Is cheese a side effect of prosperity?
Ok. So we're leaving tonight to come home. WHAT?!
My ISP went well. Made it back to Kathmandu just fine.
I have no time to write because I have to finish making slideshows for the semester (I got put in charge. Joy.), then buy last minute gifts and put then in our bags so we can go eat dinner and catch the flight.
I'll be home on Tuesday at about 1 a.m. local time.
WHAT?!
(I'm a little nervous about coming home--more on this and everything else in a few days).
EDIT in the Hong Kong airport, 3:46 Kathmandu time, 6:01 Hong Kong time. Yes, I'm tired.
So that was written while a) trying to frantically finish three slideshows of photos from the semester for the 'final dinner' last night, as well as b) buying last minute gifts, etc., because I had been making slideshows.
I've gotten about, oh, 15 hours of sleep in the past three days. I think. I finished my 53 page paper on Wednesday, got it printed (about 4800 rupees for two copies printed and bound for both Darby and myself, which is about 60 USD. Bah.), and gave my 30 minute presentation on Friday. I would have been done after that, but our teacher sort of volunteered me to make slideshows for the final dinner, which took hours upon hours.
One amazing thing, though, is that Darby and I bought thangkas. Four! Pictures later I think.
It's pretty sad to be leaving all of the people on this program (about half of them stayed in Kathmandu and will leave at varying times in the future, while the other half took the group flight). There were people from all over the country from all walks of life with different majors and interests and reasons for being there. While it will be great to see family and friends in a two days, I can't really forget that these people have been both friends and family for the past four months.
The airport is already insanely weird. For instance, I ate at Burger King for breakfast and it was absolutely amazingly delicious. It's so clean--the bathrooms are amazing, the carpet is spotless, none of the glass has smudges. Also, there are white people everywhere and they aren't looking at me like I'm the only person like them in the universe.
We were back in Kathmandu for about five days. Most of those days were taken up by watching other peoples' ISP presentations. There were projects done on everything from woodcarving in Nepal to how the tourist industry is affecting the people of Mustang to how climate change is affecting locals in rural Nepal to the recent meetings in Dharamsala to various ideas regarding political activism in both Dharamsala and Nepal.
If you really want to read my paper (which I'm fairly proud of, I guess, in the sense that it's the longest thing I've ever written), follow the link below; let me know if it doesn't work:
Big ass paper
Guess what the first thing I heard in the Hong Kong airport was:
Christmas music.
What? American holidays? It's going to be so weird to go home and it be Christmas time. Usually, holidays come on gradually. This, as with many other aspects of American culture, is going to be sudden and confusing. Hence the term "reverse culture shock," which I'm beginning to dread. I already miss India/Nepal and the people I met there, and knowing that I a) won't go back for a long time and b) might not see these people for a long time is pretty sad.
So after this 11 hour layover in Hong Kong after the 5 hour flight from Kathmandu, we have a ~14 hour flight to Los Angeles. Darby and I have a 24 hour layover in L.A. We fly out the next afternoon, and arrive in Tulsa late that night. We also gain a day back with time changes (after losing one on the way here).
There is a Popeyes Chicken in this airport. I bet they have barbeque sauce. I'm going to investigate later. . .
EDIT: I LOVE BARBEQUE SAUCE.
Before: Hong Kong airport on September 2
After: Hong Kong airport on December 15
Looks like I grew hair (on my face and on my head) as well as glasses; Darby grew a tikka (the dot which has since worn away).
"Would you like some Engrish tea? Engrish tea?"
My ISP went well. Made it back to Kathmandu just fine.
I have no time to write because I have to finish making slideshows for the semester (I got put in charge. Joy.), then buy last minute gifts and put then in our bags so we can go eat dinner and catch the flight.
I'll be home on Tuesday at about 1 a.m. local time.
WHAT?!
(I'm a little nervous about coming home--more on this and everything else in a few days).
EDIT in the Hong Kong airport, 3:46 Kathmandu time, 6:01 Hong Kong time. Yes, I'm tired.
So that was written while a) trying to frantically finish three slideshows of photos from the semester for the 'final dinner' last night, as well as b) buying last minute gifts, etc., because I had been making slideshows.
I've gotten about, oh, 15 hours of sleep in the past three days. I think. I finished my 53 page paper on Wednesday, got it printed (about 4800 rupees for two copies printed and bound for both Darby and myself, which is about 60 USD. Bah.), and gave my 30 minute presentation on Friday. I would have been done after that, but our teacher sort of volunteered me to make slideshows for the final dinner, which took hours upon hours.
One amazing thing, though, is that Darby and I bought thangkas. Four! Pictures later I think.
It's pretty sad to be leaving all of the people on this program (about half of them stayed in Kathmandu and will leave at varying times in the future, while the other half took the group flight). There were people from all over the country from all walks of life with different majors and interests and reasons for being there. While it will be great to see family and friends in a two days, I can't really forget that these people have been both friends and family for the past four months.
The airport is already insanely weird. For instance, I ate at Burger King for breakfast and it was absolutely amazingly delicious. It's so clean--the bathrooms are amazing, the carpet is spotless, none of the glass has smudges. Also, there are white people everywhere and they aren't looking at me like I'm the only person like them in the universe.
We were back in Kathmandu for about five days. Most of those days were taken up by watching other peoples' ISP presentations. There were projects done on everything from woodcarving in Nepal to how the tourist industry is affecting the people of Mustang to how climate change is affecting locals in rural Nepal to the recent meetings in Dharamsala to various ideas regarding political activism in both Dharamsala and Nepal.
If you really want to read my paper (which I'm fairly proud of, I guess, in the sense that it's the longest thing I've ever written), follow the link below; let me know if it doesn't work:
Big ass paper
Guess what the first thing I heard in the Hong Kong airport was:
Christmas music.
What? American holidays? It's going to be so weird to go home and it be Christmas time. Usually, holidays come on gradually. This, as with many other aspects of American culture, is going to be sudden and confusing. Hence the term "reverse culture shock," which I'm beginning to dread. I already miss India/Nepal and the people I met there, and knowing that I a) won't go back for a long time and b) might not see these people for a long time is pretty sad.
So after this 11 hour layover in Hong Kong after the 5 hour flight from Kathmandu, we have a ~14 hour flight to Los Angeles. Darby and I have a 24 hour layover in L.A. We fly out the next afternoon, and arrive in Tulsa late that night. We also gain a day back with time changes (after losing one on the way here).
There is a Popeyes Chicken in this airport. I bet they have barbeque sauce. I'm going to investigate later. . .
EDIT: I LOVE BARBEQUE SAUCE.
Before: Hong Kong airport on September 2
After: Hong Kong airport on December 15
Looks like I grew hair (on my face and on my head) as well as glasses; Darby grew a tikka (the dot which has since worn away).
"Would you like some Engrish tea? Engrish tea?"
posted by Stephen_I at
3:36 AM
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