The end.. for now..

It's ovvveerrr.... :(
So I haven't had any updates in my last month because i was too busy living and enjoying every moment I had.
The last month at NCH was amazing, fabulous, glorious, dery dery ramro. Leaving was one of the hardest goodbyes ive had to do. I dont think you can understand unless you've lived with 80 kids loving you unconditionaly for 5 months..

I painted the babyroom before leaving, putting cartoons and dr.seuss all over their walls!
we had balloons and a samosa party one of my last days and I read a poem i wrote in nepali with one of the older boys to all the children and staff. they loved it!
Sunday morning i took the bus to kathmandu at 7am, but i still made it to Namaste for 6am to do yoga with the kids before leaving.
i have 2 days in ktm before flying. tomorrow night i start my journey back home..

I can't say I'm ready for home.. If I had the choice I think I would stay a year with these kids.
I plan to be back in Nepal in one or two years if I can afford it.
I'll upload my last pictures once i get home, the internet connection is much better!
I'll see you all pretty soon!

Love,
Caro Auntie

Nepall! home again

wow being back is the best feeling in the world.
I can't put into words what its like walking through the gates of NCH and having 75 children and staff running at you, excited that you're home again.
I was gone 23 days.. and I can already see a difference in the children. everyone seems a little bit older, the baby of the house can now say "aunty" and "didi". when I first arrived he had just learnt to walk and now he runs and is starting to talk!
The new school that the kids are going to is beautiful and the education is much better. I've been helping the older ones in math, and the youngest ones still in the alphabet. "A, a-p-p-l-e apple!"
Their getting better and better, It's really cool to watch them grow.
One month left... today.
My nepali is getting so good! i think a couple more months and I'd be fluent :)

I uploaded more pictures to flickr. 100 or so! from Holi, & Thailand.
Holi(the hindu festival where everyone throws paint on eachother) its suppose to demonstrate the fight of good against evil and the paint symbolizes the blood of the evil.
Enjoy them, it took me forever to upload them all!
Much love.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carostravels09

Thai new year & Islands

On monday was the thai new year! they celebrate by having a huge water fight that lasts 3 days. Everyone in the streets have buckets and water guns, cars get blocked on the roads and water is everywhere!! there is music, dancing and partying all day long in the sun. It is such a wonderful way to celebrate the new year. In bangkok they missed the first two days because of the demonstrations and fighting that was going on, but its calmed down now! yay! & koh lanta, the island that ive been staying on for the past 2 weeks, celebrated the new year over only 1 day, but it was one of the best days ive ever had! You're running around in the streets in bare feet completly soaked. Some locals also had ice powder that they rub on you in addition to the ice water!
Yesterday it was Raphi's 29th birthday! one of the volunteers that I was with in Nepal. We had a boat trip day, took a longtail boat out and visited a bunch of little islands around koh lanta. We swam in green water and had watermelon throwing fights.. then rested in the hammocks on the remote bubu island.
a couple more days here then back up to bangkok to catch my flight to nepal!
Also, I am getting a fabulous tan :)

corrections..

oups! i didnt realize that my last post before this thailand one was about me going trekking. that didnt happen.
i ended up cutting open my töe really bad, a pretty dramatic seen for the nepali locals that were around, and i couldnt go trekking. but i did go to chitwan and it was fabulous. i saw rhinos, and bears, and crocrodiles, and saw tiger footprints. AND bathed an elephant! it was sooo cool. if you get the chance to one day bath an elephant, DO IT!
thats all..
:)

Phase 3: Thailand

sweat and sunglasses is how i sum up my first 2 hours in thailand!
coming from nepal it really is walking into the future. bangkok airport is huge and beautiful, nothing compared to kathmandu. Pokhara (the country side where i live) to Thamel (the tourist ghetto in kathmandu) to thailand really has been like getting one step closer each time to what it will feel like being home again. me and aisling, one of the volunteers that im traveling with, were impressed by everything from the traffic queues with nice new cars to sky scrapers and real office buildings. thailand is hot and busy but so interesting!
the flight from kathmandu to here was very nice. I got to see mount everest this morning from the plane window!!! super super super clear, and impressive. i had goosebumps
we were told maybe 3 days ago that last year, nepali airlines (who we flew with) had a problem with one of the airplane engines and that one of the crew men had a dream that if they sacraficed 2 goats on the runway it would be fixed. and they did!! the story made it in the news paper, with a picture of the dead goats and the plane. (ovbiously it wasnt fixed) so this morning as we were walking up the stairs to enter the plane me and aisling were looking for dead animals.
I havent booked a flight out yet, but the plan is to be here for 3 to 4 weeks, then back home to nepal for a month with the kids before montreal! i might be in thailand for only 3 weeks instead of four depending on when the first day of school is for the children because i want to be back for that. they äre now on a 3 week holiday (its like summer vacation for them) and when they go back they move up a grade.
im spending 2 or 3 days in bangkok then busing south to the islands and meeting up with friends. i cant wait!!
I love you all and im wishing for amazing adventures to all of you who are also currently traveling.

new plans!

Big changes going on for me! I bought a ticket to bangkok last week! kenya is now out of the picture for this year, and im spending a month in thailand relaxing on the thai beaches for a month before finishing up with my last month in nepal.
sooo im extending my trip one more month! thailand for april, nepal for may, and montreal for june! im also heading to chitwan to bathe elephants this weekend, and im doing the annapurna base camp trek starting monday. its a 10 day trek that were doing in 9 days, because i want to to spend some more time with the kids before fyling to thailand. There will be 4 other volunteers that im meeting up with in thailand, most of which have already been to thailand many times and know exactly where to hangout.
Lots of the volunteers have just left, and its a hole new group of people now at the orphange... it takes some getting used to. We started making a vegetable garden at the orphanage, each room group has a plot of land to grow the vegetables that they want, they have to maintain the garden and do everything themselves.
I did finger painting with the babies on firday, it was very successful!

I will most likely not post anything untill after my trek, so enjoy home as i adventure off into the himalayas!& i will write all about it upon my return.
xoxox

photos!

so what new to share with you today..
nepal really has become my new home. im into such a routine here, walking in the streets and waiving to the locals. the cows in the streets now seem pretty normal, and dal vat is getting better.
The volunteer group is really fun right now, we went for a night out in town on saturday. so much fun!!
We hosted a nepali wedding at the guest house last week. lots of dancing and drumming!

im sorry theres not much new news! im currently uploading photos to flickr so you can see for the first time what I see everyday!
Im sorry they're not in order... oups
Enjoy them :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carostravels09/