Yeah, okay, enough of the Kathmandu puns.
SO I pretty much love Nepal. It is really peaceful and a nice little oasis after being in Maharashtra for so long. Don't get me wrong, I love India, but it's just so different there. People are more blunt/rude in India (especially Maharashtra) and here in Nepal everyone is so friendly and smiley. I could get used to this.
We have not done too much in the past four days, but at least I think tomorrow we will go see a tourist sight and check out some major Hindu and Buddhist temples.
I'm sure many of you have heard that our plan for me to get an Entry Visa which would allow me to go straight back into India and let me stay there for one year without leaving...that plan was crushed when we visited the Indian visa office two days ago. Apparently, in order for me to get that visa our marriage license (which is already stamped by Maharashtra government) needs to be also stamped in Delhi by the Ministry of External Affairs office in order for it to be recognized outside of India. This is something Romel and I did not know about before we arrived here, and now that I've left India I cannot return for 60 days under my tourist visa and so I asked about the re-entry permit which allows a tourist to re-enter India before the 60 days. He told me that along with my return ticket to Delhi, I also need to show a receipt of a ticket that shows I am leaving India again after I re-enter otherwise I cannot get the re-entry permit. I cannot afford to just buy a plane ticket that shows I'm leaving India again in a few months, and so I cannot get that either.
It all boils down to this: I am stuck in Nepal for 60 days. My husband is going back to India on the 5th of June because he has recording to do and I will not be allowed to go with. I can return to India on the 22nd of July.
There are a few options:
1. If we were made of money Romel could fly back to Delhi as scheduled, get the stamp on our marriage license, fly back to Kathmandu, we'd get the visa, then both of us fly back to India again, but that would require us to have extra money to fly him back to Nepal and fly both of us back to India again (not to mention during all this we have to pay our house rent which has recently increased by 3,000 rupees). In order for this option to happen we need an extra 22,000 rupees approximately ($397).
2. Romel stays here for 2 months with me, but again we'd still have to pay rent in India and also don't know who would stay in our house for that long. Plus then Romel and his band would have to reschedule their planned out recording session which they've been really looking forward to and I wouldn't want this to stop that.
3. Romel goes back to India on the 5th as planned and I stay here for 45 more days and fly back down to Mumbai without getting any different visa. This is the cheapest, easiest, yet hardest option because then I'd have to be separated from my husband after only 2 months of marriage! Plus, I have no idea what in the world I would do here for 45 days alone. I'd have to pretty much find somewhere to stay free-of-charge.
We are not letting this ruin our honeymoon, oh no, we are still having fun, going sight-seeing, and plan to go to Pokhara next week for three days staying in a really nice hotel with massages and all that stuff (and a bathtub! I'm so excited for bathtubs!) Romel has never ever in his life taken a bath in a tub, I will remedy that and he will never look back. Unfortunately, there's no way to have a bath in our house in India.
SO I pretty much love Nepal. It is really peaceful and a nice little oasis after being in Maharashtra for so long. Don't get me wrong, I love India, but it's just so different there. People are more blunt/rude in India (especially Maharashtra) and here in Nepal everyone is so friendly and smiley. I could get used to this.
Can you see the mountains? CAN YOU? It's hard to see them in the city.
The most awesome cell phone holder I have ever seen, and it's now my cell phone holder.
We have not done too much in the past four days, but at least I think tomorrow we will go see a tourist sight and check out some major Hindu and Buddhist temples.
I'm sure many of you have heard that our plan for me to get an Entry Visa which would allow me to go straight back into India and let me stay there for one year without leaving...that plan was crushed when we visited the Indian visa office two days ago. Apparently, in order for me to get that visa our marriage license (which is already stamped by Maharashtra government) needs to be also stamped in Delhi by the Ministry of External Affairs office in order for it to be recognized outside of India. This is something Romel and I did not know about before we arrived here, and now that I've left India I cannot return for 60 days under my tourist visa and so I asked about the re-entry permit which allows a tourist to re-enter India before the 60 days. He told me that along with my return ticket to Delhi, I also need to show a receipt of a ticket that shows I am leaving India again after I re-enter otherwise I cannot get the re-entry permit. I cannot afford to just buy a plane ticket that shows I'm leaving India again in a few months, and so I cannot get that either.
It all boils down to this: I am stuck in Nepal for 60 days. My husband is going back to India on the 5th of June because he has recording to do and I will not be allowed to go with. I can return to India on the 22nd of July.
There are a few options:
1. If we were made of money Romel could fly back to Delhi as scheduled, get the stamp on our marriage license, fly back to Kathmandu, we'd get the visa, then both of us fly back to India again, but that would require us to have extra money to fly him back to Nepal and fly both of us back to India again (not to mention during all this we have to pay our house rent which has recently increased by 3,000 rupees). In order for this option to happen we need an extra 22,000 rupees approximately ($397).
2. Romel stays here for 2 months with me, but again we'd still have to pay rent in India and also don't know who would stay in our house for that long. Plus then Romel and his band would have to reschedule their planned out recording session which they've been really looking forward to and I wouldn't want this to stop that.
3. Romel goes back to India on the 5th as planned and I stay here for 45 more days and fly back down to Mumbai without getting any different visa. This is the cheapest, easiest, yet hardest option because then I'd have to be separated from my husband after only 2 months of marriage! Plus, I have no idea what in the world I would do here for 45 days alone. I'd have to pretty much find somewhere to stay free-of-charge.
We are not letting this ruin our honeymoon, oh no, we are still having fun, going sight-seeing, and plan to go to Pokhara next week for three days staying in a really nice hotel with massages and all that stuff (and a bathtub! I'm so excited for bathtubs!) Romel has never ever in his life taken a bath in a tub, I will remedy that and he will never look back. Unfortunately, there's no way to have a bath in our house in India.
So there you have it. This is how it is, but we are learning a lot from this. We're learning more about each other and more about God. He is teaching us something during this and I am okay with it. We could let this destroy our honeymoon but in spite of this bump in the road we are joyful and not living in despair. As a cross-cultural couple, you have to just get used to these challenges and things not working out. I wish it wasn't that way, but how would we grow and become stronger if we never struggled with anything? We just so happened to choose the path of most struggle. The narrow road indeed.
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