Blog posts about my experiences at Qatar Academy, before, during, and after my twelve-day incarceration in a Doha jail in May 2013 for allegedly insulting Islam.
Another way the universe appeared to have conspired to send me home was the racism it sent my way! ;) I experienced a lot of harassment and abuse from locals in Baku as well as in Doha. I was also profiled by establishments in both the cities angering me greatly and compounding my depression, as well as adding to my weariness with moving and traveling. Nepal's attractiveness had been increasing steadily.
Was the universe putting obstacles in my way to direct me homewards? While I enjoyed both teaching and traveling, issues at work and outside -- especially ones based on my nationality and/or skin color -- were making it harder and harder for me to continue to do so. With time, I also discovered my options for places I could seek work decreasing. I even lost a job!
All the time I was abroad, even while preparing for the eventuality of returning to Nepal, I had never had a timeline. The first time I contemplated a timeline was the Summer of 2009: I gave myself five years. In February 2013, almost four years later, I decided, the time was right to return. Timing was right for a number of reasons, namely, financial, career, weariness with moving, and a little one at home.
This is all about how I went from thinking of myself as a Tibetan-Buddhist to a humanist, from a Tibeto-Nepalese to a human being first etc., and how and who I have become and where I have gotten to in life -- through my international education, profession, and travels -- was one of the reasons for turning down a job offer in February 2013 to return to Nepal.
Development aid industry is a failed industry. Sustainable development rests in the hand of the locals, not the big bilateral and multilateral development aid agencies. To be part of that I decided to turn down the job offer and to return to Nepal.
On February 12, 2013, feeling ready to return to Nepal, I turned down a job offer. All through my student life in Nepal as well as when studying, working, and traveling abroad, I had been doing a number of things in preparation for that eventuality to really fulfill a dream.