Let me be the first (maybe) to welcome you into the Nepali year 2069! They follow a different calendar here, instituted by some king or other way back when. There are still 12 months in the year, but they have different names, and the months start roughly in the middle of our Gregorian calendar months. Most calendars around here have both the Nepali dates and the Gregorian dates on them.
There isn't too much to report at the moment. I have just over 2 weeks left before I move to Tansen. I am cutting back on my language study classes next week to just 2 hours a day, and then won't have any classes that last week, to give me time to shop, pack, and prepare to move to Tansen. Oh, and continue to plan my wedding! I was thinking I should be able to find a dress here, because at Christian weddings more women are starting to wear white western style dresses. But after a lot of asking around, and visiting several places, I have concluded that there are approximately 5 ready-made western-style wedding dresses in all of Kathmandu, and they are all hideous (in my opinion, of course)! Frills and bows EVERYWHERE! I did find a tailor/designer who does a lot of western-style wedding dresses, and she came recommended by a few people, so I'm having the dress made from scratch - woohoo!
The weather here has transitioned into much warmer temperatures (mid-to-high 20's), especially during the day. But there have been crazy thunderstorms almost daily for the last 2 weeks. Maybe even daily...I'm not sure. It'll be beautiful and sunny one minute, and the next minute it's pouring rain and there is thunder and lightning. The other night I was awakened at about 2 am by a sound. At first I wasn't sure if it was thunder or really strong wind, because it sounded so strange. In the end I decided it was thunder, but it was the craziest thunder I've ever heard. Not super-loud, but absolutely constant rumbling for about 45 minutes straight, and the lightning was also constantly flashing for that same length of time. I've never seen anything like it! Nobody can quite agree whether this is typical weather for this time of year in Nepal or not. Some say it is, and others aren't so sure. At any rate, I've never experienced so many thunderstorms in such a short time.
I'm getting excited about the move to Tansen, though I will confess that I do feel a bit nervous, as well. It'll be another new place, a new job, and the learning curve will be steep at first. But it is why I've come to Nepal, after all, and I know it will be fine. But I do appreciate prayer for the transition over the next few weeks.
