Leaving Home

Being at Hasera has been a great experience, and I feel close to the family. After being there for about a month, I left. I decided to leave for a few reasons. First, I guess, is simple entropy; all things come to an end and I had to leave eventually. Second, I met an American girl named Sam who told me about her friend who lives in Gorkha who has a very unique farm (more on this later...) and I wanted to squeeze it in before I go. And also, I went to go see my didi (older sister, in the Nepali sense) who just got a student visa for the US.

That is the the main reason that I left when I did. Applying for the visa was a sort of slim-chance kind of thing, and to everyone's surprise she got it. It came almost out of the blue. Next thing anyone knew, a ticket was cut and she only had a week left in Nepal. So I went to spend a couple days with her before she went.

So I said my goodbyes at Hasera and hopped on a bus back to Kathmandu. Everyone definitely felt a mix of emotions. Congratulations were in order and excitement for the future, but also there was also sadness at the prospect of her leaving home, and so suddenly at that. I was feeling it especially hard. Other people maybe didn't get why I was getting so sentimental. "This is a big opportunity," and "Oh, you'll get to see her in America". Besides the fact of geography (she's going to St. Louis, not exactly a quick drive down for me...), I know firsthand how hard it is being a Nepali immigrant in the US, and opportunity though it may seem, it isn't exactly what people think it will be. Plus, being in back in Nepal I've learned how important family is, and how important it is to be surrounded by culture. For my didi there's a different dimension of struggle in store, aside from just a material struggle: being an immigrant in the US is a psychological and spiritual struggle. I guess you could say I was feeling preemptively homesick for her.

Well anyway she has gone now; the giant metal bird has hopped the continents. And whatever happens is her's to experience. For my part, I'm getting on a bus to Gorkha.