Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Goodbye Nepal, Hello USA!

Aloha!
Greetings from Hawaii! After two days of flying, Doug and I are back in the U.S.. We arrived on April 30th - on Doug's birthday. Luckily for him, he got to celebrate it for 41 hours if you call celebrating - sitting on a plane, going through customs, and suffering from extreme jet lag. Fortunately, we felt good enough in the evening to go out for a wonderful Filipino meal at a new restaurant that my folks wanted to treat Doug to. The restaurant, Max's of Manila, is part of a chain of restaurants that originated in the Philippines, and it was the place in Manila where my mom and dad enjoyed a wedding dinner over 30 years ago!

It has been quite odd going from Nepal to Hawaii. Believe it or not, there are some similarities between life in Nepal and life here at my folks (the crowing of roosters, eating lots of rice and veggies, buzzing and biting mosquitos, and the speaking of another language - fortunately this time, I understand and speak it). So really, the odd thing is that it doesn't feel weird to be back. Not much of a culture shock - except for order on the highways, high-technology, etc... BTW, DSL feels like lightning speed after Nepal's very slow internet access. But, I sure do miss Nepal already - the people, the cultures, the language. The last couple of days there were spent visiting friends, saying goodbye to the children at DRC, and binging on Nepal's national dish- dal bhat tarkari (lentil/rice/veggies). "Aagayo!" (I am full!) was the common exclamation for those two days.

So to wrap up this blog, I must say it was a great couple of months in Nepal despite all that was going on there. If you've been keeping up with what has been happening there, you know that only time will tell what will come of the restoration of democracy. One thing for sure, the people of Nepal are full of spirit and are proud of their beautiful country and many of them are hopeful for a better Nepal. Doug and I are with them in that hope. Until the next travel blog, let's hope for peace and the restoration of an effective democracy in Nepal.

Namaste, Jackie

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