Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Jenny: Just for the weekend.

Dixon.

I went back to Nepal for a long weekend. I went with a friend who has a love for traveling and has spent 6 months living in Asia. She and I landed in Kathmandu and somehow managed to get a ride to the hospital in Banepa in a truck. Like a dump truck kind of a truck. It was a long ride, but when we got there mid-day, we parked in the corner of a green field under some leafy bush-trees. First thing we trudged up the hill to the little school behind the hospital, where I used to work. Some of the teachers were new, and I felt like I spent most of the time asking who all the new people were. We walked back down to the truck and in anticipation of school getting out, I began to put on my tennis shoes. I announced, "I'm going to play soccer!" My friend said, "Well I'm going to go and get some money exchanged." "Oh! I meant to do that! How did I forget?! Actually, I don't know if I even have $20 in my wallet..." I said worriedly. So instead, I went with her into town to get some Nepali currency. While in town, we ran into a whole mission trip group of people headed out to the hospital. I knew many of the people in the group, and was shocked that I had not known they were coming to Nepal. They expressed the same shock in finding me there, and my only excuse was, "Well, it was really last-minute." I started walking back to the hospital with this hoard of Americans. I'm sure we looked very out-of-place, as all Americans do in Banepa. Anyhow, as we neared the hospital and began to climb the steep hill, I looked up and saw a crowd of Nepalis from the church bringing mattresses and other things from the town into the hospital compound for the American missionaries. And at the forefront of this group, I saw seven of my closest friends. My heart skipped at least 3 beats. At the exact same moment, one of them - Dixon - saw me and dropped his end of the mattress he was carrying. We both yelled "Ai!" and started running toward each other. Dixon, running half sideways, kept yelling "Ai!" back at Abrik and the rest of the group to get their attention, and they all began running down the hill to me. I'm pretty sure all eyes in the entire street and surrounding fields were on Dixon and me. We leaped into each other's arms, not very culturally sensative, and hugged, still shrieking in happiness.

And then I woke up.

I wish words could better describe the scene. Or that words could describe how bright my morning was after that dream.

But I do know that I have more fully realized how much I miss Nepal and my family there.