A quick update.
I arrived yesterday morning in Kathmandu at the Tribuvhan International Airport after two flights that amounted to a total of 22 seemingly endless hours. It was hard to leave everyone and everything I love behind, including the simple daily comforts of clean tap water and toilet paper! I was really nervous about everything to come. Would I get sick? How long would it take for my Nepali to get back into shape? How do I hail a taxi? How do you bargain? Would people accept me? Everything felt very surreal.
However, as I flew over Nepal's lush valleys, I felt these questions fall away, and a rush of excitement replaced them. I thought to myself: "When again in my life will I be able to put everything on pause to do something like this!"
After an insanely bumpy taxi ride (without seat belts and doors!) I arrived at my grandmother's house to a fresh plate of steamed rice and vegetables. Later on in the day I went to a traditional Newari festival called "Matya", a long procession of traditionally dressed Newar kids and teenagers walking around the 1300 shrines in Patan. It was in effect like a walking tour of Patan, a part of Kathmandu historically occupied by Newar folk, from which my mother's family stems. The crowd was an interesting mix of traditionalists who walked barefoot and wore the ceremonial dress and of more modern teenagers wearing sneakers and jeans. I followed along with my cousins for a few hours. We snaked through miles of hallways, courtyards, people's homes, and streets packed with people observing the procession. Each time we passed a temple we would offer candies to the deity or in honor of someone who had passed. Like Dios de los Muertos, Matya is a celebratory festival in honor of loved ones who have passed. Even though I am awkwardly a foot taller and a few shades whiter than everyone else, I felt like I belonged. In fact some extended family and friends of my mom who were watching from their windows recognized me. How surreal! It felt reassuring to know that my ancestors spanning back centuries participated in Matya when they were my age. I felt as if by walking these hallways and courtyards, I had travelled back in time to walk beside them.
