snickery first month

Ive been in waves of home­sick­ness, pure sick­ness, and just plain cul­ture shock. its been a wild first month. but its good. I had a very long dis­cus­sion with an eng­lish teacher about bud­dism today in the local bookstore(which i bought a paolo caulo book) going on a long trek tomor­row to the top of one of the west­ern fac­ing himals… hop­ing to reach the sum­mit by lun­chish.. and then return before dark… the maoist strikes have not effected me as much as i thought but the big protest of roads and the air­port is hap­pen­ing tomor­row while im on a trail. love you and miss you all… eat­ing a snick­ers in the absense of pit beans.haha. i will post pho­tos soon.-jraux

a lit­tle more info.…if you dont know.…I am liv­ing with a Nepali fam­ily in Bani Mandahl..Patan.. the city just south of Kathmandu..but still within the ring road that goes all around the city. Im study­ing the nepali lan­guage. So far…I can read like a 2^nd grader and speak like a 1 year old. I explore the city and the vil­lages sur­round­ing via moun­tain bike. Cheeya is nepali for chai which is hindi for tea. it is the symbol(along with a chair or pil­low on the floor) of nepalis hos­pi­tal­ity. Swa­gat cha… “you’re wel­come” is a greet­ing and not a respose to thank you. I am meet­ing many peo­ple and learn­ing a lot about myself. Ive been sketch­ing a lit­tle in water­color.. but i think i will start some seri­ous artis­tic ende­vours soon… being that i am in this val­ley for a few more months. I am try­ing to keep every­one updated via john​raux​.com. there are many pho­tos and posts to come. cur­rently you can put your hearts and hands together for novem­ber where maoist activ­ity peaks. I have not felt the effects or dan­ger first­hand but strikes and protests are start­ing today… Im going to buy some flour,Peanut But­ter, and Jelly to make some roti(pan bread) pb&Js for com­forts sake.

in the months fol­low­ing i will travel west to Joppa where the Butanese refugee camps are located.. Dar­jeel­ing to my host Saroj’s vil­lage. to Lumbini to study tanka(buddist scroll paint­ing), to u.p., mossouri, ladock,varinassi, kolkutta, Pokora and the Tibetan camps to the north.etc. etc. etc. I am cur­rently search­ing for a brave soul… who speaks nepali or hindi or both flu­ently to accom­pany me. so far there are a few short term pil­grims in for a leg.. or a week..or a bike ride… and that is a start.