October 3

6:22 AM

Yesterday we saw Lubhu. Hamish (one of our fellow volunteers) made the walk with us. He showed us the town and the internet cafe. He also showed us the Lubhu Supermarket (very swanky 'round these parts) where we bought snacks and chocolate. On the walk back, we stopped at one of the street stores for some drinks. We again stopped at the Lankuri Phedi Cafe, just the way down from the orphanage, for spring rolls and fried buff (buffalo) momos. Momos are a traditional food here in Nepal and are much like dumplings or pot stickers. We returned to the orphanage for watering the fields/plants. Kids and homework. I'm getting more comfortable already. Dinner. More kids and homework. Sleep. First really excellent night's sleep. And I feel fantastic.

Right now, at 7:11 AM, I hear:

• Pigeons cooing on the tin roof
• Their feet scratching on the tin roof
• The chickens crowing on the rooftop "next door"
• Distant yelling from two different directions. One direction is accompanied by occasional honking
• Someone in the village hitting some kind of metal, perhaps hammering a pipe
• Distant music (Nepalese and very faint)
• The opening of a screen door here in the main building, its creaking
• A breakfast bell just went off somewhere in the village
• Every few minutes I'll hear someone on the grounds talking

I smell:

• Burning plastic and wood
• The sweetness of my tea that Chanel made (I also added a piece of chocolate and some instant coffee)
• The smell of curry is starting to break through
• Chanel a few minutes ago pointed out that her fingers were stained yellow from the food. I looked down to see that mine were too. They eat with their hands here in Nepal. And it is always Dhal Baat or some kind of rice, which is fun to watch and we discovered last night (after a rigorous hand wash and sanitizing process) quite fun to do!

I am really fond right now of pigeons cooing. It's calm, relatively quiet, and peaceful. Along the lines of listening to someone else's heartbeat.
 
Also, the kids gel their hair before they go to school. Adorable. They have one set of clothes that they wear outside of school. After breakfast, they change into their school uniforms (a violet or red-striped long sleeved button up, with a navy tie, and depending on the gender and age, pants or a skirt, white socks, and nice black shoes. So cute!