Me vs. emaciation, Monkey Temple, 1st Clinic Day

So the Nepali diet is not exactly conducive to the maintenance of mass of any kind let alone muscle. 7am tea, 10am rice, thin lentil soup, potatoes 7pm rice, soup, potatoes... delicious, and served in gut busting portions but recently i find myself salivating, unthinkingly staring at cows and fingering the swiss army knife in my pocket. So for the past week I've been on an increasingly desperate search for a reliable non-nasty protein source and a place to exercise. My stop gaps have been pull ups on the crossbeam of the soccer goals and a steady stream of almonds. Solutions: Buffalo meat momos (Tibetan dumplings, 10 for 1 dollar), and the Fitness Gym Club. The absolute total quantity of weight in the gym is MAYBE 300 pounds if some of the nepali kids stand on the bars, but it stopped the cravings.

Saturday is the one day-off in Nepal so some of the other volunteers and I went to the aptly named Monkey Temple for a few hours. http://rutgers.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2172010&l=6e7e7&id=8815627

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swayambhunath

It was absolutely amazing; Overlooking all of Kathmandu from one of the Himalayan "foothills." (Greg:What's the name of this mountain?, guide: we don't have names for hills.) At sunset the wind was circulating around the base of the hills creating updrafts where as many as 11 hawks would glide in place for 10 minutes without a single wing flap. Also we had the opportunity to observe monkeys in their environment of choice: garbage. They were drinking out of juice boxes, unwrapping leftovers in newspaper, and slurping chowmein with an appropriately inhuman dexterity. Observing animals in their natural habitat is the only way to truly experience nature.

Today I made it out to the Godjihaara (butchered the spelling) clinic with the only doctor at VSN, Yet from Holland. The clinic is one of several that VSN assists and is comprised of 3 rooms: a pharmacy, and exam room, and a TB isolation exam room. The first thing I saw when I walked into the clinic was a cardboard box full nearly to the brim with USED, uncapped needles. Yet nearly had a stroke trying to explain the absolute gross negligence of the situation. (she said something along the lnes of, "you'd be chased off the continent of Europe if you did something like that within a 1000 meters of a hospital in Holland." After that situation was "handled" (I'm buying a sharps bucket tomorrow), we started cleaning and organizing the chaotic shelves of the exam room. In the process we found some badly needed thermometers, bp cuffs, stethescopes, sutures, bandages completely hidden underneath the randomly strewn papers of the post staff. Tomorrow the other shelves are getting the same treatment, so it will be a long but hopefully productive day.

I'm starting to get into a groove here and am really enjoying the country in general and the people in particular. I Miss everyone who's reading this (probably).