And now.....

to bring you right up to date, a summary of the memorable events in the last 2 weeks:

Language classes

We have about a 15 min walk through dusty streets and alleys to our language class which is on the ground floor of a residential block. We have a lovely group of Nepali trainers who each take a group of 3 of us. Sheila and I have managed to stay together and until today have, together with Linda Grainge been taught by the incredibly patient Chanda. For the next week we stay in the same groups but the trainers rotate - shame we loved Chanda. Classes start at 9am, we have a tea break at 11:45 followed by lunch at 12:30. Sheila and I normally go to a little snack shop and have samosa, pakoda (like vegetable bhajis) and a small bowl of vegetable curry, all for Rs15 (about 12 pence)! Some afternoons we have had cultural training rather than more language. This has included a visit to a local restaurant to eat traditional dall bhaat (dall & rice) and toilet training. You may well ask what toilet training is for. On Monday week we are going to decamp from the luxurious Pacific Guest House to stay in a village for 12 days. The facilities there will be pretty basic and we will have to use squat toilets, i.e. a hole in the ground - hence the need to practise. There is a risk that this diary will become obsessed with toilets and bodily functions - suffice to say I have nothing good to say about either although so far no major episodes of Nepali belly for us.

Social life

After classes finish at 3 pm we normally head back to the Pacific Guest House (will you excuse me if use Nepali for this in future – PGH. I blame aid agencies for the fact that almost every expression is turned into an acronym) to do homework, check e-mails etc. Most evenings we eat in but we have had a couple of nights out including a boozy dinner at David & Jeanna's supposedly to talk about taking over their flat. As a long power cut delayed dinner but not the drinking we didn't get much sorted out so have rearranged for next week - must remember to take only 1 bottle of wine. Talking of wine, did I mention that we can buy reasonable Oz, NZ and French wine locally? Prices are comparably to the UK which sounds good until you think of as 1 bottle costs more than a whole day's living allowance, beer is cheaper, a day's allowance gets you 3 bottles.

Traffic

Crossing the road appears to be impossible until you venture off the pavement and discover that you can jay walk across and traffic will weave around you. Quite effective if a bit unnerving. The dust and fumes are pretty dreadful which is not helpful for Sheila's asthma. Apparently the face masks that some people wear don't stop the harmful fumes and dirt. As the VSO office is about 30 mins walk away I borrowed a friend's bike last week (thanks Sandy). This brings it down to a 10-15 min bike ride if I don't get lost on the short cut through some back roads/alleys. Although in Nepali terms it is not hilly, it is a bit of a climb up to the office and a nice freewheel for much of the way home. My borrowed bike was single speed and I think I have decided to tough it out and get a solid Indian made one of these for Rs3,500 (£30) rather than a multi-speed but shoddy Chinese one for about £50. The exercise will do me good! We have experienced buses and they don't seem to bad ( I never had the courage to try one in Delhi). Sheila may have a different view in a month or so after having used them for her daily commute to work. Although there are meant to be larger taxis, the only ones you see are little Maruti Suzuki 800s which are a tad cosy with 3 on the back seat. We tend to walk most places so we can learn our way around.

Electricity & water

From the start there were some power cuts but from last Saturday we are now up to 35 hours a week. It has been the driest winter for 30 years in Nepal and there has been virtually no rain for 3 months. Apart from a looming water crisis (crying need for Dando rigs to dig new/deeper wells) and dusty streets this means that a couple of hydro-electric scheme reservoirs are due to dry up in 20 days time at which stage there will be even more power cuts. It's going to be a long hot summer until monsoon in July!

Things to look forward to (or not)

Six Nations rugby on TV on Saturday if I can get into the British Embassy or find somewhere else to watch it. Day off for Holi next Tuesday; plan to stay in the PGH all day as the streets will be full of people throwing coloured paint. The kids are already throwing water bombs making the trip to language class a bit hazardous, one of our group took a direct hit this morning. And then .....THE VILLAGE STAY and the wonderful toilet facilities!

Off for a cup of Nepali tea (chia) now before heading up to the VSO office for a meeting which will discuss the security problems here (or at least outside the Kathmandu valley) and whether and how VSO can continue to operate effectively.

Bye for now.

Roshan