Friends! Namaste! Ahn-nyunh-hah-se-yo! Hello!

I have arrived in Korea! It is everything and more that I was hoping! Before I came here, I had this vision in my mind of some futuristic city where everything flashes and hovers in mid air. I was so right! ...minus the hovering.

Here's a short break down of my last few days, which have been nothing short of fascinating:

I arrived at the Incheon airport in the afternoon, where I was met by a manager of the school I am going to be working.  That evening I got a tour of the school (which took about 3 minutes since it consists of one hallway), and met some of the other teachers. I think I'm really going to like the job! hooray!

I'm staying in a hotel called the Love House, which is almost exactly as the name sounds. The wallpaper is psychadelic, there is cheap sculpure of naked people everywhere, and they sell all sorts of things you would need to go to an adult store to buy in vending machines near the elevator. Welcome to Korea! The room is nice, there is a computer with internet and a flat screen tv. No complaints really except that the lights in my room are blue and red, so I never know what color anything is in natural light. This posed a problem in regards to cosmetics, but I soon abandoned any attempts at make up, as the humidity instantly melts it all anyway. The love house is funny, it sounds sketchy, and maybe it is a little, but I'm actually pretty comfortable here. I guess all the hotels are slightly sex themed because young koreans live with their parents until about 28 or so, so they need get aways for romancy endeavors. Wow that was a lot about this crazy hotel...

Incheon, the city I am living in, is really interesting. At night it turns into a sort of seizure-inducing-flashing-electronic overdose. I kind of feel like i live in a pin ball machine. Its great though! My second night I went out with the other teachers from the school and our boss to have a good-bye dinner for the guy I am replacing, Richard. It was a traditional Korean meal where the table has a burner and the food is cooked right on the table! The food was delicious!  I'm kind of sad Richard is leaving, becuase he is very friendly and I am in need of friends! Of course, if he wasnt leaving I wouldnt have a job, so I guess I'm not all that sad...

Yesterday i went to the capital of South Korea, Seoul. The subway system here is extremely thorough, though somewhat confusing. After a few hours of trying to naviagate the subways, I made it to the world's largest underground mall with another teacher Seamus. I got lost. A couple times. That was a big fucking mall. So I spent my second day in Korea almost completely underground.

Other exciting things include:

singing rooms! singing rooms are basically rented swanky living rooms with huge flat screen tvs and an amazing karaoke system. They stock the rooms with maracas, tambourines and squeaky toys, and its really hilarious.

Korean food! Random sea creatures. Some cooked. Usually spicy.

No one speaks english. At all. I REALLY need to learn Korean, because I'm basically at the mercy of people I am intereacting with. Thank god Koreans seem to be the most honest people on earth! I am getting good at gestures.

Soon i will start taekwando classes!

I start work tomorrow! Wish me luck!

PEACE LOVE KIMCHI!

ellen

Friends! Namaste! Caasto Chha? It’s been a while since an update, and of course too much has happened to put into one blog... so here’s the abridged version of the beauty of the past month:

-I spent 12 days trekking in the Himalayas, and it was absoultely one of the best experiences of my life.  Camille and I had a wonderful time, a great way for her to finish her time in Nepal, and for me to celebrate my birthday. The beauty and power of the mountains here feeds my soul.  It was incredibly grounding, the force of nature at it’s highest.  It was wonderful to have some mountain time, to stand on the strongest forces on earth.  Two directions of rock and earth pushing hard enough to launch itself in the sky, but slowly at the moment, as if the earth itself is locked in a sort of arm wrestling stand still.  The energy is there, the force is still there. So strong! It is nature, it is beautiful.

The areas we walked though were so peaceful, it was so still and serene.  We began in a very northern village where it was desert because the elevation was too high for many things to grow and the climate too harsh. It was amazing.  We walked a whole day and the only person we saw outside of the small villages along the way was an old woman herding her 40 or so alpine mustangs grazing on sage and a few thorny bushes. From there each day the landscape changed, with only the enormous mountains being constant.  Eventually, on the last day, we were in the jungle surrounded by lush greenery and waterfalls. Brilliant.

