Freeze this Moment

This thought first ran through my mind with the potency of a thunderbolt when I was being sucked along on the wildest adventure of my life, the Panchkroshi Yatra. I was in a river of people being pulled along with the momentum of the moment. Not a clue where I was, where I was going, but sure that I was in the right spot. The 80 something kilometer Yatra (Pilgrimage) began at midnight, I was barefoot, along with all the Indians who rose out of the shadows around me with yells of “Bom Bom Bole” whooping at the top of their lungs surging forward with the energy only created by thousands and thousands of people working towards one goal. Receiving Darshan, and reaching the end. Sadly my two attempts to write this story were erased because the computer crashed twice and the word documents were lost when the computer was totally rebooted. It’s a story to get from me personally.
This thought, “Freeze this moment” is no longer unique. Sometimes, I feel like I’m an insider on my own personal joke. How did I get here? In situations where I’m surrounded by local people, that very few other foreigners get to experience. I’m not just an observer; I’m a participator, acting out the lives of the amazing people that I meet. One of the highlights of my stay in Jiri was this:
In Subodh’s families village in the hills above Jiri the women gather together and weed one person’s field in one day. It’s like the barn raisings that at one time were common in our own country. This has a lot of benefits, there’s little money in these places, almost all the food is grown for their own consumption, and this eases the burden on the individual farmers, many whose husbands are in other places working. Weeding is much more fun when you do it with friends and family.
Subodh’s mother left after the morning meal while I was still eating, she was late to meet the other women. I didn’t join until around 3 PM, where as they all met at 10 AM. When I arrived I got to take part in this great example of teamwork. We lined up along the fields, which have the small millet plants planted underneath the larger corn stalks that are getting near harvest time. Squatting, we went through the fields in rows, side by side, laughing joking and throwing weeds at each other. The women were all so light hearted about their work, even after a day of rain. There was one man who picked up the weeds after we piled them behind us.
Just as we were beginning the last field the deluge began. A couple of women ran to get the plastic bags that are used as rain jackets here. All over the villages in Nepal people use large sized plastic bags as raincoats. These were ingeniously fitted with woven bamboo so they resembled blue plastic books. They have straps on the inside for the head. All the women covered themselves with these, I had my raincoat. Bent double, it looked like giant books were busy weeding the last field as the clouds climbing the mountainsides shrouded the world and made it seem like the terraces dropped off into the oblivion.
One of the women that I was talking with asked me if I liked Nepali songs, traditional Nepali songs are absolutely beautiful, thus I love them. One of the highlights of taking the local buses in Nepal are listening to Nepali songs blasted on blown out speakers for hours and hours on end. She asked me if I could sing any songs, which, although my Nepali is getting better and better every day, I can’t. I can sing along with some of the easier and catchier ones when they’re playing but that’s it. I told her I could sing an English song and started singing. She cut me short and started singing in Nepali, “It’s raining, we’re weeding a millet field…” Nepali is a beautiful language and it can be sung as well as spoken. We began to just sing about what we were doing, trying to be heard over the noise of the rain beating against the plastic. Everyone laughed along with us over the drone of the rain.
We finished the last field and walked single file on the trail back to the field owner’s home. There we were served “Bulu” and Chai. I took “Bulu” or “Chang” in Nepali; it is the local grain alcohol. I’ve gotten to taste Chang made from rice, corn, and now on this occasion millet. These local alcohol’s are usually thick with the grain still in them and quite tasty. The rain was torrential, Ama, two other women, one who was family and the blue eyed man all were sitting in the houses unattached kitchen building, chatting and drinking our warm beverages.
Sitting in this small building on hand-woven mats made from corn husks, laughing with people whose story is so different than mine was so special. Somehow we got to joking about how the blue eyed man was my Nepali father, we joked about how it could be that he’s my father when he’s so small and I’m so big. We decided that he is in fact my long lost father and I’m Nepali after all. One woman was telling me how her sister lives in the U.S. with her husband. This prompted me to talk about the U.S. and how it’s “Another world” the realities are so drastically different it’s almost impossible for me to describe with my limited vocabulary, but I do my best. I told them how special Nepal is, how much love I felt from Subodh’s mother after only a week. How all over Nepal people are so loving and kind to me. I was getting emotional, sometimes it seems like my words carry so much weight even though I’m limited to such a simple vocabulary. This was one of those moments that made me think, “Freeze thus moment.” Subodh’s mother turned to me and said, “If you couldn’t speak Nepali we wouldn’t have any idea of who you are, and you wouldn’t have any idea of who we are, we would never be able to talk or get to know each other. Now I know who you are and it’s easy for me feel love for you.”
Language is the key to culture. This moment just affirmed this belief. People usually are so happy to hear me speaking their language, especially in Nepal. I'm told "Thank you" almost daily by people.

