iamtheworstbloggerontheplanet.

I'm sorry. I've actually been home for a while now. A little over one week!

AND I'M 20 YEARS OLD!

Weird, huh?

Anyways, I just wanted to finish up this blog and tell you how much this trip has affected me.

I came back very jet lagged and culture shocked. I feel guilty when I want to spend money. I can't believe how clean the streets are. I can't believe how quickly the water gets hot when I turn on the shower. I can't believe the water even gets hot. I can't believe people actually complain about not getting $1,000 rims on their new truck. I can't believe I have a fridge full of food. I can't believe they kill cows here... I can't believe people actually drive in the lanes on the road. I can't believe I spent a month in Nepal.

I will never forget the people I met in Nepal. They are some of the best people on the planet. I am convinced this is true. Especially the kids at the Kathmandu Training Center (I don't know why I call them kids. We're the same age). They are training to be social mobilizers because they love their country and want to make it better. They are going to be awesome.

And this guy. Rajesh. He was only given the opportunity to go to school up until Class 3. Which is like 7 year olds I think... But he's working hard and studying English and trying to help his family back in the village and working to go on a mission.

He's one of the coolest people I've ever met.

To finish up, I'll just leave you with a couple of my favorite pictures from the trip :)

I love Nepal, and I feel like I left a big piece of my heart there.

Someday, I need to go back.

beauty at its finest.

Want to see some of the world's most beautiful faces?

Good. You're in for a treat.

I met these kiddos today.

I am so fond of them.

They were all clammering to be in a picture. And then they'd beg me to see it. It was so adorable. They loooved seeing themselves on camera and even more, they loved being in pictures with their friends. They just laughed and laughed every time I showed them a picture.

I am a lucky girl to get to meet all these incredible people.

This guy showed us around at the water project in Bhaktapur. I am quite fond of him as well. Haha. The water project is going to help so much. It is amazing to see the influence of the church in even a small country like Nepal. There is one tiny branch in all of Nepal. Can you believe it? And yet the church is here.

playing catch up

I'm sorry I'm so terrible at this, but honestly, what did you expect? Nothing. That's probably a good idea. Then you don't get your hopes crushed when you come to this blog and see it hasn't been updated and your whole day is ruined. For some of you, this may have happened, and to those people I say, "Should've known better."

Naw. Just kidding.

I would sincerely love to update you on our week of adventures that occurred

May 10-14

IT WAS AWESOME.

So we drove 9 hours (I wanted to die) from Kathmandu to Lumbini. We took a pitstop near Chitwan and Rakesh showed us his family farm. I tasted some weird fruit off the tree that wasn't ripe and made enemies with a goat and met some baby water buffalos.

In Lumbini we took a walk around and Kam and I saw the cutest/dirtiest little girls ever. We went back out to find them again and give them a cinnamon roll and when we finally found them they were terrified of the tall, white strangers speaking a language that they couldn't understand and holding something they had never seen before. Needless to say our plans to enrich their lives with cinnamon buttery goodness failed. My mom got really sick and I got pretty sick so the next day when everyone went to the birthplace of Buddha, we stayed in our hotel room.

Who's Buddha anyway?

When they returned from Buddha's place

(where he was born through his mother's armpit and took 7 steps. impressive eh?)

we headed back to some place I don't know for a wheel chair distribution.

I made a new friend that kept fanning me and when I said, "Thank you so much but please stop fanning me" he responded with, "LOVE IS LIFE!" Kam whispered, "Love is listening to people when they don't want you to fan them." hahaha. He was nice. He also said, "My friend, my wheelchair. You gift me my wheelchair. I very very happy!"

I also got to give a blind man his blind stick. It was such a sweet experience. I took his hand softly and placed it on the stick. When he knew what it was his whole face lit up and a huge smile appeared. I squeezed his hand and felt extremely happy. It was so great.

Grandpa spoke and got a cool hat.

We then went to Chitwan and found that when we turned off the lights the fan turned on too. They couldn't figure out the problem so Kam took out the light bulbs haha. The next morning I we went to ride elephants and I met Kewl. He really was Kewl.

What you can't see is that we're on a huge elephant in the middle of a ffreaking forest thing.

You also can't see that we were attacked by a TIGER!!!

Naw. I wish.

We did see some deer and peacock and stuffff.

Our elephant was sooo hungry, he kept stopping to eat.

The kicker was that it only cost like $20 and it was a 2 HOUR ride.

We then walked through this other tree filled thing in search for a rhino. This dude was in there and I don't really know who he is but he's funny. In my mind I call him George of the Jungle. We did end up finding the rhino + its baby and when it saw Kam's white shirt it attacked! Not. It took a couple steps and the dude was like, "Get behind the big tree. Go!" My mom ran and it was funny because I didn't do anything. I should have taken a picture of her. I could have taken that rhino with my ninja skills.

