Meanwhile, back in Nepal...

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11-17-DEC-2007

Back in the office, my package from Chadd is finally here! Okay it did arrive before I left for Tibet but the post office was closed. So nice to arrive home to a present of tasty goodness! I can't eat enough of the peanut M&Ms- once my Aama walked in before morning daal bhaat as I was shoving them in my mouth, at which point I had to try and hide the fact that anything was in there (with clear chipmunk cheeks)... and the obvious chocolate smell.

Not only am I a world expert on diahhrea due to personal experience, but I had the sincere pleasure of updating and giving a talk on the topic for the children's home volunteers. Let's just say I'm your woman if you have that problem. I can only stomach bread and 'comfort foods' (AKA no daal bhaat) initially upon my return to Nepal, but I assume that's understandable provided my recent stomach issues. These things need a bit of time.

In retrospect, why on earth I tried (and paid for) rice pudding is beyond me. I get enough unwanted rice as it is. But, okay, I do love rice pudding at home, and I guess I was just hoping for a bit of that deliciousness. At my tried and true veg chow mein place, the noodles practically burned my lips off. Easy on the chillis, woman. And lemon juice is an amazing solution to the difficulty that is daal bhaat. I eat it consecutively for a record number of times.

Back at Charity, I have a renouned patience with the kids- I missed them! But this quickly fades- as they all seem to have mysteriously developed eye pain since I gave one kid grape flavored Tylenol for his hurting eyes. Don't you lie to me- I know better! On a separate day, Pawan stole the Vaseline out of the health box and Pradem kicked me because I wouldn't give him a vitamin. He doesn't need one. The kids also had the nerve to make fun of my 'boy-shoes' paired with a skirt today. What the hell? Ironic coming from the source...

A random woman at a bracelet shop wanted to give me a free henna drawing on the palm of my hand. So I agreed but didn't realize at the time that this was a 2 hour commitment to have a numb left hand... it was cold out.

I plan out the second round of vaccinations for the kids, there's another round of heath checks at the homes, as well as a Health Fun Day about general hygene. This consisted of the kids drawing pictures of tooth brushing, washing hands, vomiting, worms, and diarrhea while there were inflatable teeth and tooth brushes flying about. The kids misinterpreted the picture of worms as that of snakes and kept exclaiming, 'Worms in your mouth!'... like on a plane, but not really. I hate that damn printer, it fails me every time- it's getting thrown off the balcony at the office sooner or later. The heath team treated ourselves to Helena's chocolate cake (aka Heaven) to reward all of our hard work.

Vaccination day II was 16-DEC and proceeded remarkably well with only a few tantrums and one no-show. Each place felt like a zoo with the children staring and reaching in through the barred windows at those receiving injections. They were so fascinated...

My showers have been fewer and further between since it's gotten colder out and the solar panels haven't been effectively doing their job. Pieces of crap. Hello hair wraps... The wool lined skirt I purchased in Tibet is AMAZINGly warm, those Tibetans really know what they're doing. And I'm wearing it with flip flops in December.

I was treated to a motorbike ride on the way home from the office one day. This seemingly random fellow pulled up and told me to hop on back. I ignored him and kept on walking until I realized that I actually knew him from the Charity house. I hopped on Nepali-woman style with both legs on the same side of the bike because of the skirt. But I am sure as hell not cold riding on the back of a motorbike in mid-December at night because I am essentially wearing a wool blanket around my legs.

There was a cow mooing in the Balaju intersection, babies 'driving' motorcycles, and I saw another white girl on the bus which was just weird.

There was also a goat on the bus.

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