Monthly Archives: October 2008

To much stuff

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…ziploc bags full of medicines…hiking boots…small compact photo albums…USB keys full of files…gortex…fleece…jackets for the rainy season, the dry season, the heat, the cold, the dust, the altitude…compact versions of everything possible…UK pounds and US dollars…camera…airplane snacks…toothbrush…passport…

Travel should be simpler.  It will be a cruel irony when we get there and discover that everything is on our doorstep in Nepal.  The curse of the traveller truly is believing that everything one has in their current life is both necessary and only readily available here…my excuse…moving is a different story.

Sanskrit

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I am learning Nepali.  It is hard.  Very hard.  It is a Sanskrit-based language with very curly script characters and a very lilting quality to the sound.  But this beauty doesn’t change the fact that it is hard.  As I struggle to make my basic sounds (we will have language training when we get there but we need to have a basic understanding before we arrive) I need to remain positive.  One of my good friends shared with me a lovely Sanskrit prayer that deserves to be shared…

Loka samastha sukhino bhavanthu or ???? ?????? ?????? ?????

It translates to “may all beings be happy and free”…I think this will be my new language learning mantra…

Sustaining myself on the people

As I enter into the final 24 hours of my work at UBC, I am just so touched by the people I have worked with over the past 3 years. They have made my final week brim with expressions of warmth, friendship, encouragement, and support. This both reaffirms my belief that people are the centre of any great community AND that community is an opt-in, choose-to-belong experience. If you choose to be “in” then belonging never really leaves you, regardless of where you are. I will always consider myself a member of the UBC community and feel incredibly rich in spirit to have been allowed the opportunity to work with such a talented bunch.

Thank you to everyone who has made my final week at UBC simply amazing. I leave full of gratitude, hope, and boundless inspiration from all of you.