Happy Halloween.

Happy Halloween! I hope you all had an awesome time. The people of Nepal know of Halloween here but don't celebrate it. They actually just finished their own holiday known as Tihar. I don't know what it's for but there are a lot of fire crackers, Christmas lights and flower necklaces on dogs; pretty fun. For my Halloween, I just bought some candy at the store and watched a crappy scary movie on TV. Nothing much new here; although I did finally get out of Kathmandu. Two friends and I took a cab to this place called Nagarcot, which is about 20 mi. away and takes an hour to travel, but when you do get there you get an awesome view of the entire Kathmandu valley, and since you are at 7200 ft, you are way above all of the pollution of the city so you can see a lot of stars come night time. Never having been outside Kathmandu, seeing a different kind of Nepal was a breath of fresh air, literally as well as metaphorically. Driving past the staircased hills of the local farmland truly puts one in awe of the ingenuity and strength of man. To have to provide for your family but being completely surrounded by steep hills and mountains would seem an impossible task, and yet the people here have done just that. They have molded these mountains for their own needs. As if this was how the landscape should have bee and mother nature just forgot to finish, so they picked up where she stopped. Cutting shelves into the earth, moving unthinkable amounts by mere shovel and bag; it is spectacular. And then being able to see some of the farm work actually being done is something else beautiful all of its own. The knowledge of each process and act passed down through generations, as well as the workers own personal wisdom is manifested physically and clearly with every gesture. I have seen more grace and expertise in the hands and face of a farm woman than I have ever seen in the feet of a dancer or the brush of a painter. However, as beautiful as everything was to see, it was even better to smell. I never thought air could actually smell sweet but I am wrong. The air was so clean and full of energy and grass that it reminded me that Kathmandu is not Nepal, much like Anchorage is not Alaska. I have been in Kathmandu for so long that I have gotten use to its stench. The haze of motor exhaust everywhere, the piles of garbage stacked around every corner, and the massive varieties of poop all over the streets and paths. There are little to no public toilets here so people that are in a bad way have to go where they can, which generally is on the side of the sidewalk or any random corner. Being here for a while now, I have come to be somewhat of a crap connoisseur. I can tell you whether it is dog, cow, man, and in some cases what kind of bird. I was the kind of person who walked with a bit of pride inside knowing that in my 23 years of existence, fecal matter had never touched me where it shouldn't, and yet in my two months of living here in Kathmandu, I have been shit on twice. You go out and you walk the streets knowing that every day is a gamble, both in life and in excrement. But all of this I had been able to ignore until now, when I know there is a better life. However friends, seeing the beautiful countryside and smelling the grass and the soil made me pretty homesick. I miss my wilderness, I miss your jokes, and I miss our adventures. But what gets me through the days when things are rough, either with the street kids or be it that I just am not feeling well, is the thought of my friends and family. I love you and I will see you in three months. Seth. Oh, and here is a picture of me and two my street friends.