Darcy in Nepal:

We have established a pattern that Darcy makes sure we don't sleep in beyond 9:30 am on Sunday mornings.  She calls from Nepal about that time.

This morning she called from the town of Pokhara.  She had to go their to get her visa renewed.  She likes it there.  The hotel room has a ceiling fan.  It's marvelous.  The hotel room also has running water.  And, what's more, you can get hot running water.  She really likes Pokhara.  Shopping!  They have a mall - well sort of.  She's not looking forward to going back to the village.  Ok, she looks forward to working with the kids, but the village life style... not so much.  The heat and the water are the main issues.  Much of the water she uses - she has to carry to the house.  The water flows constantly out of a tube near their neighbors house.  The tube probably collects the water from a spring underground.

She has learned some things about herself through this experience.  One thing in particular is that she needs something to do.  She gets stir crazy if there's nothing to do.  The school was closed for 3 days and there was no work for her to do.  We talked about art, music and other pass-times, and she pointed out that she's learning native dances from one of her students who invited Darcy to her upcoming birthday party.  If you didn't know by now, it's becoming apparent that dance is important to Darcy.   "Everybody is happier when there is singing and dancing." she said.  The children will be sitting in a circle, one of them will start singing.  The others will join in and eventually somebody - girl or boy - will get in the middle and dance.  The dance just tops off the experience.  One Friday several weeks ago, she checked on the 6th grade students who had been cleaning their classroom.  They started singing and then dancing.  Darcy joined in with the dancing and eventually much of the school was croweded into that classroom to enjoy the singing and dancing.  I think the kids from Nepal would take a Whetten party to the next level.  We dance and we sing but we never dance to what we sing.

Another thing she has learned is that - with good preperation before you go to sleep - you can sleep peacefully through the night.  Here's how:  Before you get in bed, you need to carefully make sure the mosquito net is thoroughly tucked in.  Then you need to get rid of all the mosquitos within the net.  After that, if you hear a mosquito in the night, you can sleep peacefully because you know it's outside of the net.  One morning she found a very fat mosquito within the net.  The point of attack was not readily apparent until closer to noon.  She found 12 (twelve) mosquito bites on her foot.  Apparently, it was cool enough during the night that she slept covered by a blanket - except for her foot.

One of the other teachers at the school is thin and tall, like Darcy.  Ok, taller than Darcy.  They have become best friends (mitimy in Nepalese).  Her friend made it official with a serious ceremony where they take red powder and make a dot on each others forehead, and exchanged money and candy.  It's experiences like these that make the heat and other issues bareable.

If you want to see more of what it's like where Darcy is, go to Google Maps and look up:
Pokhara, Western Region, Nepal
If your run your cursor over the "Map" icon near the upper right corner, you can turn on the photos people have shared of the area.  You will see pictures of Annapurna.  Seeing Annapurna is counted by Darcy as one of the pleasing things about being in Nepal.

Darcy writes from Nepal:

Namaste! I've arrived in the village of Parewandara, in Lamjung district. If you're looking at google maps it might be easier to find another larger village called Pokhara. It was a six hours on three buses (the longest bus ride wa 5 hours) and 25 minute walk to get here so I'd be surprised if you can find it on google.

Kathmandu was not my favorite place. It was busy and dirty and just not pleasant. I did get to see a beautiful temple and some incredible government buildings, but I am very happy to be here in the village.

It's beautiful, cleaner, quieter.

I am staying with the founder of the school, and his family.

He and his wife speak English and are very caring. They have 3 chidlren, the oldest lives with her grandparents in another village to go to school there. The second is 2 years old, and the third is 2 months old. Her cousin also lives here, she's 18 and we share a room.

The house is simple and comfortable enough. Last night we went to sleep at 8:30pm and woke up at 5:15am. It was great! We had breakfast at 8:30 and I feel like it's been a productive morning already. Last night I met three of the girls who attend my school (Little Star) and we had a lot of fun playing. We caught lightning bugs, walked to a nearby temple, received a blessing from the Hindu priest there, and jumped and played game lots. You are right Mom, I love the children already. I think I just needed to get to the village and make myself at home to feel comfortable here.

[The school founder] and his family are very accomodating. They told me to ask if I need anything and that they would teach me how to wash the dishes (I asked for this). Their house is very open, I brush my teeth and wash my hair outside. We'll see what I'll do to bathe myself...

They seem to have power outages often here so I don't know when I'll email again. Hopefully I'll get my sim card today and give you a call.

Love you lots!

Dw