Hello everyone :)
In some ways it feels as though I've been here for much longer than just a week, and in other ways it seems like just yesterday I was wrestling with my suitcases and fending off taxi drivers as I left the city airport. Crazy.
But the reality is that I have officially completed my first week in South Asia! And what a week it has been....God has blown me away with a ready-made community of people also working with SIL who were eager to take me around the city, help me with shopping, introduce me at church, drag me to ultimate frisbee (I am sadly quite sore) and much more :) If anything, this first week as left me impatient to find permanent housing/roommates, start language classes, and become independent where I can leave the house ALONE without too much fear of getting lost after a mere two minutes! Ah patience....not one of my virtues at present, but how great it is to trust a God who as every minute detail under control and part of His purpose.
Of course, after a week there a some things about my new home that are proving a bit bothersome. First off: air pollution. It is impossible to breathe here - it is the driest/dustiest time of year, which doesn't help, but regardless this city is famous for its foul air. As one friend put it: "You know you're in trouble when you go to Bangkok (Thailand) to breathe 'fresh' air". Coupled with that is all the filth. There is trash and dirt EVERYWHERE. At first I didn't really notice, after all what can you can expect in an underdeveloped country? I'd seen poverty and filth before, but four days after I arrived it suddenly hit me that this by far the filthiest place I have ever been (Others have said the same). It will be a real challenge in the summer when the heat accentuates all the smells! :)
Electricity/Internet access. Going seven hours straight without any electricity is incredibly normal here. Yikes. I had been warned of this before arriving, and people also said that there really is no way to prepare for it, and boy were they right! Everyone goes running for their apartments when the electricity turns on, and the most popular restaurants are then ones that advertise a back-up generator. So funny.
THE DARK. Ok so this city has no light ever, thus once 7pm hits you are plunged into darkness. And the roads here are not kind to foreign feet! However, there is a wonderful tool here that I have never seen anywhere else: Cell phone lights (no, not the screen light). There are flashlights on every cell phone sold here in the city, and so at night the roads are full of black shadows following little blue cell phone lights to and from their homes. Ah, Nepali ingenuity.
In other news: I have ordered my first kurta!!!! A friend and I went shopping the other day, and stopped by a tailor to get measured for a kurta. Kurtas are the traditional Nepali dress for women...a long tunic with pants (think Aladdin) and a matching scarf. I am SO excited to pick it up on Thursday...next outfit: a sari!
My new favorite food: Dahlbaat (Thakali)....the "veg set". There is a great restaurant near my house that serves incredible vegetable dahlbaat, and includes free refills! The meal consists of white rice, a green lentil soup, curried vegetables, some spices, and a really hot salsa. All of this gets mixed together on a big platter :) YUM. I also really love the buffalo momos (think wontons but with buffalo, or "buff" inside of it).
Well folks, that's it for now...more adventures and experiences to come!
**After a security debriefing later this week with the Asst. Director of SIL, I'll know more about what I can/cannot say in a newsletter regarding spiritual matters here in Asia. After that I will begin my first newsletter since my arrival. Cheers!
In some ways it feels as though I've been here for much longer than just a week, and in other ways it seems like just yesterday I was wrestling with my suitcases and fending off taxi drivers as I left the city airport. Crazy.
But the reality is that I have officially completed my first week in South Asia! And what a week it has been....God has blown me away with a ready-made community of people also working with SIL who were eager to take me around the city, help me with shopping, introduce me at church, drag me to ultimate frisbee (I am sadly quite sore) and much more :) If anything, this first week as left me impatient to find permanent housing/roommates, start language classes, and become independent where I can leave the house ALONE without too much fear of getting lost after a mere two minutes! Ah patience....not one of my virtues at present, but how great it is to trust a God who as every minute detail under control and part of His purpose.
Of course, after a week there a some things about my new home that are proving a bit bothersome. First off: air pollution. It is impossible to breathe here - it is the driest/dustiest time of year, which doesn't help, but regardless this city is famous for its foul air. As one friend put it: "You know you're in trouble when you go to Bangkok (Thailand) to breathe 'fresh' air". Coupled with that is all the filth. There is trash and dirt EVERYWHERE. At first I didn't really notice, after all what can you can expect in an underdeveloped country? I'd seen poverty and filth before, but four days after I arrived it suddenly hit me that this by far the filthiest place I have ever been (Others have said the same). It will be a real challenge in the summer when the heat accentuates all the smells! :)
Electricity/Internet access. Going seven hours straight without any electricity is incredibly normal here. Yikes. I had been warned of this before arriving, and people also said that there really is no way to prepare for it, and boy were they right! Everyone goes running for their apartments when the electricity turns on, and the most popular restaurants are then ones that advertise a back-up generator. So funny.
THE DARK. Ok so this city has no light ever, thus once 7pm hits you are plunged into darkness. And the roads here are not kind to foreign feet! However, there is a wonderful tool here that I have never seen anywhere else: Cell phone lights (no, not the screen light). There are flashlights on every cell phone sold here in the city, and so at night the roads are full of black shadows following little blue cell phone lights to and from their homes. Ah, Nepali ingenuity.
In other news: I have ordered my first kurta!!!! A friend and I went shopping the other day, and stopped by a tailor to get measured for a kurta. Kurtas are the traditional Nepali dress for women...a long tunic with pants (think Aladdin) and a matching scarf. I am SO excited to pick it up on Thursday...next outfit: a sari!
My new favorite food: Dahlbaat (Thakali)....the "veg set". There is a great restaurant near my house that serves incredible vegetable dahlbaat, and includes free refills! The meal consists of white rice, a green lentil soup, curried vegetables, some spices, and a really hot salsa. All of this gets mixed together on a big platter :) YUM. I also really love the buffalo momos (think wontons but with buffalo, or "buff" inside of it).
Well folks, that's it for now...more adventures and experiences to come!
**After a security debriefing later this week with the Asst. Director of SIL, I'll know more about what I can/cannot say in a newsletter regarding spiritual matters here in Asia. After that I will begin my first newsletter since my arrival. Cheers!
