Kathmandu, day 5

Hello friends. We have now been in Kathmandu for 5 days. The time difference between here and BC is 13 hours and 45 minutes.. odd I know, but they want to be different from India with that extra 15 minutes. Anyway, we've begun to adjust here but the vast temperature difference between day and night is still something hard to get used to. It can be as cold as 0 or even in the below zero during the night and as hot as 20 degrees during the day. I think we may even be getting a bit of a sunburn on our faces. The worst thing that we haven't gotten used to yet, aside from the cold nights and non-heated rooms, is the pollution. I remember it being super poluted last time I was here but already I have come down with a runny nose and caugh most likely due to the pollution. This weekend we will go away to Bhaktapur/Nagarkot where there is little pollution and beautiful hikes and next week we will hopefully be volunteering at the other location outside of kathmandu, called Budanilikhanta.. I think that's the spelling but with Nepal, I never know. We have been improving our Nepali though. Already I remember so much from the last time I was here and am determined to pick up even more this time around. I have learned to say "Malai Garme man Parchha" a lot which means "I like Hot" and "Bahin derrai Jardo" which means "mornings are very cold". Makes the kids laugh anyway.

Internet too is hard to find, which I did expect, but I forgot also about the frequent power outages. I guess because the government doesn't like to pay India for power than it gets cut off - in certain districts at a time - for about 12 to 14 hours a day.. sometimes more. The only reason I am using the internet now is because this particular internet cafe has a generator and thus, power. As you can imagine, internet cafes like this are busy at this time.

Food here is also as good as I remember.. spice and all.. and of course, plenty of tea! We are staying at a volunteer house about a 45 min walk from the clinic with 3 other Nepali's. We are the only foreign volunteers at the moment. There was another girl, Sabrina, from Germany who was here but yesterday her parents came and so she is off with them exploring Nepal for 10 days before coming back just long enough to say goodbye and heading off to Germany again. She has been here since October so I guess she's probably ready to go home by now. The food we eat at night is cooked by our Nepali hosts, Gorke, Jeevan, Tika, and Sunam. Gorke does most of the cooking however and does a very good job of it. Of course we are also learning to eat the Nepal way.. with the right hand cupped sort of like a spoon. Lots of mess but still soo tasty.

Guess I should leave you all with this for now. I have been at this cafe for an hour and I forgot to ask how much it will cost.. since the power is out it will cost even more too. Relatively.. still cheaper than at home but I have less money than the average Nepali makes right now probably..though the extra money we got in Korea sure helps. Ah but why worry, i'm in Nepal, nobody worries here! Till next week, hope Canada keeps everyone warm and safe!