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.