So that was awesome.

But here’s what makes me elated at the moment: I am sending my students to a real school! A good private school at that! Really, I there is nothing better for me in the world than this news. I have spent the last week and a half running around Kathmandu looking at different schools, talking to principals, organizing uniforms from tailors and so on.  Two volunteers from Holland and I made the arrangements and raised money for the initial payments, and two days ago I took 15 orphans to their first day of school ever! Can you imagine? I felt like a proud mom, watching them all so well behaved, answering their teachers in English and Nepali and writing their own names on their papers. 

These are kids who just got dealt a shitty hand in life.  And they are just kids, some of whom have never seen their parents.  Some have been abandoned, some knew and loved their parents, and then had to deal with their deaths.  One 5 year old girl’s parents were murdered by terrorists, another boy’s father died after falling out of a tree hunting monkeys.  The stories would break your heart, and yet these children are resiliant.  Still they laugh, still they play, run and smile.  Still they draw pictures of houses and hearts and horses and trees. Still they pick me flowers in the park and say "thank you, Auntie" with every small gift, and they mean it.  This is a world we are lucky enough not to know, but still it is our world.  These are children of our world, and because they appear to be nobody’s children, they become everyone’s children. In this way, they are our children. I seriously love these kids so much, I am so proud of them, and now they have a chance to get an education.  In a place like Nepal, an education is the difference between a life of  carrying bricks on your head 14 hours a day for practically nothing and maybe getting a job that will provide enough to eat, enough to live.  It is a completley different quality of life, and that is what I hope for these 15 beautiful people who have taught me more than I can ever repay. The world is a beautiful place.  It is difficult, it is tragic, but more than anything, it is beautiful.  So many thanks to my family who donated money on my birthday.  This is the best birthday present anyone could ever receive.

If anyone would like to be a sponsor in any way, please let me know.  Please send us your love and light, it’s free and always needed.

Peace, love and hope,

Ellen

Namaste!

I am well, but Kathmandu is having a bit of a rough time lately.  There is a extreme shortage on petrol, so no one can drive. There is also almost no cooking gas, so most of the restaraunts are closed. On top of that, no one can get any water because it's what little water would normally be available is usually driven on trucks, which have no gas! And to make life a little more interesting, the electricity is generally only on for about 5 hours a day. Somehow I am not really too disturbed by this, and am still having an amazing time. I love this world!

I dont have a lot of time to write because the power is scheduled to go out in 10 minutes. But I did post some new photos today! So if you want to see some world loving inspiration you can check them out at:

http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s255/mcil4186/SE%20Asia%20Again/

Hope all is well!

Peace, love and poweroutages!

Namaste, friends!

I really should have blogged earlier because way too many interesting and wonderful things have happened to possibly remember or recount, so I'll just break down a few particulars:

-I have arrived at the orphanage! I've been here in Kathmandu for about two and a half weeks, and I am loving it. Truely loving it. Not just enjoying, but really trying to make more room for love, and I know this is the place to do it. The children are wonderful. They are very smart, but more than that they are wise.  I can't even imagine what they've seen, or had, or lost. Or maybe I can imagine, but I can't know it, so I am accepting what they share with me as gifts. I am certain I have already learned more from them than it is possible to return, but I will keep trying. Oh! And perhaps it may humor you to know that I am a MATH TEACHER. hahahaha! (In the words of Justin: "What, do you teach them how to FEEL math?")  What a funny world we live in! But it seems to be going fine so far. Every day someone learns something, and that's a step.  Yesterday I taught a girl named Dolma how to subtract, and she was so excited to be SUBTRACTING. like it was the best thing ever.  Yeah I could go on and on about the children, but I dont have time right now. I'll save that for a later blog which will probably be titled "stories to break your heart" or something. In short: they are great. (They are hungry, parent-less, lice-infested, generally cold and a little sick, but they are great). And I am great. I really am.

