25 July 2011                                                              Partly sunny, rain in the pm

I sure don’t know what makes a very loud scrapping sound in the night – but it sounds like something being dragged down the little road in front our house. We don’t hear it every night but we have heard it more often that we want.  I have no idea what time it is, but way too early to get up. It wakes us up and it’s hard to get back to sleep even though it’s still dark outside.

We talked to Bart, Brent and Chad this morning. Sounds like things are going well. Brent is just returning home from his backpacking trip in the Beartooth mountains. He said there was still quite a bit of snow and that it was an interesting trip. Konnie said that Austin is having his tonsils out on Tuesday. We hope goes well with that. She also said girl’s camp went well. She’s glad it’s done and now they look forward to Island Park with the family.

We finished our preparations for school and went to KTC. Things went pretty well today. The ‘word of the day’ person wasn’t there so I did the word of the day. I chose ‘Awesome’ – then I talked about their anniversary celebration and praised their songs and dance. I could tell, they liked the compliments.

24 July 2011                                                                              Mostly Sunny

It hasn’t been a typical 24^th of July Pioneer Day for us. But a memorable one. We left here this morning about 8:00 and headed to Trishuli, a small mountain village about three hours northwest of Kathmandu. It  took us three hours to get there. I love the road trips and seeing the countryside of Nepal. The ride over, the weather was quite clear. Because of the monsoons, there were a lot of waterfalls and it was beautiful. And things were so green. It had a tropical look and was a little like driving through a rain forest. The road was maybe 75% okay, but the other 25% was a little scary. I’m just talking about the road, not the fact that the mountain side dropped off straight down. By the time we get home, Sawtelle Peak road will be like a walk in the park. And I’m not kidding. Back to the road – In places it looked like it could just slough off and slide down the mountain side. There were big potholes and then, remember, that they were made for one lane traffic, so when you meet a bus or another vehicle, you hope there is a wide spot. And to tell the truth, it seems there were quite a few wide spots, barely wide enough to pass.

Little power up high in the mountains - also getting ready to plant...

 On the way up the mountain, Rakesh told us that there were lots of springs with good water coming off the Himalayas  and that most of the trucks we see in the city with water, come to that area to fill up. I asked if the water was treated there. He laughed and said there was no water treated in Nepal.

We did see a bus that had rolled down the mountain. I’m afraid that happens more than we want to know about. It’s a funny thing – I haven’t really been too nervous about driving. I really do feel comfortable and pretty safe. I know it’s a blessing and feel that ‘ministering angles are around about us to bear us up.’ I’m grateful for that blessing.  

Bus went off the road - more common than we like

I did get a touch motion sick – and no wonder. It’s such a winding road. A couple of time I told Gene maybe we better stop for a breath of fresh air – so we ask if we could ‘take a couple of pictures.’ I think it might be a good idea to get some motion sickness pills and put in my purse, just in case.

I guess I should say something about the road signs here. They look quite amateurish. We did see one that caught my attention and I’m still not sure what it meant. It had an ! in the middle of the sign and that was it. I took it as a warning sign of some kind. I’ll probably never know.

Elder and Sister Esplin

 We were in Trishuli for a wheelchair distribution. There were seven of us in a SUV and we were comfortable traveling.  The distribution was 10 wheelchairs to be given out. As I looked at the people coming to receive a chair, I thought that some of them, under the new guidelines, wouldn’t qualify for a chair. Not that they didn’t need one because they needed help badly, but just not our chairs. People need to be able to support themselves in the chair. One young man was tied in. Another man was so disabled. He was just curled in a ball, couldn’t straighten his limbs. I’m not sure how that will work – only to transport him from place to place. It was heartbreaking to see those people.

On the way home we stopped at a Trout Farm. I guess that area is quite famous for its trout and they are quite expensive. One of the men wanted to buy some so we stopped. It’s was interesting to see a girl net some fish, put them in a bucket, where they took them to a small building, whacked them in the head a couple of times, split them, clean them and cut them in pieces. I wasn’t interested in any – just not a big trout lover.

We also stopped on the roadway where there were a large pile of radishes for sale. The driver bought quite a few. I guess people dry them and they have them year long. They were beautiful radishes. They were white and about 12 inches long. We split a dozen with Deppongs, each planning on sharing with our housekeepers. Gene’s not crazy about radishes, so I will probably have to eat them myself. That’s okay. It’s a change.

Lots of radishes for sale

When we got back into Kathmandu, there was tons and tons of traffic. That's not unusual. We see lots of people carry all kinds of stuff on their back. This refrigerator looks a little heavy. Sure hope the poor guy doesn't have to go very far.

Nepali Deliveryman

We got home about 5:15 pm. I love to go, but like my mother, I’m always glad to get back.

23 July 2011                                                                              Mostly Cloudy

It’s been a good day. Laxmi and I went to the church early, as we had an appointment with Sister Kim to do our Visiting Teaching. They weren’t there. We hadn’t heard from her so weren’t sure what happened.  Then we attended our meetings. I think it’s the first time; almost the whole meeting was in Nepali. There was one youth speaker in English. I wondered how the Patch family enjoyed the meeting, but Sister Patch said that wasn’t so unusual for them. They have lived in places like that before.

After church we hurried home and had a bite of lunch before Elder and Sister Deppong picked us up to go to an anniversary celebration at the Kathmandu Training Center. It was long and the chairs were hard. Of course, it was all in Nepali and there were lots of speakers. The part we really enjoyed was the dancing. Many of our students performed and they were in costume. We loved it. Gene had been asked to give a few remarks and he did a fine job. He did have an interpreter and it was good. His didn’t take near as long as the other speakers.

