Days 9-14: Backyard Cricketeers

It has been a few days since the last blog update, because we spent the week in Pokhara, a city about 5 hours west of Kathmandu.  This was the more relaxing part of the trip after visiting all the social organizations over the past eight days.  During our time there we got to hike to a religious site on top of a mountain, canoe across a lake, visit a hospital/college, go to an orphanage, see a great views of the Himalayas, and spend some time shopping and eating food that was a bit more familiar to home.  Overall it was a really fun few days where we got to recoup a bit before our final four days in Kathmandu. 

It is hard to pick one event from this week that really stands out, because there wasn't any deep life changing moments.  But one simple thing that i really enjoyed was spending a half hour playing cricket with one of the boys at the orphanage.  I had been wanting to play ever since coming here, but soccer is the more popular sport in this country.  Finally  though i got the chance to play with this kid.  It reminded me of playing baseball in the backyard as a kid with my brother.  We didn't have enough people for a game and all we had was a plastic bat and ball, but it kept us busy in the summer, so playing two man cricket with this kid brought back some good memories and i am sure it brightened up his day some also.  So amid this week of touristy self-indulgence i was able to help myself recover from the busy previous week, see some cool sites, buy some good souvenirs for myself and my family, but really the best part was the simple act of playing some ball with a kid who needed someone to play with.  By far that was the best and most significant part of my week.