Earthquake
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| Durbar Square, Katmandu...1 week after the quake |
When I think back on the moment when everything changed, I’m brought back to my room in Nepal.
I have been home in the United States one week now and the feeling of being adrift in a sort of alternate reality is starting to fade. Slowly, my life here now is becoming the reality, and my life in Nepal is becoming more of a memory. At least now I know I am returning to Nepal. Knowing that helps me to relax and really enjoy the time I’m given at home.
When I think back on the moment when everything changed, I’m brought back to my village in Far West Nepal. I had been at my site for five months and that Saturday morning I was relaxing after bathing and washing my clothes in the river. As the day approached noon, it started to heat up and I decided to lie in my room for a little bit, read my book, and surrender to the laziness of the warm Saturday afternoon. As I read my book I noticed a slight rocking movement. I had recently been thinking about earthquakes because they had mentioned in our first week that Nepal was overdue for a big quake and that we should be prepared should one happen. There were moments when I would randomly think to myself,
“What would I do if there was an earthquake right now? Where would I go?”
But nothing ever happened. I figured that the movement I was feeling was probably another of my imagined thoughts about earthquakes. But it didn’t stop. My second thought was that it was my heart beat subtly moving my body back and forth. But it didn’t stop. Luckily for me and the people in the Far West, it never got as big as it did in the eastern part of Nepal. After looking at some flowers hanging above my bed and seeing them rock every so slightly back and forth I stood up, went outside and asked my Nepali mother
“I think there was just an earthquake. Land…moving? Earthquake? Earthquake?”
I was saying the Nepali word for earthquake, but my village speaks a mixture of Nepali and Doteli so my mother didn’t know the Nepali word. She looked at me like I was a little crazy so I figured I was and walked back into my room.
It wasn’t until seeing the facebook posts that people were putting up that I realized it was, in fact an earthquake. What I didn’t know at the time was how severe the damage was, how internationally known it was, and how my lives in Nepal would be affected even though most people in my village didn’t feel it.
Peace Corps Washington eventually decided to put us volunteers in Nepal on “administrative hold”. We were flown to Thailand for a brief transitional conference, then sent home for what ended up being a total of 7 weeks. I spent one week in Thailand with friends before flying home.
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| My village grandmother...love her! |
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| The day of the quake my friends and I decided to cook smores |
My time at home was filled with spending time with friends and family which was a nice silver lining to the tragic events prior. I arrived home the day before my birthday, and my family gave me a warm welcome that included getting my nails done, going to a movie, and having a pizza dinner. It was perfect! Later that week, I got a chance to talk to many of the High School classes where my sister teaches. It was great to talk about Nepal, show pictures, and expand the minds of the students. They were very interested in the day to day life in Nepal and I shared all the stories that I thought might interest them including about menstruation rules and using “eastern toilets” with no toilet paper. Hopefully, I inspired some of them to volunteer as well someday.
A few weeks later, I took a train up to Northern California, visited friends in the bay area and got a chance to see many friends that I have not seen in years. It was so great to feel that the passing of time had only given us more to talk about, and more adventures to look forward to. I am so grateful for their hospitality and love.
After coming back to Nepal, I spent one week in Katmandu before heading back to my permanent site. After the 25 hour flight the jet lag stared to fade to fade. I woke up every morning to the sound of light rain, the feel of moisture in the warm air, and the sight of low hanging clouds.
There are 4 different Peace Corps groups represented here now and I got to meet some of the new volunteers that had arrived last March. They are a tight knit group after being together through the earthquake in Katmandu. At the time of the earthquake they were all in Katmandu and luckily none of them were injured, at least not physically. After spending 6 weeks at home, 90% of their group returned to serve in Nepal. I am inspired by their enthusiasm, resilience and dedication.
Being back at site is great. Everyone I met wanted to know: a) When did I get back? b) Did I make it toAmerica? c) How was my family? Not being completely fluent in Nepali and Doteli, I’m thankful for moments like these when I can reasonably predict what people are going to ask. It’s usually a question someone else has recently asked, so I’m prepared to answer. It was also sweet how many of them asked how my family was. They really wanted to know who I got to see and how everyone was.
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| Rice Seedlings! |
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| My Nepali mom and brother...farming is hard work |
I was invited to plant rice with my family a little over a week ago. It was a great experience that began with morning puja (getting red tikka on my forehead) and lighting incense in the field. Then me and 8 other women rolled up our pants, took off our shoes and jumped into the thigh deep mud. For the next 8 hours, with only a 1 hour break for lunch I plopped rice seedlings into the ground alongside my family. The boys and men ploughed the field, removed large rocks, made berms to hold in the water, then flooded the field with river water. After it was flooded, the women line up and walk backwards as they plop the seedlings into the mud. It’s back breaking work and I didn’t think I would be as sore as I was afterwards. It took about a week to recover. I’m not sure how my mom does it almost every day for about a month. Last Saturday I saw her sprawled out on the bench at our house and she told me “Today I’m going to be lazy”. I smiled and said “I think you deserve it”.
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