Here's how I know I am adapting finally to life in Nepal

I am very comfortable with silence

I even prefer silence at mealtimes

A motorcycle brushed my arm the other day as it whizzed past me and it didn’t phase me. Too much

I enjoy hand washing laundry

I say “la”, “hunchha, hunchha” and “pokka?” without thinking

Apparently my sentence inflection is different now (according to my mother)

I use the 5 minutes that it takes to open an email and multitask by working on a separate document or boiling water or cooking. The slow or at times non-existent internet also doesn’t worry me anymore

I am not startled when the neighbour children burst into my dhera and settle in at my kitchen table for tea, snacks and coloring

Sunday is the beginning of the work week

My bicycle is a luxury. Sitting in any kind of vehicle where I have room to move either my knees or shoulders is a *huge* luxury

I don’t trip when all of the plans I carefully made are changed on a whim (and absolutely last minute) by any number of outside factors and forces

It doesn’t bother me any more when people verbalize all their judgments about me

Conflict? What conflict? No, we’re cool

When I visit the temple, I am Hindu. When I visit a church I am Christian. When I visit a gumpa I am Buddhist. Why not?

And.....

Who needs toilet paper anyways?


I am sure I could go on and on.

But, the point is, I am feeling way more adjusted to life in Nepal now. Whew! That first year was a challenging one on that end in particular. Turns out that Asian philosophy and Western philosophy are different, you know? Thought processes are different, family structures are different, food is different, ideas of gender are (generally) different. The language these people speak here is different. And, well, you get the point.

I don’t believe I have lost anything, though, by adapting to life here (as was a bit of my irrational fear when I first arrived). I feel like I have gained insight into myself, and have a much broadened view of the world that even all of my past travel could have never prepared me for.

Okay, now that I have finally adapted (more or less). On to the next stage!! We’ll see what happens from here.

Photos above

a) I'm going upstairs on my roof to hang my laundry, and notice a very odd smell. That might even smell like fish. What IS that? When I finally look up, here is what I see (well, of course, how logical!).

b) Let's get a closer look at that....

By the way, weeks later, these fish are still hanging in the corridor that goes up to the roof. Probably getting dried out of reach of the wild cats for consumption at some holiday or ritual coming up. I think this is the most logical explanation.