The Journey Begins

“From the colors of their clothing to the vibrancy of their voices and the Nepali language, I am quickly falling in love with Nepal’s people just as much as the beauty of the country and the intrigue of their culture.”

The journey began at 6:30 PM on June 3rd. We rode to Chicago O’Hare in a van driven by Jeff Weber. Ashley’s family was fantastic to us, providing a place to sleep before the big adventure.

We made it to the airport, said heartfelt goodbyes to Ashley’s father and her sister and suddenly everything became very real. I’m not exactly sure how to describe what that felt like. In some ways, surreal, but in others the emotional rush was truly a confirmation of our trip and the enormity of it as a whole. We were about to embark on a trek that had been 5 years in the making.

We met with Govinda at Tribhuvan International Airport at around noon in Kathmandu, Nepal. We had been delayed by construction on the runway which necessitated a fuel trip to New Delhi in India. After meeting Govinda, we embarked on a 10-hour van trip that can only be compared to a prolonged roller coaster ride. We drove all along the mountain roads, through small roadside nodes and larger cities and stopped for our first experience with Dal Bhat (a staple in Nepali cuisine) shortly before arriving at Govinda’s home.

After experiencing the kind of exhaustion that can only be described by jet lag during the last leg of that trip, we were all thrilled and ultimately flattered by a very heartfelt welcome from Govinda’s family. That night we didn’t sleep much, but we slept on a flat surface for the first time in two days. It was an incredible feeling, and also led to our first experience of a Nepali sunrise shining bright into our rooms by 5 AM on June 6th. We had a breakfast of egg, bread and banana in addition to a milk tea that was, truly, some of the most delicious tea that any of us have ever had.

The day continued with the organization of all of our gifts from various people sent along with us. We handed out many t-shirts, a camera, the Double Robotics setup with the iPad and the Sawyer filters, as well. We can’t believe how many stories and topics Govinda has to tell us about. We have already learned so much about Nepali politics, religious representation and traditions, cultural norms and customs and we also learned a bit about his childhood and how he came to be a school teacher. He is so eager to sit down with all of us and talk. I think that we are all feeling so lucky to be in the presence of not only Govinda, but all of his family, neighbors and other relatives who have come by the house. What takes hold of me each day is the sheer amount of happiness that I am witnessing in the people here. From the colors of their clothing to the vibrancy of their voices and the Nepali language, I am quickly falling in love with Nepal’s people just as much as the beauty of the country and the intrigue of their culture.

What I notice with each day that we spend here is that each day will bring something new, exciting and full of learning opportunities. We had the first Double iPad call into the school yesterday, which brought me to tears. The children sang songs for Kevin Honeycutt, who rolled around the classroom and said hello. He is planning on calling back into the school to conduct an art lesson. I think that the day that that happens might be another crying day for me. The emotions I have felt while I am here have brought me to an inability to actually describe what I feel. I am just so taken by everything we have seen. I’m honestly not sure if I’ve ever been happier than I am right now.

Most of our afternoons and evenings have consisted of much conversation. We talk often about the future of Govinda’s school, the future of Open World and more simply about day-to-day life and how much we are enjoying our time together. On June 6th, we had an evening walk throughout the community and saw the abandoned home of Swachalika’s (Govinda’s daughter) mother. It was incredible to walk through that vessel of time; and further, to see more of this community and all of its people. The friendliness of everyone here is difficult to describe, but suffice it to say that we are all feeling very much at home right now.

I’m going to sign off on this entry for today, but we are all journaling and writing as many notes as we possibly can.  These updates will be quite frequent and I cannot wait to share more about this trip. Something tells me that our experiences thus far are just a mere taste of what’s to come.

Thanks for reading!

Written by Connor Janzen