Oh Canada, how I missed you!

Our final day in Nepal, we packed and repacked until all of our stuff fit into two evenly weighted bags each. After much organizing and final gift shopping we finally had time to get ready for our last night celebrations. At about 5:30 we peered out our second floor balcony to see that 30 chairs had been set up in our front courtyard. At 6 we walk down stairs and await our guests. Rona from the day centre was the first to arrive, but was shortly followed by everyone who supported us getting to Nepal and while we were there. We were served an absolutely delicious Daal Bhat dinner prepared by Chandra, everyone sat in small clumps of chairs having lively conversations about our time in Nepal, world politics, and the similarities and differences between Nepal and Canada. After we were stuffed with delicious food, Gerrit made a speech. He said thank you to everyone and a few other things. Unfortunately, for those of us not fluent in Nepali, much was lost. However, Gerrit did an amazing job at delivering a Nepali speech. Next, we were all given certificates of thanks on behalf of AAN as well as the silk buddha scarves from the principals of both SEB and HHCA. After we were thanked, it was time for us to take the stage. On Man's request, we each stepped in front of the crowd, one by one to say a few words. With no preparation, they were short, but they were heartfelt, thankful, and showed how much we were all going to miss Nepal when we came home. Robin and Patti did a thank you to everyone from Camosun, and then Gocool played my Field School song for the crowd.

After everyone left, we had a few beers and went to bed.

The next day was full of last minute packing and goodbyes as well as frantic searching for items we haven't known the whereabouts of since first moving in. Just before going to the airport Tilock, Chandra, and Gocool presented us with marigold garlands and gave us Tikkas. It was very nice. Brushing away our tears we helped load all of our luggage onto the roof of our bus and drove to the airport.

The airport was, once again, crazy. We walked in with all of our luggage and placed it on the conveyor belt. While it was being scanned, we got a pat down and walked through a metal detector. Then we grabbed our luggage, placed it back on our carts and headed towards check-in. Along the way, porters kept trying to weasel their way into helping you with your luggage for a fee. We were well trained to say no thank you, keep a tight hold on our luggage, and ignore their advances. At the counter we checked-in and checked our baggage all the way to Victoria. The woman at the desk gave me a knowing look when she saw the weight of my luggage, but smiled and let me check it without extra charge.

We then grabbed some water at the small shop, placed our marigolds in a basket and took the escalator upstairs to the immigration area. At that point we filled out our departure cards and got in the foreigners line. And, after about 45 min (i think) we were let through and into the departures area. I had a Nepali conversation with the guard, it was great! We hung out in the waiting area for another half hour before we went through another security check point. Once again, our bags were scanned and we were patted down. Grabbing our bags again, we now headed to the departures gate area. We found our gate and showed our tickets to the woman at the door and entered the packed waiting room. Inside was quite busy, only a few westerners. There was a group of refugees who had left a refugee camp in Bhutan and who were some of thousands being relocated throughout the world. I'm not sure where they were going, but there were going to be 5000 coming to Canada, a few thousand to Finland, some to England and I think 6000 going to the US. Lots of global movement for them. I don't believe that they had really seen planes before. As a plane took off, they all rushed to one of the windows to watch it with wide eyes. For me, it was reminiscent of the first time I flew. We were about a half hour or 45 minutes late boarding after a final pat down check and a walk across the tarmac to our awaiting plane.

The plane ride itself was quite uneventful, I sat next to Amanda again! I ate some midnight food (there's no meal that falls at that time in non-plane land) while watching Monsters, Inc. and then fell asleep. Next thing I remember is hearing the announcement saying that the plane will be landing in Hong Kong in half an hour.

Once in Hong Kong, Gerrit, Tina, and I decided not to go into the city, but to stay and hang out in the airport for the day. We went through security again and then power walked to Starbucks. Coffee and some delicious sandwiches were exactly what we needed. We spent a bit of time sitting at one of the gates nearby playing on our ipods, but then it started to get really busy. We wandered around and found some extremely comfortable chairs by the food court. Tina took a nap and I read. We basically sat there all day until about an hour and a half before our flight. Then, we headed down to Gate 31 to await our flight. We sat at Gate 32 because there was nobody there and we could stretch out and relax but were still close enough to hear announcements and see when everyone was lining up.

