introductions, patience and accountability

Hi, I'm a graduating college senior. I come from Nepal, a small landlocked country in Asia. I've always been an avid reader, I believe that I don't know enough about any topic to reject a book. Reading books was my way of understanding the world, and there is always, almost always something you can learn …

hotpot wholesomeness

With notice out weeks in advance, location scouted and invites sent, it was the mark of one more revolution of earth around the sun on my friend Jie Wen’s birthday. Being the food monster he is, an unlimited buffet restaurant was aptly chosen to celebrate the day with his closest friends.  We stood beside him, …

burden of kindness

Time flew by quickly during my three months in Omaha, Nebraska. The Jana family were kind and gracious; they taught me how to swim, how to box, and to grow bushels of basil, among many other life skills. Big open hearts and warm hugs were always floating around, even for a stranger like me, someone …

quiet privilege

Through a close friend, my peers and I got an opportunity to volunteer at an educational fair in a small city called Alampuram in India. It was a fair where we would help explain concepts like gravity, pressure, and grammar to children who attended the local public school. Our host told us that these kids …

that christmas ferris wheel

It was supposed to be just another city. It was supposed to be just another European metropolis, with just another single-syllable river and just another tower. But the point was missed entirely. Any place is just as special as we allow it to be; that was Berlin for me. Especially on that ferris wheel at …

tranquility

I sat on my second bus back to San Francisco, dipping the special vegetable dumpling(MoMo) on a sweet sour-sauce my host family made for me. It came to me as a bit of a surprise that I've traveled 2019.8 miles within a span of a week, while celebrating one of the biggest festival of Nepalese …

new footsteps

"We're sorry ma'am but you have to pay extra $200 for your bag" *but how can a simple woman afford to pay that much for a bag?* "Ma'am please step aside and tell us your medium of payment before we let you board the plane" *but but but she doesn't even seem to understand English …

sassy sunshines

As I dreaded the increasing humidity of Taipei, I found myself searching for my oasis. Stress over my year-long thesis paper and increasing expenses before graduation were taking its toll on me. For my last semester in college, I had no hopes and no expectations, with one foot already out the door to step away …

short-lived bliss

The piercing cold of the night numbed my fingers, rendering them useless. My warmest jacket and gloves were clearly not warm enough for the Scottish November.  As I stood at the quiet deserted bus station at 3 am in Edinburgh, I looked around and wondered how many more times I need to suffer like this …

silence of the heart

I tug my memories for emotions I can recollect from this day. It comes back to me in pieces; I felt lost and calm, and silent and hyper at the same time. It was a day of contradictions, to say the least. Celebrating our spring break, it was a happy gathering, a one-day get-away to …

blossoming

One word: Chill. As I went on with my months, calendaring each day for some grand purpose like assignments, or work, or city immersion, or landmarks to ponder, their apartment was one place I didn’t have to calendar. I sent one text message, and the next thing I knew, I was flying my bike down …