Namaste!

I am back in Kathmandu. It is great to be back only because that means that I will starting school and teaching very soon. First Dhilukhel (which I butchered the spelling of on the previous post) was phenomonal. It is the Nepal I dreamed about. It was a small town of 9,500 people with many temples and surrounded by mountains and rice fields. The people were so nice and friendly...they kind of look at you - us white folk- like we are aliens, and then once we say 'Namaste' they return your greeting with a wonderful smile. It was so nice to go there and find my center. I feel rejuvenated after being so overwhelmed by culture shock. The first day we were there, on the 8th we explored the little town, ate at great places (SO cheap!), did a little gift shopping, and went to a local art gallery. I bought a painting of a older Nepali woman that really captures the women here. We stayed both nights at a guest house that you had to do a mini hike to get to, through a the Shiva temple, and throgh forest. We were the only people staying there besides the family that lives there so we got the best room around with amazing views. The rooftop was a flight of stairs above us that was also just phenomonal. They made organic pancakes with organic honey and coffee. On the 9th we went on a great hike, about 11K, up 1,000 stairs - literaly - to the Kali Temple, which is now being 'protected' by Maoists. (Which seems of absolutly no threat now that they have control of the government.) We continued through several villages, and many caste systems, to a Tibetan town Namo Bhudda where we stopped to eat lunch and went to a beautiful beautiful beautiful monestary. Then we continued through more villages, and more caste systems, and tons of rice fields to Panoti which is said to have the oldest temples and architecure in Nepal - and it looked to be true. We caught the bus to a town Banepa and there another bus back to Dhilukhel. It was so great. By the end of the day by cheeks were sore from smiling so much.
OK so now my computer is not working at all (Bryan, I will be talking/asking you about this when I call tomorrow night)...the power turns on, but there is nothing on the screen. So frustrating! So, I am going to see about downloading pictures on another computer at school, because I have so really great pictures and I last left you all with such a beautiful pic of me. :)