Kathmandu

Today was a good day and I feel like I accomplished a lot.

First thing in the morning I met Ganesh for tea at a shop midway between where we're staying, conveniently only a 5-10 minute walk for each of us. We chatted about various things and I enjoyed watching the city start to wake up. He had to go back to the university to finish something with his Master's program and I went back to the house to eat breakfast and continue working on the website content. It's kind of fun this website business! I'm learning a lot about the different places in Nepal that I didn't get to, and now have a list of places I want to see next time I'm in Nepal. At some point Sudarsan brought me some noodles to eat as I managed to work for a fair number of hours solid without realizing it... I decided it was time for a break and went for a wander. Ended up running into my friend again and we had a snack together, some chick peas and an egg at a random shop in the area. Who knew such a big city could be so small at the same time.. Same as how the world is tiny sometimes I guess! It was a great impromptu meeting and I learned that my birthday in the Nepali calendar is Falgun 13th. Random facts :p

I made my way back to the house and met Sudarsan in his shop. There I noticed that he had wine for sale! And wine that we know at home, not this whiskey type wine of the village. So I convinced him to share with me and we polished off the bottle. I had to laugh that the name was Napa Valley, like the California Winery. Definitely not the same though. It was a good wine though, on the sweet side, but delicious. We enjoyed it while eating spicy chips so that helped balance out the sweetness a bit. It would seem that here in Nepal they don't have the same categories of wine as we do - Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, etc - it's just a wine. Fine by me! I was happy. While socializing Sudarsan told me of two new project sites that he'd visited today. Project sites in need of help improving the school quality. They require materials and labour.. For one school they need windows and repairs to the structure from the earthquake. The other needs a proper toilet facility. More projects for him to find volunteers for!

Again we ate a late dinner and then worked late into the evening on the website content. Trying to get everything done before I leave! I know I can always help remotely too, but I prefer to do it now while I'm here. The next portion of my trip is likely to be very very busy...Read more