male company-no problemo

The majority of this book will be copied letters from Audrey to home.  Sometimes letters from home will be here too.

From Mom to Audrey

Nunsuch,

So, I just read a letter from Dawn Y. and she said that she and Sam write little letters to each other that they call “Randoms” and just put their random thoughts in them.  I love this idea for you and me.

So here’s mine:

Nepal is really on the other side of the world (I just studied our globe).  I still don’t know where Abu Dhabi is but I’ll figure it out. 

It’s hard to sleep really well when one of your kids is on the other side of the world

I also have a memory of eating eggplant lasagna on my flight to Europe.  It must be a gourmet airline food.

I was talking to Lorrie Pitkin about her holiday festivities.  They said that they slept over at some friends and she said it was a fun party until too much alcohol was consumed and then it became ugly.  She abandoned everyone and went to bed.  I told her that I’ve no personal experience with alcohol’s effects but I believe it makes people really synthetically happy or for- real mean.  She agreed and said that she’s done with those friends. I wish her husband would let her find out more about the gospel.  I think you’ll run into a lot of this there. 

When men offer to buy you a drink, that’s gentile language for “I’m asking you on a date and your cute and I’ll see how far I can get with you.”  Be careful!

My Nansy was a really cute little girl with a really cute run, grandpa’s right—it goes too fast, also lots of memories of awkward 11 yr. old sassiness and eating way too much junk foods, and then realizing your gifts with people and watching that talent become huge.  Your wings are way too expansive to sit behind college desks.  I’m so happy that you’re doing something about that.

Theo is dumb—he eats bloody dead animals outside and he poops inside when nobody lets him out.  This time it smelled like dead rotten fish and it put me in such a bad mood that dad cleaned it up.  Now my entire collection of Christmas candles is burning in this house.

Love and miss ya,

Mom

Reply:  From Audrey

Dear shnooters 

Here's (some of) my random thoughts. 

Greetings from pokhara. I am here and alive. I don't know how many times I muttered "thank ipthar" under my breath to do it, but it happened. :) 

The inflatable pillow and rise of the guardians saved my life so thank you very much. :) 

Your email made me cry again 

It's strange that I'm on the other side of the world but I feel like the same exact person. For some reason I guess I assumed that traveling so far magically makes people more... Something. Haha but I keep thinking about what you guys are doing and then I'm like "oh, they are sleeping probably." 

Sleep well because I sure did last night 😏

Hahahaha I talked to a girl on my little baby flight here and she says eggplant is very common in Nepal! I wonder where all airline food comes from. 

Hahahaha mom I'm not going to drink anything. I promise. These guys won't deceive me with their gentle language. I've become really good at detecting the smell of alcohol already and I'm grossed out. Ew. Everyone asks me if i drink, too! I think you are right. 

I wish Lorrie would just tell him to stuff it and come to church with us. I love her. 

This is gonna sound way conceited. But White girls must be really attractive to boys here because all of them talk to me or smile at me or just stare at me. Idk maybe they do this to all females, but I took a little walk on the street and (and this happened more than once) these boys just stopped right before I passed them and one of them said, grinning,"namaste." The other one said "you are so beautiful." I said "haha thank you."

 I'm really killin it here in the flirtations department. 

The attention is doing good things for my thirsty soul 😏 don't worry though, I'm still not going to drink or

do anything... Undignified. 

 But also, I think that's just how the culture is here and let me tell you, I LOVE it. I ate breakfast at this beautiful top floor restaurant in my hotel and a few boys working there were about my age, and SO polite. I couldn't go one minute without one of them asking me "miss, you like more papaya?" (Which is so yummy here. It's gross in the US) Or "do you like to have an omelette?" They stood around and just chatted forever with me. I asked one of them about th taxi service there and the next thing I knew, he was calling a taxi for me and reserved it. A random old woman Saw me taking pictures of the lake and she said "you are beautiful. I want a picture with you." Hahaha I thought "I think I'm gonna like it here." I have been shown such kindness and respect here from people that know fully well I have NO clue what's happening. I stick out  like a sore thumb. If you look sad, someone will come bow to you and say in their lovely accent, "I can sit by you?" If you look lost, they will say "you need help?" People who don't know you and have no reason to help you at all. It makes me have so much hope in humanity. 

          Sidenote: I think Americans should start bowing to each other because it's so classy and it indicates humility and respect. I love that about this place so very much. I love bowing when I say thank you. 

I'm sitting on a balcony at this hotel looking at this beautiful smelly city. There are these random men below me sitting by a fire and chanting what sounds like "baha" over and over again. It's really funny. 

You are a much better writer than you think. I don't  think good writing is about vocabulary and finesse, it is about making an impact, and you write very simply but it stays in my brain forever. I believe it's what dad calls an "Emily?" Haha. 

Wings are made to fly but you have to have someone teach you the courage to hop out of the nest. Thank you for believing in me. 

My college desk-crammed wings are feeling some beautiful new breezes here in pokhara. :)

Tell theo he's gonna be a bloody dead animal if he doesn't stop right now. Sorry about my rapscallion dog. 

Coming here by myself really confirmed what dad said in his blessing about never truly being alone. There were quite a few hopeless times on the way here that I felt like I literally had no where to turn to. I felt so sad and lost and I missed you guys. But every time that happened, I remembered that blessing and Prayed so hard. Then it was the same feeling I get as when someone comes and sits next to me and just rubs my back, they don't have to say anything. I know that the Holy Ghost is an actual and real person, and God loves us so much. 

Omni 1: 26 has brought me a lot of comfort too. Our souls are gifts from God but if we give them back, they will be made better. Truly coming to Christ means to let yourself go. 

Namaste, 

-Nunsuch Jabba butt