Update 2, NEPAL FIELD VISIT 2015

Well, the teachers meeting went pretty well. At least they seemed interested and I got many nods of agreement and smiles, but who really knows? Anyway, I did my best. I had just read a great article in the New York Times about a moral life and it was so apt that I shared many thoughts from that. The author talked about resume virtues vs eulogy virtues. The eulogy virtues being the ones we all hope will be talked about at our funeral. Let's cultivate those deep values and strengths of character in the children! So important in this money crazy era we are living in.

So, the days are moving way too fast. There is still so much to do but things move so slowly here. I spend a lot of time waiting for people. It definitely cultivated patience! And Nepalis are very social, so to connect and establish trust and confidence means drinking many cups of tea and making small talk for quite a while before it's possible or effective to dig in and get to the matter at hand. Many days I find it very exhausting. It takes a lot of psychic energy to spend my days trying to communicate, often with people who don't speak English or with kids who are very shy. It takes patience and sensitivity. So maybe I am painfully cultivating some eulogy virtues. Ha ha!

I'm at the Pegasus hostel now. I arrived a little while ago after an incredibly bumpy taxi ride out of town and up the hillside. The roads are almost nonexistent. Naturally I was immediately served chai and cookies. ( I have had my entire annual quota of sugar in the past week). The sun is setting and I'm sitting in the kitchen of Kinley’s house (he's the Principal). I can hear the kids running and playing in the hostel playground. Prayer flags are fluttering in the fresh evening breeze. It's lovely to get out of the smog and into fresh air. Below us on the hillside villagers are harvesting potatoes and preparing their field with mounds of cow dung. Barley or maybe millet is golden in the setting sun. It's quiet but for a distant mooing cow, some bird song and the muffled chatter of the kids. I think I'll go see what they're up to.