10 things I love about Nepal:

1. It's all about "Actions speak louder than words"

In Nepali, saying “please”, “sorry”, “you’re welcome” is not really a thing as it is in our countries.

I think that is because Nepali are so wholeheartedly friendly that all these things are obvious, it’s refreshing to know that there is no fake friendliness needed, no need to emphasize that you are trying to be nice. Just be it, that’s it.

What Nepali people do is for example say:"Have you eaten sister?", and that's how you would ask a stranger how they are. Though this was a bit confusing in the beginning, it is now something that impresses me a lot, how Nepali have such a nice way of being open yet not in your face welcoming. They're not so much preoccupied with having manners like we do, but they value it incredibly if you are friendly and helpful in what you do. If you offer to do the washing up or help on the fields, they will let you. Often that’s hard to do as a guest, for me it helped immensely to feel comfortable, when I could do at least my own dishes and help here and there.

Most of the time when you're trying to be nice, Nepali people will just be nicer (once I got a book for a friend as a gift, next day she got me a book back and earrings on top). If you've got the hang of how Nepal people have their own way of being caring and helpful, you can be honestly (!!) friendly in no time.

2. Nepali people are always down to earth and not fussy about unimportant things

Nepali bedrooms have a bed in it and that's about it, in their kitchen a lot of their cupboards still have the sticker that comes when you get them. When they invite a lot of guests, they don't care about making the house look better than it really is. Once we had dinner at grandma's house next door, and she had cooked for 10 people with just 2 pots and one knife, it tasted 100 times better than anything most people can do in their fancy Luxembourgish kitchens. The grandma also had a small house, so there wasn't enough space for everybody, some people just ate on the floor and that was completely fine. All the children were running around, some of them danced to music on full volume during dinner, one was even crawling around on the table, the adults just talked louder, no one was told to sit down and be quiet. It became really funny when after, all the young kids were watching something like the Hindi version of Teletubbies on TV, and the grandpas were just watching it as well while talking, then the children left and the grandpas just continued as if it was the news.

I like how Nepalis just care about what's essential, and would never ever mind if they saw that someone else's kitchen was a little untidy or anything of the sort. Now that's a cake that Luxembourgish people should cut themselves a piece off right about now.

3. The morning light

Sometimes you pass a corner, and then you’re surprised by a massive mountain in golden light, almost every day. When it is very clear, you can see the peaks of mountains that are over 70 km away. This is very special, from many places in Kathmandu you can see the 3 peaks of Ganesh, Langtang mountain and the Annapurnas on a clear day. At sunrise, the white part will be golden just before the sun appears and whenever I'm up early I try to catch that moment. At 6 am the light is silver, sometimes even purpleish. The last two weeks air pollution seems to have been especially bad and Kathmandu Valley was covered in this weird misty fog ( I imagine it clears up beautifully in Spring, fingers crossed that it does!) so everyone can have their mountain view back.

4. Namastes

mean "I bow to the highest in you", you are honouring the part of the person you meet that is god-like. I get different reactions when I am walking on the street here, often I’m a big deal, sometimes people say hi, others say nothing and sometimes an old person stops, bows their head a little, brings hands together and says namaste to me like I was a good friend. I'm really glad that these times I'm just a normal passerby, when I can say Namasté here and there, it really does a lot in terms of showing me that despite all the many misunderstandings, some essential things don't need explaining.

Often, I find myself in conversation just turning around whether I feel cold or I have eaten, it's good to be looked after, but I do catch myself feeling like I never really talk to people, everything I learn about them or tell them about me, doesn't really mean anything.

When someone "just" says Namasté, it means I'm greeted like anyone else, I'm a normal person, no superficial things and misunderstandings. The "namastés" are refreshing in times when I am always trying to understand and be understood.

5. The easy-goingness on food

Coming to Nepal I thought there were many cultural things to look out regarding food. It is a really big part of their culture (everybody always eats together) and religion (before every meal there is an offering to the gods), Nepali people are refreshingly chill about how and how much and what you eat. When you're a guest the cook will most likely ask you three times if you have enough, and they will try and give you more even if you say no. I find the food very delicious, plain, maybe. Cauliflower, potato, raddish, rice, lentils, spinach. What we eat daily is called “Dhal Baath”, I never really got sick of it, actually, it felt like I got to come “down to earth” and eat simply for such a long time. Many times, we harvested and ate the food on the same day, and I think that also marked me like any other farmer, about the true value of food.

Also, you eat the food with your hand, which is fun, and I’ve never really met anyone eating meat more than 2-3 times a week. It is true that people will want to make meat to honor you as a guest, but it was really only once or twice that I wanted to decline food.

6.Honesty

The bus fare is 25 Rupees, the first time I took the Bus I was thinking I'd have to be really careful not to be ripped off. This turned out to be ridiculous, because on the bus that first time and any other time, I got asked exactly the same amount as everyone else. When I give 30 and say it's okay, they insist on giving me back the 5. It's the same in Street restaurants and any other shops. I find Nepalis very “people-smart”, if you’re meeting them without superstition or arrogance, smile, say “brother” or “sister” like it is custom, speak 2-3 Words Nepali whenever you can, they’ll notice, and treat

you exactly the same as everyone else. It was just prejudice that made me scared I was going to get ripped off whenever possible, it’s not true at all. I was friendly and using my common sense, and that got me honesty in 99% of the places I went (mostly not tourist ones though).

I think I started being exceptionally trusting and open, believing I wouldn’t regret it but could stop once I had any bad experience. There was really no such thing, so I continued to be open and talking when I really could only speak so little, and in 4 months I learned just HOW VERY FAR Kindness can get you. It was really just learning these 10 words of How are you, Good day, it’s cold/warm, Where are you going?... that made so many Nepalis so happy, just because I had done a little effort to take a step to meet them.

