Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Getting to know Nepal







1/8/16  From mom to Audrey

My Nunsuch Jaba Butt,  (goodness, I love when people make fun of themselves)

I miss you yelling things like, “If one more person insults me today I will …………”

I think it’s great that you’ve been muttering “Thank Ipthar!”  This is probably a more appropriate expression of frustration than “This is so pubis!”

The above type of humor is always hilarious to me.  Along with “Okinawa”  I wonder what a comedian would call this type of humor?

White elephant gifts are fun to shop for.  Sometimes they’re more funny in the store than when you get them home though.  AJ and I went to DI and “cased the joint” for them.  DI is my favorite store in January because everyone, including me, is getting rid of all stupid space-fillers at home.  I go stand by all the “crazy’s” who storm the carts as they come out, wait for them to finish being crazy, then I wait for the dust to settle and see what’s left.  I’ll send you pics of our white elephants and you can vote on your faves.

AJ  follows me around and says “Are you ready?” every 30 seconds instead of every 10.  He’s matured a lot in the shopping department.

I’m picturing you being with a bunch of GVI treehugging volunteers.  I don’t know why I’m assuming that.

My shower has gross mold everywhere and last night I had a rare burst of energy and I’m using an ingenious idea that I came up with myself to remove the caulk and start over.  It’s called a drill/spinning wire wheel/hate cleaning the shower/maniac method.  I think it might work and not take me 3 days this time.

I love seeing pics of you in Nepal!

Google earth shows me that you’re at the base of a lot of amazing mountains.  I’m picturing Ouray but maybe the mountains are not quite that close.  There’s also a really pretty lake close to you.  Do you know about that?

Love ya tons!

Moethar Von Shnootz (I’m not sure if you know that is my full nickname given to me by Teesh)  I love it!


        1/10/16  From Mom to Audrey

So--my random thoughts of the moment are...................

That musli looks like barf but I will believe you and I personally would love to try it.  You are my best fellow food critic and I'm sure I'd agree with you that it tastes wonderful.

Somehow, and I don't know how, --Dad and I are having a Hunger Games marathon and then going to the theater to see the last one.  I'm enjoying them a lot and so excited to see the last one.  We're all going for family night.

Giving young women lessons has become one of my favorite things to do.  I'm no longer nervous or over prepared.   I just love expressing all of my opinions as if they are gospel truth.  The amazing thing is that 14 and 15 year old girls actually believe that I know what I'm talking about.  Today I shared my same testimony from last week, my Blanding theory--that we have beautiful things all around us that maybe we're not even seeing because they're right in front of us.  I told them how we are in each other's circle of influence.  Are we getting from each other what Heavenly Father intended when he put us together 10 months ago.

When Alicia, Isaac and I went to play racquetball, we took a break and went down the hall to see if your exec. pic was up.  It was.  What a great picture!   I also looked at a lot of them closely and found quite a few people that I know.  Jolynn Blotter and her twin were on exec together, Brother Erickson, Sheri Egbert, a few others that I don't remember.  It was fun to look at. 

Ian changed all of our pictures in LDS tools.  Dad looks like he's in a coffin, mine is just ridiculous, Ian is asleep with his mouth open, Teesh is yawning, and Isaac is sneezing.  When dad saw his, his reaction was perfect.  "Mario Durrant--stake president.  Just great!"

There's a facebook page of GVI Nepal.  I'm hoping pics of you start appearing soon.  I can't wait to see what you're up to. 

It's Sunday and we miss you.  I've been waiting for you to walk in the door all day.

Love,
Schnootz
Randoms 


1/11/2016  Reply from Audrey:

Here's the scoop 

I'm not sure what I've already told you or not but here I'll say this all. :) 

