Ada Bhayo

Halfway done with my initial 3 months at site, halfway to to spending almost 2 weeks with my fellow peace corps volunteers, and halfway to seeing my first host family again for a night, and halfway to my second language assessment. I have now been at site for almost 7 weeks! It has absolutely flown by, I can't believe it has been 7 weeks here, and over 100 days in Nepal. In most ways it seems like it has flown by but when I think back to April, to saying goodbye to my family, friends and favorite foods it seems like an eternity ago.

How to capture life at site? We are encouraged to spend the first few months learning about our community, making friends, and practicing Nepali. I am happy to say that I have been making progress in all those tasks! I feel incredibly lucky to have been placed at this site. In my first week here, I met one of the most warm and welcoming people I have ever met, and she immediately embraced me into her family and has quickly become my closest friend at site. She is patient with my Nepali which allows us to go beyond the usual questions of "how many siblings do you have, are you married, can you take me, my husband, my child, to America with you in 2 years." She also makes really delicious khaja, or afternoon snack. I think knowing that I have at least one close friend makes my time here feel much more natural.

Exploring a green tea farm

During our training, the country director talked to us about the benefits of being an English teacher in peace corps, brought in to do a specific job, at a specific time and place each day and the benefits of being a Agriculture volunteer, a job that we are tasked with designing as we see fit to beat improve food security. For teaching English, you are largely spared the awkwardness of having no idea how to fill your days. You can tell people a concrete job that you're doing, and they will understand, and you can feel like a professional. I on the other hand have to tell people: "I'm here to do agriculture and health work" and try to explain that I will try to improve the soil health and access to a variety of nutritious foods, but often this explanation is greeted with a blank stare. Other times, this explanation is greeted with people pulling up or down an article of clothing and asking me to identify a strange looking rash. I am learning my place within the community, just as the community is learning my place within it. As one of my fellow volunteers said during training: "seek first to understand, then be understood." I am patient with myself to understand how I can begin to make strides toward increasing food security in my community, the first step of that being to understand my community itself.

There are many waterfalls near me

And what an enjoyable task that is! Some days I work on this task by hiking, meeting people on the way and going to their house to talk. Some days I work on this by helping my family with farm chores and cooking. Other days I go to the health post to learn about what sort of health problems are common, and to spend time with the great staff who works there, and always make me laugh and feel welcome.

On his day in particular, I am actually leaving my community for the first time! I am going to the district capital, besi sahar, to spend 2 nights with my fellow lamjung volunteers. I am eager to hear about their sites, as each brings different challenges and joys. I am also eager to eat brownies, ice cream, and momos which are all available in the district capital. Just after writing that, I just received a text from my friend who I am meeting there that there is a bhanda on pasals (the shops are on strike) today. So to be determined as to the availability of those treats, but allowing you to read those sentences back to back as I get information allows you to get a sense of what it's like to be here. Unsure of plans, adjusting to new information, and understanding that everything will work out. Even if you may not get ice cream or brownies.