Last day in Nepal.

Past week has been kind of a blur- packing in the goodbyes, running last minute errands and so on.

Highlights:

Seeing a Hindi movie with Sabita! Bollywood is the new Hollywood. The movie, Patalia House, is kind of like an Indian version of The Rookie- it's about a cricket player who abandoned his dreams because of his father but eventually (at age 34) s given a chance to play professionally. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patiala_House) Unlike The Rookie though, it had a little bit of everything in it - comedy, romance, drama, amazing dance scenes,- you name it, it had it. Also, movie theaters in Nepal are nice. We didn't even go to a super fancy theater but some of them (there are only three...) have reclining chairs and waiters. All for two dollars- not too bad.

Last shabbat here I spent at Chabad- was really nice to hang out there, ran into some old friends and made some new ones. Also spent Friday cooking there (can you imagine making challah for hundreds of people?) Chabad here does amazing work, and if you're so inclined, they can definitely use donations.

One of the days, I went on a little trek with Erez to Pharphing, a little town a bit south of Kathmandu. It was nice to explore and we had some great dalbaat but I think I've concluded that once you've seen one Tibetan temple, you've kinda seen em all...

By the way, Aleeza has a great motto for Nepal "It's just not what you expect." That kinda covers it for everything- food you order, a shirt you buy, a trip you go on, a person you meet. So this week I had one of my own IJNWYE moments. I wanted to get Chooch a birthday present (Happy 17th!) and since it's fairly easy to make things here, I brought in a picture of small silver earrings in the shape of a heart and asked Bina, the jewelry lady if it was possible to copy them. "Sure, sure," she said. "I'll call you when they're done." So yesterday she called me to tell me they were ready. I walked to the store that afternoon and waited as she rummaged around, finally producing a rather large box. Smiling, she opened it and there lay two beautiful silver heart earrings- just as I ordered. Except, they were HUGE. As in, the size of my face, not the size of two delicate earrings. But, like I said, IJNWYE.

Another highlight of the week- two nights ago there was HUGE thunderstorm in Kathmandu, unlike anything I'd every experienced. I had already woken up from the thunder and lightening when there was a really loud BOOM- it was one of the loudest thunders I'd every heard! I ran across the hall to Ari's room, only to find that Aleeza and Erez were already there all huddled together. Just like kids, we stayed there until the storm was over. I think we wanted to make hot cocoa but there was no cocoa. Or electricty for that matter. Ke Garne... P.S.- the insanely lous sound was actually lightening hitting the Monkey Temple, which is a two minute walk from the house. Check it out here http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Lightening+damages+Swoyambhu+Pratapur+temple&NewsID=276524

Leaving to the airport in an hours. Although I only have four actual hours of flying time, I have to fly to Dehli, then to Mumbai, then finally to Goa...so that makes thirteen hours with stopovers. Lucky me.

But maybe I'll be too drained and exhausted to be sad about the fact that I'm leaving this place. It's been difficult, surprising, frustrating, delightful, annoying, overwhelming, and more. But, when all is said and done, you know what? It's a place I've grown to love, and a place I can call home...