The Last Day

And so begins my last day in Nepal...

It begins just like the first one did, with a sunrise. Since the first photo that I took in Nepal was of a sunrise I was tempted to use a sunset photo for the last one since that would complete the obvious metaphor. However, I reconsidered and decided that another sunrise would be better because a different metaphor comes to my mind. Not one of endings but one of transitions.

I noticed when I took this photo that the sun was rising on the right side of the large tree, and that when I arrived in October the sun rose on the left side of that tree:

This trip was transformative to my life even before I boarded the plane in San Francisco because of all the things that I had to do to prepare to be away from my house and primary job for 3 months. I dropped the gym membership that I have barely used for years. I cancelled the newspaper subscription that had doubled in price in the last 5 years. I transferred over tasks at work that I've needed to transfer off my desk ever since I arrived so that I could focus my efforts on more important tasks. Some of those tasks might come back to me in January but I hope not.

I've been in Nepal for 62 days counting today. I've never been in a foreign land for that long a period in my entire lifetime. I came here not known how I would eat, wash clothes, or extract money from an ATM. I didn't know if I could deal with the traffic, the dust, the foreign food, the heat (and then the cold), and taxi drivers who couldn't speak English. I didn't know how much electricity, Internet access, or flushing toilets I would have access to. I didn't know if I would have enough medication, toilet paper, and bags of ramen to last the entire trip. Somehow, someway, I managed to figure this all out and not only did I make it to the end I did so with 1 bag of ramen and a roll of toilet paper to spare.

This would not have happened were it not for the people of Build Change Nepal. I knew a couple of them before I came but only by phone calls and emails, so I didn't really know what to expect. They welcomed me and included me in their activities, and with some of them their everyday lives. They were the ones who directed me to the restaurants, the markets, and the ATMs that can be trusted. They were the ones who invited me to dinner. They were the ones who made the effort to explain to me in English the joke that was just told in Nepali. Now they are the ones that are thanking me for coming and asking me to come back or even not leave. I am the one who feels thankful, grateful; indeed full in many ways. I have learned a lot from them and have benefited from their experience, as much if not more than they have with mine.

I am coming home a different person. Not radically different like what is portrayed in the movies, but certainly with a different frame of mind than what I had when I left. Things like how many weeds are in the backyard lawn, how hard it is to find a parking space at work or at church, why Oakland roads have so many potholes, what this word in this provision of this building code means, and so on don't seem as important as they did before. I like to look at the bigger picture of things and trips like this help to remind me not only of what that picture is but also that I should remember to look for them rather than get bogged down in the minutiae of my everyday life that I so often find myself focusing on.

I hope I'll remember to do that as I slowly transition back, though if I forget I can, as my new friends here keep telling me, always come back to Nepal for a reminder...