ABOUT THIS SITE
I’ve established this blog primarily to report on my experience serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal. Friends, family and all persons interested in Peace Corps, Nepal, agricultural development work or those otherwise curious are welcome to follow !
ABOUT ME
I am an International Environmental Policy student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies currently serving as a Food Security Volunteer for Peace Corps Nepal. I grew up in a small town of Northern California in the heart of Gold-rush country. A mountain girl at heart, I came to value the lifestyle offered by urbanity when moving to Berkeley to study Architecture and City Planning at the University of California. After experience working in city planning and witnessing global issues through travel, I hope to pursue a career in sustainable city planning, and/or international development – facilitating the creation of nature-infused, net-zero, socially-equitable communities. I currently live and work in Nepal where I will remain until late 2014. When not on working I may be found on my bicycle, singing in the shower, snapping photos of new places, drawing, or hiking up a mountain.
ABOUT MY ASSIGNMENT
I am an Agriculture/Nutrition Extensionist, or Food Security Volunteer in Nepal and am part of the first group of 20 volunteers to serve here since they closed the program in 2004. My specific post is in Baglung Bazar, the headquarter city for both the Baglung District and Dhawalagiri Zone in the middle-hill region of Nepal. I’m approximately 2 hours by bus from Pokhara, and a bit more from the Annapurnas :) It’s absolutely gorgeous: situated on a small plateau about 100 meters above a large river, yet surrounded by hills 1000 meters high, Baglung Bazar is a vibrant little city tucked into the navel of two steep river canyons and blessed with a striking view of Mt Dhaulagiri, which happens to be the 7th highest mountain in the world (my mind is blown every single day by this fact). I spent September through November in intense, immersive language/culture/program training in the Sindhupalchok District, which is a few hours northeast of the capital, Kathmandu.
LINKS
Announcing the re-opening of Nepal
Peace Corps Swears in first group of Volunteers in Nepal After Eight-Year Absence
Peace Corps Master’s International Program