pokhara, nepal

dear friends.

i apologize.

it's been too long.

My typical daily schedule here in Nepal:
8:30 - wake up, go downstairs to where Kamala is preparing our morning daal bhat, and make myself my cup of coffee. I then head upstairs with my coffee to the roof terrace to have my morning "survey of the world" looking at the my mountains (Himal) for these few months (see pic above), if it is not raining. ps- I took the picture during a "monsoon season-is-over fake out." It's not over. Hopefully soon though. The pointy peak in the pic is Machupuchhre (aka Fishtail), and the other peaks are one of 1-5 Annapurnas.

9:15 - Eat daal bhat. This is what all Nepalis eat. Twice a day. Kamala, is a neighbor / cook for the family I am staying with. Don't worry, there's a driver too. Did I mention I'm staying with a high society family here in Pokhara? Life's rough. My room and bed are bigger and nicer than my place back in Boulder. So much for fully engaging with a country that 40% of the people live below the poverty line. That's not entirely true, though, more to follow. ps- I got this fierce infection from an ingrown fingernail in my thumb. Good thing the brother and father of the family I am staying with own a pharmacy. Good thing the surgeon is attached to their pharmacy. Why good thing? When I asked how much I owed the doctor for my minor surgery (locals / scalpel / all on some newspaper with a reading lamp on a table), he said, "You are a friend of theirs. No charge." Uhhhh. okay. And when I asked how much I owed for the antibiotics, a similar reply of, "You are our guest." No charge, fair enough. In the ski industry under such circumstances you hook your technician up with with a 6 pack of good local brew. I'm not quite sure that beer is the appropriate answer in this case, however.

10:00 - arrive at school (Gandaki WOCAS school) with the bhidyahtis (students) who take well to me, and the principal who is not quite sure. I can't tell if she likes me, simply because Nepalis are overly kind to guests, especially foreign guests. But I think she has a certain distaste. Good thing I'm getting paid. Oh wait---
I teach 2 English classes, and one science class. It's difficult, because it's an English medium school (they supposedly learn in English), but if they are still learning English, how are they to learn science in a language they do not know? Malai thaha china (I don't know). It's quite a challenge. But, I have learned that I really enjoy teaching. Good thing, because otherwise I would jump out of the window sometimes.

12:30 - leave school, change clothes and head either to Mahandrepul or Lakeside where I type at people (such as now), and / or read at my local cafes. But, apparently I have plenty of time to read while waiting for new pages to load on these jurassic computrons. I just finished The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky (highly recommended), and am now reading the autobiography or "The Story of My Experiments with Truth" written by Ghandi. Interesting. I still plan on eating meat despite his experiments in dietics. Sorry, I have Kansas farming blood in me.

5:00ish - Leave aforementioned places and head to the home of the six boys I'm trying to give some older male influence to for the first time in their lives. Usually I have a little bit of reprimanding (since I am also their teacher), and then some physical reprimanding via wrestling, or help (and much encouragement) with their homework. More on this to follow.

8:30 - Eat evening daal bhat with Kamala Bahini and Varsa Didi (Pamela's friend, my connection to my accomodations). Maybe even watch Prushant Tamang win freaking Indian Idol. ps - he's Nepali, so we were all quite stoked when he beat the Indian fellow.

10:00 go to bed. Not much else to do. Sometimes I have an evening survey of the world, with Santosh, Kamala's brother, who also lives next to us.

So, that's how it is right now. This schedule will apply for the next two weeks until the Nepali "Christmas" happens for a month. Maybe it's more like summer break, I can't figure it out. ps- the students, and teachers for that matter, have to go to school 6 days a week. I'm considering writing the UN about this violation of human rights. pps- I have never seen so many UN vehicles in my life, as there are around here.

And friends, enjoy the picture below. I did. I took it at a cafe on the water in Lakeside (the tourist area I go to at least once a week for my "white fix").

Peace.

sorry. apparently pictures can't load on these computers. "you mean the files are in there?" -Zoolander. hopefully soon I'll get them up.