I had a window seat on the way home and no friends in my row. Tina and Gerrit were in front of me, so I could chat to them every so often to check-in. There was one other man in my row, but he fell asleep almost immediately. I sprawled out over two seats and played on my ipod and watched some tv. I eventually fell asleep too!

We finally landed in Vancouver and Tina and I made another Starbucks run. Then, we freshened up a bit in the bathroom and camped out at our gate. We only had about an hour to wait until our 20 minutes flight home. The flight attendant was super grumpy on our way home, and when we got off the plane in Victoria, the people who met the plane were talking about how he's always grumpy. The flight was uneventful, except that it was about 20 minutes late leaving. We arrived home to our families and friends waiting for us, holding signs, and cheering. Or atleast, I think I heard cheering :) It only took a few minutes to collect our luggage and we were parting ways.

For me, coming home was a lot less stressful than I thought it would be. My mom cut up some fruit and veggies, threw some cheese and delicious bread on a plate and we were good to go. I showed off my photos and gave some gifts. Then, I watched some Grey's Anatomy and off to bed!

So far, culture shock coming home hasn't been that crazy. Grocery stores are a little ridiculous in comparison and people seem to ignore me everywhere I go, instead of staring at me. I'm used to smiling at children and then have them talk to me or smile back, but today I smiled at a child and she ran away. I also can't stop the head wobble when I say yes....it's getting a little confusing.

I tried to make chiya a couple of times. As of yet, it hasn't been as good as Chandra's, but it is getting better each time (if I don't count this morning's pot). Tonight's challenge....Momos.


Thank you everyone who supported me on this trip. Whether you were in Canada or Kathmandu, you helped me make this trip what it was. I can't believe I am home already, but it just means that there are fewer days between now and the day that I will one day go back. I can't wait to see everybody and share my stories and hear yours.

This is my last post for Nepal so dhanyabad (thank you) for following my journey and I hope you had fun, because I sure had fun sharing it.

Namaste

The second to last day in Nepal

Chitwan was an amazing experience. We left at 8:00am on Friday and drove through much traffic only stopping a couple times for cold drinks and a bathroom break. The weather was incredibly hot, but the air conditioning in the van was amazing. You could tell that we had reached Chitwan National Park not just by the signs, but by the change in atmosphere. People were driving slower and not honking as much and everywhere you looked was lush green jungle. We drove through a couple small towns seeing many water buffalo and grass roofed huts, a few elephants, and finally our hotel. The hotel was quite nice and had a pool. Sarah and I shared one of the rooms, but it felt like we were also sharing with Steph and Amanda as the walls were so thin between our rooms that we could carry on normal volume conversations through the walls. Our rooms were air conditioned and had a wide variety of bugs living in it.

That afternoon, we took a walk through the village. We saw the huts up close, learned about the system they have for protecting their crops and homes from wild rhinos, elephants, and boar, and learned how almost every hut has a bio-fuel system set up. They make their own bio fuel in their backyards and use it to power things in their houses. AMAZING!

That evening we were treated to a cultural dance show. There were men dancing and singing traditional songs and dances of the area. many included props that were hit together with the person dancing next to them, I'm not sure how they ever got to the point where they weren't hitting one another. We were all invited up to dance during the last song. Some of the moves I knew from variations I do at home (like the counsellor dance) and others I wasn't very good at. But all in all it was very fun!

After dinner it was straight to bed as we had a busy busy day ahead of us.

We left the hotel at 8am and drove to a place where we were boating down a river. We were put in very low to the water dug out canoes and then had a guide use one of those big sticks to guide us down the river with the help of a current (i'm not using technical terms, because I don't know them! :S) We saw some birds and had a very relaxing time. Next, was a jungle walk. We slipped and slid through some mud, and quietly explored the Chitwan jungle on foot. We saw a man fishing with just a net and lots of neat foliage. It was very lovely.

I went back to the hotel and had an airconditioned nap. Then it was lunch time. After lunch we had a swim and then it was off to the elephant ride. Sarah, Amanda, Steph, and myself climbed onto the back of the elephant where we sat in a box with railings and prepared for our jungle adventure! We saw rhinos in the wild! They were in a mud puddle at first and then they got up and moved into an open field. It was really awkward because the elephant drivers would move the elephants so that they surrounded the rhinos and were really close. Great for pictures, and I can imagine not so great for the rhinos. We were on the elephants for about and hour and a half and then we came back to the hotel. Back at the hotel it was shower time then dinner time.

