Our first week in Kathmandu

Well, we have survived our first week and it has been a lot of fun.

We started off at Matt and Liz Watson's house - another INF couple from NZ. They were a real blessing and it was great to spend time with them to learn how to do basic stuff like how to cope when the power goes out, how to live without drinking the water out of the tap etc.

We then moved to Goshen house, a lovely guest house near the INF office. We have been fortunate to be joined by another couple from UK who are also undergoing orientation and then they are working in a medical camp in Surkhet, west Nepal.

One must talk about the roads here. The main roads are sealed and then back roads are only sealed if the owner wants it to be, and they pay for it. Therefore, you get random bits of sealed and the rest is dirt/rocks/bricks etc. The road is used by everyone and thing, motorbikes, cycles, cars, buses, trucks, tankers, tuk tuks, people, dogs, cows..... They generally drive on the left but the centre line isn't painted and moves around to suit those on the road. There aren't footpaths so people walk on the road. One lady from here got knocked over last week as the vehicle was so close to her it caught her handbag and pulled her over injuring her head.
The most important part of a vehicle is the horn and this is used to warn other road users they are coming, therefore when you get to an intersection you don't look - just beep your horn and pull out! The number of near misses I (Jo) find staggering.

The water is very low in the hydro dams so the government has started what they call load shedding which is scheduled power cuts totaling 63 hours per week at the moment and the length of time is set to increase. This impacts everything. You go to a cafe and can't get coffee as they can't work the expresso machine. We need to get passport photos and can't as there is no power.

Water is also very limited so although you have hot showers you have to wet yourself, turn the water off and soap down, turning it only only to wash off. Mark is struggling to clean his razor when showering!

We both have bad hayfever due to the dust everywhere. Rain isn't due for months so we best get used to it!!!

We are off to Pohkara tomorrow to start language training tomorrow. We are taking a bus there which should be fun. No doubt we will have some more video for you!



Jaimaste