June 19 2009

June 19, 2009
Last night we went to Patan (an area that is about 15-25 minutes or so by cab). Like going from Murray to Draper. I ate brains, sheep liver, buff liver, sheep cheek, sheep esophagus, and buff stomach. I took pictures of everything. It was really fun. The restaurant that we ate at was kind of crazy though. It was off all the main roads in the house and we sat in a room that looked similar to a small living room. Kate and me went and looked at the kitchen which is suppose to be a huge compliment to the chef to look at their kitchens. All the different meats were sitting on the table and there were some fish and other dishes that we did not try out on the table as well. When we first got there Om ordered a ton of different dishes and the one boy who was cooking serving and taking orders helped us the whole time. Om told us that they were very excited that foreigners where eating at the restaurant because they normally only get local Newari people.
Today Josh and me joined Kate(the new volunteer that is here from Canada) on her culture week outing to the monkey temple. It was so much better this time. Last time we went it was so hot and it was a Saturday so there were so many local people there worshiping and we only saw 2 monkeys. Today there were tons of monkeys playing the in monkey swimming pool. There were also tons of baby monkeys there which I had not seen any of the other places that we have seen monkeys and I wonder if they were born in between when we were there last time and this time. It has been almost 6 weeks since we were there. It is crazy how quickly time is going by and at the same time so slowly. I feel like we have to much and so little going on all at the same time. There is no night life here really so where I am used to staying up late and getting up late. I go to bed early and get up fairly early.
Anyway all is safe and well here. There have been some political problems here that you may have seen on the news but they do not effect me at all. The most that it would ever affect me is the option to get cabs. When there are political problems here they have days called “Bantha” on these days all school and work is canceled for the whole city. Shops are not suppose to open. It is really strange on those days. There are no cars and motorcycles on the streets and almost all of the shops are closed. We were still able to walk to our work assignment which took about 1 hour and we also got lunch at a restaurant that had a police officer outside. I think that she was suppose to be keeping shops from being open but she informed us that we could still go in. Basically we have nothing to worry about when there are problems. The police officers are there to keep us safe. I hope all is well at home.
Amanda