Having been in Kathmandu for about three weeks, I think I can safely say I’m getting to know my way around the city – kind of.
I have the beginnings of a normal routine put down. I’ve found my favorite place to get coffee (and occasionally a chocolate croissant), I’ve been to the American style breakfast a few more times than I’d like to admit, and I know my way to and from school like the back of my hand. It seems like I’m getting comfortable in my new home.
Except for the fact that I’m in Nepal, a place where one must learn to expect the unexpected.
Last Monday my friends and I got incredibly lost trying to find our way to the Inda Jatra festival at Durbar Square, cursing our cab driver for dropping us off in the wrong place before realizing we’d been let out a block away. I still find myself getting lost after taking a seemingly harmless turn off the main path. My Nepali language skills are rudimentary at best, and my daily conversations are quite inclusive of the term “language barrier.”
So maybe I haven’t got Nepal all figured out in these past two weeks, and maybe I still feel just as much as a visitor as I did on the first day I got here ( to be honest, I’ve only gotten more nervous since I’ve been here), but that’s okay. Every day I’m learning something new – about this beautiful country, yes, but more importantly about myself.
Visiting holy religious sites and historic landmarks has been so rewarding this past week. I’m truly grateful for the holistic perspective I’m getting on the city. What has been even more interesting, however, has been the transformation occurring within myself – always changing and adapting to the situation at hand.