We made it!

After an 18 hour flight to Bangkok, a 4 hour layover and a final 3 hour flight to Kathmandu, we arrived! We were met at the airport like movie stars, with garlands of flowers and scarves. It was quite exciting and a complete rush as people grabbed our luggage and scooted us into cars and then those cars lurched into crazy traffic! The traffic is out of control here! There are no rules....even the locals admit that.

They put us up in a hotel for the first couple nights. One of the women in Rotary, Primala, took us girls (well, Eli came too and he endured) sari shopping...that was an experience and if any of you know me, you know I'm a terrible shopper. But thanks to Primala who wrapped us up expertly, we all came out looking gorgeous. We met several Rotary clubs, their families and the group team that is coming to CA at a restaurant. We had a lovely dinner and met so many people...it's impossible to remember everyones names.

Then, we had our first formal meeting last night and gave our first presentation before breaking into our individual host homes. I really enjoy the family I am staying with. The husband and wife, Suresh and Leena, are very friendly and chatty. Suresh plays cricket and talks about it non stop. They have 3 beautiful children who's names I can't even begin to remember; but an adorable 4 year old girl who smiles all the time, a 10 year old boy who's quite shy, and a 13 year old girl who's very intelligent and nice.

We have been eating lots of good food...lots of rice, potatoes, lentils and noodles (lots of Chinese food here because of the Tibetan influence). We've already eaten goat, pickled lemon, curd (really runny, creamy, slightly chunky yogurt), and curries. We've also learned several helpful phrases in Nepali and are all making an effort to pick up more of the language. But, of course, everyone speaks excellent english.

Yesterday we saw a very large, beautiful Buddist temple and also visited Primala's school. We walked in on a class that was practicing dancing and Michelle, who is quite the charmer, jumped right in and had everyone laughing as she tried to learn the dance. Today is our first vocational day and I am very excited. I'm meeting with a gentleman who is in charge of a local small systems water distribution project. I'm learning that the water situation here is complicated. There is government distributed water that only runs for a couple hours per day. There are personal and community well (the treatment of which varies) and there are water trucks that will deliver water to those who can afford to purchase it. They fill up at sources outside of Kathmandu and I do not believe it is treated.

Internet access is sporadic. Rotary is keeping a tight leash on us girls and our schedule is tight but I look forward to updating again soon. Thanks for reading!