I actually can only see the very tip of one of the mountains in the Himalayas. When I go to the village I will be able to see more (less pollution and more views). Kathmandu is in a valley and you have to see past the smaller mountains around it to see the Himalayas. Everest is not near Kathmandu and even when flying into and out of Kathmandu I will not see it. They have a lot of "everest" things here, though. My first dinner here I had Everest beer and it was good.
Thank you for the great experiment ideas! Those are things that would be easy to buy materials for, which is the challenge. I think we might also try to construct bridges and see how much they can hold. This friday is another holiday. Saturday is new year. It will be a fun weekend. Then I will be half way done with my time in Kathmandu. Then there is a week of trekking to the village where I will spend the rest of my time. Today I shared pictures from home. They all think Anna is "beautiful," David is "handsome," Steven is "very tall" and that my family all look the same. They also thought Mom and Dad looked very young and some students thought Mom was my sister :) They always laugh at the name Don because I guess he is a villain in either their religion or stories they all know. Anyway, they enjoy that. They thought the catfish picture was very cool and were happy to hear that we eat such things.
The electricity is turned off simpy to save electricity. They also discourage the use of plastics, which is a lot because many people drink bottled water. The people who run United Planet here also work for Social Tours which is a Nepal tour agency known for being environmentally sound and socially aware. As an example, they tell me about restaurants that filter their own water rather than sell bottles and they support the local orphanages financially and with volunteers. Since they are a tour agency I might look into doing some other adventures while here through them. Anyway, aside from there being no garbage cans other than the sidewalk, Nepal is working towards being an environmentally friendly country.
I need to go home now and learn how to wash my clothes. I wear pretty much the same thing every day and it has been over a week now. The family I stay with has a lady that comes to clean the clothes but I guess she has been unavailable this past week.
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It's so crazy to think that a lot of countries live so differently to the one you grew up in. It's always so facinating to me because when you tell them about your life they think we are the crazy ones!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds so exciting! I read this and the January 12 post at the same time...it sounds like the US could take a page out of Nepal's book as far as being environmentally friendly sounds (except for the pollution thing--I think maybe we might be more "aware" of it?? Not sure.)
ReplyDeleteBTW I have a picture of you holding Damien--do you want it? Can I send it to you? I might have to make a copy of it (Joel might be wanting to keep it :P)
Oh PS: we're moving to Seattle in three weeks! Give us a holler when you'll be back in the states; if you go to Yakima first maybe we'll swing over in your direction to say hello :)
Everest beer - served warm or cold? In Germany it was impossible to get cold beer. Maybe you can get an Everest beer T-shirt so in case you don't get to see Everest at least you will have a T-shirt with an Everest that you have seen. If you find an Everest beer t-shirt be sure to buy me one too.
ReplyDeleteDo they have garbage service for homes or does everyone have to take garbage to a dump? Are the streets pretty trashy or are people good about not throwing things down?
I hope you get out shopping soon. I am interested in the yarn shops, the book shops and the food shops.
What type of treks are you thinking about taking thru the agency.
If you have typing paper and tape there is also the fun project of dividing into several teams and seeing which team can build the highest free standing tower and then seeing who can build the highest tower that will hold a ball.
also as kind of a team building exercise there is the game of having two lengths of rope or string and each person holds two ends and another person holds the opposite two ends and then have to move a ball or a ball of paper from the floor to a container a few feet away using only the ropes.
This activity involves moving marbles or different sized balls down lengths of half pipe or 1"/2"gutters. The trick? Each participant has only one short length of pipe each, and the start and finish points can be separated by an obstacle course!
Can be done with children of upper primary age, teenagers and adults in a variety of settings both indoors and outdoors.
Choose this activity when you need to energize the group into a team, or to emphasize the importance of each member's actions in a team.
Since you probably don't have gutter or pipe I wondered if you could use folded paper.
I'm loving the blog. I hope there is some way to keep blogging after you go to the village. Have you found out anything about the village?
love aunt pat
One expiriment idea I thought of is making volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar. I alwasy liked doing that and the ingredients are pretty simple.
ReplyDeleteAlso I love reading the blog. You are doing such a good job keeping it up and it is a great way to escape the mundane tasks aroun here.
--David
Hi Carrie,
ReplyDeleteI was on my way from lunch to exercise and decided to stop at the furniture store in Richland. I think I might go back tomorrow and buy 2 chairs and a love seat. Usually I don't even look at brown based fabric but something changed today and I really seemed to like the combination of browns that I found. If I really do go buy a new couch are you interested in our old couch or are you buying Kevin's?
Today was a beautiful day - sunshine and maybe into the 60's. Guess the sunshine made me crazy enough to go shopping for furniture.
Max's students are driving him crazy. They just want to learn, learn and learn some more. He has another good group that are running him ragged trying to keep up with them. He grumps alot but really loves it.
I'm excited for you to get back because I'm running low on apple butter. I don't think I'm good at spreading it out. Your's is gone, Cori's is gone and Kathy gave me some plum jam that's gone. It's like I don't want to eat anything else when I know I have good apple butter - breakfast, lunch sometimes and often a snack in the evening. They would like me in Nepal as I have lots of 'extra' although I'm not sure about having so much 'extra' that they think of it as gluttonous.
How did the washing turn out? Did you end up doing it or did the lady do it for you?
love aunt pat