A week off from school in October for the Nepali Dashain festival was a perfect time to get out of Kathmandu. While I enjoy living in this small city compared to the megacities of Manila and Chengdu, the urban noise, congestion, and dust takes its toll, especially with the 1+... Continue reading

I have wanted to write about my spiritual endeavors for a while, but I wasn’t sure how to do it without sounding too preachy. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s proselytizing. In my view, the world would be a much better place if people spent more time practicing... Continue reading

As we drove from the Kathmandu airport after an amazing holiday to the west coast of the U.S. and Canada, my mind kept on repeating the same thought over and over again as my eyes refamiliarized themselves with these streets… the Nepali people have such hardship in their daily lives.... Continue reading

In late April and early May, we were fortunate to host a few guests to our abode – Edith, my best friend from Samoa days, and Liang Ning and Zhu Kui, two former colleagues from China. What a blast to see these folks and reconnect with them. We had lots... Continue reading

I would imagine that Bhutan isn’t too high on many peoples’ lists of “places to visit”. In my mind the country had always been too inaccessible and too expensive. Only ONE airline services Bhutan, their national airline: Druk Air. Druk only flies to and from a very small handful of... Continue reading

In September, I joined a yoga and meditation weekend retreat organized by the yoga studio that I have occasionally frequented since arriving in Nepal seven months ago. I admit that my yoga practice has been very sparse since leaving Manila, which I attribute mainly due to not having the convenience... Continue reading

In the past month, Nepal celebrated Hindu festivals that show reverence to two animals that are featured in the Hindu faith– snakes and cows. I’ve never been fond of snakes and I’m certainly not thrilled to hear the news that some folks in Kathmandu have discovered cobra skins in their... Continue reading

Before coming to this region, I associated monsoons with disastrous flooding. That is probably what made the news and caught my attention, but I have since learned that monsoon is not a bad word nor does it solely entail catastrophe. In fact, the lack of sufficient monsoon rains for South... Continue reading

In many urban areas around the world, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered (LGBT) community celebrates PRIDE month in June. The premise for PRIDE is to take a positive stance against discrimination and violence toward LGBTs and, to put it simply, be proud of who we are. You might suspect that... Continue reading

During the past month, I have been dealing with the headache of several airlines’ and governments’ regulations to transport Marley from Manila to Kathmandu. Although it was a painful process, I felt relieved when Marley and I successfully landed at the Kathmandu airport a little more than a week ago.... Continue reading

The Peace Corps experience is at once both very individual and very universal. This is why Peace Corps recruiters are always careful to say "this is what MY experience was like" to the people that they speak with, because a Volunteer's experience can be as unique as any individual. That... Continue reading

Human-Environment Interaction: This was a concept that curriculum guidelines encouraged me to incorporate into the 6th grade humanities class that I taught last year. As we followed the twists and turns of a Nepali river valley on a bus ride between Kathmandu and Pokhara, this term repeatedly came to mind... Continue reading

We have been really fortunate that in every country that we have lived in so far, we have always found ways to incorporate tennis into our daily lives. In China we mostly played at the Sichuan University campus courts, not too far from my classroom and Chris’ office. It was... Continue reading

On March 20, I visited the nearby city of Bhaktapur, which was once the capital of Nepal from the 14th to 17th centuries. Its traditional style of Newari architecture is extremely well preserved along narrow brick streets and alleys that cars cannot access. While Kathmandu has its Durbar Square, the... Continue reading

I've just realized that I really love mountains. Coming to Nepal I wasn't quite sure if this would be the case. Let's face it. I'm an "ocean" guy. I grew up in San Diego, served as a Volunteer in Tonga, and spent the last two years in the Philippines. The... Continue reading

It’s hard to believe that as I type this note we’ve just passed the one week mark of our arrival in Kathmandu. In some ways it feels like we’re already old pros at living in this city and that we’ve been here for ages. Yes, that is a completely naïve... Continue reading

Normally when a pilot announces that the plane is in a holding pattern and is unable to land for awhile, I feel annoyed and impatient about wanting a trip to be over and done with. You’d think that after 22 hours of flying time since we left San Diego, we... Continue reading