Often I could use a little kindness, in my time I think I developed that gut feeling that tells you when to trust a stranger and when not to, I depended on that a lot as a solo-traveler. Once, I was on a bus that was completely crowded, a man asked to carry my bag so that there was more space for people to stand, I did, after hesitating a little. He was sitting right in front of me then, but all the standing people we're pushed to the back, so after a while I couldn't see my bag anymore. I was a little worried but not much, many other people knew this was my bag and I just knew I could trust that they would say something if anyone touched it .

I remember one more thing:

In my Village there is a Buddhist pilgrimage site, where a guru reached enlightenment. I once visited it, and a bus full of tourists came simultaneously. I watched the site, and the tourists, one of them bought a prayer necklace for around 15 Euros (I knew it was worth maybe 5). After they left, it was only me and the street vendors. I talked with them a little in Nepali, and at the end, they gave me the same necklace for free.

7. The way Nepali people Laugh

I've said that nepali people are astonishingly genuine many times over, I find you really notice that in the way that they laugh. At the dinner table, the auntie laughs for 5 minutes about the jokes of her nephew, I walk around singing this Nepali song and people are surprised then they smile at me with this very kind, very open smile that just says "this young lady is a little weird, but aren't we all?"

A friend of mine once walked on a street with quite a steep ascent, on it. An old full loaded truck was trying to get up, seemingly in slow motion. He got stuck and three guys jumped out trying to push it up the hill, they managed a little but it was incredibly slow that my friend burst out laughing at the image. The three guys saw her and started to laugh too.

Something like this happened to me too, once I was walking home in the rain everything was muddy.There was this old lady in front of me, she slipped a little, then got back up and looked around to see if someone saw her, I had and was laughing a little. Like it had to be, I slipped too while doing so. We both were laughing with each other at each other, a thing that might happen back in Europe too, but honestly I think it happens less often.

8. Their sense of fashion

The field bordering our bottlehouse belongs to the most stylish Grandpa I've ever seen. He wears an Adidas hoodie over a traditional Nepali shirt and fake Nike adilettes. Especially the adilettes are a must-have, and a key to make a statement when you’re wearing traditional dress. The grandpa with a supreme hat never failed to make me laugh.

Once, I was at the school in the teachers room. And somebody called for the headmaster, he left but couldn't find his shoes (you take them off every time you enter a house) instead he went for the pink fluffy slippers of the dinner lady when we made his rounds around the classrooms haha

9. The discussions are hilarious, and often oscar-worthy

Countless times I wanted to film some scene, capture all that's going on and every joke. I’m 100% certain it would get an Oscar. Unfortunately, these scenes are quite irrecreatable. It seems they are even harder to tell than they are funny.

I’ll try and tell you one of these moments which definitely counts among my favourites.I’ll do my best to paint to you the picture that to me at least matches the last supper in level of iconicness.

Coming back from the mountains, we were hiking to Tikhedhunga, where we caught the jeep with 9 other local people, who you could say are the cast of this movie haha:

There’s the 90year old grandma, in house slippers (chappels, best word ever) and outraged about everything. Also quite boss, and she helped us get the jeep for a good price.

Her granddaughter, not yet matching her elder in her rascalness but surely getting there if her grandma is setting such a great example in how to be a rebel at heart.

Then the “dude” maybe the major, maybe the dealer, could also be that it was just his hat that looked very influential.The Dude met a „guy“on the way, wearing a glittery shirt, the jeep was full, but the guy just held on to the metal bars while he chatted across the driver's seat with the dude.

We crossed the bridge exiting the national park. We were stopped because we had this guy hanging on our jeep. And out came a policeman with a cup of tea, drinking it like the queen would.

They talked, and after a while Cathy said: I wonder what's taking so long. I mean, the other policeman had almost finished shaving…

I answered: he‘s just going to show his license and we‘ll be out in no time. Then Nisha, my Nepali friend said: yeah,ehmm that the thing ehhh his licence…

The licence was nonexistent. And the driver was just explaining how his uncle who had thought him, is actually a better driver than the people in the driving school. At that point the grandma was already pure dissing the officer calling him Babu( meaning: smallest Brother) and all. He fired back with „calm down mother“. And eventually the Dude with the hat called somebody who called somebody and we passed while the officer toasted on our jeep with his tea. C‘est ça la life.

10. their approach to community and how they take time for Things

There is just so much we can learn about how high a value “Mehr Sein” has in everyday life. Everybody is a brother or sister, you drink tea all the time, you spend hours with your family not for any purpose, but because just relaxing with them is something as necessary to a Nepali person as eating. Apparently it’s a thing that in Hinduism the noblest actions are those for common good or family, whereas in western culture, personal success of the individual is praised most. We are obsessed with ourselves, therefore the amount of selflessness of People on the other side of the world seems unbelievable at times. Or you tell me who of us would stay 5 hours at their aunties house without making one single hint of wanting to leave.

Nepali people don’t really do time predictions. Maybe you take 20 minutes walking from home if you don't meet anyone, which never happens really. You walk, then you pass the temple, your friend passes with the bike, you have tea at the corner store, a friend of a friend needs your help because he just bought a huge cupboard that needs to go into the house. Then you go home.

For me it’s been nice to not look at my watch so often, everytime I did try to be there “on time”, I got annoyed, really for no reason, because very rarely they actually expect you for that time. Ever since I don’t tell anyone anything specific, it’s much more easy going.

In Friendship,

Tilly Schaaf