Good news/Bad news

Pradeep pays more attention to the camera than the classwork.

Hello everyone! I have to say, right now, thank you guys for following my blog. It’s nice to know that people care about what I’m doing in the world, and it’s always great to have your comments on here. I miss you all, and I’m glad you enjoy all the stuff I’m putting up here for you.

I have to share some good news/bad news with you. The good news is (***drum roll please…***) I’ll be home for Christmas! The bad news is, of course, I’m cutting short my planned trip. It’s always difficult to shorten the range of your goals (especially when your goals were to work in a developing nation helping educate its youth) and not feel like you’re failing in some way, but as I’ve spent time in Nepal, I’ve realized that in the time I’m spending here and the experiences I’m a part of end up being more for me than those I’m helping. I’ve seen in multiple situations that the Nepali people want to help themselves and sometimes think that they know how to do it better than I do (or any Westerner does). Many are very grateful, it’s true, and I could never diss the Nepali people--they are always so welcoming, friendly, accepting, and kind. But I do see a lot of corruption, and a lot of using the system that I think needs to be ameliorated. I also know that it is difficult to come into a country as foreign to me as Nepal and expect understand what they need or help them obtain it in a way that doesn’t insult their intelligence or culture. While the organization I’m with has GOT IT DOWN (I would recommend that anyone and everyone give to this cause or offer their help--please if you have any questions about how it’s run or where the money goes and why this is the best cause to give to, email me, call me, whatever. I’d be more than happy to talk your ear off), I believe that it took and takes a lot of cultural understanding that I don’t have and cannot attain in only five months.

All of that being said, I do miss my family very much (and my friends, I miss you too!). I have realized how important you all are to my life, and even though I am self sufficient and I’m having these amazing experiences on my own (thanks again, friends and family, for raising me right!) I definitely want to be home for Christmas and New Years and my niece’s first birthday and to see my nephew’s Christmas program if he has one, etc etc. I know now (especially seeing the Nepali culture with homes containing grandparents, parents, and children; the small villages that hold multiple generations; the siblings reunited after long times apart) how important my family is to me, and how good it is to be able to rely on friends for advice or a talk through a problem. I love and miss every one of you who is reading this blog huncha-bunches.

I think that this trip has helped me most to understand what amazing blessings I have (such as toilet paper and an economy that does not require bargaining or bartering), and how fantastically lucky I am to have the education I do. I hope to keep studying and learning, and therefore gain some of the brainpower to solve the problems I’m encountering here and throughout my travels--but solving those problems will take a lot of brainstorming and discussion and months and weeks and days and years and nights and forever* before I can help to chip the tip off of the iceberg.
So I’ll be home in only six months instead of seven. Woohoo! I can’t wait to see you all in December….

*e. e. cummings reference, “what Got him was Not/hing”; if you want the whole poem, email me (or google it), it’s awesome.