the long lost post.

Its been ages since ive written in my blog. this is due to a number of reasons. First off i cant actually get a computer thats free so loll. I'm suppose to be working but i guess i choose not to today. i have a "bad headache". I feel guilty for lying but sometimes you just need to cut yourself away from routine once you've been in it for so long.

Second reason is that to be quite honest I've been really busy. I haven't even had time for myself. going to Kathmandu, Buying presents and working. while all this was happening though some amazing experiences occurred, a few weeks back was the holy festival which is formally known as Divali in India and the UK. But in Nepal its called Dashain. It was a beautiful thing to experience and witness. the luscious colours and decoration. All the statues that have been crafted with the utmost care and had an amazing artistic and spiritual touch. The temple was an immense building with a pyramid top so the roof was pointed, This was the main temple in Sirutar which is like a good 1 hour walk from my house up a hill, just imagine all the patterns that your mind could think of and how it takes the form of a building, and light graffiti with signed names from the previous volunteers. This was pretty much what it looked like lol. It was just such an immense piece of art (im sorry i couldn't take any pictures my battery died from the previous day). All the family dressed in red with tikkas on they're head and a flower in our hair, all the children fly homemade kites over the village varying from different sizes and shapes, the joyful kids running around and screaming like on a natural high, it was all good vibes, they really go that extra mile since it is the biggest festival in Nepal. The Dashain period lasted for a week. we had 4 days off during this time..

When your in an environment which your are not familiar with. you feel lost simply because what is around you is foreign.. Now I've never in my life thought or imagined myself to be living with a Hindu family that practices such old old traditions.. one of them is when a woman is on her period they are not allowed to enter the house or touch anything because they are seen as dirty..the family has made a separate room outside..which is also really dirty for the woman to stay until her period is over.

It is a culture but more of a tradition which nowadays is not practiced as much.. but still goes on.

The fact that on this day was Eid really made me feel lost. This is the first time im staying away from the family on such a day. Even though back home it doesn't feel like anything special. When your out of your comfort zone it suddenly hits you like a tonne of bricks man. The the first day of Dashain was the same day Eid was. Me and another volunteer decided to go to the main mosque in Kathmandu. I was thrilled to be seeing another Muslim faces and hearing the holy verses once again after a month, and surprisingly i found that it wasn't just me who shared this sentiment. This girl, who i barely speak to also had the same feelings. It felt good that i wasn't alone . when we got to the mosque we missed the prayer and just decided to sit there and enjoy the peaceful tranquility a mosque has when theres no one in there. It was amazing... i actually don't know how i was just sat there for a good 2 hours, nothing on my mind. Just staring at the decorated Arabic. I knew this was something i was missing while been on the trip. Not that i am at all practicing, but it gave me a sense of calmness and peacefulness. you could hear the low pitched recitation of someone echoing through the walls...Reverb is great is mosques lol...

That was a day i will never forget in Nepal. 2 completely different ideology's and beliefs celebrating for different reasons on the same day. literally everyone was just happy and it a festive mood. It just goes to show that i guess we can live together despite differences, the sad thing is its only on certain days...lol.

another day i will never forget was the day we went to one of the highest hills in Nepal, a place called Nagarkot to watch the sunrise rising from behind mount everest. The journey to the hotel in Nagarkot took about 2-3 hours. Its a place litreally way up high in the clouds (and i made sure i charged my camera for this one lol). We were 7,200ft high.. which is pretty damn high lol. When we got of the coach to the hotel, the air is totally different. Something i cant capture with a camera. But if i could it would be breathtaking lol :P. the air has a slightly scented smell of forest. When you breath in the air it just refreshes your mind, like there is this invisible particle in the air when your so high that just rejuvenates you .. its pure untouched by pollution.
When we got into the hotel we all got some coffee since its really cold. we stayed one night, i set my alarm clock for 5 which was the time the group had to be up by to leave for a 20 min walk up to the point where you can see the view. we obviously wanted to catch it before sunrise.. but this didnt happen lol. the volunteers were all up and the supervisors were still sleeping.

This is not to say that the day was ruined.. well for some it was. but when we finally walked that 20 min walk and got to the point. I have never in my life seen such a magnificent view. this was how it was. when we got to the point. your above clouds.. as if your on a plane. and you can see the bits of tall trees sticking out of the clouds as if it has been grown in them.. the vast land is just covered with clouds. and in the distance you can see this mountain with the sun right next to it.. as time went by the sky turned from blacky blue.. to a purplish green..then yellow. When it was at that purplish green stage. you can see the outlined details of the Himalayas and the mighty mount everest. when it got to the yellow stage you could see all around you as the point we were at was at a high point shaped in a circle. so where ever you turn your heard your just surrounded by this beautiful mesh of green from the landscapes...slightly fainted by the clouds and the white snowy Himalayas and mount everest in the distance with the suns amazing evolutionary stages. It was somthing only one can see in a dream...

