Life in Nepal: Part 1

I jumped at the opportunity to visit this interesting country
尼泊爾生活筆記（一）      
我把握機會造訪這個引人入勝的國家 .

The first time I remember hearing about Nepal was in 2007. I was browsing through odd Internet news. One of Nepal Airlines' jets was having technical problems. So the airline sacrificed two goats in front of the jet to satisfy the Hindu god of sky protection. I admit I thought that was strange. But the news also made me curious. What was life like in this foreign country? What was the country like? What were the people like? I never completely forgot that incident or my desire to learn more about the place.

A few years later I was in my second year of graduate school. I needed an internship overseas to graduate. I wasn't having much luck finding a good position even though any country but the U.S. would do. My professor mentioned a possibility she knew about. She had a friend who was a director at a nonprofit organization in Nepal. Nepal! That place where they sacrifice goats at the airport! I remembered. I couldn't miss this chance, I had to go.

The director of the nonprofit in Nepal was named Colleen. By phone and email she interviewed me and helped prepare me for the experience of an 11 week stay in Nepal. She warned me that it would be difficult and that I'd have moments of puree frustration She advised me that being flexible would be the key. Nepal is a developing country in South Asia - little to nothing there is similar to life in the U.S. Things are unorganized, I couldn't let it bother me.

My professor gave me advice, too. She had never been to Nepal but had experience living in Southeast Asia. Take lots of stomach medicine and some antibiotics. Get vaccines before you go. Watch out for mosquitoes and dirty water. But I think the most valuable advice she gave me was this - take a jar of peanut butter. It's a familiar taste when the homesickness gets bad.

With their words in mind, I packed my backpack, took a deep breath and boarded the plane to Negal.



Grammar Gym:
"I wasn't having much luck finding a good position even though any country but the U.S. would do."
(something) would do - something is good enough or sufficient.
May I have a cup please? Any cup would do, thank you.
You need sugar to make this kind of candy - but not just any kind of sugar would do; you must use brown sugar.

Vocabulary Tips:
professor - a teacher in college or university, has a high level of education with special quality and skills. 'pro' -大众，公开的。  'profess' - 宣称，公开申明。 professor -公开对大众说话的人，教授。
*Alex is now an assistant professor at Harvard University.
profession (n) - work field, career.职业。
*He's a lawyer by profession.
nonprofit - 非以营利为目的的。'non'- not,  'profit' -利润。
*This nonprofit agency is famous for helping AIDS babies.
*This nonprofit program helps homeless kids stay in school.
for-profit - opposite of nonprofit. -以营利为目的的。
browse - quickly look around or look through. 浏览，翻阅。
*Samuel browsed through all his textbooks before the semester started.
browse - take look at the store with no specific buying target. 随意看看。
*I'm not looking for any particular items; I'm just browsing.
sacrificed (v) - give animal life to their god. 牺牲，献祭。
*The elder of the tribe sacrificed a goat to worship their god.
sacrifice (n) -牺牲。
*Louise sacrificed her career to take care of her family.
*many parents are willing to make sacrifices for their kids.
technical - not human problem, is machine operating problem.
incident - something that happen is called incident, is not normal, is look odd.
Any luck?  Do you have any luck? - people try to do something (shopping a specific item, or some conversation or relationship.....), you would like to find out the result, you can say " Any luck" , or 'do you have any luck? "
antibiotic - 抗生素1（多用复数 antibiotics.）。 'anti' - 对抗，. 'bio' - 生命。生物。
*after finishing a full course of antibiotics, the patient was released from the hospital.
*Billy is on antibiotics for pneumonia. 肺炎
homesickness (n) -思乡病 long for home.
*Teresa was overcome by homesickness and decided to cut her journey short.
homesick (adj) - miss home, think of home.想家的。
*Melissa got homesick when she became ill on her trip.
flexible - 有弹性的，灵活的，可变通的。'flex' -弯曲。
*The company's flexible working hours attract many college graduates.
*Our prices are very flexible.
flexibility (n) - 有弹性。
*Online learning offers great flexibility for people with busy schedules.
unorganized - 'un' -not, not organized, very messy. 杂乱无序，没有条理的，缺乏组织的。
*The unorganized protests turned into terrible riots. 缺乏组织的示威。。。可怕的暴动
organized - everything in order. 条理有序的，有条有理的，仅仅有条的。
*Patricia is a organized and highly efficient secretary. 效率极高的
a piece of something ： a piece of advice, a piece of music, a piece of information.
have moment of something ：have moment of frustration. have moment of enjoyment, have moment of peace.
frustrating - feeling bad about something that you are not getting the thing down or the way what you want. frustrated, frustration (n).

Language Tips:
demonym - 一个国家居民的名称。
Angelenos - 居住在洛杉矶的居民的名称。
Floridians -居住在弗罗里达州的居民的名称
Italians - 意大利人
Asians - 亚洲人。
Earthlings - 地球人。
French (n), (adj) - 法国人，法国的。
Chinese (n) (adj) - 中国人，中国的
Nepal (n) 尼泊尔, Nepali (adj)- 尼泊尔的 , Nepalese (n) -尼泊尔人。
Mexico - 墨西哥的 (move last letter 'o' add 'an' ) to be Mexican - 墨西哥人.
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take / bring : 中国语文法，无论说话人是在哪儿，都用“带”，‘带来’，‘带去’。英文语法则有别。
take - 事情不是发生在现场时，用take， 此文中的教授或作者都不是在尼泊尔。
课文中的二句：
take a jar of peanut butter.
take lots of stomach medicine.
bring -事情发生在现场时，用bring。如：
Can you bring me a cup of coffee.
bring - 站在对方的立场说话，用bring，如：
What can I bring to the party?
waiter/waitress - take.
I will take this plat to the customer.
customer -bring.
Can you bring me a plat?


Notes taking of StudioClassroom