Boudha with friends

Left to right:Tashi, Soru, Doma and I

Reverence,
clockwise rotation of devotees,
pulls in the energy of the universe.
A whirlpool of blessings
radiating out towards the world.
The center,
a spire towards the heavens.

Illuminated by the collective prayer
lit from without as well as within.
Eyes look inwards towards the soul.

Old men move mountains in their bones,
arising and settling of Dharma.
Juniper colors the air pungently,
inviting the spirits to dance,
awakening the Buddha within.

Boudhanath, another amazing part of this trip. Tomorrow will begin a new chapter. I leave tomorrow morning for Jiri to meet my friend Subodh. We met at the Chandanbari cheese factory when I worked there. His is one of the managers there and he was visiting on school vacation. He goes to school in Kathmandu but he lives in Jiri. His school doesn't start for a week or so and he's invited me to come and stay with him.
It's hard for me to find like minded youth in Nepal and India. Almost all the young people I talk with in Nepal have one idea in their mind. Go abroad and make money. Subodh and I connected amazingly quickly after only three days. I'm excited to see him and a new place that I was just told, is the "Switzerland of Nepal." This was a one minute decision. I'm having a hard time finding volunteer work at the moment, I've run into more than one dead end. I gave him a call yesterday to see if he was in Kathmandu yet, and he invited me to his house!
The past six days here have been healing and fun. I didn't go into the extent of my injuries, but somehow my immune system took a dive. Probably because for the month that I was in the mountains my diet was basic. Every cut that I got was getting infected and wasn't healing, it was scary. I counted 9 different cuts/scrapes that were getting worse rather than better. I took anti-fungal medication but it didn't seem to be doing the trick although things were looking better. I have been eating as much fresh fruits and veggies as possible. So, I dropped the antibiotic bomb for the sixth time since i started my trip. I feel like it's hitting the restart button for my whole body. but sometimes it's what I've gotta do. All my cuts are healing quickly now, my energy and diet is high and I'm full with Boudha's energy.
Every morning and evening all the people who live within walking distance circle the stupa in prayer. The most devote, are almost always the elderly, hunched, clutching their mala beads they recite "Om mani padme hum" while slowly circling the stupa. All along the periphery are prayer wheels with the same mantra written on them. Inside the stupa wall are grounds where people can fully prostrate themselves in prayer, people also circle the stupa laying flat each time that they pray. The devotion is powerful. Beggars come and stand on the outside to receive alms from all the devotees. It is a wonderful practice to participate in, circling this beautiful stupa repeating the mantra that the Dalai Lama says: "Thus the six syllables, OM MANI PADME HUM, mean that by the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha."
When I arrived at Boudha i was looking for a place to stay, and striking out at many expensive guest houses. A man came up to me and said, I've got a room for you! Yay, what a wonderful meeting that led to three new friends. Tashi, doma and Soru have been so kind to me. Tashi is the owner of Bun Bun's sandwich shop, Doma, his Second cousin and her friend Soru work there. Doma and Soru are amazing friends, it's been so much fun to just hang out with them. Sit in the deli, laugh, joke and eat the first pizza and hamburgers I've had since I left the U.S. Doma lived in the U.S. for 7 years and went to Culinary school in Florida. Her and Tashi opened an American style Deli that serves, Sandwiches, Hot Dogs, Hamburgers and Pizza. It's only been open for a month and a half but the locals seem to be catching on to American flavors. Tuesday, Soru and Doma's day off I made a massive fruit salad for breakfast. Then it was off to Soru's house with a pit stop for a snack. Soru made an amazing lunch of Dal Bhat and Chilly Chicken, I watched her carefully when she made it. After lunch we went shopping for one of Soruu's friends and finally went to Doma's mothers house for Dinner! Youu can tell these are my kind of people right? Haha, Doma's younger brother and his wife made a tasty dinner that included marinated and friend fish. I ate my way through the day! It was a fun and very relaxing. In fact my whole experience in Boudha could fall into that category.
Except for last night, when I crammed myself into a "micro" (small vans, emphasis on small, their like the size of a 4 seater car in the states) at 7:30 PM to get back to Boudha from Kathmandu. I went USB and backpack shopping, after trading my backpack and carrying a pack-basket across mountains, I can assure you backpacks are an improvement. I now have a Nepali made backpack, quality isn't great but the price is right. Public transportation in Nepal wins for having the smallest vehicles and packing the most people into them. I'm not looking forward to the 9 hour bus ride to Jiri, my knee caps are going to fall off from being smooshed into the seat in front. Unless I ride on top :D
I've made great friends and shared good memories in one of the most amazing places. Once again I'm feeling blessed and overflowing with love. I am continuously helped along, I just want to say thank you to everyone, this adventure is teaching me so much and everyone has had a hand in shaping me into who I am today. I'm sending my love and blessings from Boudha, they're circling the stupa, rising into the sky and with the united strength of everyone they're spreading across the world. Love and Blessings.

