The process behind stone carving

Poetic Fields

Poetic Fields
They speak for themselves
Its harvest time
Strong bodies and hands working dawn to dusk
The fields turn into shapes and shades of green with vibrant red specs of women’s saris

Rice paper drying in the sun

Prayer Wheels

Prayer wheels…I walk and spin out my thoughts from the day.....

Night and Day

Night and Day

I embrace the mornings. My favorite time. Im quiet. I look out my window and see the same women pumping water before she starts her day. The faint sounds of micros buzzing by. When Im lucky, I can hear the Tibetan children chanting their morning prayers. People are quiet, heading down to the stupa to meditate. I watch the sunrise from my bed. I wake up with the sun seeing everyone I am early to bed seeing this part of the city tucks itself in by 9 or 10. The streets at night are empty, only signs of stray dogs and soft sounds from the windows. It feels like a ghost town and its scary to get back home past 12. There is a curfew for the city which seems to be around 12. Bars shut down and if there are traces of people partying too late, the cops come in and send everyone to jail.
Social hour during the week consists of communal yoga and walks around the stupa. Tonight I needed some exercise so I decided to walk around the stupa until my path met up with a really sweet monk. We walked around and around for what seemed to be more than an hour..exchanging stories and enjoying the night. I look forward to this time in Boudha and moments like these. Simple and special.

I keep my hands on the prayer wheels, reminding me to enjoy that moment, enjoying the smells of jasmine and good company.

Artist Visit

Went and spent the afternoon working with this family on a new product for Wild Earth. He hand carves stones and bamboo boxes. Over the hours my stomach was in pain but had to kindly accept the many fried donuts and cups and cups of Mountain Dew!

Contrasts

This goes to show the extreme contrasts of weekend trips in Nepal. You can wake up on the top of a mountain surrounded by fresh air, pine trees, and blue skies and end up walking to a horriby busy and polluted road like this!

Auspicious Door

Tejar Puja at Work

You are probably wondering what this is all about....so in a nutshell, we are celebrating Tejar, a Hindu cermony which worships Laxmi. She is the deity of wealth and known to bring good future to oneself and one’s family. It’s a beautiful ritual usually done in each family’s home. From the photos, you can kind of see how we prepared for the ceremony at work. We smere cows dung which represents the path which Laxmi walked. It is decorated with marigold flowers, red footsteps, candles, rice, and red powder. The paths lead to a shrine and our safe in the office to bring good fortunes. As soon as the sun sets, the sky is filled with fireworks and children who walk around singing with candles in hand. Many women sing until sunrise, collecting money which they give to charity. It is the favorite festival for many Nepalis.

New flat....

This is the flat I have been living in for the past few months which is being shared with my well adored roomate. This space has been really nice for our daily yoga classes which are taught for free by a friend of ours. Communal, free yoga has been a highlight at the end of the day. Our lack of furniture creates the perfect space for this!

A wake up call

"am i happy" i was asked the other day at work?
well this really struck my core
allowed me to realize what was really bothering me
feeling isolated at work
not able to communicate and hear what is going on
25 nepalis and me
incredible people all around
but literally lost in translation
strangely getting wrapped in my own head and world

so this created a shift
a wake up call
to create sustainabiltiy and a change within Wild Earth
i need to change my energy
get motivated
and learn nepali intensively
it will be that more rich at the end of each day
its dedication
and its time

because i do like my life here
it is simple
it is rich
it allows me to dive into my passions
and read
and do yoga
and live spontaneous days
through monsoons
through dirty commutes

allows me to take buddhist classes with incredible llamas
in beautiful temples
experience hindu puju ceremonies
see religions collide
have dance parties free of alcohol and invite my tibetan neighbors

to wake up to the smells of incense
the faint view of the himalayas
the annoying barking of dogs

its filled with contrasts
its hard
but fulfilling

my tongue is tied and
its time
to unravel
and really immerse
my whole self here at work
so they want me to stay as well as i

its not just productivity which is important here in nepal
its the whole self
my thoughts, my energy, my interactions

Simple Living...

Settling in.....

I am surprising myself as I am settling into my life over here in Kathmandu.... Just went to the local nursury and i must say,
it was a funny sight as my roomate and I piled plants on the trolly, trying to balance them over rocky roads, making it back to our flat. Natural light and tons of plants, is all we need to fill in our apartment. Fall is on its way, but the change of weather is faint. The locals ask me if I am cold, and I havent been feeling it yet, making me think that the winter isnt going to be too bad. The biggest challenge will be the power shortage which kicks in within two weeks. We will have about 8 hours of power per day....which has improved from the 4 hours of energy (per day) which they had last year. This is due to the lack of rain fall. During the monsoon season, the rain generates more electricity, but in the winter, the energy is sparce. It is sad, seeing Nepal has incredible potential to gain wealth through hydro power...its just that the government is in shambles. People still seem to be on edge, not knowing how the government will surprise them. I suppose its almost time to invest in some wool blankets and candles.

Wild Earth

Wild journey outer landscapes, inner mindscapes…
Pilgrims though this sensous earth
This wonderous mind

Bhaktapur

A bit disturbing to say the least.....

As I was walking around Bhaktapur (a small and historic version of Kathmandu), I heard some loud quacking noise down an alley. My curiousity led me to witness these poor ducks being piled and pretty much suffocated into this small truck. They were well on their way to the local butcher shop. A sad scene.

The way home via bus roof top

I will spare the details but this was one of the most frightening bus rides Ive experienced in awhile. Due to the Desai festival, everyone and their mother were trying to get back to the city, being the reason I choose to ride the roof top for well over 5 hours. At first it was exciting and exhilerating, but the baking sun, puking children, lack of water, etc. changed my thoughts a bit. I felt so badly for the baby crying beside me, covered in puke and in tears because he had to go to the bathroom so badly. You constantly have to be on gaurd because you could easily get your head taken off by the many low power lines which cross the road. So the ride continued after many of obstacles, including a very close call. Due to the recent rains, there was a huge muddy ditch and our bus almost tipped over. In a panic, everyone started jumping off the roof, including myself. I really bruised up my leg to amplify my shock. Anyways, the bus made it through and I had no choice to get back on. At that time, I was missing the mountains and having little faith in motor vehicles.