-My Yoga Class: IS AMAZING. I knew before I got here I would need a teacher- it seemed impossible to magically extract all this knowledge I am looking for all by myself in a place I really know next to nothing about- and I think I may have found her. Well, at least I found an amazing class. It is three hours three times a week of meditation, pranayama, hatha yoga and even (yay!) dance! Like NIA! And the teacher is AWESOME. She's this ageless Nepali woman who speaks all soft and mystic like and wears tons of jewelry. And she has a way of saying things that seem so rudimentary- like things we probably all know just by being alive and living- but maybe havent found the words to formulate the thought. That may not make sense, but its a great class. Plus she refers to God as "The Energy of the Cosmos", so you can imagine how elated that makes me. Yoga lady! yeah!

-KUMARI, my neighbor, the living Goddess: this is something that totally enthralls me. So a goddess lives like two temples down from my room. I'm not even kidding! I live right next to a world heritage sight (my neighborhood is so amazing!) called Durbar Square. Durbar Square is all these ancient Hindu temples and one of these temples currently houses a young girl of 9 who is apparently the reincarnation of the Hindu Goddess Durga. There is always a Kumari, who is selected from a particular Newari (local group of people) caste of silver and goldsmiths and reigns as the living goddess until she starts her period, at which time Durga is said to leave her body and a new Kumari must be chosen.  The selection process is intense, it includes physical requirements of everything from shape of teeth to sound of voice (and much more), also a test where people recreate hell with 108 sacrificed animal heads and dance with scary masks and try to scare the child who is between 4 and 9 years old (Durga wouldnt be afraid of hell). Also from what i can tell soemthing similar to how the Dali Lama is chosen where the girl has to choose the correct clothes from the previous Kumari or something like that. anyway, I find the whole thing fascinating and drag Camille down to kumari's temple whenever I can at 4pm to see Kumari glare out the window, its supposed to be really good luck to see her, and so far i think its working! She never looks very happy, but I'm sure she gets tired of sticking her holy head out the window for stupid white tourists to gawk at. Anyway, I'm neighbors with a goddess!

Okay thats all for now. I hope you are all well!

Namaste buddies! Hello from Asia...  I can't help but grin when I type that. yay!

Right now I am in a town called Pokara at the base of the Himalayas in Nepal. I'm finding it difficult to explain how the Himalayas make me feel. Reassured comes to mind. Also calm, open and a very pure and true form of happy. Happy like the word sounds. Bouncy and snappy with a shout of joy at the end. eee! Happy. Yeah, I guess that about explains it. The people here are all very happy themselves, as far as I have encountered anyway. And why not, (they say that a lot in India: why not? I think it's a good life mantra...) they live in such a beautiful place, and they are aware of it. And they honor it- many wake up every morning and offer "pooja" to the mountains. I'm considering joining up. :)

The mountains are stunning and almost so real they are hard to believe. I like to look at them and imagine the sound they made when they began. A tearing roaring ripping breathing sound. Rock on rock, Earth on sky.  And later smaller surprising spurts not unlike those that come upon teenagers in the night and leave you with aching limbs but a higher perspective.

The journey here wasn't as peaceful, although absolutely action packed. After a little pre-adventure in America including a soiree in Spokane with Alli and Kim, an Amtrak ride through the Rockies and across the midwest, a stint in Minneapolis for New Years with my sister, and time with good friends in Chicago, I finally left for India! It would take way too long to detail the whole adventure so far, so here are the highlights:

Varanassi Kite Festival! Varanassi is a holy city along the Ganges River, sacerd to the Hindus. It is said that if you die in Varanassi you go straight to heaven, so the town is full of Hindu culture as well as old, dying and dead Hindus themselves. It sounds really morbid, but it's actually not.  At first it is a shock to see bodies burning along the ghats (concrete steps all along the river), but the city is also packed wtih so much other interesting stuff along the river: yogis, saddhus covered in ashes, boatmen, vendors selling everything and anything, snake charmers, street kids doing acrobatics for money (amazing too, though it will break your heart to watch), insense burning, people meditating, cattle, goats and buffalos all roaming the narrow streets only differentiated by the shirts they wear (no kidding). In all, I love Varanassi- to me it is all the colors, smells, and sounds that I expect to see in India. So yeah- kite festival! It was the kite festival (or somewhere around it, four days in a row we were told "tomorrow"- I'm not sure anyone knew) while we were there and there we kites everywhere! Hundreds in the skies, more in the powerlines, trees, stuck on buffalos, being eaten by goats, along the ghats in the water, in all the street corners, you couldnt walk very far without trailing kite string and some bright tissue paper. The children were usually the ones flying kites, and although they tried to teach me, I wasnt as good as they were. It's harder than it looks! I also took a yoga class there- would have taken more except that I couldnt move the next day after the first one. I think it had something to do with a pose I'm sure was made up called "psychic attitude".  I also picked up a nasty parasite in Varanassi and had to stay in bed for a day with muscle spasms and digestive nightmares. Then after that I threw my back out. Most likely due to the yoga and muscle spasms. Oh! And! So I figured it would be a good time for an Indian massage, with the back out and all. Yeah right- the guy who did it was like the terminator of masseuses. Seriously I felt like I was being put through a meat tenderizer for an hour. There was some interesting accupressure stuff (not kidding around about the pressure), and although I will never forget the torture massage from the terminator masseuse in Varanassi (at least not soon what with the bruising although it probably worked wonders for cellulite),  I'm not convinced it helped my situation much.  Phew! Varanassi!

The bus ride! ... so we took a jeep to the border, walked across the border, and then... Nepal! Thank all these gods for beautiful Nepal! The bus ride began pretty much as expected, the "tourist bus" didn't really exist. we were crammed in with fifty Nepalis and their 48 babies, also bags of rice, coconuts, and whatever the agricutural wares were. It's all good until they begin to throw up. I don't know why, and this might be a generalization, but to my experience Indians and Nepalis throw up on busses a LOT. The bus boy is constantly handing out little black plastic bags to people, mostly women, who just throw up in them and toss them out the window. And everyone is so close to eachother, its not like you have your own space to vomit in. Chances are they are puking in baggies over other peoples laps. So at a break a Korean traveler and I decided to rock it third world style and ride on top of the bus with the men and luggage. (sorry, mom.) It was actually safer, considering if the bus did happed to tumble off the cliffs, which were everywere, we could just jump off instead of being stuck inside with 98 puking women and children. I mean, it's not like there were seatbelts or anything. I also wanted to keep an eye on my backpack, which i could tell had already been opened and rummaged through, although nothing was missing. And the top of the bus is the WAY TO GO. let me tell you! fresh air! the best view of the mountians and rivers! beautiful lush Nepal at my fingertips! Sometimes even a branch or two hitting me in the face, and once a powerline. I LOVED IT. Felt so freeing! the time flew by, and three hours (seemed like 20 minutes) later we were in Pokara. Yay. And that's where I leave the story, for now. I hope all is well in America. Miss you guys.

Oh! Message me addresses so that I can send postcards. Most everyone has moved.

Peace, love and mountain peaks!!!

I read this today, it nestled in my body and I'd like to share it with you.

"I WILL NOT DIE AN UNLIVED LIFE.

I WILL NOT LIVE IN FEAR OF FALLING OR CATCHING FIRE.

I CHOOSE TO INHABIT MY DAYS, TO ALLOW MY LIVING TO OPEN ME, TO MAKE ME LESS AFRAID, MORE ACCESSIBLE, TO LOOSEN MY HEART UNTIL IT BECOMES A WING, A TORCH, A PROMISE.

I CHOOSE TO RISK MY SIGNIFICANCE; TO LIVE SO THAT WHICH CAME TO ME AS SEED GOES TO THE NEXT AS A BLOSSOM AND THAT WHICH CAME TO ME AS BLOSSOM, GOES ON AS FRUIT."

-Dawna Markova

Friends! I BOUGHT IT!

My fascination with the world is getting a little expensive. As my cursor hovered over the "purchase ticket" button I thought to myself... " here we go again... maybe I should get a job... I could move to a new city with this money... awww... FUCK IT!!!" and then i clicked it. and now I'M OFF TO NEPAL!!!  Actually I'm flying to India and then through a weekish long series of trains and busses will eventually end up in Kathmandu, Nepal, which will be my place of resisdence for the next 5ish months.