All of my photo's are on Flickr! Check them out!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexlandt

The Update

Today was marvelous, I walked from Boudha to a Gompa (monastery, or in this case a nunnery) in the mountains on the north side of the Kathmandu Valley. The nunnery borders Shivapuri National park, I wandered into full blown jungle just as a rain laden cloud hit the mountain from the south. All the monsoon cloud systems come from the south and the Shivapuri range is the first mountains that they get to. I was swallowed whole by a very wet monster. The forest was beautiful, I had my head pointed downward most of the time, looking for mushrooms.
Just as I reached the nunnery a taxi was struggling through the mud. All the taxi's are small suzuki's and I gave it a heave and pushed it up the last leg. The nun's thanked me, they'd just returned from grocery shopping. I was hungry and asked if there was any way I could get food. I ended up eating a wonderful meal with the nuns. The "Tarkari" (Curried veggies) were mushrooms, and my favorite Nepali spice called Timbour, it's the berries of a mountain plant. It makes ones mouth tingle and go kinda numb, as well as have a tangy flavor. It's interesting but I've acquired the taste for it. Anyways we got talking about mushrooms so while I was hiking i picked at least one of every mushroom I saw, I succeeded in finding a good amount of edibles. I brought them all back in my jacket pockets and went through them with the nuns.
The last couple of days have been just as full of adventure, on Saturday I stumbled upon a group of foreign students who were going on a field trip. I heard that there were free Tibetan Buddhism classes at 8:00 AM and I followed a foreigner rushing into the monastery grounds only to find myself in the street behind the monastery with a big group of foreigners. I just smiled and hung around until someone asked me if I was also a student, I told him how I'd magically arrived and asked what they were doing. He said they were going to Pharphing to see some caves were a tantric Buddhist master was meditating. I asked if I could tag along, he pointed me to the organizer and she said sure, if I was willing to pay 200 rupees. I ended up being bussed around, fed a fabulous lunch and go on a tour of places i never would have heard of otherwise. It was also Mata Kali day, she is the fierce feminine incarnation. She asks for blood from her devotees, normally it is signified by braking a coconut, but on this auspicious day many people bring goats and chickens to be killed in her honor, they're then taken home and eaten. We went to the temple and got to witness the intense puja take place.
Yesterday I saved myself 1100 rupees ($15) in Baktapur. They charge that just to get into the city, I just went in by a side street. I went their because i had a lead on another volunteer organization but it fell through and we didn't even meet up. I swear that when I'm older and have the cash I'll pay all the fees but that's jsut redicoulous to ask em to pay just to wander around the streets. Needless to say the city is beautiful. I got there entirely on public transportation, it took 3 buus changes. I now can get anywhere the Nepali way, including by foot. Today must have been at least 20 KM.
I've made some great friends here in Boudha who have a western style cafe restourant, I've had my first hamburger and pizza since I left the states!

