Had our first lesson in Nepali today. Awesome. It's hard though, there aren't really shorashim I can pick up on the way I did when I learned French or Arabic. But what was super interesting was our lesson on the history of Nepal. It gave me a lot of insight into this (very crazy) country.

Just a few things to fascinate you with

First of all- check it. Crown Prince kills entire royal family because he can't marry his true love and then kills himself. Or, was that the cover story for a nefarious plot carried out by the King's brother in order to take over the throne? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2001/nepal_in_crisis/

- Nepal has no taxes. Technically, they have taxes just no one pays them! Which makes sense becuase...

- Nepal has no government! How does a country exist without a goverment? Answer- it has many, many problems.

- People with bureaucratic jobs can't get fired. Ever. So the teachers here (who make on average a thousand dollars a year) don't really need to go to work. What they do is hire younger people to go in while they sit at home and collect the salary. And usually, that teacher doesn't go to work either. Or, he naps outside and when the kids get too rowdy he'll go smack em around for a bit. Lovely.

- Nepal is right in between India and China. As such, half the people look kind of Chinese and half the people look kind of Indian. So, there isn't really a Nepali identity. They're all just very confused!

Gotta run.

P.S. Bought a KitKat for 7 cents and laundry detergent for a quarter. I could get used to this...