As a cursory attempt at improving my blogging logging, I'll offer the following random thoughts about my recent transition from life in Kathmandu to America:
I was surprised to find that it was much easier to adjust to American life than I thought it would be. I'm not sure why I thought it would be tough, considering that I've spent less than 1% of my life in Kathmandu and close to 99% of my life in America. Still, I thought I would have had more trouble remembering which side of the road to drive on, how to move my head to answer "yes" to a question (i.e. up and down, instead of the Nepali side-bobble), etc. I imagine part of my miscalculation came from how comfortable I came to feel in Kathmandu. Over the course of the 3 1/2 months that I was there, the 'Du morphed from a strange new place, into a place to call home.
On my last day in Kathmandu before returning to the states, we (~10 Americans taking language classes at the Embassy) went on a field trip with our language teacher to an open-air market (see picture below). We fought through Kathmandu traffic for a half an hour to get there, emerged from our van, and set out to buy some veggies with our new language skills. The market was crowded, dirty, and smelly, but it all somehow seemed normal, even the part where strange words came out of my mouth that Nepali people understood and which resulted in an exchange of rupees for food. What fun! (except the really smelly part) Three months earlier I probably wouldn't have gotten out of the van, but now I thought this was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning. Go figure...
Don't get me wrong, I still love America (especially the food, seeing friends and family, the clean air, the traffic laws, and the food - did I mention the food?), but I'm happy that my home, at least for now, is Kathmandu.
More thoughts to come...Happy New Year!
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