The next morning we went to the Elephant Breeding Centre. That is where they train the elephants for the tourist industry and for other jobs around the park. I don;t agree with the way that they train them, as it is a rather violent affair. We took some photos, and then I went back to the hotel for a benadryl induced nap as I had a huge itchy rash on my arm.After lunch we had our final seminar which concluded with a compliment circle...yay! Then we went for a jungle jeep safari. We rode in the back of a truck with bench seats along the sides and saw boar, an alligator, some birds, a bunch of deer, and lots of different plants and trees from home. After dinner it was another early to bed night.

Monday morning bright and early we drove back into Kathmandu and arrived home around 4pm. I went and picked up the clothes Sarah and I were having made, wrote my final journal entry for Patti and Robin and started packing up my stuff.

Today we are going to Shanti, the community for people with disabilities. I am very excited for this experience and am wondering what sort of effect this will have on me. I guess only time will tell.

I may post again in the Hong Kong Airport. But this is my last post from Nepal. Thanks for following me!!!

Namaste

The Headline would read: Vegetarian killed by cows, oh the irony

I walked home alone from school for the first time today. And it was the first time that I feared for my life the entire time in Nepal. No, there wasn't a riot, or a large group of armed police officers, oh no. There were two of the biggest cows I had ever seen. I was nearly home and decided to take my usual shortcut across a grassy space instead of walking all the way around. I saw the two cows munching on some grass, figured they were harmless as people walk near them all the time. Of course, as I am strolling between them they turn towards me (Clearly sensing my lack of desire to eat them or any of their kind and accepting me as a friend) and started to move, at an alarming pace. I scurried out of their way tripping and fumbling with the bag and scarf I was wearing. The cows brushed up against each other and let out deep echoing mooos and went back to munching. I started laughing. Then I heard other laughter, I looked up and there were about 6 -8 locals standing around giggling at what they had just witnessed. Fabulous. Love leaving a lasting memory in the minds of the neighbourhood.

It was our last day at school today. This morning, Amanda and I walked to school and hung out with the kindies. We met Gerrit, Teloc, and Stephanie there. Stephanie had fundraised money and decided to use it to buy some school supplies for the HHCA children. Last night, we put together 230 pencil case packages. Today, we were delivering them. We delivered them to all the children in the school and you could feel the excitement in the air. Amanda and I returned to our little ones and sang lots of songs and played games. It was sad to see them go. But according to one of the teachers they were telling her how much they loved me and were going to miss me.

At lunch Amanda and I went and bought some candy from the store next door to bring home and to some of the children at the school. We met Gerrit outside the store as we were digging through our bags of sugary treasure. While we were sitting outside sipping our cool beverages we were privy to pieces of Nepal life that I had yet to see. A man (smelling of liquor, who admitted he was drunk) came up to us and started ranting in part Nepali and part English. He talked to us for a good 5 minutes while shopkeepers and passers-by giggled at our luck. Then, once he left, a group of 6 women shielded from the sun by umbrellas stopped to talk to us. They told us that they were Christians. They were going door to door with pamphlets....somewhat similar to the Jehova's Witnesses at home.

It is boiling today. So hot! I nearly melted on my way home, and am looking forward to writing my next journal entry for Patti and Robin in the coolness of my room. Tomorrow, we are off to Chitwan which is supposed to be about 10 degrees hotter than Kathmandu. It's a 5 hour car ride to get there and then we get to do everything from Elephant rides to jeep jungle tours, to nature walks. Fabulous!

Today, I started my malaria meds. No crazy reactions yet, except that I was absolutely exhausted all day today(after taking the meds). So hopefully, I am not tired for the next 33 days, because that would not be very fun at all. If anything, I'm hoping for some crazy dreams (one of the common side effects).

The political situation has mellowed out. All of the maoist leader's vehicles are going to be registered (as most of them are stolen), the police chief (corrupt) must step down, and the constitution is to be finished in 3 months. Who knows exactly what of this will actually take place, but it will be interesting to follow the outcomes when I come home.

In one week, I'll be in the Vancouver airport waiting for my flight to Victoria, probably drinking a Starbucks iced coffee and reading a  paper and dreaming of a shower that I don't have to squeegee the floor after.

Namaste