Sorry I haven't written in a while. Last week was super busy at school and I have been working my butt off. It is great though.

On Thursday I went to a student's birthday party, Barsha - in grade 9 - and it was so much fun. The party was with Patel, Sudha, Barsha's wonderfully hospitable family and myself. The father played an old school accordion, the brother played the drums, the mother played the cymbals, and everyone was singing and clapping. It was so great to be a part of. They sang songs, accompanied by performing a ritual, to Krishna, Shiva, and about birth. We ate papaya, chocolate, and these soft deserts that are I think just flour, water, and sugar-water soaked (so rich!). Then we went to the other room, took pictures, drank tea, laughed and talked - until selfish Patel asked for the remote and turned the television on, I know, he is so dumb and inconsiderate - then we ate dinner. Lots of it.

That is one thing that is sooooo hard to do here - eat. It is an insult to not ask for seconds, and eat fast, and even more of an insult if you don't eat it all of your food. In the US I would not eat this much in my first helping if I was the one filling my plate - here I am eating soooo much more!!! Another thing about it is that it is a ton of starch - rice or roti and potatoes for every meal, some times even for breakfast. AND our dinner is always late. Amy and I have asked for it to be at 7 or 7:30, which happens for a couple of days, and then is at 9 - 9:30 again...ahhhhh! I am going to the gym now though, which is awesome.
I wish that it was safe for me to go hiking by myself. If it was I would go on every day I have off. Liz and I went to Sivapuri National Park yesterday to do a day hike. It was so refreshing to breath in fresh air and move around in nature. Not so refreshing though that I have a huge blister on my left heal. Not as big as my mutilated feet from a couple of years ago. (Some of you know what I am talking about.) But large and in charge nonetheless. Why??!! I have such bad luck, or some thing, I just don't get it. But I still love hiking; not only to get exercises but to get out of the city.

Living here has made me realize that when I do work again out of the US, I want to do it some where more remote. I am so sick of the city. I am sick of the pollution, the hacking and spiting, the honking and the traffic, the trash, the smells, the busy feeling, and most especially the stares. It's bad. It's really annoying. A lot of people here just have no shame and have no qualms about how they treat other people. Reading in the lonely planet that you should never raise your voice, touch some ones head, or stare at some one is a total joke - they are implying that is not appropriate in the Nepali culture, things they don't do and you should follow as well. People yell all the time. People are always hitting each other - oh it is hard in class some times. Parents are constantly smacking their children upside the head - not all parents of course, but not a day has gone by that I haven't seen it at least 3 times. And people stare. Maybe it is because I am white. Maybe because I live in a very non-tourist area, there seems to be a lot of it. Maybe people just stare because they like to stare. I don't know, but it does get annoying. I am one to people watch...I always have been. But there is a difference when you are watching some one, they see you watching them, and you avert your eyes or smile. Here people - men are the worst, but women and children definitely do it - stare with gaping black holes of mouths and if you look at them they just keep on keepin on. I mock their faces, and that usually makes them stop, for a few seconds. Long enough for them to register that I am mocking them...but then once you look away, there they are with their big gaping mouths - ready to catch a fly.
Don't get me wrong, I still love it here. It just gets to be a lot some times.