The Kathmandu Experience

I was trying to meditate at the base of the stupa when I heard someone come up to me and stop, I opened my eyes to a teenager taking my photo, I told him he could take my photo if he took one with my camera.

Well Let me first tell you all the joy to be sitting at a computer with a new keyboard and fast internet, I'm streaming music and finally getting photos uploaded onto flickr for everyone to see. I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in Boudha, a suburb of Kathmandu, the name refers to the largest Buddhist stupa in the world. A stupa is a Buddhist place of worship. a stupa is basically a mound after Buddha was cremated his remains were spread between 8 original stupas. I've decided to come here to soak up the vibe, relax, write and heal. I have a systemic infection after wandering the mountains. A Nepali tour guide diagnosed it as a fungal infection, I'm taking medicine, that if it doesn't work it'll be another round of antibiotics. In 8 months I've taken antibiotics 4 times already.
There is so much to write about, but I seem to keep on having amazing, mind-blowing experiences faster than I can write about them. As much as I want to delve into my epic in the mountains I think I should write about the amazing experiences that have been happening to me in my last week in Kathmandu.
I've been staying with my "Aunt" and "Brother" in law in their small room. In the past week I've taken their 3 year old son to school, baby-sat him, picked him up from school, and this is good enough for my resume: I made egg fried rice for him and the neighbors daughter while they played together, kept them from leaping out the windows and narrowly avoided disaster when she had to go pee. I now know how to say pee in Nepali kid language :D Living with them in the City is an amazing opportunity to live like most Nepali's in the city. They live in one room and share the bathroom with the neighbors. An apartment in Kathmandu really will almost always refer to one room. My didi and binaju have been so nice to let me stay with them in their small "apartment." But it was time to move on.
In my first days in Kathmandu I got to experience a whole other side of Kathmandu. I ended up bumping into a young Nepali who's friends were hosting a Dance/pool party in one of the cities 5-star hotels. He gave me an invitation and I met another friend the next day to go to the hotel. Tearing through the city in a car with a leather interior, listening to gangster rap made me feel almost made me feel like i was back in the U.S. except we passed by a temple that had a drive in! We passed through praying to the many gods facing the drive through. I had a really good time, dancing to some loud music for the first time in ages. The bass was all lined up along the ground rather than stacked which was a disapointment but I had a good time. I was the only foreigner, and one of three people who wore swim trunks, and the only one to get in the pool. The best part of the experience was meeting the headlining DJ who studied in the U.S. and meeting the members of the Curious Crew. I had a good talk with DJ Girish about Nepal and he told me that there's money in the country, referencing all the kids with designer clothes and iphones, but that they lack a good tax to retrieve it. The Curious Crew is a b-boy crew who's been dancing for two years. Their all in high school, and they dance so well together, I was super impressed by how they've gone for it in a place where there are no resources except the internet. The whole experience was a trip after I'd just returned from the mountains, nice to experience the other side of things and dance some.
My mother's friend and co-worker, Deepak Pandey's parents live in Kathmandu. I went to visit them on Monday with my adopted family. The idea was to go and visit them and then go to the Swyambu stupa nearby. We were running late and I wanted to go to the stupa since the sun was shining and everything was lit in the late afternoon sun. L.B, Deepak's dad quickly told me that I could spend the night at their home. Once again an amazing example of the warm-hearted nature of the Nepali people. I had a wonderful time at the stupa, the sun was setting and the golden sides were almost blinding. I got into the stupa half off because of my Nepali! I'm now officially at the "dangerous" level, I can defend myself well and even with L.B. who can speak very good english, we spoke a good portion of the time in Neplali. The connections that span the globe are amazing, I had great conversations with L.B. about Ashland and Nepal.
The next day was great, I wandered around the city, bumped into some friends I met while trekking, got my sickness "diagnosed" and found out I didn't have a place to stay that night. My didi went to spend the night at a sick relatives house for the night and binaju works until 12:30 AM. I could find a hotel room, no problem. As the sun was setting I was feeling really good, I played a little frisbee with a new friend. I decided it was time to go to a Temple and give some thanks to the divine. It just so happened that the Ganesh temple was nearby. Ganesh is the Hindu God who clears the path and helps opportunities happen. Perfect, I practically skipped to the temple, performed puja and saw that Bojan, devotional singing was happening in one of the temples rooms. I went in and joined as best as I could, by clapping my hands. There were a number of main men who were taking turns singing, playing the harmonium and tabla. A little boy who was there as well began to speak to me in English, which was quite good, after some minutes he asked me if we could be friends. i told him "of course," after bojan he introduced me to his grandmother and invited me to come to his house so I could see where he lived. His mother quickly invited me in and we began talking, next thing I knew i was invited for dinner and to spend the night in their small room. I told his mother how much I loved Nepali food especially lentils, she said that they didn't have any lentils because of how expensive they were. I offered to buy them and I had another amazing, filling Nepali meal. The kindness of the Nepali people is just astounding, the openess and warmth to a total stranger continues to swell my heart and remind me how blessed I am. I slept in the same small bed with Rajeev, my new friend.
These are really only some of the amazing experiences that have happened to me since I've arrived back in Kathmandu. I feel like now I've unlocked the city in a whole new way. I've found how to walk on the back streets where people look at me and say to each other, "Look a foreigner" and I smile and ask them how they are.
I've found the best Nepali Lassis which makes me happy, the perfect drink for any hot muggy day. I've also begun to explore in earnest the old city, age old wood carvings and gods abound in these courtyards linked by doorways that I've got to bend double to get through. There's still so much to be discovered.

