A Beautiful Hiatus

“For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it.”   - The Beach

After months of preparation, our adventure is finally beginning! I am at the airport on my way to Kathmandu by way of Dubai… a short 24-hour journey to the other side of the world where a completely new culture, landscape, and adventures await.

Early this morning at the airport

Some people live their whole lives waiting for that perfect opportunity to travel, but Mike and I have decided that does not exist—only times that are more ideal than others. So, as we are transitioning out of our lives and jobs in Washington D.C. and moving south so I can pursue a PhD for the next five years, we thought it is now or never.

For the next two months, I am going to intern at CWISH, a local NGO in Kathmandu that focuses on women and children’s human rights issues. During the internship, I will live in a volunteer house with 7 or 8 other international volunteers on the edge of Thamel, Kathmandu’s tourist district. 

After working on African human rights issues for two years at the Enough Project in D.C., I am particularly excited about this part of the trip. I will apply the skills and knowledge that I have accumulated to assist the organization and its initiatives. Through this experience, I hope to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges facing women in the country, particularly the issue of human trafficking, which has become a major problem in Nepal.

Nepal, known as the "Roof of the World"

My husband Mike will fly out to Kathmandu to join me in mid-May for a few days of sightseeing in the Kathmandu Valley, and then we will be off to trek for a couple weeks on one of the world’s best treks—the Annapurna Circuit. After that it is off to Thailand for a month-long journey around Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Although this is definitely not enough time to see or truly experience each of these places, we are hoping to see and do as much as we can with a balance between cultural, religious, leisure, and adventure activities.

This is my first blog, so as a writer you can imagine the laundry list of names we came up with for a title. Although Namaste is generally used as a greeting in Nepal, we decided to use it for our blog as more of a state of mind or sense of place. Namaste translates roughly to, “The Divine in me, honors the Divine in you.” So throughout the next four months, we are going to open our minds, replenish our souls, and learn how to experience the world in a whole new light. Stay tuned…