Bad dye job

Hi all,

I know that I’ve been a bit slack with the blog this week, but I didn’t really think there was anything overly amusing to tell you all. But then I thought that perhaps I’ve just become acclimatised, and that some people might enjoy hearing stories of my good fortune, not just those where I fall over/make a fool of myself/pull a sink off the wall fixture (yeah, that happened in Kathmandu... it’s taken me until now to come to terms with it).

Well, last Saturday Amanda left, and after a day of wallowing (which I prefer to think of as ‘me time’, but which definitely involved at least a little bit of lonely wallowing), on Sunday I decided it was time to achieve something. So I took my first rickshaw ride to the supermarket, struggled through in broken English/Nepali, and arrived home with at least some essentials (chocolate biscuits and Pringles). On the ride I did notice that part of the bike seemed to be held together by elastic bands/strings...

 

But on closer inspection, I think this was just holding the roof on, obviously a non-essential part of the bicycle’s mechanics ;-) It was on this trip that I also spotted a man loading himself and two goats into a rickshaw, with neither the goats nor the rickshaw-puller seeming overly impressed.

On Monday after lunch I decided to get a rickshaw back to work (having ‘confidence’ that I had figured out the system) because it was clearly about to bucket down with rain, and I’d forgotten my umbrella. However, even though I kept telling the rickshaw driver to stop because he had completely missed where I wanted to hop off, by the time I’d succeeded in getting off (and handing over the money) I was a few hundred metres from work as the crow flies, and 1.5-2km by road. And of course it started pelting down as I tried to decide upon my next move...

I tried to find a field to get more directly to work, but most that I came across were rice paddies; and I didn’t think the owners would appreciate me wading through them; and the only other field I could find had flooded from the sudden downpour. So I trudged back to work the long way, very cranky, and particularly resentful of the stares I always encounter being the only white person in town. I had cheered up a bit by home time, but when I got back to the hotel I realised that my entire body was dyed Smurf-blue from my lovely kurtha in the rain. It actually took about 3 days for my skin to return to a non-hypothermic colour, but I won’t post photos as that might be a little risqué for blogspot...

The week picked up after that, with me moving into a little apartment in the top storey of a house owned by locals. The family below are very lovely, and the teenage son and daughter speak English, so are acting as translators. It is a big blue house, but I won’t put a photo up, as it’s kind of distinctive (unsurprisingly, being 3 storeys and blue).

Looking into the kitchen from the bedroom/living room

Blinky chillin' on my bed- which is too short for me- and I am NOT tall!

The view from my balcony (hopefully will be able to see some mountains on clearer days :)

The family also have a dog, Kahloo. Earlier this week I declared him as my best friend...

But this morning when I hopped out of bed to go to the loo he snuck into my apartment and ate the last of my chocolate, so we haven’t been on speaking terms today.

In terms of cooking, you’ll all be pleased to know that I mastered the art of the pressure cooker quite quickly (with some trepidation, as the night when I initially attempted it Luke was so kind as to tell me ‘don’t worry, if it doesn’t work you’ve only made a bomb’), and am mixing it up with daal and curries. Omm Nomm Nomm.

The only problem with cooking so far is that 1. It’s bloody difficult when it’s dark and the power is out and 2. I keep dying my hands yellow with turmeric. But hey, between the running kurtha and the turmeric at least I’m showing my loyalty to West Coast- epic win yesterday!!