Sister, you play?

Because of the Newari strikes yesterday, the whole house was stuck inside the gates and restless. After wandering around the house many times and attempting to read, I finally convinced an intern, Erin, to try to find the Buddhist monastery that you can see from the rooftop of the house with me. We wandered down the alleyways that run near the volunteer house, and eventually found it. Even though we were not allowed in, we were able to hear them chanting and praying.

On our way back, we passed a seamstress and her husband who invited us into their shop to sit on their couch and talk with them. The two of them were sewing, one in front of the other, and working together on the same pants and shirt set. They were young, and very Hindu (they were dressed in traditional garb, and posters of Shiva and Ganesh covered the walls.) After buying us both mango drinks from next door, the two very energetically started a very basic and halted conversation, lasting more than an hour. We learned that they were very young (27), he was a songwriter (he sang for us twice), they had three children, and that they were very poor. Finally, we left, but not before the husband insisted on giving us his mobile number and their full names, written on a piece of paper that he had written, "I love you" across the top. I think I'm going to buy a sari from them.

After getting back, the other interns and I played a good game of soccer with Bibu and Kritan, and Renjan (the 20-yr. old who helps the interns.) Then, because it was Angela and Jenny's last night in Nepal, we went out to a shisha (hookah) bar in Thamel, the touristy district of Kathmandu. The taxis had started up again, and, ignoring the weird tension created by the uprising, we found two to take us to Thamel. 3 girls went in one car, and 6 of us crammed into the other one, piling on top of each other, arms and legs splayed out the windows. At the shisha bar, we smoked a good hookah and drank good, cheap, beer and everything was lovely.

Thamel is a place that caters to westerners. It has Italian food, The North Face stores (knockoff) and other fun attractions. However, when we left, there weren't many taxis, and the ones that were there had had barely any business (notice: weird tension from uprising.) 3 of the girls went in one taxi, and when we tried to cram the 6 of us into another, the Neapli boys who had followed us insisted that Nate, an intern, get on the roof, which he accepted. Once on the roof, one of the Nepalis tried to get in the car with me. And of course, me having had a mite too much to drink, this is how it went down:
Him: "You like Nepali. Yess, you like Nepali."
Me: "Yeah right. Get. Out." *shoves him back out the door and shuts it*
Him (from outside): "But I'm very nice."
Me (at this point I realized Nate was still on the roof, and thus opened the door quickly, slamming it into theNepali's chest) : You're slimy. Get out of the way...Nate, get in the car!"

And then we zoomed (sort-of trundled, due to the immense weight of 7 people in a car meant for 2) into the darkness.