As soon as we arrived at Kathmandu International Airport, we had to fill out two forms before clearing immigration (a landing card and a visa application). For now, we had to get tourist visa ($40 USD) while the VSO Nepal program office processes our official volunteer working visas. 

Note: Internet is really slow and the computer that I am using is about a decade old. Journal entries will be sporadic and concise with mediocre spelling and grammer as I continue to joust with this keyboard. Thanks for your patience.

Our first night at the Pacific Guest House in Lazimpat area was pretty good. The bed mattress was a little hard but the  linens were cozy. The entire night, we were serenaded with haunting chorus of howling and barking from street dogs. We have photos of course but I’ll need to find a way to get them onto a computer. 

Our welcome pack contains information on the in-country training (ICT) arrangements and facilities in Kathmandu. Our ICT will be for about a period of approximately 6 weeks and the major part of the training will be focused on language and cross-cultural learning. New this year for ICT is that we will be living with a Nepali family somewhere in a rural village for two-weeks. I am really looking forward to it as the learning experience would be more enriching and immersed.

Tlell and I along with our new VSO volunteer friend from London walked around the area and got intimately acquainted with their transportation system and layout of the city (many close encounters with buses and motor bikes}.

That’s all for now. It seems like things will be happening very, very quickly and both Tlell and I are having fun seeing and experiencing a whole new world.

I am sure though, as soon as the dust settles, then I’ll start to freak out.