Alice's email to her teacher

Hi Mr Ryan

It is amazing to be here. I am so excited now to be going trekking in a few days time. Karma Lama is a very nice man and is looking after us well already. This morning he took me, Lena and Dad shopping for some extra shorts and polyprops. He was very patient with me and Lena as we went to different shops and walked from the tourist area then to the local market area and then back again, Finally we found something!!

Here in Kathmandu we are staying in Thamel, the main tourist area, which you probably already figured out. Yesterday afternoon Dad took us to Durbar Square where you now have to pay 200R to be able to walk around and see everything there. Dad says it is much busier and way more crowded than it was 24 years ago. All the shops in Thamel are amazing. I got really upset yesterday when I discovered that someone must have stolen US$40 from my wallet. It was a hard lesson for me, and must have happened one time when I left my bag with my money in my room. I worked so hard delivering pamphlets to earn that money and I just hope the person who stole it does some good with it.

I hope everything over there is going well. I miss my friends, my great teacher, my own bed, our dog and cat, but I know already that I'm a different person. It is amazing to think of all the places I've already seen and the things I've done. Sometimes it has been so fast that it has seemed unreal to me, but afterwards I stop and think about it all and I just really appreciate having such great parents. I also really appreciate so much more how lucky we are in New Zealand and how important it is for us to look after our environment.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have heaps to say to you when I come back from trekking. I already have so much I could say from everything we've done, almost so much that I don't know where to start!!

Take care and very warm wishes, and please say hi to the class from me and if they are ever giving you trouble you please say from me just to stop for a minute and think about how lucky we all are to live in such a beautiful country and with such a good life compared to what I have seen.

Love
Alice
(Thanks Alice for giving me permission to post this email to your teacher at Taikura Rudolf Steiner School in Hastings NZ - Michael - received earlier this evening )