My fellow volunteers and staff members are very nice people. I like them all a lot although I don't know most of them very well yet. You're not too far off with the tree hugger thing haha. 
Gwynfor (Gwyn) is from Wales and like 50 something. He is this little spry man who is pretty quiet but oh my heck I love him so much. I can't get enough of his accent so I talk to him every chance I get. He is super sweet and never swears. He always giggles at funny stuff and eats apple pie. He hightails it up mountains like he is a goat on a pogo stick like every day and wears this cozy black sweater. 
Joe is kind of the staff boss and he is a 22 year old from England. He reminds me of Peter pevensie and he's pretty funny. 
Shuby is like 30 and from Australia. He's basically what you'd expect an Australian to be like, all laughing and friendly. He has an eyebrow ring and some earrings. I like him because he talks a ton and he has a lot of love for everyone and everything. 
Danica is the English girl who reminds me of Hannah Tewes with her bright red hair, exuberance, strangeness, and cleavage. She says a lot of funny things but also a lot of profanity and vulgarity. She also has a need for coffee and cigarettes every other three seconds. I like her a lot though and we have had some long chats about almost everything. Mostly my religion actually, she's very interested. And hasn't had a very easy life. I'm hoping she will read the Book of Mormon because she loves literature and religion haha. 
There's a few other girls from Australia I met today and they are both very sweet. 
Seb is also from Australia and in charge of childcare so he's kind of my boss. He is super laid back and works so hard for these kids, you can really tell he loves them a ton. I think he's 25 or something... 
Nicolas is the 18 year old from Quito. He's a hard book to read but when you get him talking he's very funny and nice. I decided That he communicates more through mannerisms than words. He loves loves loves to smoke. It's constant. We talk about Ecuador a lot and he loves it. He is really smart and his English is amazing. 
Jo is the 45 year old English lady that I room with and had that dream about and I am just eternally grateful that she is here. We are both on the same project and we clicked really quick. I've been very surprised with her youthful nature and attitude, she's not someone I would have guessed to be in her 40's (sorry sorry it's not to be taken offensively), but it's almost like she has like a 25 year old brain. Last night we had a really long heart to heart and wow I just love her. She told me I have a confidence about me that surprised her and so shoutout to dad for telling me to act more confident than I feel because that's what I've been doing haha. But yeah haha we have planned to do some hikes together and hang out all the time, she's definitely my bestie on this trip so far. I never thought I'd have a best friend who was my parents age besides you guys (my parents). And you are my besties. ;) 

So far I have been humbled sufficiently with cold showers and squat toilets. and been made so grateful for what I have. The government here is very corrupted and the culture makes it very difficult for people to succeed if they are not born into successful families. There's a cast system and from the time you are born you have a specific cast which you will never be able to change. You have to marry within the cast or be "cast out," and certain casts cannot have certain careers and such... Also everyone is expected to be entirely dependent on their families for basically all life. Chet, the man who taught us some Nepali and took us on a culture tour, has a son who's 18 and I was talking to him. He told me that he is only allowed to work in the shops here (there's infinite shops all over every roads everywhere. That's how they make their money- tourists who want to buy souvenirs) but it's only lawful to pay shop employees his age 50,000 rupees per month. Which is like $50 ish dollars in usd. Per month! And that's working 9 hours a day!! There's no government support or insurance or Gah. It just makes me want to bash someone's head in.

Anyway that's my political rant that I never thought I would make. I love the USA. 

Our senses of humor are so strange. If I ever find people who think the same things are funny that I do I know we will be buddies. It's rare that people laugh at thank ipthar though Hahahaha 😂 you just have to be there. 

Peoples mannerisms are important. Nepali people have lovely mannerisms and I'm constantly fascinated. They always walk around with these graceful steps and always bend their arms at a certain angle when they are not using them when they talk to you. But they always use them when they talk to you. It's really fun to just watch them talk, they love to. 
Oh my heck the children here are so cute. 

Hahahah the white elephants were winners. I showed them to Jo and Nicolas and we laughed hardest at the little scary haired alien dudes Hahahaha. Wow where do you find such a thing after the di crazy people rush? Why didn't the crazy people want them? 

I don't know why but every time I read your little shower shpeel I giggle so much. I just keep picturing you with an electric toothbrush and cleaner and your crazy eyes attacking the walls of your shower. Well done. How did that go anyway? :) are you done? 

Silly mom. The place I'm at is called lakeside. The lake is right there hahaha. And of course I know your full name given you by our one and only Teeshy Dunkers. 

Addictions make me sad. I've never been around this many people who just absolutely have to have three coffees a and a pack of cigarettes and a beer each day. It's making me feel ridiculous and scared for how much money they spend on this crap that's not going to make them happier but they obviously think it will. 
Thank heavens for the gospel haha. 

Sorry oll reply and send more later. 

I love y'all :) this is incredible and I want you to know that it's been worth every penny so far. 




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