By the time we had reached the stairs to the stupa I was ready to go back to the house. Between my improper clothing and having sucked all this dust into my lungs I was struggling, both mentally and physically. It's hard to enjoy myself when I am very stressed about my bag, having a hard time breathing and feet hurting from walking ontop of rocks. I was also feeling very uncomfortable because everyone was staring at me. I'm sure it had to do more with my skin tight leggings than me being a foreigner, nonetheless it made me feel uncomfortable. Although I had no choice as I wore leggings on the plane and had another pair in my backpack. The shirt I was wearing was tight and I didn't want to take off my jacket although it was about 60-70 degrees out. I felt like I was going to pass out. So while everyone else went straight up the hundreds of stairs to the temple I opted to go around and take it easy, while trying to get rid of my panic attack. For someone who just ran my first half marathon in October it was pretty embarrassing I had to go around, but whatever.
Once I arrived at the top it was a spectacular view. You can see the whole Kathmandu Valley from up there. There was also a special ceremony going on yesterday. Basically what our guide said the whole thing translated to was "monk for a day". These very young boys were all dressed up and were taking part in the ceremony.
While the stupa is nicknamed the monkey temple, for the copious amounts of monkeys running freely, it's actually called the Swayambhunath Stupa. Here are some photos from the visit.
After we finished there we went to a nearby rooftop restaurant for lunch. I ordered the chicken momos, a very popular dish in Nepal. They were very good. One of the other volunteers ordered a chicken hamburger, I mean you'd think it was the safe choice, and it came out looking like artwork gone bad. There was little flowers made out of carrots and radishes. Not to mention the fact that there was only 6 fries on the plate. It was pretty comical.
Now let me tell you about the stray dog problem in Nepal. It's bad. Everywhere you go there are hundreds of dogs wandering around, I stole a shot of this adorable little puppy at the top. Anyways while we were eating all of a sudden from the street came the most horrible screaming and crying from a dog that was just ran over. It was horrible and I felt sick to my stomach. As most of you know I have such a big heart for animals so this really killed me inside. It's not at all surprising to me though. With all the stray dogs running around and the insanity of the road and pedestrian situation, I'm sure it happens all the time. It's unfortunate.
On the way back we stopped at a laundry to drop off my dirty clothes and I stopped to buy a shirt, although looking back I should have gotten a few more. One of the girls was nice enough to lend me a clean pair of socks and clean pair of leggings, and give me a little bar of soap. Someone else lent me an extra towel so I could finally shower.
Before dinner I took a shower........which was interesting to say the least. The water here at the house is heated by solar so it was basically freezing for the first few minutes before heating to just barely warm. The interesting part was the shower head doesn't work and the spout was about chest high. So I had to get creative on how I was able to get under the water. When washing my hair I bent over forward and basically washed my hair upside down.
As you can see there is no shower curtain or anything so water basically gets everywhere. We have a lady that lives here in the house and she's in charge of cooking for us and generally taking care of the house. Here are a few photos of the house, including my room.
As you can see my room is pretty bare. And all I have right now is that little black backpack. I feel like I'm just in a vulnerable situation right now as I've just said good bye to Jesse for a year, arriving in a completely unknown country alone, compounded with jetlag and the fact I have none of my clothes makes me feel a little lost and lonely. While everyone is very nice and friendly I'm just feeling a little uncomfortable, like I can't really get settled in until I receive my luggage, and more than just a few things that are mine.
So while everyone else is out taking a tour of the city I'm here sitting in my bed writing this post. I just didn't feel like walking around in my same clothes again. One of the guys who works here at the house is going to take me shopping this afternoon and hopefully I can find some shampoo and a few other things to get myself through Pat arriving Wednesday. Pat is a lady who lives about 45 minutes away from me in Denver who is coming out to volunteer also. I contacted her and asked if she could bring some stuff with her for me. My mom went and bought me basically all new stuff and is sending it with her. I'm very excited about that. Until then I can only hope they find my bag.
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