one month in nepal

          i've gotten fairly good at determining the weather in central Nepal during monsoon season.  it will be very beautiful on the first day you arrive, which i have always thought is nice because it seems that all new people out here bring the sunshine with them wherever they go.  the next few days will build this accumulation of mild humidity and the skies will quickly become too shy to show the Himalayas behind them so they hide behind clouds.  during the next day you will see a dark black brigade of storm looming in the distance and it is half-likely to pass.  however the next day the friends of those black clouds will eventually hit you and when it begins to rain it doesn't seem to ever stop.  

          you can have fun in the rain, i always do.  i really like swimming in the many lakes of this region especially when its raining.  it is very natural.  you get this feeling like you are on the same levels as the fish splashing under the mangroves.  there is this accumulation of algae in the corners of the lakes.  when it rains you can see them appreciate the abundance of water from both below and falling from up above.  

          as for us, we have somehow come to a belief that we are supposed to be dry.  i have never really understood why we think that, perhaps its because we're still not really sure whether or not we get ill from walking around in the rain for too long.  i like it though.  i don't wear shoes when i know its going to rain soon.  i like the wet ground under my feet and i often run into other enthusiasts like the old woman i shared a rainy walk with in a village south of here.  besides, after about 2.5 seconds of being exposed to the rainfall you are already completely soaked and you simply submit, smiling with squinted eyes looking up.

          rain is simply a part of life here, as with dhal baat, mo-mo's, street cows, amazing kindness, frequent power failures, beautiful eyes, raksi, tattoo appreciation, chinese tourists, hashish, chaya, long visits to see friends, candles in bars, old tibetan refugees, music and green bracelets.  i love being a part of this.  so many things i've learned out here have been too shrugged off as 'obvious' where i come from and they are disappearing from my culture.  

          i find that simple acts of human kindness are actually a part of life out here.  last night i saw a raving lunatic in the street while i was hiding from the rain with some local friends.  i thought about how differently this situation would have unraveled in perhaps the United States or in England (as my friends added).  the Nepal approach made me open my eyes a bit, they brought him food.  everybody likes food.

          i have been traveling for a bit and i'll probably take to this new month with the same open-endedness that i have orchestrated all my travels.  i'm humbled.  i knew i could be humbled out here but i didn't expect it.  as it's been said by someone much wiser than myself, you really can't underestimate the power of simplicity.