Nepal

## Eulogy 1

*By Cam Cain*

Nepal is a country located in the Himalayas

It was ruled by the Shah Dynasty until 2008 as the world’s last Hindu monarchy

Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, is located on the border with China

The Nepali name for Everest is Sagarmatha, meaning Forehead of the Sky

The birthplace of Buddha is in Lumbini within Nepal

## Eulogy 2

*By Lexy Lee*

Nepal has around 121 recognized national languages! Any language that is spoken as a first language are considered a language of Nepal. This includes many dialects of different languages. Most of these languages are Indo-European or Sino-Tibetan. Nepali is unsurprisingly the most commonly spoken language, spoken by 44.64% of the population. My lovely friend Maitreyi was one of them! Other commonly spoken languages include Maithili, Bhojpuri, Tharu, and Tamang. The capital of Nepal is Kathmandu.

In Nepal it is considered rude to point at things with your fingers, so many Nepalese people gesture at places and objects with their chin or lips.

Nepal is considered the birthplace of Buddha. Buddha was born in 623 BC in the gardens of Lumbini Province in Nepal. Lumbini is a Buddhist pilgrimage site. The Indian emperor Ashoka made the pilgrimage to Lumbini in 249 BC and erected a pillar to show his dedication to Buddha. The inscription on this pillar is the oldest in Nepal. “Buddha was born in Nepal” is a popular t shirt slogan in Nepal.

The people in Nepal are incredibly friendly and generous. Maitreyi’s father was telling me about how, where he grew up, if you told a stranger that you liked (for example) the cucumbers growing in their yard, that they would invite you inside to chat and send you home with the cucumbers. You could go up to any house and be invited in to eat with the family that lived there. He shared with me that while it isn’t exactly the same now, in many parts of Nepal that same hospitality exists.

Nepal has most of the tallest mountain peaks in the world. Nepal has over 110 mountain peaks that rise 7300 meters (~24,000 feet) above sea level, and 14 that are greater than 8,000 m. 8 of the world’s top 10 tallest mountains are in Nepal.

Mount Everest is located in Nepal. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world at 8849 m. The Himalayas are a young mountain range. Forming a little over 65 million years ago. Someday they are going to look a lot like the Appalachian Mountains! They formed when the Eurasian plate and the Indo-Australian plates collided. The Indian plate is subjecting under the Eurasian plate, and the Tibetan Plateau continues to rise ~5-10 mm each year.

Mount Everest consists of three major geologic formations. Ordovician limestone layered with recrystallized dolomite and siltstone make up the Qomolangma Fm from 8600 meters to the summit. This fm includes marine fossils, for example, trilobites, ostracods, and crinoids. There is a 150 ft layer at the bottom of this fm with the fossils of microorganisms that lived in shallow warm water conditions. From 7000 m to 8600 m is the North Col Fm. The upper part of the North Col formation (8,200-8,600) is the Yellow Band with Middle Cambrian beds of diopside-episode marble appearing yellow when it weathers, as well as a muscovite-biotite phyllite and schist. This layer includes metamorphosed crinoids and other fossils of marine organisms. In between the Yellow Band and the Qomolangma Formation is a fault breccia. The bottom half of the North Col Fm includes deformed schist, phyllite, and lower grade marbles. These rocks are metamorphosed mid-early Cambrian deep sea mudstone, shale, sandstone (clayey and calcareous), graywacke, and sandy limestone. At the bottom of the North Col Fm is a low angle normal fault called the Lhotse detachment. 7000m and below is the Rongbuk Fm, which makes up the base of Everest. The Rongbuk Fm consists of sillimanite-k spar schist and gneiss with Oligocene-Miocene leucogranite and pegmatite intrusions from melting of Paleoproterozoic - Ordovician high grade metasedimentary rocks. Between all of these rock formations are low angle faults, creating what looks like a zig zag.In short, as John McPhee put it: “The summit of Mt. Everest is marine limestone.” When you climb to the highest place on Earth, you are standing on the ancient Tethys Sea, on what was once the bottom of the ocean. This might be one of the most remarkable demonstrations of geology in the world.

## Tournament

Nepal was defeated by California in Round 2 Matchup 39 of FlagVote after previously defeating Fiji. As the 288 seed, it was defeated by Panama in Round 2 Matchup 8 of FlagVote 2 after previously defeating Mozambique. As the 343 seed, it was defeated by St. Louis in Round 2 Matchup 192 of FlagVote 3 after previously defeating Bukhara.

## Results

### FlagVote

**Round 1:** Win over Fiji 4-1

**Round 2:** Loss to California 4-3

### FlagVote 2

**Round 1:** Win over (225) Mozambique 5-2

**Round 2:** Loss to (32) Panama 5-2

### FlagVote 3

**Round 1:** Win over (682) Bukhara 7-4

**Round 2:** Loss to (170) St. Louis 8-2