One week ago I flew out of Nepal – exactly ten months after I arrived. I’m not usually one who cries a lot at goodbyes, but I’m sure over the next couple months missing Nepal will sink in. There’s a lot to process. I told everybody I would come back to visit soon (I just don’t know when) so I managed to avoid that dreaded final-goodbye feeling.
My last day of school was actually a few weeks ago, the first Friday of January. I didn’t actually do a lot of teaching that day. My 6th graders were away on a field trip so I only had two classes, one of which was 7th grade’s library time and the other was spent helping 4th grade finish their time capsules. At the morning assembly the staff did a lovely good-bye ceremony for me and Claire with student dance performances and gift presentations, and they even made us come up and give impromptu speeches (they do that sometimes). Then I spent most of the day running around, receiving cute little gifts and handmade cards from my adorable and beloved students, and frantically trying to finish last-second grading and cleaning up all my stuff. Leaving for the final time was sad but surprisingly uneventful – we just got on the bus like any other day.
The school went on winter break for two weeks after that, but we still had twelve days left of the grant. So I took the next week to go on one last solo trip to some places that had been on my bucket list since the beginning, then came back, packed up my house, said my goodbyes to everybody, and then left.
Can I just say, somebody should have told me which side of the plane to sit on! I totally messed up. I saw some nice hills out my window, but the other side had picture-perfect views of the entire Annapurna range! So the next time you fly from Kathmandu to Delhi, make sure you sit on the RIGHT side of the plane.
These ten months have really been the fastest of my life, it’s unbelievable. I’m really grateful for how the year turned out and that I had this opportunity at all. I was so terrified in the months before leaving that I almost dropped out – needless to say I’m glad I didn’t do that. I was very lucky that the things I was worried about turned out to not be big issues for me. AmeriCorps was WAY harder than this!
Even though my time in Nepal is finished I still have several blog posts in the works. I have a lot of stories, observations, fun facts, and travel accounts I want to share. I’ve already started my Short Silly Stories series, which are everyday things I thought were funny and I want to tell everybody about. They also give a good insight into what my daily life in Nepal was like. So I hope you don’t mind if I continue posting retroactively. I would like it if when I am inevitably asked “So how was Nepal?” and I have no clue how to answer (“Good.”) I can just smile and announce, “It’s all on my blog!”
I’m traveling around Southeast Asia the next two months so my adventure isn’t quite over yet! This past week I have been visiting my and my parents’ dear friend Sharon in Kalimpong, in Northeast India near Sikkim. It’s very much like Nepal here except with Indian flags and Indian rupees, so it’s like I haven’t even left yet. There will be plenty to write about this trip and about the next legs of my journey. Then it will be time for me to finally return to the US and figure out my next steps. Thank you everybody for following along with me on my adventures! See you soon.
Mind the Gap 