Monday: We have landed in our seventh country: Nepal. As we were driving from the airport, I saw cows lying down in the middle of the streets. In Hindi, cows are sacred animals so you are not allowed to kill them. Instead of beef, the Nepali people have buffalo. We check in at the guesthouse and leave for dinner. At the entrance to the restaurant, they put a red mark on our foreheads that symbolize the third eye. We eat in a big room with many low tables. There are cushions around the table for us to sit on. The dinner is traditional Nepali food. We have potatoes, lentils, rice, and yogurt for dessert. While we were eating, dancers, musicians came, and performed traditional Nepal dance. After dinner, we go back and go to sleep.
Tuesday: I have momos for breakfast. A momo is very similar to a dumpling with vegetables, buffalo, or chicken inside. Momos can be steamed, fried, boiled, or cooked in a soup. My favorite is steamed. After breakfast, we begin our tour of Kathmandu.
First, we visit the Boudhanath Stupa. This stupa is one of the largest stupas in Nepal. It is 2,000 years old, and it was the first stupa to be rebuilt after the earthquake. We are not allowed to enter the stupa because a relic of the Buddha is inside. The stupa has a dome that is 100ft in diameter. Around the stupa there are little crevices holding prayer wheels. As people walk around the stupa, they spin the wheels for good fortune. On the outer rim of the dome, there is a mandala, which symbolizes the home of the Buddha. The dome itself symbolizes the great treasures of the universe. The face of the Buddha is drawn on the dome. The two eyes represent wisdom, and the nose symbolizes Nirvana, which is the full state of enlightenment. Above the face, there is a Harmika, which is a little platform above the dome. The Harmika represents honor and respect. Then, there are thirteen steps to reach the pinnacle of the dome. These steps symbolize the Buddha’s 13 phases to reach enlightenment. After the steps, there is a big lotus flower; it symbolizes compassion and purity. Above the lotus flower, three disks are called the umbrella. The umbrella protects the three jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The last part of the stupa is the pinnacle, which represents the king of the mountains. From the pinnacle to the ground, there are colorful prayer flags to send blessings to the people that walk under them.
Next, we go to the Samteling Monastery. It is located to the east of the stupa. This monastery is one of the oldest Tibetan monasteries in Nepal. It has a huge prayer wheel at its entrance covered in golden engraving of Tibetan mantras. Inside the monastery, we saw monks getting prepared for their afternoon prayer session and giving offerings to the Buddha statue.
Next, we went to have lunch. In the Nepali culture, people usually have four meals a day. Early in the morning, they have toast and tea. At around 9:00 AM, they have Dal Bhatt, which is a huge platter with rice in the center surrounded by lentils in a bowl, two types of vegetables in separate bowls, buffalo meat in a bowl, potatoes in a bowl, and yogurt in a bowl to cool down their mouths from the chilies. Obviously, they will not get hungry for a long time, so around noon they will have a plate of momos. Momos are a Nepali type of dumplings. They can be either round or moon-shaped, and they can be steamed, fried, boiled, or made into a soup. Then at night, they will have another Dal Bhatt, which is what we had for lunch with a plate of steamed vegetable momos.
After lunch, we go to the Monkey Temple. At the entrance of the temple, we saw a newly wedded couple leaving to their new house. We also saw trays full of colorful powder. The Hindi people use this powder to make beautiful designs on their skin for special festivals. As we were walking towards the temple, we see many monkeys climbing the walls and cows grazing in the grass. We also see a group of boys playing football (soccer) near the river. On the opposite side of the river, there are large concrete platforms that are used for cremations. The Hindi people believe cremation is necessary to return the body to mother nature. When the body is burned, it becomes ashes and the ashes are distributed back to the five elements: air, water, fire, and green. When the body is burning, it releases smoke, which goes back to air. The ashes are thrown into the river, and they mix with the water. The body becomes fire when it is being burned. They save some of the ashes to put in a stupa and dedicate it to the person; therefore, the ashes are kept in the earth forever. Finally, the trees breathe in the air that is mixed with smoke. We are not allowed to enter the temple because only Hindus are permitted to enter. We walk around the temple and see little huts were the priests live. Then, we go back to our guesthouse.
Wednesday: During breakfast, I try the traditional Nepali tea. It is called Masala. After breakfast, we have our cooking class. In the class, we learn how to make momos! First, you make the dough and the vegetable, chicken, or buffalo mix. Then, you cut little circles from the dough. Fill the circle with the mix and close it. For vegetable, we made a circle momo and for meat, we made a half-moon momo. Then, we steam the momos. While the momos are cooking, we make the sauce. First, we grind the garlic and the peanuts. Then we blend the tomatoes and chili. Finally, we mix. Once the momos were finished, we served them on plates made of leaves. The momos are delicious! After having triple servings of momos and some Nepali tea, we visit the school that we will be teaching at for the next two weeks. The school is located in a neighborhood named Bouda, which is Buddha in Nepali. The school is called Samata School, and there are 56 schools all over Nepal. In this school, there are 3,000 students. All 56 schools are entirely made of Bamboo, and they charge 100 rupees or 1 dollar a month. There are around 90 students in each classroom, but thankfully, we will only teach 15 at a time! We leave the school and go back to the guesthouse excited to begin our first day of teaching in Samata School.
