busy bee

things are crazy right now, i must apologize for my infrequent updates. right now is the four day festival of Tihar, known as Diwali in India. It is the festival of lights and one of my favorite holidays. People play cards, bless crows, dogs, the cows, laxmi, themselves and their brothers. colors, lights, songs and firecrackers are everywhere. it is a beautiful time. yesterday my friends nick, jake and i went on a bike ride to the south of the Valley. The ride was a great way to see what was going on in the different villages. it was also a clear night so you could see the Himalayan range.

the next 2 months or so are going to be busy. I will try to update as much as I can- I have a few unfinished posts waiting to be edited and posted, so wait on those.

On Saturday I am travelling to Mugu with the Poverty Alleviation Fund. Mugu is the poorest district in Nepal and in the Northwest. I will be there for two weeks conducting research on the impact of PAF's income generating activities on the beneficiaries standard of living. I am both excited and nervous- I expect Mugu will be starkly different than the valley (and much colder too!). I can't wait to get into the mountains. but I am also sad to be missing Halloween!

Upon return, I will be in the valley for about 12 days before my older sister Meghan arrives for a quicky nine day trip to Nepal! We are planning on doing the beginning of the Annapurna circuit and making our way up to Poon Hill (Meghan if you are reading this, don't look at any pictures of this place because I want you to be wowed with no expectations). For the rest of you, google Poon Hill or wait on our pictures, because it is incredible.

Following Meghan's visit, I plan on participating in a Vipassana meditation retreat, in which I do not speak or look at anyone for TEN DAYS! A few of my friends have done this and tell me it is an invaluable experience. when do we give ourselves the chance to really get to know ourselves like that? I will have no means of distraction- no reading, no writing, no exercise. I am not going into the experience expecting to get anything in particular out of it, although I feel as though I might become more patient.

All of this brings me to mid December. I planned on returning to the US on December 19th, but my friend Zack and I are making plans to possibly travel to Sikkim and Darjeeling. Zack studied in Nepal with me at the Cornell Nepal Study Program and is one of my best friends from Cornell. He is teaching Chemistry at Cornell's Medical College in Qatar and is arriving in Kathmandu on December 13th to start his winter break. Plans are not finalized yet, and I am sad to be missing Christmas and my birthday at home, but who knows when I will be in South Asia again so why not embrace it?