Travel day soon settled....

This is the new monastery at Pharping on the hill behind those little lamas!  Now they moved in, and I know I can go there in late April or 1 week in May!

So in this environmental I will spend some month :) I´m really looking forward to it!

Time to purchase tickets!!!

Standard VS Happiness...

I'm Swedish, and grew up in the Swedish standardized norms society. Sweden is one of the countries with the highest standard of values ​​when it comes to accommodation & living.

   1965 was a parliamentary decision, to start the "Million Programme" which is the term for housing in Sweden during the period 1965-1975. The goal was to quickly build a million homes (note that in Sweden, lived about 8 million people) to improve housing standards. (They even have standards for how high a sink should be, how far it is between certain surfaces in the kitchen, all to improve and enhance standard for everyone.)

Normal standard for washing / drying clothes  in our houses in Sweden

From this highly developed country  I move about 6 years ago, to live in  Spain instead. And in the case of standard, it felt like I moved back to the-30's! Here are bad kitchens, no tumble dryer, drying rooms, etc., instead we hang our  laundry to dry outside the windows and balconies. (actually super good for the natural resources and mother earth)

My flat in Barcelona, Landry on dry

And soon I will then take a few more steps back when it comes to standard :)
I checked just images from the  monastery in Nepal were I will volunteer to work, and there are no washing machines etc,  here I will  wash by hand.

But on the other hand, Sweden has the highest statistics of suicide! Think about it guys.

You can not standardize luck! And I've already made my choice. How are you doing?

Nepal, a wounderful mix - Even Religoin

I am not following any religion, I pic a bit here and a bit there, mix it in the way that feel good in my heart and  right for me, I adapt is as" my own religion", or believes- I know many people that do that too (maybe a sign of the times?)

But I´m curious about what religion they have in Nepal, after all, I an gonna work in a Buddhist Monastery!

So I started to search a bit about it (its one of my preparation to be ready to meet Nepal) 

Following I found on Wikipedia:

The people of Nepal follow Buddhism and Hinduism together. Due to the existence of religious tolerance, it is difficult to separate the modern religious life of the people of Nepal. The same person can follow Hinduism and Buddhism at the same time. They celebrate Dashain and Buddha Jayanti regardless of what their religious category is. As the time passed by f, the people of Kathmandu followed both religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) and along with the tradition. Nepal was declared a "Hindu Kingdom" by king Prithvi Narayan Shah. During the Shah reign Kings performed their duties both as a Buddhist and a Hindu which can be felt in many a Buddist and Hindu ceremonies in which king took active part. In Nepal, it is hard to separate who is a Hindu or a Buddhist; they perform the same cultures, celebrate the same holidays and always work as a team. Hinduism and Buddhism has a unique combination in the society of Nepal. A Hindu in Nepal never hates a Buddhist and vice versa. Instead, they respect each other. In terms of respecting another religion and performing religious ceremony, a Buddhist in Nepal is different from a Buddhist in Japan and a Hindu in Nepal is different from a Hindu in India. The Buddhist and Hindus of Nepal follow the same culture and tradition and don't emphasize on what religion they belong to.

WOW! Imagine if all religions could live side by side in the hole world!!!  I'm pretty sure that would be a fantastic word, filled with love and understanding! I am so thrilled to go and to see/feel how this is working out in reality! maybe Nepal / Kathmandu is the true role model as a society, anyway in this point of view?!

Facts: According to the 2001 census, 80.62 percent of Nepalese are Hindu, 10.74 percent are Buddhist, 4.20% are Muslim,3.60 percent are Kirant (an indigenous religion), 0.45 percent are Christian, and 0.4 percent are classified as other groups / source- Wikipedia 

What do we need to trigger us to be a helper?

This film I saw long time ago, but kinda forgot about it, last week I saw it again. And it was so strong and powerful when I realized that nothing changed, or -It changed to the worst for the people of Tibet. They are still hoping people from the word could help them- So the question is, What can you do?

New date for my travel to Nepal...

Yesterday I talked to this amazingly nice woman, Cynthia, that is Project Coordinator at littlelamas.org.  The monastery is in the stage of moving from Boudanath to Pharping new school site which is a rural country area  9 KM south of city Kathmandu. And she told me they are running late, and will not be ready to 1 of April as we talked about in the start. But this is perfect for me, cos I have so much to prepare  and I got super stressed when I were thinking of that it is only 2 week until 1 of April!
But, it can be later as well :) 

To move from Sweden to Spain was really a huge shange in how fast things are going (super slow in Spain) and I have a feeling that Spain will appaer as a super fast country compairing to Nepal - This is gonna be interesting. And I accualy love that things are what they are, because in the end it will be just perfect anyway... So a great way to practice patience 

So everything works out in the best of ways, I get time to do what I have to do, and I will be in time to the start of the new school. What can i say, Thank you universe, that make the scene in the best of ways :)
The pieces are falling into place as they are suppose to.

Making an Impact, Promoting Art with a Cause.

"Nepal, known as a land of diverse cultures, languages, ethnicity and religions, has to offer amazing variety of artworks. However, these artists remain in dark, unknown to the outside world."
 This line I found on artsofnepal.com and I guess it is so true! If I look to myself, I don´t know much about it, yet :)

Canvas by By Ravi Maharjan

But I'm so exited to find out, and as the impulsive person I am, I have really difficulties to wait until its time to jump on the plane and embrace me in all new things. Culture, art, religion, my voluntarily work, people, atmosphere, I want all of it hihihi....

That´s why I choose to live in Barcelona, cos here everything is amazing  beautiful, lots of great architecture, art, atmosphere and free spirits that can live as they are. Still after 6 years here, I find new details in this fairytale city. And I´m pretty sure I will love Nepal as well, but in another way, of course. So to find out about the art and artist "that are kept in the dark" will be another mission for me.

Checklist...

Today I started to write down a list of everything that I have to arrange for my trip to Kathmandu. This is how it look so far:

1) Get a doctor's appointment for vaccination.

2) Find cheap airline tickets.

3) Find out what I need to bring with me. (How do I pack? And what do I need / not need hmmm)

4) Improve myself more about Culture, Art and  the country.

5) Be sure to arrange everything in my apartment, rental issues, that everything works (must repair both toilet and kitchen taps)

6) Solve the storage of my personal stuff here in Barcelona during the time I´m gone.

7) Try to get a client that may be interested in purchasing some items/articles from Kathmandu, and /or a documentary about life as a volunteer, etc. I am still considering a bit of the formation of this. Do you have any tips on any client that needs travel news / reportage etc. Please, contact me!

8) Considering also about finding what is available in terms of decoration accessories in Nepal that I may be able to import to Europe (or homepage) this would also help and benefit the people of Nepal. They seem to have so much fine craftsmanship in Nepal and that area. This would be a perfect side track of my trip, as will fit perfectly in my professional capacity as an interior designer, and largest interest.

However, besides all of this tremendous planning,  I do enjoy entirely to have this exciting adventure ahead of me. I'm totally filed of passionate energy for the task!