Yet still there was some volunteers that where not happy because of the fact the supervisors didn't get up on time. It just goes to show that some of us even with such immense beauty in front of you..that youll most probably never see again in your life... will never be satisfied because of trivial things.lol.

This is going to be one of the last posts i guess. since theres ten days left well.. nothing much is going on but the same old working.. which of course is why we came here. well why i came here. i didnt come here to be a tourist. lol Man im going to miss Nepal..

i know that when i get back things are going to be completely different. everyones going to Uni and well...ive escaped reality back home to come to Nepal. and well reality will always slap you on the face again.. back to the grim life i was leading lol. This time i want to do the things i haven't finished all these musical projects.. it all needs to be done. i guess with no one here anymore i can stay focused and think about the good side.. although it really is hard man.

the wind-up

today i was ill.. the whole day. the night before i was coughing all night. Didn't get a bit of sleep, it felt so bad words cant describe it lol. i was coughing up blood after the first part of the night... and the coughing after that started hurting the lower part of my stomach. It actually felt like i was been punched there every time i coughed.. the next day was work and i was just too shattered, mentally and physically.

Although i skipped work today.. i made sure i tried to get the most out of the day and the gorgeous weather that i will never experience in London. i went on the roof. the house is like a cube shaped building so its easy access to the roof. just 3 flights of stairs and your on that roof with the most immense view of the mountains and rice paddies.

In about half an hour im going to the hospital so i have to make this short and sweet.

i took my ipod and some ipod speakers that i purchased from Kathmandu. Got my spare blanket that was given to us by the family laid it on the ground.. took out some murakami..listening to ravi shankar.. it was a moment that i will never forget because it was just perfect. I love murakami and his style the way he just dives into the smallest minute details and finds a way to make it a picture right in front of you... even if hes just describing the alarm going off on a clock. lol im going to the hospital now as soon as ive written this out.

Today was a break away from the routine of hard labour, as thats what we have been doing for the past month and a bit. it felt good to know that i deserved this special time for myself...Just going with the flow of an average nepali day. All the family does in the day is sleep because its just so hot to go outside.. and i can never sleep when the heat is so immense...

Maiti Nepal

first off i want to say that man putting up photos is one hell of a mission. i managed to put up like 3-4.

Anyway today was a really insightful day. It actually made me realise so badd how lucky we are and the situations we come from. We visted a Nepali organisation called Maiti Nepal. They basically deal with the trafficing of girls from the age of 7 to 30 that are sent to india and the middle east. They help them change there lifes and get back on track by learning a skill, a skill been learning to make clothes and bags to sell. Some of the women find it difficult to come out of the sex industry. This is because of the shame it brings to the family as the families reject them and treat them life dirt...The word Maiti in Nepali language means "mothers home" Maiti is the home where a girl-child is born, nutured and raised till she leaves after marriage.

They live in this beautiful building which is pretty near to kathamandu the capital. The facilities are great, this is all reflected on the womens faces... i bought a hand made ipod case :P was amazing. but it really does make you think that those women could of been my sisters or the girls volunteering. simply by been born in a really deprived family.. the amount theyve suffered mentally physically.. its immense..

Never. Ending. Peace. And. Love.

..its been a long time since i have blogged on this. its something that is of a rare opportunity to actually get on this without power cuts, internet failing and just general speed of the net here.
Its been probably about 3 weeks since ive written in this blog and so much has happened.

the last few weeks have been hard. the work has increased to picking up boulders and putting them in wheel barrows to the site. Its amazing how we don't actually have permission to get the rocks off right at the work site. This is due to the stubbornness of the village people. What amazes me is that when i told someone at work before i came on platform2. That im doing volunteering work. The first thing he said to me was "why help people if they cant help themselves". At the time i thought that this was just ignorance whilst containing some element of truth. The fact that we work hard from 9 till 4 and people still dont understand or want to acknowledge the work we are doing. To them they think that we have cursed the village with our values and morals, this is true to a certain extent on all the volunteers parts, as we are stepping into a realm of which we are not familiar with. Some volunteers think that everyone is ungrateful. Some have even forgotten why they are here and just want to go get burgers and yam on diarymilk's all day in kathmandu. lol its tough.

We celebrated a festival which is a womens festival, they send praises to there husband to give them a healthy life. This was interesting and really opened my mind to the way nepali people live. Its amazing how so little each person in this village has. yet still has hapiness. There souls have peace within them and you can clearly see this when you meet a villager lol. On this day i went to the festival but left early to go up to the mountains near my house, one of my host brothers is really spiritual so he took me up there, i reaally wanted to go and did it! I met this monk there and he sat with me for a good half an hour talking about life. Whilst having such an amazing view of the whole of the village lol. He spoke limited english about wisdom and love also on the theory of love and peace. It is the most amazing conversation ive ever had in my life! will never forget that day! the only probelm was my camera battery ran out!!!!!!!!. we exchanged our beliefs and values to one another. he spoke of buddha and one qoute that will always stick with me is this one (which i had to find on the net :P) it goes like this..