Smiles (:

In Paulo Coelho's book, The Alchemist, the main character learns about the "Language of the World." This language is the language of the heart that the whole world speaks. In the past 8 months I've learned the biggest secret of this language. It is the power of smiles. An honest real smile does wonders all across the globe. It is the tool to break down barriers and show the humanity within us all. A smile can turn a stranger into a friend in an instant. I have a wonderful advantage because even when I'm not smiling I'm always wearing my goofy pink and yellow cap with the smiley face on it. I tell people that my cap smiles for me when I'm not smiling. I love seeing the way that a smile opens people up, on the busy and crowded streets of Kathmandu it's not as possible as in quieter sections, thus I've found myself rambling through Kathmandu's older sections and taking the back ways back to where I stay. In these wanders I get to loose my way, wander unknowingly into beautiful courtyards each with their own small temples. A smile is always the conversation starter, and then comes the suprise of people to hear a foreigner who can speak their language. Since I've been traveling I've never met anyone who hasn't seen a westerner, I'm 50 years to late (haha), but I've met people who've never met a foreigner who can speak their own language. In both India and Nepal many travelers feel that there's no advantage to learning the languages because of how easy it is to get by with english (In touristy areas). The first step to learning a language is to smile. Smiling is opening the door to the language of the world, the language of the heart that everyone speaks across the world.

Chasing the eagles,
I climbed a mountain into the sky,
High up
with the ice gods as my witness
and the windhorse as my steed
I prayed.

The prayers tumbled down the mountains
were swept away in the streams
shrouded by the clouds
and tossed by the wind.

Sitting on the back of one of these giants
I was swallowed by the clouds.
The world flickered in and out of existance
I was a witness to gods game,
Hide and seek.

Surprisingly, I had company
birds,
pieces of blackness let loose upon the day,
surfed the powerful gusts with
reckless abandon.

My prayers were answered.
Beauty abounded everywhere
Inspired
I left
without a thought of where.

I walked paths worn by ancients
touched the ice gods feet in reverence
and danced across stony plains.

