let me rewind just a little but and tell you about our adventure to get here. We left San Francisco at 12:45pm on Monday and flew 15 hours to Hong Kong. Fortunately we had movies, wine, and interesting characters on the plane to pass the time. One of whom was a woman sitting across the aisle from us who we named Wanda. She tried to share every food item she had with us and we even learned that she tried to sneak a family sized jar of mayonaise on board but unfortunately it was confiscated. So if anyone out there has an extra jar, there's a needy mayonnaise lover waiting in Hong Kong.

After a short layover we hopped on another plane for a relatively quick 3 hour flight to Bangkok. We were blown away by how huge and modern the airport is; literally every wall is made of glass. It's incredible! Spent the night at a hotel Ashley had booked online and headed straight to sleep. We were able to sleep in a bit which was so nice considering how off our body clocks are. This morning about 11am we headed to the airport. It was nice to see some of the city since we got in so late last night. However, the smog in Bangkok is unreal. It is so thick that you can barely make out the skyline at certain points. One we got to the airport, we looked up and down and still could not find the Nepal Airlines desk! We began to wonder if it really even existed. We asked a couple of people who told us a general area to look for them. Turns out, the airlines don't have any permanant desks so they just open up based on what times their flights depart. So, needless to say, we had to wait around for about 3.5 hours until the desk opened up. The upside of the fiasco, no baggage fees!

Long story short, we made it to Kathmandu! There were times on the flight in today I wasn't so sure if we would, but we did. Hallelujah. We got our visas approved and Ashley's friend Sam picked us up. Tonight they are putting us up at a hotel in the Thamel (tourist area) of Kathmandu. There's a large group of volunteers leaving in the next few days and then the 4 bed room will open for us and we'll move in. The hotel is quite cozy and ahem...vintage to say the least. But they've got showers for us to use and beds for us to sleep on so that's all that really matters. We all look forward to tomorrow morning because we'll be heading over to the orphanage. Until then, I'm off to get some much needed rest.

Many more adventures and pictures to come!

Enjoying San Francisco!

I really owe it to Melissa and Michelle who waited for me at the San Fran airport for ummmm approximately 6 hours until I got in at 3 pm. I was supposed to get in at 2pm but needless to say, we were delayed another hour because one of the airplane toilets wouldn't work. Come'on people hold your bladders! was pretty much how I felt, it was just a short 2 hour flight from Phoenix into San Fran.

Eric picked us up, we took over his car with all our bags and we were on our way to exploring the city. We went to the house from Full House, down Lombard St. and enjoyed some pizza in North Beach.

Oh and I found out our flight is 14hrs 55 min from San Fran to Hong Kong, 1 hr layover in Hong Kong, 3 hrs from Hong Kong to Bangkok. Yep, that means 19 hrs of traveling. Still can't believe we're actually doing this.

Today's adventures include, The Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf and maybe Alcatraz.

Will update soon.

XoXo,
Anna