Team Building Day

There are so many reasons why I love my job. In fact, I could write a whole separate blog about my job alone. But that's part of the problem: due to the sensitive nature of my job, I can't exactly share all the nitty-gritty details. I work in the Consular Section, where we handle all sorts of personal information about people who are applying for a visa, a passport, or some other type of service. I love the interaction I have with people, but I can't exactly take photos and relate the details of our conversations.

However, this week our section spent the day at an off-site location doing team-building activities, so I seized the opportunity to take lots of photos. And I want to share one of the best parts about my job: my colleagues. I work with some totally amazing people. See for yourself:

In our weekly staff meetings, we always start off doing a bit of yoga. I love that! And we kept up the tradition for our off-site as well.

The team-building activities were awesome. A brick-balancing tug-of-war required lots of focus, strategy, and, most importantly, *balance*. Apparently, the warm-up yoga didn't help me improve my balance...I fell off my brick like a 4-year old falls off a bicycle with no training wheels.

We had great food, too. I never get tired of dishes like Paneer Makhani, Daal, or Veg Pakora. Everything was delicious.

We ended our team building day with music and dancing. Let me repeat: music. And dancing. I've *never* had a job that included music and dancing as a team-building activity. It was so great. I definitely have the Best. Job. Ever.

At the end of the day, it was all smiles. And a few funny faces.

Did I mention that I love my job???

Sunday Afternoon in the Square with Gret (and kids)

It was the perfect weekend afternoon to make our way through the heart of Kathmandu. The streets around Durbar Square are an endless maze of shops and temples. Even in the low-season, there were still plenty of people. And I'm almost certain that we, with four children in tow, stood out more than the usual tourist. See for yourself...

I'm not sure if you can tell, but there are at least 7 people in the below photo looking at us. Check it out:

Of course, we couldn't let the opportunity pass by to do some shopping of our own. Luckily I learned how to bargain hard years ago, and I can now bargain in Nepali, so we walked away with some pretty good stuff for a fairly decent price. The shopkeepers tell me that they are giving me the "real Nepali" price, but I think it's more along the lines of a "Nepali-speaking foreigner" price. Oh well. Probably better than just the regular "total foreigner" price.

But the highlight is Durbar Square, and the surrounding temples. Tucked deep inside the bazaar, centuries-old Durbar Square is truly an amazing sight. The pagoda-style buildings are not Chinese, but rather (as some claim) a pre-cursor to the Chinese Pagoda. In any case, it's spectacular.

Durbar Square is also a great place to take a rickshaw ride. It was our first-ever family rickshaw ride! Quite the historic moment for us. The kids (mostly) loved it, and it was very much an appropriate time to say "We're not in Falls Church, Virginia anymore!" No kidding, my daughter totally said that. And she wasn't even making a pop-culture reference to Dorothy and Toto. It was just the absolutely correct thing to say.

At first, the rickshaw driver was more concerned about getting his photo taken with his fingers up his nose, but he eventually got down to haggling and we were off!

And to make it an even more historic day, I spent the evening making cookies for the first time in like 20 years. Yes, they were peanut butter cookies with chocolate on top, and, yes, I have the photo to prove it.

A great way to end a pretty great day in Kathmandu...

Roof with a View

 A few of our neighbors

Traffic, as seen from our car

Patan Durbar Square

My little explorer...

The first 6 days, 7 nights

It's not as if this hasn't been done before. The road to Kathmandu is not exactly the road less-traveled. Travelers have been making their way here for centuries, and I'm at least five decades behind the hippie 60s, so don't expect National Geographic type of groundbreaking reporting here. It's just me, my wife, and my kids having fun, making friends, and exploring this amazing place. I hope you'll keep reading...


Our arrival on a rainy Friday evening should have been more auspicious. We were bumped from an earlier flight, non-voluntarily, so we arrived tired, hungry, and in no mood for the monsoon. The drive from the airport to our home was dark and damp, not much to see along the way except a few unfortunate individuals walking in the rain without an umbrella. We arrived at our house anxious to see the inside. The kids ran through each bedroom, each staking their claims, and all I really wanted was a shower.

Saturday was a drowsy blur. We slept and ate, and slept a little more, but mostly at odd hours. I tried to unpack, but didn't make it beyond a few items of clothing to wear that day. But we discovered our roof, that is, the terrace on our roof: a tiled patio that sits on top of our house with wonderful views of our neighbors. The rain kept us from lingering longer, so we returned back down to our beds.

Sunday morning, just before sunrise, I went up to the roof again. It was a clear morning, with a full moon dangling down, and the views were breathtaking. And then I had one of those moments. A moment of pure happiness that comes to those who travel, and find an exhilarating sensation of just simply being in a distant land. I smiled, full of gratitude, as I spotted the distant Himalayan peaks just beyond the gorgeous hills and mountains that surround the lively Kathmandu Valley. This was my auspicious arrival.

We spent Sunday mostly in awe, winding our way through the busy streets, venturing into Patan, the historic city across the river from Kathmandu. The Patan Durbar Square, filled with temples, shrines, goddesses, and birds, is one of the highlights of Nepal. It is a palace complex dating back to the 1600s, now open to the public with an excellent museum exhibiting precious artifacts and photographs. It's not too different now than it was 400 years ago. Truly a stunning sight.

Monday morning came a bit early; we were all up around 3:30am, wide awake. I went to work, and the kids went to summer camp, so we at least had some activities to keep us going. My first day at the Embassy was fantastic. It's a brand new building, only 3 years old, beautiful architecture outside and tastefully designed on the inside. My colleagues were warm and welcoming, and I knew almost instantly that I would love my job here in Kathmandu. The next few days passed quickly, with lots of meetings and paperwork to be done. I have been walking to and from work each day, taking in the sights, sounds, and smog of Ring Road, a major thoroughfare. Slowly we are becoming settled, and I can tell already that Nepal is making its way under my skin.