The kids finished their semester exams and had a week holiday.  We took them outside the valley to Pharping, a rural town with several Buddhist pilgrimage sites, clean air and mountain views.  4 boxes of Christmas presents also arrived!  My mom Heidi gathered 20 shoeboxes full of gifts for the kids.  At first the kiddos didn’t know what to do with the boxes but once they realized the cool stuff inside was really for them they were elated!  That night they couldn’t sleep and several snuck out of their beds to check on their new markers, crayons, hairclips etc.  On Saturday they decided to write thank you cards and draw pictures to show their  gratitude.  3 hours later they were still coloring, cutting, writing and designing their Masterpieces of Thanks.        

Across the valley the nuns of Ngoedrub Charbeb Ling nunnery are preparing for a trip to Bodhgaya, India to participate in the Nyingma Monlam, an annual prayer festival where thousands of monks, nuns and Ngakpas pray and meditate 8-12 hours a day together for two weeks straight while seated around a tree marking the place where Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment.  The nuns are excited for their teacher to return in a few weeks and are hoping for more support to start coming for the monastery.

     Anjit and I spent  New Year’s on the roof with our pals Brandon, a Montana wildland firefighter/yogi/Dharma Bum, Dorje, our Utah monk, Andy the Australian guitarist, and Christine, the Columbia grad student — although Dorje insisted on calling her Heather which for some reason made everyone laugh.  We burned lots of incense, ate good food, some drank good wine, and talked about whatever kept us smiling, mostly Buddhism, Nepal, stars, past and potential romantic endeavors etc.  Bob Marley and the stupa hung out in the background.

      The first week of January saw lots of changes in the kids home.  Anjana started working organizing past expenses and planning January’s budget.  Anjana is attending a series of seminars and training courses designed to train NGO leaders in management and international networking and funding with an emphasis on grant proposal preparation.  The goal is to send out at least twenty grant applications to Nepal-based and international NGO’s and funding agencies by March.

      The new year also brought with it a hot water heater for showers, an indoor gas powered portable heater, and as of today, a washing machine. 

      Anjit and I set out on the Suzuki 125.  Bouncing over potholes, rocks, and through the mile of dirt road we were out of Boudha and onto the main thoroughfare headed to Chabihil to find a washing machine.  After much discussion we opted against a dryer as the Nepal economic situation demands we continue line drying for the time being.  Our main budget increases are due to the blasted electricity crisis.  Currently the power is turned off for 16 hours a day to save the very sparce power supply in Nepal.  In February it will be extended to 18 hours a day.  The devastation this is doing to the economy is sure to keep Nepal in the 3rd world for at least another decade.  For us it means spending much more on propane and candles, and when these become two necessary commodities for survival, the price isn’t so cheap.  Supply and Demand 101.  Last winter there was a propane shortage when a separatist rebel group from southern Nepal blocked all shipments of propane from India to Kathmandu.  Hopefully, there won’t be a repeat this winter.  Needless to say we decided to save the dryer funds for a cold winter day.

      Chabihil is full of small storefronts none of which are larger than one room with an open front facing the busy, dusty main road headed to the guts of Kathmandu.  Anjit headed into a shop while I stayed on the sidewalk.  We decided long ago that my presence often discourages sellers to drop prices.  Now and then I walked past the shop to check Anjit’s progress.  A woman showed him a washing machine they spoke briefly and looked like we were about through.  On my next pass Anjit was flailing his arms and rambling on about who know what, but pretty quickly another woman appeared in the store clearly of higher rank.  The 3 of them talked for another 20 minutes while I breathed chewy air on the sidewalk.  Finally I saw them filling out a receipt so I figured I could make my entrance.  Immediately the two women eyeballed me.  I asked Anjit, “How we doin?”  “Good,” he said.  The pricetag read 45,900 rupees.  I glanced at the receipt the higher rank was filling out, 41,000rs.  Anjit’s tirade and 45 minutes of antics were now clear.  He’d managed to save us 4,800rs, or about $62.00.  4,800 sounds a lot more impressive and it was in these hard times.  However our budget was 40,000rs and we still had to pay for delivery and installation.  About this time I saw another model and figured it must be more expensive and had to look twice to realize the pricetag said, “16,600rs” and not “116,600rs.”  Sure enough, less than half the price.  I looked to the woman still writing the receipt and said, “Why’s this one so much less?”  “It’s semi-automatic.” she said.  “9 millimeter or .45?” I replied.  Not a chuckle.  She was worried.  She’d all but sealed the deal with Anjit to buy the most expensive machine in the place when Luke P showed up to wreck the party.  I walked to the wall covered with different models ranging in price from 16,600-23,900.  I then noticed a man enter the shop.  They were calling for serious back-up this time.  I pointed to a model and asked, “semi or fully auto?”  “Automatic,” he replied.  I pointed to our Cadillac-like washer and asked, “Difference?”  The head honcho stood with both women flanking him and giving me an unhappy face.  He said, “This one much better, wash all clothes very well, and make water little warm even.”  “Only difference is it makes the water a little warm?!”  He was down to, “Much better.”  Unconvinced quality was motivating this sale any longer, I asked Anjit if we would have a 1 year guarantee with the 23,900 top loader.   When he nodded yes the battle was over.  Instead of a few thousand rupees over our budgeted amount, we came in almost twenty under.  Boo yah!

      We paid and got out of there before I caught a beating.  While walking out I saw a man putting a strap around our boxed washer and loading it on his forehead.   As we climbed aboard the 1980s Suzuki 125 superbike I asked Anjit if this guy was carrying our washer all the way to the house.  “Of course” he said.  ”Of course” is the answer to 3 miles with a washing machine on your back strapped to your head wearing foam sandals.  Anjit has a saying: “ This is Nepal.”  He usually laughs after saying it.  Laughter helps here.  I asked Anjit what we pay a guy for walking our washer 3 miles on his back.  Hundred rupees.  After some debate Anjit allowed me to give him 3 hundred rupees, a little under $4.  This is Nepal. 

      On our return, the kids were playing in our shared yard and shouted almost in unison, “Good afternoon, brother Luke!”  These kiddos have me hooked pretty good and I’m starting to think my life’s work has arrived.  Two nights ago I came home at 7pm to a room full of kids studying by candle light next to our new heater.  Babina, the youngest at 5 was sitting right in front of the heater.  The shyest of the bunch I sat in front of her looking at her notebook.  A to Z was written neatly spaced to cover the page.  I pointed to G and shrugged my shoulders hoping she would answer.  Not much of a talker, I notice I wonder what her life looked like last year while living on the streets of Kathmandu.  I reached across the notebook held her hand before smiling as genuinely kindly as I could.  Then something strange happened.  I started singing the ABC’s.  I’m no singer but I sang the ABC’s in perfect pitch to invite a 5 year old to interact with our peaceful healthy little community.  She smiled and started to whisper the ABC’s while fighting to keep her smile from getting too big.  Yeah, I’m hooked on these kids.

      For the next week Anjana is getting use to our new accounting software, the kids have exams before winter break starts next week, and I’m trying to find some winter coats.  Our Utah clothing drive contact has not been in contact or reachable for a month, so I decided to look to local organizations to hopefully donate some winter clothes for the kiddos now that winter has arrived in the valley.