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And Habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its way with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings...
As the shadow follows the body,
As we think, so we become." —Buddha

its so simple yet it is so complex in many ways. the ways in which we dont recognise our thoughts. we dont actually think about the simplest of things. we jump straight into the deep end without realising where we have started. Next thing you know this has defined our character.

Other than these two huge events and the hardwork which we came here for. Everything is really slow paced. and you always seem to learn somthing everyday if you choose to. Somtimes you think today was full of nothing. lol but when i lay in bed, which is probably why i cant sleep. I just think of everything that has happened. and analyse things. I think that my perceptions have changed on how i see things because of Nepal. which is a beautiful thing lol. but yeah.

Ive decided not to fast. because when i tried i got a serious fever. you have to eat somthing out here. and in a way what we collectivly have come to do is a sadaq initself.. I'll try and blog whenever i have the chance too. right now it seems that i can do this every few weeks. so thats sweeeet!

the high Buddah

its Saturday and i thought id keep it short since nothing intensly interesting is happening..last night after i wrote my blog i got back to the hotel to meet up with the most safest guy in the group. His names leon, from liverpool. hardcore scouse accent. speaking of scouse he told me of how it originally came together and why the called them scousers. its basically back in WW2 when there was not that much food and it was rations. the liverpool dudes would make a soup and it was called scouse. and they were the only people to make this spesific soup. lol.

So anyway i was chillin with leon and we decided since it was a day off and we only have one day off. to get some weed. the weed here is so cheap and of such good quality. and its tolerated in Nepal. which i think is a beautiful thing. so we bought a whole load of it. i dont know exactly how much but it made 9 joints and we still have alot! put it that way. the weed here is so much more refreshing.. its like inhaling fresh mountain love lol. i was thinking that i wouldnt do it here in Nepal. but the freedom ive just given into. so me and leon smoked nine joints and we still felt good. just really mellowed out... thats all that happens on weekends now. hopefully when things get more interesting ill inform you guys.. peace

in the city of Nepal

when i landed in nepal everything was like a whole new landscape. literally everything about the place is different. whilst still having that Indian classic feel. i know so many people that who would travel there. who want to just live there for the rest of there life. and there soul will always be satisfied, thats a fact!

so the first 4 days where spent in the Tibetan hotel in a street called thamel. it has a beautiful view that looks over the central tourist district of Kathmandu. Streets are busy and pact, always merchants trying to sell small hand made violins and tabla drums, trying desperately to make a living. your heart falls for them but you have to remain strong. (i want to apologize for the late blog entry, this place has barely any connection so the internet is mega slow, sorry about this. You don't realize how lucky you are!). I shared a room with a guy called Micheal. at first i wasn't to keen on him as all he would do would talk about how much he misses his drinks and what not. but as the few days progressed, we really got on despite the differences, We went site seeing, took millions of photos and witness the beauty of the monkey temple, This a temple that the Buddhist's go to to attain spiritual cleanliness, i bought a tabla drum from there to remind me of the beauty, so every time i play it, it will always remind me of such a place and time. Like taking a musical photograph of the environment i was in lol . So all is good right now but none of the spirit of Nepal was captured until we reached our project site Sirutar. We were both allocated with a host family who would technically be our parents for the short stay. So we stayed in the main central Kathmandu for 4 days to get us used to the ethics of Nepal.

In Sirutar it's just a different ball game all together. everywhere you look its foresty and green. wild dogs and birds both linger together in harmony. something that Kathmandu doesn't capture is the pure hardworking Nepalese nature, and feelings of tranquility and peace. Our platform2 group are set out to construct the foundations of a local school within Sirutar. This consisted of heavy digging and shifting pieces of mud to fill and level the rough battered land. Now working from 9 till 5 in such intense labour, including the burning heat that just pierces through your head. makes you sweat like you've had a shower. Somthing no one can experience in England.
the feelings of fatigue just surge through you. and its only 20 mins in. lol. very hardcore man..
Back at the host family, me and Micheal have been given Nepali names, this is something of the norm in Nepali culture. I was named by my host sister "Ram" which is a Hindi god, i don't know much about the story of Ram. Or what Micheal's Nepali name is. but will make an effort to find out lol!

I guess that's all for now Ive only spent a week in Nepal altogether! will definitely keep you guys informed. whenever i get the chance.

7 days

its officially exactly a week till now until i leave. got to start taking my malaria tabs now....it feels very surreal i got to say. but exciting at the same time!