Friday 27th August
Well today started off well ! The road leading off to work is a couple of k's up a nice hill. Just at the bottom of the road there was an accident. Quite spectacular actually, a taxi was embedded in the side wheel of a bus, but this meant we had to walk ... I had my backpack with all my gear plus a bag with 2 computer books. Ah well, good practice for when I have the full pack on .... cant be as bad as a guy I see around here quite regularly who carts fridges on his back using his head as the strap support ... now that is quite a sight !!
Started work on the database and stretched the brain with getting back into SQL and relational databases. Quite a stretch, but in a masochistic sort of way I am enjoying it.
The evening was another pleasureable night in my room. I did go down to one of the pizza places that was recommended for tea, and it was pretty nice, but there really is no such thing as a nightlife here. Not one thats recommended for a single white female anyway. Its a mixture of the culture, the laws (bars must close at 10) and the current political situation. The only places that are open all night are the casino's at the top hotels and they are barred to Nepali's. Some of the pubs in Thamel also stay open till later but its a lock in thing, which doesn't appeal and also there is a problem with getting taxi's at that time. Most of the tourists tend to stay in Thamel, so its only a walk for them, but I'm a fair distance away, so looks like I have to adapt to a 'quiet life' for a couple of months.
Saturday 28th August
Decided to go and do some shopping for pressies today. Toddled off to Thamel and all I ended up doing was coming home tired, stressed and depressed.
I am just such a target for the beggars and conmen, I am getting better at getting rid of them, but its just so damn annoying. You are trying to look around and they keep coming up and starting on you. You just get rid of one and before you get your breath back along comes someone else. I will have to learn the Nepali equivalent of 'go away'. (being that I'm trying to keep this G rated, I stuck with the nice version) PS. I only get this problem in Thamel, so I'm just going to have to find a better place for shopping. You get the odd kid around here, but I say No and they go away.
So, home with nothing in hand and feeling very sad and sorry for myself, I indulged in some comfort food. A tin of Pringles, a bar of choccie and I did buy a bottle of wine, but managed to get myself together before it cooled down. A bottle of wine and feeling down dont tend to mix well. I indulged in bad for me food, missing everyone, missing going out, bad tv and had a good sulk, got it all out and felt better.
Sunday 29th August
Chatted with a few friends on MSN ( you all have my email addy if you're ever on ) and decided to give the shopping another go. It was strangley quiet when I got out on the road, no taxi's, no buses, shops closed and hardly any people (except for soldiers). Strange, wasn't meant to be a bandh on today ... kept walking anyway and noticed all these burning heaps along the way. Very strange. My first assumption was that something had been blown up, but turns out there was a protest and they had been burning tyres along the way. Apparently the only way they can get a good attendance at these rallys is to pay the students for turning up. They have a ball going mad and the politcal party can say it was a success. There goes the shopping plans.
I'm really going to have to find something to keep me occupied. I have been looking around at some yoga places, etc .... could be the go.