We then drove to Pokhara. Like 3 hours. We went shopping and I bought something for my future children. I'm not even kidding. (Not the thing that follows. The sign on it just killed me)

The next morning we woke up way early and went to see the sunrise. We almost missed it because the hotel parking was crazy and our van was blocked. Mahindra, our driver, was a beast though. You should have seen him drive up the mountain.

The view of the Himalayas was amazing. So beautiful.

Then we went to Davies Falls where a lady died. The sign literally says,

"finally she was dead..."

They recovered Mrs. Davies' body after a while. Dumb lady was "bathing" with her husband near the falls. Maybe I shouldn't say that. Sorry Mrs. Davies. You're not dumb. But you are dead. Rest in peace lady. You now have a cool falls named after you.

After that we went to a cave thing where we were attacked by

g h o s t s!

(not really but look at the picture)

It was so cooool!

Yeah, that's it. Phew. That took FOREVER.

a few of my favorites so far

I have taken so many pictures. Here are just a few.

Oh ya know, just having a moment with superman.Outside the Russian Airport.

This picture adequately depicts how much my mom and I didn't sleep.

I don't really know what this is. I'm being serious. I think it's important, though.

It's RED SQUARE.

The freakin' sweeeet hat I bought in Russia.
The Taj Mahal.
Kam charming a cobra. What you can't see is my mom freaking out behind me.

Little magician boy.
Just chillin in the ancient jacuzzi at Amber Fort.
Second try to get to Kathmandu after the weather forced us to turn back to Delhi.

Stuffed in the Taxi.

So glad to see these little missionaries.

maoist strike

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit scared. 'Cause I am. A little bit.
We were in playing cards and eating lunch, pretending like everything is fantastic, listening to the t h u n d e r roll on and on, with no breaks in between, when we heard chanting.

From the roof we could see people walking in the street carrying red flags. Maoists. This street is possibly one of the busiest streets in Kathmandu, but we haven't seen a car driving on it for a couple of days. Only ambulances and the occasional motorcycle. It's kind of weird to hear so much silence, when honking is a huge part of driving here. I guess I'm not really allowed outside anymore. I get too many looks. EVERYONE looks at me. They look at me, then at my feet, then back at me. I don't blend in too well in the United States, it's no surprise I really don't blend here. They either smile, or ya know, the other thing. I'm glad I rarely get the latter.

I wish I could see a solution for this country. I've been studying the situation and listening to opinions. I have no idea what is going to happen. If violence starts, Kam noted that,
"We'll be right in the middle of a civil war."
How crazy would that be?

It's kind of hard for me to grasp what's happening because I never in my life imagined I would experience something like this. It doesn't affect me like it affects the Nepalis, but I still feel like I'm partly affected. Wow, the yelling is getting louder.

Anyways, I don't really have much to write.
God bless America.

Day 6: Jaipur

In Jaipur we saw the Pink City, Amber Fort, some little temple thing, and some other place where we saw things that they used to keep time and find horoscopes. Oh yeah, the Observatory. Pretty cool. And then we went to City Palace and saw the Water Palace.

This whole day was pretty cool but nothing beats the Taj Mahal. Bullets.

• Pink City really is pink.
• Amber fort is not made out of Amber.
• I got a dot on my forehead in the temple thing.
• Sat in an ancient "jacuzzi" at Amber Fort.
• Kam charmed a cobra. He even wore a little hat and played some kind of flute.
• Two little boys gave us a magic show. One claimed us when we got out of the car and when the other came up to steal his claim they got into a major fight. Our guide (who was crazy) told them that they had to split whatever they got. During the magic show, three balls got sent to Mumbai, Delhi, and Agra but then they returned. Also, a rupee disappeared and magically appeared in my ear. He had me blow on a knife and a flower opened up right in my face. I LOVE LITTLE MAGICIANS. they so cool.
• I honestly can't remember and I don't want to refer to my journal.
• I do remember that Singh (our guide) was obsessed with the camera and kept saying stuff like, "My turn" and "I will now take a picture". Crazy.

Day 5: India (Agra - Taj Mahal)

We woke up very early (it didn't even feel early though because the time here moves sooo slowly) and headed off to the Taj Mahal. YEEEAHHHH.

THE. TAJ. MAHAL.

It was possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. We were able to see it at sunrise, and you should have seen how incredibly beautiful it was.

No, I didn't take this picture. I'm just sick of my blog looking bland. I googled this.

