Well, I would definitely say that it's getting warmer, and things are much more pleasant around here now that I'm not spending all my energy figuring out how to stay warm. The nights are still cold, but nowhere near as cold as they were. I'm slowly losing layers, and haven't slept with a hot water bottle in over a week now. Yay!
So Spring is in the air, and with that is coming a lot of changes. The people who normally live in the flat I'd been subletting are coming back on Wednesday, and so I've now moved upstairs to a flat that became empty about a month ago. I'm quite happy with the change. It's a smaller flat, but it's got a lot more sunlight that comes into it, so it's much lighter, brighter, and a bit warmer, which for this time of year is a bonus. I'll be living here until the end of April, which is when I'll be moving to Tansen to start work. Though actually I'll be away for a little over 3 weeks in March, so I won't really be living here that long. On March 1 I'm leaving for Tansen to visit the place for a week and get an orientation to the hospital. I'm looking forward to seeing where I'm actually going to be living and working, and to meeting and getting to know some of the people I'll be working with. After the week in Tansen I'll be going to a village somewhere a couple hours outside of Tansen, and will be living in the village for about 2 weeks. That's part of the language and cultural orientation program here. Not sure how primitive it will be, but it will certainly be VERY different from life in the city. I'll be staying in the home of one of the families in the village, and joining in their day-to-day work and life. And I probably won't be speaking much English during that time...so hopefully the Nepali I've learned in the last 3 months will do the trick. I have learned so much, but am aware that I still have a long way to go before I'll be fluent. But that's how it goes. There will be a language teacher coming into the village every day to give us (there will be 3 of us staying in the village, though all with different families) language lessons, so we'll be able to carry on with that to a certain extent.
Speaking of language classes, I only have class on Monday and Tuesday this coming week, and then I'm taking a week off before this 3-week trip. It's worked out nicely - all I have left in the "Basic Language Course" is the review, which we'll do over the next 2 days...and then I can start the "Post-Basic Course" when I get back. Not that I'm anywhere past the "basic" stage, but it's nice to at least have that milestone done.
I mentioned that the people I've been subletting from are coming back to Nepal on Wednesday. I also have some friends arriving on Wednesday for a visit, which is why I'm taking the week off. We plan to spend some time together, and also spend the weekend at the children's home (my connection to the children's home is actually through these friends), which we're looking forward to.
Here is a photo I snuck with my phone camera while walking along the road. I thought these boys were pretty cute!
