Why hello!
There comes a time in every journal/diary and now blog where I apologize for the lack of attention, but please hear my plee - it has not skipped my mind for one iota, I have merely been battling with the electricity. At the moment it has been coming on almost exclusively when I have been working and not in my free hours, however even the dullest can work out that today this is not the case.
The last few days have been, not in the least, uneventful. On thursday last I was quietly enjoying some Momo's when two girls I met in the first couple of days waltzed in serendipitously and told me that they had been placed in an orphanage just down the road (wowza!) So, yeh, people! They were with their friend, a lovely bloke from Mississippi and the last few days have been surprisingly and enjoyably sociable. We went into town for some chocolate cake the other day and organised an duo-orphanage-merge for the kids day off on Saturday.
We decided that due to us being in Nepal it was silly that we haven't gone for a little trek yet so Saturday was spent in the National park above Kathmandu with our walking boots on and picnic bags in our hands. We took a three hour, there and back trip, to the park's Buddhist monastery with just under 40 kids leading the way. What a lovely day we had, the views from the top (around 8,000 ft or for those Europeans 2.5km up) were obscenely beautiful and thanks to the week's earlier down pour, wonderfully clear. I have pictures and videos that i am trying to upload to today but so far with little success. Needless to say it was incredibly stressful, the kids wanted to go off and pick the rhododendron flowers presently blooming and due to the fact that it is a National park ( a big no no!) we spent a lot of the day chasing children through the overgrowth! After we came back down, we all decided (the chaperones) that a beer or two, or maybe four was in order and being a Saturday, there was nothing stopping us going into town to party Kathmandu style for the night.
We hit a shisha bar in town with the motive of just staying there for some dinner and then finding a dancey place, however this was not what fate had in store for us! In the bar I glimpsed at this girl who after 5 minutes of looking confusingly each other, we realised that we had met before. Maria from Mexico and her cousin Santiago then invited us over to them and the influx of people we had and hadn't already met was amazing. It ended up being an incredibly fun and alcohol filled night, my first one of its kind since landing so funnily 3 beers and a cocktail was enough to get me to my usual 6 beer and 2 cocktail standard ;) hey maybe its the altitude! One other that i met at the bar was the almost legendary Pascal, Pascal volunteered with the kids a few months prior to my arrival and also staying with Rustam and co. like me presently... All i have heard from the kids since arriving is 'when is Pascal coming back' and now i had an answer, the next day. So the last couple of nights I have had a good friend in my room and have been sharing the work with him, much to the kids endless satisfaction. He's very good with them and its a shame he's jetting back to Switzerland on Friday. So yeh, a great few days and I hope I've filled in the blanks somewhat.
Today after dropping the kids off at school I headed back to the house to encounter some rather inconvenient news my next door neighbour whom i have become quite friendly with asked to borrow my bike for a few hours yesterday, yes of course i said. Last night, no bike. This morning, no bike. I began to fear the worst. Fortunately nothing has happened to him, or the bike, well nothing major. He got pulled over by the police and they asked him for his license... no license! So the bike has been impounded and due to this being his second similar offense in a fortnight he has a hefty fine and a court appearance to make. I have been assured however that the bike will be back with me tomorrow, with no personal cost (and a full tank of petrol) Que Sera Sera, or as the Nepalis say.... something I can't at this moment remember... I will get back to you on that one! !! !! :)
My nepali is improving though and now I don't get hassled by shoe shiners/ hash dealers and trekking touts in Thamel, because I can say that I don't want anything and I live here. Its the script thats the bitch but after my first day of tackling it yesterday I can read the devangari vowels, only, but its a working progress. And i love the idea that if I master it I will be able to read Sanskrit and Hindi also. I will keep you all updated as best as I can!
Ok guys, nice chatting with you, the photos are up but not the videos... so check out facebook.
A big shout out to Max Carpanini or Ninibear, well done for getting into Chelsea for your BA (without an interview!) :) :) For the one who next see him, give him a huge fabbri hug :)
X
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