I am impressed with the simple but effective stuff here. For example, the screen door into the hallway of my Dhulikhel apartment has this simple but efficient latch mechanism. It is really just a wooden wedge that the door securely squeezes into -- no fancy hardware is needed!
My Thursday started with a visit to a new Canteen. Anil, Manisha and Siras took me to try this "other" Canteen for breakfast. It is only a short walk from the school. This canteen requires cash payments and does not take my preloaded ID badge payments. (BTW, I finally had to reload my ID card on Wednesday -- after 6 weeks here, I had finally fully drained the 1000 rupees I had loaded onto it ($10 US). So I reloaded another 1000 rupees.) Anyway, here we are at this other Canteen. I wasn't expecting to go out for breakfast, so I had already eaten a banana and a small muffin in my room. Regardless, I joined my colleagues-- and I drank milk tea while they breakfasted.
Here Anil counsels some students in our office.
Anil and Mansiha finally "busted into" the suitcase filled with endo supplies that I brought for them from the US.
Later that morning we taught a 1 hour lecture and 2 hour hands-on course on NiTi rotary endodontics for the dental interns and a few others. It reminded me of the CE courses I teach to general dentists in the US. Afterwards, we all had lunch on the dental school's rooftop patio.
Dr Kafle had obligation which precluded him from driving me to Kathmandu Thursday afternoon/evening. Instead, I was offered a ride by Dr. Smriti, whom I had met previously (a month ago) at the prosthodontic convention. She is a prosthodontic faculty member and (like Dr. Kafle and many others) commutes to Dhulikhel from her home in Kathmandu each day. She is fortunate to have a driver. We had a delightful conversation during our 1 hour ride, and s we approached Kathmandu, she invited me to visit her family's home for tea. She usually resides with her husband and his parents, but while he is away on business, she and her daughter are staying nearby with her parents and her brother -- and that is where I visited. Despite being a "drop-in guest," her parents graciously and generously welcomed me into their home. We drank tea. He father is a retired hydropower engineer and her mother is a retired social studies teacher. Her brother is an architect and his wife is a math teacher. He built the house in 2018. We saw the sunset from their rooftop patio. The brother got a masters degree in architecture from Ball State U in Indiana. Smriti has degrees from both India and China. Everyone there spoke at least 3 languages --including English -- so we could all communicate. These are smart and interesting people. Smriti's daughter and niece performed keyboard pieces for me. Soon, I was invited to stay for dinner -- and they made a feast for me. The warmth and hospitality of these people is quite unbelievable. When I return to the US, I will have no tolerance for the stereotypical American "arse." After dinner, I was driven on to my room at the Kumari Inn. It was the end of another fabulous day.
Late Thursday night Manisha texted me that Siras' wife had delivered this baby girl!
Congratulations to them!
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