Another great weekend

Wow, updating on recent events is new and exciting for me! So I had another good week/weekend here in K-town (and surrounding areas). Another week of kids screaming and pulling on me, yelling "Aun-tee! Aun-tee!" and of trying to get Indira not to alienate all her donors. That was all much more fun than it sounds. Other things I did:

Patan
Went back for more touring of all the stuff we missed last time. I personally enjoyed the temple to the goddess of power, who demands tons of animal sacrifices and kills demons. My kind of lady. Also, got to listen in on a French tour group, and for once knew what was being said while the guys were totally clueless. Take that, fast-speaking Nepalis!

Child priest at temple.

This sign at a sthupa made me laugh out loud. You guys,
leave Buddha alone.

Hyatt

So Friday, after a full morning of volunteering, Karen and I took a taxi out to the Hyatt hotel for some girl-time pampering. 'Cause we can afford to do that in this crazy economy! So we got mani-pedis, had lunch, and relaxed amidst the sweet smell of money. Also, if you're white, they pretty much don't ask questions, so we took advantage of the health club to steal access to the hot tub (me), the steam room (Karen) and showers that stay hot for more than 4 minutes (glorious!).

The pool at the hotel. Too cold to go swimming,

unfortunately.


Me enjoying the only diet coke in Kathmandu (of course
it's at the Hyatt). That's the Buddhist sthupa Bodinath in
the background.

Chulot/Dhori, take 2

Have I mentioned yet that Allan the ass has left us for Thailand? Cause he has!!! Sorry Thailand, he's your problem now. Two new volunteers have arrived: Brian and Ronnie. Brian is another man in his '50s. This caused poor DC and Rajiv to freak out, thinking he would be a repeat of Allan. I had to explain to them that not all Canadian men go through a douche-inator at age 45, and most are perfectly nice, as Brian has turned out to be. Ronnie's 21, and hilarious. It's quite like having a younger brother, actually, as I've already put him in a headlock. So for the end of their orientation week it was a repeat of the Chulot dinner and dancing at the Dhori. We pulled out the saris again and this time Karen and I had to figure out how to put them on ourselves. We managed with the help of google, but at one point at the dhori, I had to have two waitresses help me fix it in the bathroom, because it was kinda falling off on the dance floor. We all had fun, and this time Ronnie was the most popular guy at the Dhori, primarily because he was wearing this:

That's him in the middle, wearing the equivalent of an armani suit.
Brian's on the left there, and Rajiv's on the right.

Rock Climbing

That's right people. I think I've found my inner adventurer. I was talked into going to a climbing wall by Karen and Ronnie, but I actually had fun. So I got all harnessed up (dude, those things leave nothing to the imagination) and made an attempt at the wall. Fell off 1 foot off the ground. Gave it another go. Fell off 9 inches off the ground. So I was all set to give up, but Karen talked me into trying again. Evidently the worst thing you can do while rock climbing is stick your butt out, which I think I was doing, as I tend to put the ass in massive. But with Karen behind me yelling "love the wall! Love iitttttt!" I actually made it up pretty high, like 50 feet or so!

Look at me go!

Fortune Teller

We got a traditional Nepali astrologer/palm reader to come the house Sunday morning. It was pretty fun, actually. He needed to know the precise time and place we were born, and then spent like 45 minutes doing math-y charts for us. He said I'm a good communicator and manager and would do well working for an INGO. Mind you this was after I told him my degree was in political science and that I'm in Nepal volunteering, hmmm.... Also I am very lucky, powerful, and "well-built". And once I'm 27 I'll have a very happy period in life that will last 17 years. Sweet!