Thursday, Friday, and Sunday: For Thursday, Friday and unbelievably Sunday we will be teaching 10th grade. In Nepal, Sunday is not a part of the weekend for half of the year, but it is for the other half. Once we arrived at Samata School, we were introduced to the first 15 students that we would be teaching. We taught them how to prepare and act in a job interview. We also taught them how to write and respond to emails. Since I had never had the experience of a job interview, I did not know how to act in one. Therefore, I did research on the internet, and I asked my parents what you should say and how you should act. In the beginning, my parents were the ones explaining about the job interviews, but slowly as I began to understand more I became the one explaining. It was not only beneficial to me, but it was also beneficial to them. Since I am closer in age to them, they were able to relate to me better. Now, I think I will have some experience when I will prepare for a job interview in the future. As we taught them, I was learning at the same time.
At 1:00, the students break for lunch. Their lunch is for 30 minutes; then, they come back, and we continue teaching. After school on Thursday and Sunday, we went back to the guesthouse to do homework, but on Friday, we drove to Bhaktapur. Once we arrive in Bhaktapur, we go to our guesthouse, which is over 500 years old. Then, we walk around the city and stop to get a henna. The Nepali women get hennas on special occasions such as festivals. They usually get hennas on the palm or the front of their hands, ankles, foreheads, arms, or legs. I decided to get mine on the palm and the front of my right hand.
My mom decided to get hers on the back of her right hand, and my brother got one on his left arm. To draw the henna, it takes about 15 minutes, but since I had two drawings it took 30 minutes. After letting the henna dry for 15 minutes, you then put lime juice with sugar to let the henna ink sink in. Then, you wait about one hour for the henna to dry, and then you scrape it off. The henna on the front of my hand lasting about one week, but the one on the palm of my hand still appears faintly only two weeks later. After getting our hennas, we went back to guesthouse, very excited to visit Bhaktapur tomorrow.
Saturday: First, we went to a temple right outside our guesthouse. 
On the temple, there are two goats laying down. This temple is built in the 14th century. The whole temple was made of one tree. The temple is the oldest in Bhaktapur, and it is dedicated to Vishnu (creator god), Chiva (protector god), and Burma. The temple is specifically for women. There are candles placed in front of the temple as offerings. Next, we visited a traditional house from Bhaktapur. The house is made of bricks, and the windows are beautifully carved. In Bhaktapur there are three types of windows: a sunflower window, a peacock window, and an eye window. They used teak wood for carvings because it was cheap. All the houses and temples have small doors because it forces you to bow down when you enter, which is a sign of respect. Nowadays, many people live in brick apartments because the earthquake in 2015 destroyed most of the houses and killed 336 people. Four families live on each floor.
Next we went to a Buddhist temple. The temple was very dark because it did not have electricity. In the morning, the monks ring a bell three times signifying that the people are allowed to enter. At the entrance, there is a symbol which looks like the Star of David; it signifies protection. One of my favorite things about Nepal is that the Buddhists and Hindus worshipped their religions in peace right next to each other. For example, in Bhaktapur there was a Hindu temple right next to the Buddhist temple. I found this to be amazing because in today’s world there is so much conflict between religions; countries even fight wars about it!
Next, we went to the tallest temple in Nepal. It was made in the 16th century. There were elephant statues guarding the entrance. This temple survived both earthquakes in 1934 and 2015. We climbed to the top of the temple and had a beautiful view of the mountains and city. From up top, the mountains resembled the shape of a sleeping Buddha statue. We climbed down, and went to make some pottery.
Pottery is the main industry in Bhaktapur. We went to a pottery shop to make some bowls, cups, elephants, and houses. After we made some pottery, we went to have lunch. For lunch, we had a traditional Dhal Bhatt with extra servings of potatoes. After lunch, we went to a singing bowl shop. There we had a healing treatment with the singing bowl vibrations. Then, we went back to the guesthouse to pick up our luggage and go back to Kathmandu. Bhaktapur is a beautiful city, and I wish I could have stayed longer to visit the entire village, but I am excited to begin a new week of teaching.
Week 2: This week, we will be teaching 9th graders in a different campus. Once we arrive, we are greeted by the vice principal of the school. She shows us to our classroom and gathers the students that we will teach. We decided to teach the 9th graders the same subject as the 10th graders: email etiquette and job interview preparation. We also added some role-play to teach them what to say in different scenarios. At 1:00, the students would break for lunch for 30 minutes. Then, we would continue again with the same class. At the end of the classes, we would play hangman or charades. I think it is important for the students to know how to write emails and how to act in a job interview. I think they understood, and I think they will always remember our classes. I will really miss teaching here in Kathmandu. After our last class, we took a car up to the mountains four hours away from Kathmandu.
Saturday: We arrived in the mountain village yesterday afternoon. We are camping on the banks of the river because today we will go white water rafting. We go down to the river and listen to the guide explain about the raft and the river. Then, we get in the raft and begin. We raft for about two hours, and then we go back. White water rafting was very exciting! Once back at the camp, we have dinner and then go to sleep in our tents. The next morning, we drive back to Kathmandu to fly to Bhutan! My family and I had a great time in Nepal; I will never forget it, and I am already dying to go back!
