First Impressions of St. George's

 

 

Die Kerlchen rennen hier überall rum

So, zu allererst einmal: bin gut angekommen :) Die Insel ist traumhaft schön, die Leute unglaublich nett, jeder grüßt sich auf der Straße und es ist gerade Mango- und Avocado-Saison. Hier nur mal ein paar Eckdaten: Wassertemperatur: super, Sonne: knallt von 6-19 Uhr (grob), Regen: kaum und wenn dann kurz, Essen: lecker, allerdings sehr Fleisch- und Fischlastig, vegetarisch muss man manchmal suchen, vegan nicht möglich wenn ich nicht immer allein essen will, Früchte und Gemüse: viele neue Sorten die ich durchtesten kann, Mücken: vorhanden und hungrig, aber nicht so zahlreich wie erwartet. Verkehr: Fahrstil wie in Nepal, nur auf asphaltierten Starßen und mit Geländewagen. Bin mir nicht sicher wo ich mehr Angst hatte... War gestern eine Stunde Schnorcheln und habe mir den Sonnenbrand meines Lebens geholt. In näherer Zukunft bin ich erstmal Bauchschläfer... Alles in allem: es ist toll, ich freue mich hier zu sein und alles zu erkunden. Da ich bisher auch noch nichts für meinen Job zu tun hatte, überlege ich gerade ob ich einen Kurs im hiesigen Budo-Sport-Club machen und mir nen Scooter zulegen soll... Vor letzterem habe ich ein wenig Respekt: die Berge sind nicht ohne und die anderen Fahrer haben wesentlich mehr Blech um sich rum...

 Sorry, I don't know how to turn the pictures...

                                           One bull was sick and a ritual to change that took place

                                                   This cutie (buffalo) is just one day old

                                                                        Leaving the village

 On the way to the trek parts of the streets were missing due to a landslide (due to heavy rain) and we had to change buses: each bus was heading back in the direction they just came from and the passengers had to cross the landslide on foot. Easy with backpacks, more difficult with sacks full of potatoes and  rice or complete cupboards or flocks of goats. But nothing is impossible. We lost our seats in the bus and continued the journey on the roof, luckily facing towards the mountain and not the valley. I thought twice about jumping but other than that it was great fun!

                                                                 More kids on the way

     Even the small ones are helping with the work. Quote of a Nepali: 'No wonder we are not growing taller'

                                          Shiva is a heavy smoker, that stuff grows everywhere!

                       Probably most of the kitchen ware in the village is handmade by these guys

First impressions of Life in the village :))))

Bin wieder in Empfangsreichweite ;) Und vor lauter Freude hat sich auch gleich mein Handy verabschiedet und ich habe saemtliche Kontaktdaten die darin gespeichert waren verloren! Organisiert wie ich nunmal bin, liegt meine letzte Datensicherung ueber ein halbes Jahr zurueck und selbst diese habe ich natuerlcih nicht bei mir. Es waere also super, wenn ihr mir saemtliche Telefonnummern und Geburtsdaten mal per Mail, SMS oder Facebook zukommen lassen koenntet!!! Danke!

Hi Guys, I somehow fried my phone and lost all data which was on it... Could you please send me your phone numbers, contact data, birthdates, etc via mail, SMS or Facebook, please? At the moment I dont have any of your numbers! Thank you!

So, back from the monastery and it was a great experience! But to be honest, after 10 days sitting on an increasing number of uncomfortable cushions, I am glad I didn't choose to take a Vipassana course... At least here I was allowed to change my position :) Maybe it's just the lack of training, but meditation and me don't really go that well together. My mind was everywhere but not on my breathing...
Well, now it's been a week since I am back in Kathmandu again, meeting up with a bunch of people from the monastery, trying to calm my stomach down and 2 days ago I found a place around the corner of my hotel (private balcony and off season price!!!) where I take yoga classes twice a day. Besides that I decided to go on another trek, although I already sent my hiking boots back home, so this one will be done Nepali style but no worries, I won't walk in Flip-Flops ;) It will be more of a cultural trail than good views into a region which is not used to tourists, where I will stay in peoples houses and not hotels and maybe even teach some English (!) for a few days. The region just opens up for tourism and the teaching will just include some simple words to enable the locals to understand some tourists (like Hello, Food, toilet, etc).
Monsoon has finally started over here and I will probably be eaten alive by leeches on the way. Well, those bites will add up nicely to the bedbug bites I already carry ;) My stomach is still a bit dodgy, but I bought some antibiotics for that and against some other nasty stuff so I guess I will be fine. I might be gone for about three weeks, so there will be a long pause of updates again BUT when I am back I'll have some great pictures for you :)