River Rafting

Finally I have a few minutes to update my blog. I have been so busy. I am teaching English to recruits for the Ghorka Soldiers for the British Army. I  get picked up from school at 1:30pm my motorbike then race down the mad streets of Kathmandu for a 20 trip to the institute. Number one rule when travelling or walking in Nepal is to carry a handkerchief  to cover your face when you are behind a vehicle that is emitting black smoke from the tail pipe and also from the dust. After 1 hour of helping the students with pronunciation and vocabulary my driver takes me back to Pepsi-Cola where I pick up Laxmi  from school and walk her to the orphanage where I remain until 6pm. At 6:30 I have another student who lives in my house until 7:30 at which time I have dinner. Yes still rice and lentils twice a day in case you have forgotten. Attached are some pictures of our river rafting some of the other volunteers and I did a few weeks ago. Now we are gearing up for the next festival, Tihar, celebration of the Goddess Laxme, on the first day they celebrate the cow, which apparently they use cow dung for the worship. The second day is for the dog, it is the only day of the year you are not allowed to hit a dog!!! Day 3 is for the crow and day 4 for the ox. It is also known as the celebration of lights so everyone decorates their houses and shops with colourful lights. I will be going back to the village I was at a few weeks ago for Dashain. There was a small earthquake last night, there is a innate reaction to earthquake that is to run outside, I did this without a second thought. Thankfully it was small and no damage was done.

Nicole and I receiving our Dashain Tikka