Don't worry, I'll find my way home!

April 22, 2010
In the past few weeks I received a couple of packages of last minute things for me and the kids! As I’ve been feeling braver recently, I went by myself to claim them, even taking Micro-busses all on my own! The first package was a birthday gift from a friend in the US. She and I have very similar tastes in books, especially in Christian literature, and could spend hours talking about books while sitting on the floor at Hastings and thus disturbing others reading nearby in the overstuffed chairs! So, she sent me a book along with some other things, which was way exciting for me!

At customs, I opened the package, and proceeded to show the two officials standing there the contents. Now, one of the officials is this slightly creepy man who just kind of stares at me whenever I’m there. They both know me, though, as I’ve been there to pick up packages for the kids a number of times during my stay here. So, they were satisfied that what I had received wasn’t worth the paperwork, so they didn’t charge me anything, and the man turned and walked off. The lady had noticed that there was something else in the package, and she motioned for me to show her it. I showed her and she burst out laughing when she saw the simple unmentionables and realized that I wasn’t hiding things from them to save money, but rather out of what most Asians would see as rare Western modesty (trust me, they see all the movies and shows on TV which gives them a “great” picture of us!). She turned and walked away, still laughing to herself, and I gathered my gifts and headed out to catch the micro-bus back home.

Well, I’ve gotten more confident in asking for directions and busses, but I must have said something wrong this time. I asked for the bus that would take me to the area where we live, and the conductor nodded emphatically, motioning for me to hop on. I did, and immediately opened my book to start reading. The book is called “Searching for God Knows What” by Donald Miller, and while I wouldn’t agree with 100% of what he says, most of it I do, and he writes in an incredibly real, humorous way. I was literally laughing out loud on the bus as I read, probably more so because this was the first American “entertainment” I’d had in several months! Occasionally, I’d look out the window and think, wow, this doesn’t look so familiar, but I figured we were taking another way home.

Finally we stopped at the end of the line, and I dismounted my smoke spewing carriage and looked around at my surroundings. That’s when I realized I was indeed in a part of Kathmandu (maybe?!) that I had definitely never seen before. I kind of stood there, debating what to do next. Surprisingly, and this is how I know I’ve changed some in my time here, I wasn’t worried at all. I figured, hey, worst case scenario I have to call my parents to get Krishna’s phone number to call him to come rescue me. I know, stupid American not carrying any contact numbers with her. But I figured first I’d try some more micro-busses. To make sure I didn’t get on the wrong bus again, I asked for the larger area just a little bit east of us (I think it’s east... I’m occasionally directionally challenged!), to which another conductor nodded emphatically and said “Jam” meaning come. So, I hopped on, opened my book, and started reading again.

About 20 minutes later I looked up, and to my utter relief we were in familiar territory, though we were still about 10 minutes from home. We finally got there, and I hopped off, very very proud of myself for getting lost and unlost all by myself in a huge city where I only know the basics of communication! My next trip to pick up the final package at the general post office was so smooth, there’s really not much to tell :). The officials only charged me about a dollar in customs fees in exchange for a pack of gum for each of them! I’ve learned the system I guess you could say, though it is sad that they expect (and often require) bribery to claim packages... guess that’s the way the world goes though! Then, I made it home safely, all on my own, without any extra stops! And I gave directions to a girl from New York City who was lost and needed help. Of course, now that I think about it, I have no idea if she made it where she was going, but I think I told her the right bus to catch?! Or maybe I sent her somewhere unknown as well... I’m going to assume I gave her good directions and she made it safely to and from her destination. There you have it, I’m a native Nepali now!