It was bound to happen

Our first run in with food poisoning.  Ug.  Food and water preparation here is crucial to avoiding all sorts of nasty stuff - we had a training session when we first got here.  Soak fruits and veggies in water + iodine.  Eat things you can peel.  Better to go with cooked/boiled.  Which restaurants are ok.  What brand of bottled water was deemed "safer".  Water filters.  Make sure hands and dishes are dry after washing.  Soap, lots of soap.  Etc, etc, etc.  Whew.

So, we are cautious, but we eat out a lot.  And, really, like the title says, it was bound to happen.  Luckily we didn't get hit at the same time, because being sick with a baby is hard.  Just a few days later we are all healthy again.... just in time for another round of immunizations tomorrow.  The quest for health never ends!

Weekend hike

Yesterday we hiked from Sankhu to Nagarkot (link to map, we didn't make it all the way to Hotel Sunrise though).  We hired a school van to take us to the starting point and pick us up at the end.  The scenery was beautiful and it was great to get out of the city, my first time to do so in fact (Jeremiah's gotten out on a number of bike rides so he was excited for me to see it).  The hike was uphill, and by the end we were exhausted, but it felt good to be active.  Jeremiah was awesome (even after his quick food poisoning bout the previous night) and carried Tegan on his back the whole way and for almost the whole 3-4 hours we walked she was content to hang out up there and see the sights.

Clearly from the photos I took, you can tell I was enamored with all the green.  It's such a stark contrast to the concrete and construction rubble of the city.  We will be going back out soon for more hikes for sure!

PS - Dad, that sun shade on the carrier was amazing.  She would have fried without it!

Bangles galore

This week many women in Nepal celebrated Teej. As it was explained to me, Teej involves different events over a few days including fasting and praying to Shiva for health and good fortune for their husbands (and thus their families). The visual part of this celebration is that women wear red saris and sulwar kurta (pants and tunics) with lots of jewelry, bangles in particular.  I was given a number of bangles for this event, all with plenty of bling on them.  Putting bangles on takes a certain amount of skill, as apparently the smaller the bangle size the better and they must be eased over the bones in your hand.  Tegan's nanny helped me put some of mine on in the morning, and soap and cold water were required in the evening to get them off again.

Cheese?

We think this is cheese, and really, what better place for cheese to be stored than on the side of the road strung from a clothes hanger?

Adding some air flow

Kathmandu is undertaking a serious construction project - taking back road space that almost everyone had decided to build on.  There are lots of houses that look just like this one with a slice taken off, and people hanging out as if it's a viable living space still (see the woman on the top floor left hand side?)  It reminds me of the doll house I had as a kid.

Weekend walk

Some pictures Jeremiah took while walking through town.

Instagrammed Walk to School

Nepal flag outside of a shop

Random Brick

Rain boots with real shoes for school

Monkey near school