Jenna.Kristen's Blog

I know that most of your life you will not have a ton of 'firsts' so this week was very significant to have encountered so many all at once:1) First time to have a hot shower...we realized you had to flip a switch in our apartment to get it to warm up hehe 2) First time to do all the laundry by hand! Wow that takes some muscle to wring everything out multiple times so that it's no longer soapy (who knew?!). Today marks ONE WEEK of having moved to Nepal. In some ways it seems like we have been here FOREVER like when you feel so accomplished after finding a grocery store with familiar foods or discovering that your apartment has hot water all along! Then at other times, like when you are bored and sitting in the dark because the power went out again, it seems like only the beginning. I'm not going to lie, I've already felt homesick and sometimes in my gut just feel like tears are being suppressed. I'm not sure what it is...I suppose I'm just emotional. It's also been a funny reality to know that I am no longer single and the way that I used to take care of my husband when I was back in DC is just not so easy any longer... providing meals and the fun comforts of things back in the States. If it were me still being single (the image I had set in my mind years ago after first visiting this place), I wouldn't need a hardy meal and lots of meat. I sometimes observe the experience of the other 'single girls' on staff and think to myself that "they are so confident to go anywhere in this city and life seems so easy." However, I told Jon this already that I need to recognize also that these girls have lived here for quite some time and that they are familiar with their surroundings and well adjusted. This organization has never before hired a married couple until now (one other couple moved out here the same week). It is one of the craziest experiences of my life to have lived one week in Nepal. What's weird to consider is that I've traveled so much and been in places much longer than ONE WEEK, but without being a permanent move you just have so much fun blowing through your cash and livin' it up in a different care-free mindset. It's much more difficult to know that when the electricity goes out that it is actually something that will happen consistently EVERY SINGLE DAY that you are living in your new home.