The Taj Mahal is all about love. Shah Jahan built it for his favorite wife after she died in child birth of her fourteenth child (or according to Slumdog Millionaire, a tragic car accident). Shah Jahan asked her what he could do to show her that he loved her more than anything in the world. I can't remember what she said... but this is the result. It took 22 YEARS to complete. I love Shah Jahan because he was so awesome. He even built a mosque on the side for his workers, and in order to keep the perfect symmetry (I'm not kidding it's freakin perfect) he built a similar building on the other side.

I could go on and on about how much I LOVE the Taj Mahal. Inside are the tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. It's a huge symbol of love. One of Shah Jahan's sons imprisoned him and killed his brothers so that he could take the throne, and all that Shah Jahan wanted was to be somewhere where he could see the Taj. The colors inside are not paint. They are stones.

GOOGLED again. SO AWESOME.

Anyways, we went back to the hotel, swam, packed, went to the shop where the descendants of the artisans that did the inlay work in the Taj Mahal are still doing the same art (AMAZINGGG) and headed off for Jaipur.

I just read what I wrote and it really has no flow haha. WHATEV.

before catch up

Before I finish catching up, and since I'm kind of stuck in this house, here's a link to read about what's going on here in Nepal.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.time.com%2Ftime%2Fworld%2Farticle%2F0%2C8599%2C1986373%2C00.html&

Publish Post

h=e3d37

Day 4: India (Agra)

INDIA IS THE BOMB DIZZLE.

I'm gonna do bullet points because they are easy on the eyes and I'm lazy.

Day 4:

• Driving here is crazy. You don't drive in the lines because that would just be a crazy thing to do. Also, when you honk, it's not because of anger. Honking is simply saying, "I'm here, right by you, and I'm going to pass you. So move."
• If you go to McDonalds here, get a Chicken Maharaja Mac. I didn't get that but that's beside the point.
• Women make houses out of cow dung.
• Hotel: Jaypee Palace (I think...) Gave us some type of lei made out of jasmine and rose water to drink. My mom couldn't drink it because she's weak sauce but Kam and I downed them.
• Take a nap after flying a bazillion hours. Seriously.
• Agra fort is freeeeaking awesome. Pictures later.
• When I got out of the car at Agra Fort a street vendor followed me and said, "I think I will name you Lily." So you may now call me Lily.
• If you're tall, thin, and American, Indian people will want to take pictures with you.
• This boy came up to me and said, "One copy please?" He led me to his family where his brother wanted a picture with me while his family stood off to the side giggling and his mom snapped our picture. Nitin said, "They think she is like Demi Moore."
• Rug factory. So coooool! I took a video for future viewing pleasure and memories. Takes about 6 months for two people to make a decently big one.
• If you plug in your straightener, and it causes the power to go out, don't do it again... because of course the same thing is going to happen!! And then your straightener is dead. Yes, that was my mom who did that.

Day 3: Russia

Did I really go to Russia? It seems so long ago. And I've kind of pushed it far from my mind. Just kidding. It wasn't that bad.

I'll start this out the day before when we're waiting in line to check in at the airport.

So we're waiting in line to check in at the airport... and all the workers are at their stations ready to check us in. Except, they're not checking us in. There are literally over a hundred people waiting in line and they're just sitting there, staring at us.
Thank you Aeroflot.
They're not even giving us tags to put on our luggage so people know it's ours. Observe:

Mom: "Can I have a luggage tag please?"
Lady: "YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL WE OPEN!!!!!!!!"

Yeah. We waited about 1.5 hours for them to open because our flight was 1.5 hours late and they wouldn't open more than 3 hours prior to take off. Or something like that.

Fast forward.

We get off the plane. Exhausted. I slept about one hour. Good thing I had "Whip It" "A Beautiful Mind" and "He's Just Not That Into You" to keep me from losing my mind. We get on the

ONE SECOND: GRANDMA JUST CAME IN AND ASKED ME IF I WANTED A PIECE OF FUDGE. YES, PLEASE. A PIECE OF AMERICA.

air train and head on our way to M O S C O W. Along the way, people spoke to me in Russian and I was able to play it off so that they didn't know I had absolutely no idea what they were saying.

ONE SECOND: "NOTHING ON YOU" IS PLAYING OUTSIDE MY WINDOW. WHAAA? AM I STILL IN KATHMANDU?

We were under the impression that at the end of our ride on the air train we'd be at Red Square. When we found out we were not in fact in Red Square, we were under the impression that we could find someone who spoke English or at least someone nice enough to try.

Lesson #1: Learn Russian before going to Russia. Or carry around a Russian dictionary.

Kam asked some police dudes and all they did was slowly shake their heads. HAHAHAH.

