Juliadotcom

Pause NYC

andreaallen:

I was telling some friendos that I wish I could pause New York while I’m away.

I’ll push play in one week.

Wait, I thought NYC was already on pause because I was gone?>!?!

Hmm

So, things have been pretty fun here, but I am getting the itch to be home.  It is hard spending a lot of time with a group of people who don’t get along (my group that I am with hate eachother).  I miss my friends who know me well.  I miss people that like computers and don’t think they are evil.  And most of all I miss mom, dad, hadley, katie and jimmy.

Helllllooooo

So I just finished up week two in Kathmandu.  I am feeling a little more comfortable and able to find my way around.  I understand a bit of Nepali (if people speak slowly) and my homestay is going well.  My brothers are great.  Last weekend was Bhai Tikka which is the festival for celebrating bros so I got to put tikka (red stuff) on their face.  I felt kind of weird doing it, but they seemed fine with it.  We watch Naruto together in the evening (unless my ama and didi (older sister) make me watch Nepali soap operas with them.  Soap operas are pretty big here and they are really hard to watch without laughing.)  My thangka painting class is cool.  I have learned how to draw the Buddha head according to the precise dimensions.  It takes me 25 minutes just to draw the head.  Tomorrow I will learn how to do the body and then next week I will get to start my canvas.  My Nepali is progressing.  I can make my needs/wants known for the most part and I am totally awesome at bartering.  I can’t believe October is almost over.  Time has started to move faster which is nice.  Thanks for all the nice messages.  I am having fun, but am excited to get back to my western life in about a month and a half.

little note

we started our homestay last night. my homestay mother is very very nice and speaks pretty good english. i have two younger brothers 15 and 16. i only met the 15 year old because the other is on vacation with his sister who also has a little girl who lives in our house for now. i have my own room and bathroom(!!!!!). my brother nisha is really into death metal and plays guitar really well. We jammed last night for a little while. We talked about comic books and he likes to draw cartoons. it is still nerve wracking and weird but i think it will be good.

Today marks exactly one month since I arrived in Nepal.  It seems like a lot longer, but then I think one third of this trip is already over and behind me.  Weird.  This has probably been the most intense month of my life from the mountains to the monastery.  In other news, I have become pretty good at meditation (some might say enlightened, just kidding, maybe).  The other important thing I learned is that if you want to practice Buddhism you can still celebrate Christmas.  So, yeah.  I also met a “Little Lama” today who is supposedly the reincarnation of a dead lama who was enlightened.  There is a movie about this kid, lama Konchog, called The Unmistaken Child if you want to check it out.

Namaste bros!