We have lived in Nepal for three years now, and it has become our home. There has been much going on here in the last six months or so. As most probably are aware, we had a major earthquake on April 25 (you can read my post about our personal experience with that here), the country adopted and signed a constitution in September after a long process of many years and many challenges, and now, we are facing a blockade from India in which critical supplies are not being allowed to cross the border.
I find that few people actually know very much about this small nation, though, and in spite of all that has gone on and is going on, it very often barely makes a blip on the news cycle. Even after the earthquake (a 7.8 in which nearly 10,000 were killed, homes were destroyed, and many villages were literally wiped out) the earthquake, international news had moved on within a couple of days.
In the midst of the fuel shortage crisis we are now facing from the blockade, the first news story to pop up on international news was actually about possibly climbing restrictions for Mt. Everest, the only point of reference many people tend to have for this small nation.
But, this is an incredible place, and while it is not a major player in the world political scene, it is filled with such rich culture and history and absolutely beautiful people.
It isn't my desire to try to educate or unravel current events here; instead, I would like to just start a series of posts that give a glimpse of what we see here in this place we now call home. Some may focus on the joys and challenges of living overseas and outside of our home culture, but primarily, I would like to just show a bit of our Nepal!
To start off, I'd like to share something that we finished soon after the earthquake actually and is long overdue for me to share. There is a simple and lovely children's book called I See the Sun in Nepal.
The story is written in both English and Nepali, but given that Nepali uses a different script (called Devanagari), you can't really attempt to read it unless you have learned the script.
I had some of our friends from our office here read the book and made a recording of it. Originally, it started as a present for some in our U.S. office to have for the arrival of new babies, but I really wanted to share it with any who would enjoy it to give one little glimpse and experience into life in rural Nepal. It is not a professional quality recording, but we had a fun time making it! I recommend the book itself to experience it through the illustrations as well, but you can also just enjoy the story through the recording itself. I have shared it here as an audio file on google drive. I hope you enjoy the story and a little glimpse into our lovely Nepal!
I find that few people actually know very much about this small nation, though, and in spite of all that has gone on and is going on, it very often barely makes a blip on the news cycle. Even after the earthquake (a 7.8 in which nearly 10,000 were killed, homes were destroyed, and many villages were literally wiped out) the earthquake, international news had moved on within a couple of days.
In the midst of the fuel shortage crisis we are now facing from the blockade, the first news story to pop up on international news was actually about possibly climbing restrictions for Mt. Everest, the only point of reference many people tend to have for this small nation.
But, this is an incredible place, and while it is not a major player in the world political scene, it is filled with such rich culture and history and absolutely beautiful people.
It isn't my desire to try to educate or unravel current events here; instead, I would like to just start a series of posts that give a glimpse of what we see here in this place we now call home. Some may focus on the joys and challenges of living overseas and outside of our home culture, but primarily, I would like to just show a bit of our Nepal!
To start off, I'd like to share something that we finished soon after the earthquake actually and is long overdue for me to share. There is a simple and lovely children's book called I See the Sun in Nepal.
The story is written in both English and Nepali, but given that Nepali uses a different script (called Devanagari), you can't really attempt to read it unless you have learned the script.
I had some of our friends from our office here read the book and made a recording of it. Originally, it started as a present for some in our U.S. office to have for the arrival of new babies, but I really wanted to share it with any who would enjoy it to give one little glimpse and experience into life in rural Nepal. It is not a professional quality recording, but we had a fun time making it! I recommend the book itself to experience it through the illustrations as well, but you can also just enjoy the story through the recording itself. I have shared it here as an audio file on google drive. I hope you enjoy the story and a little glimpse into our lovely Nepal!
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