15 March 2012 Thursday

We woke up not in a big hurry to get up. We did go to breakfast in the hotel one last time – thank goodness. The food there wasn’t that great. They had watermelon and papaya, toast, a couple of choices of cold cereal, (We got so we liked one okay) and then a bunch of Indian dishes that weren’t that good. You could get an omelet. They were pretty plain and looked like a crepe. They did have some bananas and we usually took one to our room.

We returned to our room and packed our suitcases. Gene walked over to the mission office to pick up something Elder Adhakari wanted us to bring back. I waited for Brother Beesa’s guy to bring our airline tickets and return our credit card. Gene had given it to Preveen last night so we could settle up with him. I know that's trust. . .

Anil, Sister Jackson’s driver, came to pick us up about 10:40 AM. When he tried to start the car, a nice Toyota, it wouldn’t start and acted like the battery wasn’t good. Some guys pushed it down the street and got it going. All the vehicles in these countries are stick shift making it possible to do that. We got to the airport and it was busy. I’m starting to watch the clock.

We were standing in line to check bags and get our boarding pass when a young woman came along asking if there were any passengers heading to Kathmandu. There were a few of us. That told us time was getting short. We finally made it  through security. The gate was a long way away.  We weren’t the last ones on the plane, but close to it. We were happy to be on our way ‘home.’

The flight was uneventful and only about an hour and ten minutes. We had just carried on our bags so that was good once we landed. As soon as we got outside, the sharks were out, everyone wanted to get us in their taxi. The price started at 600 rupees. That’s way too much. Gene told them we lived here and 300 rupees was a fair price. We quickly had a taxi and it was pieced and taped together. The driver was pretty aggressive and made me a little nervous. And I thought ‘ I can’t wait to get back to Kathmandu.’ What was I thinking?

Goofy, Laxmi’s dog, was very glad to see us. We were warmly welcomed back by Laxmi, Jessica and Chris. They did tell us there is a new load shedding schedule, a few more hours of power a day. That’s good. We walked in the house and it’s a little cool. We changed clothes and put our sweats on, it feels good. We unpacked our bags and Laxmi put a batch of wash in for us. 

Boy, the internet here seems fast. The hotel was really slow. Makes us wonder how it will be when we get home.

It has been a good day. We are happy to have gone to India and have my ear taken care of. My right ear is still a little muffled, but the doctor felt good about it and said it would continue to improve. It’s good just knowing they did the surgery and got all that infection and junk out of my ear. We are happy campers.