We made our way to the subway (only God knows how) and plotted how to get to this thing that looked like a square. BUT GUESSS WHAT! THAT THING ON THE SUBWAY MAP THAT IS SHAPED LIKE A SQUARE IS NOT RED SQUARE.

I'll shorten this because it's getting a little long and without pictures, who will have the patience to read this? It's like... who would read A Tale of Two Cities rather than There's A Monster at the End of This Book. Just kidding. Be mature, geez.

We made it to Red Square with the help of Max max, Max, and Niquita (sp?) and some quiet little lady who spoke absolutely no English. It snowed, but it was cool. Then we made it back to the airport. How? Skill. and luck.

On to INDIA.

kidnapped

Yes that's right, I was kidnapped in Russia. They thought I was some famous person and after figuring out that all their ransom letters to Carmen Electra's manager were being laughed at, they set me free.

And now here I am in Kathmandu, Nepal, having the time of my life and trying to remember that you cannot drink the tap water or you might just die. Or something like that.

Right now I am going to write about what has happened since New York. I've already told you about being kidnapped, so now it's time to tell you about what really happened. I know I'm in Nepal but today is the Sabbath day (yeah, it's Saturday), there are Maoists out and about, everyone is sleeping, and there's really nothing else to do but sit here and be serenaded by Goofy, the dog.

P.S. When I say "you", I really mean the computer.
Because nobody reads this anyway hahah.

Day 2: NY

I am currently in the hotel in NYC waiting for the shuttle to come pick us up to take us to JFK so we can go to

RUSSSSSSSIIIIIIIAAAAAA.

I can't wait. Anyways, today has been rough. We slept in because... well, just because we can. I tried to make a waffle in the free breakfast thing but I had issues. It was embarrassing because it kept beeping at me. I guess I was doing it wrong. WHATEV.

After I got out of the shower I came back in the room and Kam was on the phone. I was trying to figure out what was happening because all he was saying was, "Wow. wow. wow. wow." Over and over again. I then found out that my letter from Kristian (I got a letter the day after I left Utah from Elder Workinger. The first in 4 months. Great timing, eh?) had accidentally been thrown away. My uncle Dave went over to my apartment to pick it up and then

dumpster diving

to try and find it after he found out that my roommates had accidentally thrown it away. I will not lie. I cried a lot. I'm just glad that I made Heather open it and read it to me on Thursday night or I would have been about devastated.

On our walk we stopped at this 99 cent store which turned out to be the coolest store ever. He seriously had everything your heart desires. Almost.

We then went to Romeo's Pizzeria. IT WAS DELISH.
Seriously, I loved it. I had this pizza with chunks of fresh mozzarella. However, while I was there I received some more bad news.

IGNACIO IS DEAD.

I know that many of you are probably crying and shaking right now. I understand. I am devastated. He was the best fish anyone could ever ask for. My awesome little sister made him a beautiful tombstone and he is now buried in my yard.

The cause of death is yet to be determined, however, I am certain that he died of

h e a r t b r e a k

due to my absence. It had nothing to do with the 11 hour car ride from Provo to Mesa.

With heavy hearts, we head off to RUSSIA in search of furry hats and vodka (just kidding...)

My uncle Kam says that I'm going to get kidnapped in Russia. That would be icing on the cake.

Day 1: New York Citay

New York was so fun. We spent Friday, the 23rd there and had quite an adventure.

We flew in to JFK and after checking in to our hotel we headed out to the city. I will now move on to bullet points...

• Heard on the A train: "They got me so used to crip that I just wanna be crip. Don't care 'bout blood."
• A car honked and the police horse turned to it and neighed reeeeealllly loud.
• I took a picture with Dwight Howard... kind of. Coming soon.
• I finished a whole book on the plane, and I was expecting it to take me the whole way to India... but I'm too good. It's called Go Ask Alice and it's a diary of a real girl who got way into drugs as a 15 year old. It was great.
• Saw my friend from high school. Tim Maffia. It was fun to get to see him. It's been since high school.
• Got on the wrong train coming home. hahah

Anyways, it wasn't that eventful, because we were exhausted.

I CAN'T WAIT TO GET TO RUSSIA!

is this real life?

So I just said goodbye to my amazing friend/husband Riley, am about to take a final, and have been slowly packing for the past week.

TIME TO GO?

I think so.
Seriously, I cannot even focus because I'm so excited.

I'm going to use this blog to document everything that happens while I'm away from "home" (wherever that is).
EVERYTHING. good, bad, + ugly.
You'll just have to deal with it. I promise to entertain along the way.

I want to take full advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity and lose myself in service.

Oh, and in case you didn't know...

I'M GOING TO NEPAL.