The strange thing is, I'm not piss-my-pants excited like i was when i left for India the first time.  I've deduced, possibly incorrectly, that this is why...  When you (the term "you" actually serving as the third person "me" in this rhetorical situation) visit somewhere for the first time, you notice how different it is from your own home; the colors, the smells, the sounds, the systems (or seeming lack there of), and most of all, the people. And when you live somewhere for an extended amount of time, you stop noticing these things.  You first start to notice how the people are more the same than different, and you start to realize how you, yourself are different than you were. How you have been changed. India changed me. A lot. And in a way, I'm not completely going back for "me".  Although we all know I'm a sucker for adventure.

I'm going to volunteer in the orphanage/rescue home I visited while i was in Kathmandu the first time.  And I'm not trying to sound all Mother Theresa-y on you, friends. Because it's really not like that, it's just something I really want to do. And i don't think i would have wanted to do this if I hadnt visited, actually lived, in India the first time. Thats the only way i know how to explain it.  I leave in January... it will probably be harder than I'm imagining, and i know it will be more rewarding. Anyway, if you want info on Angel's Heaven, I again direct you here:

http://www.nepaltrekkingtrails.com/angels_heaven_nepal.php

I'll try to blog lots.

And if anyone has any ideas or desire to raise funds for the orphange, let me know. they need EVERYTHING. I think I'm going to try to just collect money and then buy goods when I get there where it's cheaper, and i dont have to lug whole suitcases full of sheets, art supplies, etc across the whole world. (hooray! im going across the world!)

ALSO, let me know if you want to be a pen pal! There are about 20 kids from ages 4 to 16.

Oh! AND! This one's for me... I plan on trekking in the Himalayas while I'm there... SWEET! Anapurna circuit here i come! I hope i see a panther this time!

thats all for now. Namaste!

FRIENDS!

holy India! I'm back in Bangalore shortly before setting off to see more of the world. I cant even explain what the last few weeks has been like. Truely an amazing time in my life. i spent the last week in Kathmandu and got to hang at an orphange called Angel's Heaven for a few days. The experience was beautiful.

looking back over the past four and half months, I dont even have words to explain how much all the places i've been have changed me. I feel so fortunate. I really think i might be the luckiest person on this entire beautiful and holy Earth. I am so full.  A little hardened, a little tired, but very very full.

I'm trying to upload some pictures of a day we took the kids to a river. hopefully you can check them and other pictures out on my photobucket page...

http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s255/mcil4186/Kathmandu/

and if you want to look at the angel's heaven page go here:

http://www.nepaltrekkingtrails.com/angels_heaven_nepal.php

PEACE OUT BROTHAS AND SISTAS!

hey so heres a short blog about...

things ive done lately....

backpacked through lost of northern India and Nepal

Met Jude Law in Rajesthan

stayed in the holiest city in India, Varanassi

saw burning bodies on the Ganges river in Varanassi

slipped in human sewage and had to wash it off with burning body river water...

hung out in the Himalayas.. where the PANTHERS ARE

BUNGY JUMPED OFF THE WORLD'S SECOND HIGHEST BUNGY IN NEPAL

I also did this crazy swing thing there that was even crazier oh my god bungee rocks dooooooooo iiiiiiiiittttttttttttttt

hung out at an orphanage in Kathmandu

had a great 420 smoking and skipping in early monsoon rain in Nepal

rode 30 hours worth of sketchy buses

hiked in the Himalayas

saw the sun rise over the highest mountains in the world

cried a lot

met crazy and beautiful people

TONS MORE BUT I DONT HAVE TIME TO WRITE... I GOTTA GO FIND A WAY OUT OF THIS CITY.... i tried to take a bus today but there is a  strike and crazy violent confused people are burning buses that run... so i think i'll splurge on a flight... anyway, im a happy vagabond. hope you all are well!

PEACE OUT BROTHAS AND SISTAS!

PEOPLE!

Check out the pictures of the greatest holiday on earth here:

http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s255/mcil4186/Holi-%20Festival%20of%20Colors/

Happy spring time!