Jaymasi!
Life has started to calm down just a bit, but here are a few highlights from the last three weeks....
1. Conference: we had a wonderful conference in Badanthilkantha (northern KTM) where all of our staff came for a four day conference and retreat. We were VERY busy fitting everything into schedule, and I'll admit I have never been so tired in my life (which is what happens when you volunteer for all the committees, help out with worship, MC, and help organize the whole thing in general!) but it was fantastic. I finally was able to meet the majority of my colleagues, who are from all over the world :) They are amazing people who inspire me and leave me feeling honored to be able to work with them and serve them. At the end of the conference, I had the same bittersweet feeling you get when you are saying goodbye to relatives after a vacation....many of these people/families I won't get to see again until next year at conference, as they work far away in very remote areas of Nepal.
2. Language Class! I have 'officially' started my "for real" language class :) Two dutch friends and I are being tutored by a Nepali man and his family by use of the Greg Thompson method. Basically, this method is non-academic and mimics language learning methods used by young children: in short, you learn to recognize sounds and actions through games and interaction...your homework involves going out into the city and interacting with Nepalis (whether at a restaurant, the supermarket, your taxi driver, etc.) and reporting back on your experiences. I'm very excited about it, and our teacher says that we are doing very well, which is always encouraging! I did have a bit of trouble with "chaar" and "chaa": the first word means 'four' and second means 'six' - and let me tell you, they sound EXACTLY THE SAME. It is very humbling to work for a half hour on pronouncing '1-10' correctly!
3. Cows....Yesterday a friend and I rode our bikes down to the General Mailing in KTM in order to pick up a package. The bike ride is about a half hour both ways. As we were zipping around the corner of a chowk (roundabout) we (me, my friend, and a rickshaw driver) almost crashed into a pack of charging cows in the middle of the road! There was lots of shouting, honking, swerving...but we all got out ok, even the rickshaw driver. That night at dinner, we all laughed about how the biggest hazard on the road is COWS....and potholes the size of craters. Ah, life in Kathmandu!!!!
I am seriously beginning to fall in love with this place....
Life has started to calm down just a bit, but here are a few highlights from the last three weeks....
1. Conference: we had a wonderful conference in Badanthilkantha (northern KTM) where all of our staff came for a four day conference and retreat. We were VERY busy fitting everything into schedule, and I'll admit I have never been so tired in my life (which is what happens when you volunteer for all the committees, help out with worship, MC, and help organize the whole thing in general!) but it was fantastic. I finally was able to meet the majority of my colleagues, who are from all over the world :) They are amazing people who inspire me and leave me feeling honored to be able to work with them and serve them. At the end of the conference, I had the same bittersweet feeling you get when you are saying goodbye to relatives after a vacation....many of these people/families I won't get to see again until next year at conference, as they work far away in very remote areas of Nepal.
2. Language Class! I have 'officially' started my "for real" language class :) Two dutch friends and I are being tutored by a Nepali man and his family by use of the Greg Thompson method. Basically, this method is non-academic and mimics language learning methods used by young children: in short, you learn to recognize sounds and actions through games and interaction...your homework involves going out into the city and interacting with Nepalis (whether at a restaurant, the supermarket, your taxi driver, etc.) and reporting back on your experiences. I'm very excited about it, and our teacher says that we are doing very well, which is always encouraging! I did have a bit of trouble with "chaar" and "chaa": the first word means 'four' and second means 'six' - and let me tell you, they sound EXACTLY THE SAME. It is very humbling to work for a half hour on pronouncing '1-10' correctly!
3. Cows....Yesterday a friend and I rode our bikes down to the General Mailing in KTM in order to pick up a package. The bike ride is about a half hour both ways. As we were zipping around the corner of a chowk (roundabout) we (me, my friend, and a rickshaw driver) almost crashed into a pack of charging cows in the middle of the road! There was lots of shouting, honking, swerving...but we all got out ok, even the rickshaw driver. That night at dinner, we all laughed about how the biggest hazard on the road is COWS....and potholes the size of craters. Ah, life in Kathmandu!!!!
I am seriously beginning to fall in love with this place....
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