Happy Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I am happy to announce that there will be no rice at my Thanksgiving and that is what I am thankful for. The other interns and I found this place that is doing a Thanksgiving buffet; it's a little expensive but I don't care. For this Thanksgiving I am truly grateful for the experiences I meet every day here, the friends I have made in Kathmandu who make my work bearable by helping me laugh at the end of the day, and my friends and family, both past and present who in one way or another are the reason why I am who I am. I love you and thank you. I know I have said this in every message, but I have decided that I will not let any person leave my life without them knowing what they have meant to me first.
It has been a pretty crazy couple of weeks here. Just the other day, this crazy homeless woman named Angie, whom I walk by every day was speaking into her cucumber like it was a cell phone, but she was nice enough to put down her call and say high to me as I passed. Yesterday I was visiting with some street friends when one of the guys high on glue just came up and swung at one of my friends. She fought back instantly and with a force I would never call upon anyone. Her older sister then jumped in and all three were in headlocks. I didn't know if I should help in a situation that was none of my business, snap some shots, or go pick up Sabitri's (the older sister's) baby . I decided that it wasn't my business to step in as much as I wanted to help my two friends and snapped one shot before my card filled up, and then I went and picked up Mukti, the baby. After several bloody bights and some pulled clumps of hair, the girls won and left. I found them soon after, almost laughing about it. I am not certain I can be a war correspondent. I don't think I can step out of myself and simply be an observer, there will always be a drive to help and it could get me in big trouble or killed. I will have to think about it. Oh, but also just last week there was a protest because the Maoists killed somebody, so shops were supposed to shut down and people were not supposed to drive. On this day my friend and I go to buy some bus tickets out of town. As we are buying the tickets the shop keeper out of no where sends his friend to go shut the metal garage door behind us. So now we are in this pitch black office and all we hear is shouting and stomping and then we hear glass breaking in the room above our heads followed by some loud thuds. It soon passes and we are aloud to leave the office. Everywhere is broken glass and bricks from the riot. Later that day I was walking down the street and I see this small group of people stopping traffic. They stop all motorcyclists and tell them to walk their cycles the rest of the way and if they wouldn't then they would pull the keys from the cyclists ignition and walk away. Cyclists who tried to plow through the crowd either had their bike damaged by some very firm kicks or were almost pulled off their bikes until they stopped. I could have written all of this in much greater detail but I figured quicker would be better for this kind of medium. I'll put up some more photos soon, and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Oh, and thanks for the comments, I love reading them, Seth.

I Dreamed of a Philly Cheese. No Joke.

Well it finally happened, I thought it would come a little later than this but it's here and what can I do. I am not completely certain I can face another meal of rice and vegetables. For two times a day I have had nothing but rice and vegetables for almost the entirety of the two months and one week I have been here. I think that I am starting to slip. Eating has become more of a chore than anything else and I am constantly tiered (I way 160 lbs.). The other day I put a pile of rice on my plate and just stared at it for minutes before I took my first bite. Afterwards I went to the fridge and got myself a big spoon of honey. As I am lolling the spoon of honey in my mouth my fellow intern just stares at me. I'm not certain of my motivation for the honey but I think something just needed to change. But bless my Sister host here, she really knows how to make the same dishes different and interesting; however, the menu has been sampled thoroughly now and I don't know what to do. We even went out to dinner once and our Nepali family ordered the same thing we have eaten every night. Stupefied as asked my Sister host why and she said, "I like rice." They also are baffled to learn that Americans don't eat rice every day. Things like this make my two months and three weeks left here seem a little to long for comfort. But aside from this I am having an awesome time here, and will be sad to go. The city of Kathmandu is just so weird sometimes. For instance the other day I was sleeping in my bed only to be woken up by this horrible screeching; I open my eyes and my little sister had scooted her trainer potty into my doorway so she could watch me sleep and go to the bathroom. I also see some of the strangest looking dogs; I saw a dog with the head and tail the size and likeness of a husky but with the body of a wiener dog. I was so fascinated by this canine that I almost stepped and slipped on a dead duckling in the road. And amidst all of this weird and crazy, the cab drivers maintain complete cool as they rush by. They know exactly where their car ends and chaos begins; there simply is no room for chaos in a cab. You sit and watch close call after near miss as they weave through traffic at speeds that boggle the mind and never get a scratch. But any way, I have finally brought out the big camera and it was met with good response. Some of the kids still pose but I hope that this phase will soon pass, along with them constantly asking for their photos. It's funny, I took a picture of this one boy and not a half hour later he comes back looking through my bag for his picture as if because my camera could show the image on the screen, I could print it right there as well. I have recently had a bad cough which has kept me in bed for the last two days so I am very eager to get back out there. I only have until mid Dec. to finish but I think I am going to continue with the street children on my own afterwards and build up my theme so that when I come back I might be able to turn it into a book. Well this is probably the longest blog I have written yet and I am sorry. Just know that I love you all, as soft as that sounds and I will somehow find a way to mix up my diet. Seth.