Joy Cometh in the Morning

weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. -psalm 30:5 I was holding my grandfather’s hand when he died. To this day, I can remember exactly what it felt like. His skin was warm and slick. His pulse had been getting weaker throughout the day, his breathing more shallow, and I […]

And then Continue Onward: Part 1

Terminology in this post: High school=9-10th grades; College=11-12; University=our college 8% of Nepali girls will graduate from 10th grade (which is graduating from high school). Of those, less than 1% will score high enough on the national high school graduation exam to qualify for scholarship for university. In the history of the village where I […]

A story of time

My grandparents, like all old people, owned four hundred and seventy three clocks. There were clocks made of wood, clocks with dainty flowers around the edges, clocks imbedded in plaques, and my personal favorite, a clock of the shiniest gold-plated metal that had two columns that spun. My grandmother always had the TV on to […]

A patch of green grass.

It’s been a while since I’ve written. Part of that was that med school keeps me busy. Part of it was that I couldn’t think of what I could write about that would be anywhere near as interesting as my past. Part of it was that once I stopped, it was hard to start again. […]

An(other) election

On our election day, I wanted to write about my experience witnessing Nepal’s first general/local election after the long civil war. The civil war was in some part a fight to hold local elections for all citizens. In the days leading up the election, various political parties (at the time there were 57!) would go […]

Live from (Syracuse) New York

Check out the photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EkavMyVktWcaN89n9 (I can’t post the photos here because they’re higher resolution than my hosting site allows, and I can’t be bothered to resize all of them.) Notes: I would like to thank the South Side Innovation Center and the residents of Syracuse’s South Side for their hospitality. I obtained consent […]

Three Shadows in Unfamiliar Hills

There is a pressing issue facing Nepali society, but I was never really that interested in it: Over 10% of Nepalis (and over 50% of young men) are currently working abroad. In addition to the “brain drain”, where Nepal’s brightest minds go to live permanently in other countries, many low skilled workers are attracted to […]

Tales from the Front of the Class, Part 3

Four-Year-Olds are (not) so Cute I had secretly always wanted to teach little kids, just a few times, but I didn’t have time to add another class onto my teaching schedule when I lived there. So last week, when a primary-level teacher asked me to fill in for their first grade class of 45 four […]

I’m back.

As I was saying my goodbyes to everyone in Nepal, I was always asked one question, “when are you coming back?” And my answer was always the same: I’ll be back in two or three years. My sister was with me when I was saying goodbye to the village, and as we drove away, she […]

Where to Now?

I majored in employment practices and theories, yet I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I graduated. There were many different ideas and visions for what I could do: teacher, musician, corporate HR, lawyer, diplomat; I heard it all. I studied for the LSAT, GRE, and (a few years […]

A New City

It’s taken awhile to get settled in the city, and the adjustment process is ongoing, but the small victories each day feel good. I’ve really been enjoying the food here. Paneer (similar to cheese curds) is my thing, it turns out. And momos (Tibetan dumplings) are amazing and readily available. For some other wins: I got […]

Oceans and Mountains

Santiago is a city unlike any other I’ve been in. It seems to be right on the threshold of the Global South and Global North- while stray dogs and broken glass are an integral part of the city, so is fantastic public transportation and not-overtly-corrupt police officers. There were aspects that reminded me a lot of […]

Conquer No Mountains

TREKKING PART 2 Meditation of the day: “It is not the mountains we conquer but ourselves.” -Sir Edmund Hillary Started with this picture because it was hands-down the best view from a hike I’ve ever been on. The picture doesn’t begin to capture the feeling of being there. But I’ll get to all that. After […]

At Sunrise

Trekking Part 1 The trek begins! After spending a night in a hostel so noisy I couldn’t fall asleep, I caught a very early bus into Torres Del Paine National Park to begin trekking. Because I was exhausted from being kept awake all night, I was planning to sleep on the bus, but the incredible mountain […]

Flamingos

After a few days in the Magellan region of Chile, we arrived in Puerto Natales, a small town in the southern part of Chilean Patagonia. This town is the closest civilization to a large national park where we’ll be trekking, even though it’s still 200km away from the park. We took a 3.5 hour bus […]