After the program, people filed out of the hall, but the students invited us up on the stage to dance with them. There was music playing. I was a little hesitant, but when Debbie went up, I decided if a blind lady can do this, so can I.  Actually it was kind of fun, to let our hair down and let the students see that we do have a lighter side. Then Hannah escorted us out and they had some refreshments. We drank the box of Mango juice and brought the rest home for Laxmi and Jessica.

22 July 2011                                                                 little rain in the night, partly cloudy

   

Hooray! Hooray! We finished up a couple of things after getting an email from Patrick Reese in SLC, and today we took the Two Year Agreement down and submitted it to the Social Welfare Council. Happy Day! We can only hope it will be on its way to approval and signing, but we have to be realistic. We really think we will get it back one more time. But the end has to be in sight – right???? We certainly hope so.

We came home, had a sandwich – tuna fish – we seem to be eating a lot of that here – with a pickle it’s not too bad – but something else would be good. Deppongs picked us up about 1:15 pm and we went to visit with the folks at One Heart. Sister Deppong has really been working to get ‘Helping Babies Breath” here in Nepal. One Heart is really interested but they are a small fish in the big pond. We need to be on board with other bigger NGO’s like US Aid, Care, some of the larger INGO’s.  Debbie would sure like to get this going. And there is a need. We will see what happens.

Gene has started to go through papers here in the office. There are a lot that just need to be thrown away. There are about 20 copies of some things – we surely don’t need that. Elder Sackley suggested that we just keep stuff on the computer, but it is nice to have one hard copy. It will take a while to get things here organized.

Talked to Alison for a bit tonight. She and Tiffany are going to Salt Lake tomorrow to go to the Zoo and to Park City to do some school shopping. She is a little apprenhensive as they will have five kids five and under. I’m sure they will be fine.

Ali has been picking a lot of raspberries. She said there is a good crop and they have been big beautiful berries. Samantha is going down on Monday next, to pick. I kind of miss being out there early in the mornings and picking berries. They might be over with by the time we get home next summer.

I was reminded by Jamie Coburn’s post on Facebook that it’s been five year ago today that my brother and womb mate Paul, passed away. I do miss him, his happy, carefree, loving ways and his jokes. He always had a joke to tell. I know that he is one of our guardian angles and has been around us to bear us up. I know he’s not far from us and is pleased with what we are doing.  Love you Paul!

21 July 2011                                                                           Partly Cloudy, warm

Usual stuff this morning – then into the office where we got quite a bit accomplished. Of course, we spent a little time looking at emails concerning the Agreement. I will be so glad when we aren’t working with it every day.

We did email Sanjana at READ Nepal and told her we were interested in teaching English there a couple of days a week. We need to look at our cost and submit it to Hong Kong for approval. We also began a letter to Mr. Giri letting him know that we would not be renewing the contract to teach at KTC next year. We will fine tune it but realize that we need to give it to him within the next couple of weeks. I don’t know – may he will have seen the writing on the wall.

Rakesh called and asked if he could drop in. I think he’s just wondering how things are going and especially how the Agreement is going. He told us again that after it’s submitted he might be able to expedite it getting through the Ministries. That would be nice. He also said he would pick us up between 7-8 on Sunday to go to a wheelchair distribution in Trishuli. It north and a little west of here and about a three hour drive. Again, it will be fun to see country new to us. We love being out and exploring. He said this would be a small distribution – only about 10 wheel chairs. It will be fun.

Gene had PEC and while he was gone, I started preparation for our English classes next week. I hate to say it, but we are counting down the days till we will finish up there.

20 July 2011                                                                        Rain all night early am

We both exercised this morning. We need to keep that up. Gene runs the stairs and as I went upstairs, he was doing sit-ups. I don’t think I could do one. I did the walking video and also some stairs, then got out the rubber band and did some stretches.

After a bit of time on-line, checking email and the news, I crocheted a little bit. I’ve got about one third of a hot pad done. I will be glad to get the small hook so I can start a leper bandage.

We did do some office work today. Right after lunch we had a gentlemen, an  NGO here in Nepal. He was a nice guy. Had been in the USA and gone to school in Colorado and was familiar with Mormons. He is a new NGO, about 6 months into it, and would like to find someone to partner with. We would like to help him, but we are committed for the next couple of years. He was okay with that, just wanted to visit and see what we are involved with.

Laxmi and I went visiting teaching this afternoon. One of our sisters canceled on us, but we still visited with Sardana. We got lost going to her husband’s school, but after walking around a bit and asking some people, we did find it. It’s an adventure to visit these Nepali sisters as about 97% of the conversation is in Nepali. That’s okay, I don’t mind.

We came home and I fixed a bit of dinner. We spent a little time on the computer and then talked with Ali a few minutes. It’s been a pretty good day.

19 July 2011                                                            Good rain late afternoon and night

It’s Jack birthday today. I think we’ve been camping almost every year since he was born. I have to admit that I miss that and will miss our time with the family in Island Park this year. I am glad they are going – they will have a good time and it’s important that they keep the tradition alive.

Today was quiet here at the office. We had a man call us who is a NGO. He wanted to come and meet with us at 10:30 am. We told him that would be fine. We didn’t ever see him. Or hear from him. I’m not sure is he couldn’t find us or what – but not a good way to begin a business relationship. We think he wanted to partner with us on a project.

I am glad for the cotton yarn and have begun some hot pads. It’s nice to have that to do. I’m also reading quite a bit and enjoy that. I will be glad to get the smaller crochet hook so I can begin a leper bandage.

It’s time to go visiting teaching again and we’ve been trying to set up some appointments. Sis. Kim just wants to meet at the church on Saturday. I would much rather visit in her home, but we will do as she wishes.