6 budhas, 9 monkeys and a braclet

Work has been slow after our 'ee-skilled-e worker' quit so the past week has been spent removing boulders the size of houses and then smashing them. I haven't taken much part this week as my side is still sore after my fall a few weeks ago.........

I visited the hospital on Monday which was an interesting venture to say the least - I had an x-ray which confirmed that i hadn't broken any bones but they did say that i had torn muscle and internal bleeding which in Nepali translates to bruising (at least i hope it does anyway), wasn't very easy to understand what was going on if I'm honest but at least i got to keep the x-ray so i can show it to my doctor when i get back to the UK. I've been told to take rest though which has meant me sitting around the building site doing nothing :)

On Saturday we went to Kathmandu and really wanted to visit this one particular market - so we get the the hotel drop off our bags and get straight in a taxi to the market - we arrive and the Taxi driver says - ''yes this is New Road Market...'' only there was nothing there - when we asked where the market was he told us it closed for one day a week on Saturday!!!! We asked why then had he taken us there but he couldn't give an answer so we just ended up paying him to drive us back to the hotel again! Not a good start.

Had an excellent weekend though and managed to get some great presents including 6 Buddhas, 9 monkeys and a bracelet (which is a sentence i never imagines myself sayingIt was one of the volunteers - Yannicks Birthday so we went out into Kathmandu as a group - we had a really nice meal and we managed to arranged for a birthday cake to be made for Yannick and within 3 hrs it was ready to collect - pretty impressive! Someone from our community suggested a club for us to go to and it was really good - most of the places we have been to in Thamel have been very western and full of 'western travellers' but this place was really 'Local' and we parteeed with the Neplai's! The music wasn't exactly to my taste and the bouncers confiscated my Mentos, but other than that it was a good 'craic'.

Sunday i had the most fun i think i can ever remember having and i can't wait to show the pics and videos when i get back!! :)

The Leopard has been lurking again around our community and one day last week we heard that it had ventured into one of the houses in our village!! Apparently the family sacrificed one of their goats by throwing it to the leopard in order to save themselves! God only knows what my family would do in that situation as we don't have any goats! Its certainly put me off my nightly star gazing in the back garden though....

Monday night i watched Prabha and Atma Rams wedding DVD - its 4 hrs long and we managed to get through 2 hrs before the power went off - it was tough going but really interesting as well - the family are hoping to show me the 2nd 2hrs at some point this week........

On Tuesday i went with my Amma (Mother) early morning into the forest to collect the food and bedding for the cow - basically this involved sweeping the forest floor (with brushes made on the spot from twigs) then collecting all the fallen leaves in baskets and carrying them back on our heads - i had an ace time and was amazing when we arrived in the forest as there were loads of of other woman from the community doing the same thing. Aside my Amma carrying twice the size of her own body in leaves on her head, the thing that impressed me most was the calls that the women use to identify each other in the forest - was so cool standing in the middle of them all calling to each other - got some photos but once again these rubbish computers won't let me upload - its looking like I'll have to upload the rest of my photos when i get back.....NEXT WEEK - ARRRGGHHH!

Kinda looking forward to coming home - it feels unbelievably strange though, the actually reality of rejoining the western world is quite scary. As I've already said, as much as i am missing everyone back home, i feel so settled and happy here and honestly could stay a lot longer.

I feel that there is soooooooooo much i haven't seen and i defiantly plan to return to Nepal as soon as i can and go exploring.

I am looking forward to my own bed without a doubt but even that cannot contend with living with the forest and mountains on my doorstep, going on morning adventures exploring the jungle, the weather, my friends, my Nepalese family and most of all the 'internal freedom' and elation i have felt since arriving here. The time seems to have passed so quickly yet at the same i feel i could have been here forever!

This is probably going to be my last entry before i return to the UK so for now.....

Feri Ba Tola (See you later)

xxxx