October 4th - 6th

(Tuesday night)
One of my boys just sat and spent twenty minutes braiding my hair while we listened to my Tibetan chants. (purring noise) I think I know what he'll be doing tomorrow night.

(Wednesday night)
Today I found Meagan! Again just in town wandering around and I ran into her. She's going to come to Patan with me tomorrow. We walked to my monastery together so I could show her around. Since it was 4:30 we also sat in on a meditation session. Kay, you were right. I totally felt the vibes. Interestingly instead of grounding me it took me out of my body. That is one of the few things I haven't been paying attention to about myself. When am I in my body and when am I not. Goody, another awareness to keep track of.

(Thursday morning)
Dashain certainly makes everything more colorful even that before. People are in their better clothes, more streamers and flags, plus with every day this week more and more shops close. Thank god my favorite shop (two shops actually) are always open. They are little hole-in-the-wall places next to each other. The guy on the left makes great samosas and the guy and girl on the right do great coffee. My samosa guy speaks no English but as I remember enough Nepali numbers plus thank you we get along fine. Part of the fun is having his other three regular customers stare at me. On the right they speak better English. This is the gentleman who ran next door to get me some ice when I burnt my fingers. If someone told me I had to eat in either place my first week I'd have said they were trying to kill me. Well, six samosas, one Indian sweet (that I can't remember the name of), two masala teas, and three cups of coffee later I'm still alive and healthy. The girl who works on the right has kind of adopted me, I think, despite being my age. When she noticed me polishing my apple on my skirt she took it from my hands, went in the back, and washed it for me. Then gave me a plate to put it on since I was eating my samosas at the same time. One fascinating thing about my samosa maker is that every batch he does tastes slightly different. As in different ingredients. He's adorable, wizened, skinny and almost never around when you need him which is okay. More practice in patience and slowing down my daily life. At meals I still catch myself eating too fast. God did high school ever ruin my eating habits. Daddy, you'll be happy to know it doesn't take me two hours to finish dinner anymore. On the other hand I have to be careful not to make myself sick.

On my way back from town the other day I helped two little boys get their kite unstuck from a tree.

Side note: (don't take this the wrong way but) damn you daddy for giving me such a complex about my eating and my weight. For the love of everything holy, nearly every damn meal I wonder how many calories this is. Oh I should walk further today to burn more. Have I lost any weight yet? I've been here for two minutes and I'm worried about loosing weight? The fact that thought crosses my mind at all disturbs me deeply.