I found paradise
but it had owners
Yak who wouldn't share.

I at last I stumbled into town
tired
worn
and hungry
with a huge grin
from a day of adventure.

I wrote this after wandering around Kyanjin Gompa for a day. I got above 5,000 meters and took photos! But I'm having serious issues loading them. Flickr seems to be extremely slow in Nepal.
I extended my visa, I've got a visa to explore this wonderful country until September 21st!

Que Gurni?

Is a Nepali expression I've picked up. It basically means, "What to do? or what can I do?" This is about where I stand in my life at the moment. I'm poised between a decision that I don't particularly want to make: Extend my Nepali visa or get an Indian visa and hop back across the border. Visas are the only thing that keeps me from being entirely free in this wander. Visa free travel across the globe is an ideal that will take some time to realize.
Coming back from spending a month in the mountains and hills have inspired me hugely, the combination of adventure, huge mountains, amazing people and so many new experiences has me bubbling with inspiration. I have so many ideas bouncing around in my head I'm not sure where to put them all. Actually I am sure, I want to put them here. This blog is my project. It has a dual purpose, to keep people informed about where I am and what I'm doing, and to share a little bit of the experiences that are changing my life. As I've been traveling, now 8 months in the subcontinent the lessons that I've learned have been immeasurable. I'm receiving an education that is profound and exactly what I need in my life. I've always been an experiential learner. I can remember touching my grandmother's electric stove top just to see how hot it was after she turned her back. I knew it was hot, it cooks food right, but I couldn't see any flame like our gas stove at home. So I learned the hard way. This adventure is exactly like that. I'm learning by living the lives of the people and places I go. It is putting my bubbly enthusiasm and optimism in it's place, but in a way that only these experiences could do. There is so much to be said and so little time, I loath sitting on the computer while life passes me by. But second to calling my parents and telling them that I'm alive after a month of wandering, I felt the desire to share my experiences with other people. The readers of my blog are the best audience for me to share these wonderful lessons with. Most people know me well and can understand my writing as well as who I am and what angle I'm approaching the world.
So basically, what I'm trying to say is, I want to pour as much of these wild and amazing experiences into my blog. I will do my best to share more tan the basic facts but to delve deeper into the reality of what these expericences are and the lives of the people I meet. It is the people that inspire me, the kindness and warmth that is given to a total stranger like me constantly blows my mind. People here have so little in comparison to us in the U.S. yet they give so freely and openly, with joy and love. I want to do these people and places justice. I want to paint a picture with my words, let you see through my eyes the world that is teaching me to be human. Not everyone has the opportunity to do what I'm doing, I want to share my lessons with you, those that can, I want to inspire you. As humans we are all poised at the brink, but we can't see the edge, we've created a global society based on money and greed, we've pushed the planet's capacity to house life to the edge but we keep on steaming forward. We have a global economy, but no global community.
My life's goal is to make as big of a positive change as I can for humanity and the earth. I'm living my dream. When I sit down with a Nepali man, 68 years old and who calls English, "tourist language" and talk with him, in his own language after spending a day working the fields alongside him. I'm confident that I'm working on connecting the global community, by being an ambassador of our country and more importantly by being human. What he doesn't realize is the change he's making in my life, because he is teaching me lessons that run deeper than the words we are sharing.
I'm going off on a rant, but the point of this post is to say that I'm inspired, to continue to make a change in as big of a way as I can and to continue learning in this wonderful school of life. I want this blog to be my project, my testimonial to the experiences and the people that are teaching me along the way. I want to pull back the veil from my own eyes and in turn shed light and do justice to these amazing people across the globe.
More to come, I really want to hold on to this feeling and pour it into the cyberspace for everyone. I've gotta unclutter the ideas and get them organized. Whn I just sit down to write I drop these wandering blogposts that accuratly represent where I am but just might be a little to scattered to have the desired effect.
Thank you everyone who reads my blog, especially those who respond. It's come to my attention that my email might be hard to find. If you click on the photo of me under "Who am I?" my email is there. I love getting emails from people and I will send you a reply for sure.