When the lockdown kept him from his everyday work … My husband turned our patio into a beautiful aquaponics garden! Most homes in the city are flats, with different families on every floor. We moved almost two years ago from a ground floor flat and were SO excited to have a first floor with a balcony that we could make our own (that and to be able to get some sunshine into our home!).

Right outside our door we have a big fish tank, herbs and vegetables, grapevines and bunches of other plants. Our neighbors all come by to see what we’re up to (us weird foreigners putting fish tanks on our balconies) and sometimes sit for tea in the shade of the grapevines. It’s become one of our favorite places to have our tea and our meals.

Green spaces—grass in particular—can be hard to find in Kathmandu. It’s a big city with lots of dust and lots of pavement. We’ve taken to calling the area outside our home “the lane”. It’s like a long driveway leading to all the different compounds on our street. It’s quiet and off of the main road. We’ve grown to love the lane. It’s big enough to play a few rounds of spikeball, quiet enough for our daughter to run with neighbors or ride her bike, wild enough to search for bugs and other critters … just like she would in any backyard. Over the past few years we’ve grown to love the lane and the memories we’ve made here, passing bread to friends, meeting up with other parents who pop by on their walks, and watching our daughter go from crawling to walking to running, to bike-riding.

Whenever we go for a walk … our two-year-old says we’re going “on an adventure!” She’s not wrong, in most cases. We usually end up crossing busy streets with no crosswalks, dodging cow poop, stopping to talk to neighbors who oggle at our redhead, and swerving through bumpy dug-up roads where yet another tractor is attempting to make them smooth. They’re not quite easy-going strolls, but afternoon walks are never boring.

This terraced park is one of our favorite places to go, especially at sunset. When we do, we see friends just sitting together. Sometimes they’re chatting, sometimes they’re drinking tea or shucking corn or braiding yarn for incense. Or sometimes they’re just sitting, just watching the sun go down, and enjoying being next to someone.

It wasn’t until the late 50s that any major highway was built in Nepal. For long journeys, people mostly traveled by foot. Throughout the city are centuries old trees and surrounding them are concrete benches for people to stop and rest. These were built to provide shade and rest for weary travelers. Though there are many streets and cars today, Nepal has a culture of sitting and chatting and places to do so are very important!