Sweet Escape

Last week our Nepali teachers had us write poems in Nepali. (note: there’s nothing I dread more than writing poetry, well, besides improv) All week I was having severe anxiety about our poetry assignment. Writing a poem in a language I can’t yet think in proved to be quite a challenge so I wrote about a very prevalent issue in my life—my dog Jenny. With some broken Nepali and the help of a Nepali-English dictionary, I managed to communicate my bittersweet (tito-mitho) love for Jenny and my simultaneous feelings of compassion and resentment for him. My very elementary poem somehow won me first prize in my class, the only poetry award I have ever and will ever receive.

This weekend I escaped to the small town Dhulikhel, just two hours outside of Kathmandu. When we arrived we were all covered in a layer of dust from the bus ride, but no on cared because it was so rejuvenating to be breathing non-polluted air. Saturday morning I awoke to mountains that appeared to be floating in the clouds above sweeping green valleys of terraced rice fields. I was amazed that just a couple hours outside the city we could see the Himalayas. To be able to breathe AND see mountains… what a foreign concept. I realized that this was the Nepal I had been expecting and romanticizing in my head for so long. We spent the day outside on a 6 hour hike to Namobuddha, the site where a past Buddha sacrificed himself for a starving tigress.

I wish I could wake up to this every morning

View on our hike

Our hotel

The home stretch

Namobuddha!

I had a big day yesterday—I got my nose pierced and went to a Nepali wedding party. Both were very exciting experiences… The nose piercing probably needs no explanation but the Nepali wedding was like nothing I’ve seen before. It went something like bat mitzvah meets South Asian interior decorator meets in da club. The bride and groom sat in throne like chairs on a decorated platform at the front of the room watching the party from afar. Meanwhile a mini dance party to 50 cent was happening in the corner while others chowed down on some daalbhaat. My friend Iyla and I were fully clad in saris while many other guests were in jeans in t-shirts. It was all very confusing but a wonderful experience nonetheless. We unfortunately were unable to go to the actual wedding ceremony so I hope that I will be able to attend a traditional wedding before I leave.