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February 1st, 2025 Bhakunde Beshi, Nepal One year in Nepal is a crazy thing to conceptualize.  The feeling of a year seems much shorter than it used to be.  I haven’t figured out yet if it’s a Nepal thing or a getting older thing.  So much has happened. The idea that a year has passed […]

August 1st, 2024 Bhakunde Beshi, Nepa In the Peace Corps, how do you measure success?  It’s a good question.  There are a hundreds of Peace Corps staff paid a full U.S. salary in their respective countries to answer this very question, not to mention the big wigs in D.C. who are coming up with the

I am a different person than I was five and a half months ago.  This morning, I saw that clearly.  I had a good long look in the mirror and realized I was looking at a face I wouldn’t have recognized a few months ago.  Surely, it is still my face, but there is something

Sunday, April 7th, 2024 10:32PM Dulikhil, Nepal Emotional whiplash is probably the most fitting phrase to describe the end of Peace Corps pre-service training.  Somedays, it felt like my life in Panauti could go on forever just as it was.  The trainings were sometimes grueling, yes.  But even when you felt like you couldn’t stand

Friday, February 23rd, 2024 Panauti, Nepal When you first arrive in a new place, especially somewhere across the world, the place wears you down.  It challenges your expectations of what you thought the place would be, and it challenges your own identity as you frantically try to adopt to the culture.  After a few weeks

Wednesday, January 24th 2024 7:30 AM Kathmandu, Nepal I will never forget the flight to Kathmandu.  About 7 hours into a sleepless flight, I saw the expressions of everyone around me turn to awe and joy as they jostled for a look outside the left window.  I was quick to follow their lead, and when

Friday, January 19th 2024 11:36 AM, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA Today is a day that’s been awaiting me for nearly 8 years.  That’s a third of my lifetime.   It feels strange to put it that way, but it really is true.  Joining the Peace Corps has been my dream for 8 years, and in a mere

I am writing with only two more sleeps left in my childhood home.  In about 36 hours, I will depart to Philadelphia, where I will undergo a two-day orientation, then it’s on to Istanbul for a short layover, and then to Katmandu, Nepal.  It’s hard to fathom the change I am about to undergo.  I

At the time of my writing this, I have been solo traveling in Laos for over a week.  It wasnt until I had nearly crossed the border into Laos that I realized that this was my first experience solo traveling abroad.  My trip has not disappointed.  Even a week here has felt like a month. 

A few weeks ago I was chatting with some friends at Khon Thao, the burger place foreign teachers frequent on Friday nights, when suddenly we were overrun by insects.  Arno, a tall South African explained to me that when these bugs come out of the ground, they mate so ferociously that their wings fall off.