Is everyone in the USA as fat as you are? !!!!!!!!!!

Namaste!

Our work at the clinic has been progressing well. The students were tested on the vascular system, and three of the four did very well. Our fourth student has been coming in for extra tuition with Andy before class starts, so hopefully he will pass soon. The students are now onto their next lesson, and are learning about fractures, dislocations, sprains and strains. We keep trying to come up with new ways for them to learn and understand the information, so today we had the students lead quizzes on each other and also to test us on our knowledge!!! We did well (luckily...). All the students are also doing much better with their practical skills, and we are planning a student clinic next week for more practice on other bodies! Plus it is a great way to continue to build relationships with the community. Many of the local shops and restaurants are very supportive of the clinic, and many display posters or send tourists our way. We talk with the owners and the workers at every opportunity.

Evan has also been working with each of the qualified therapists to share skills and offer more advanced clinical education. All three have been motivated and have been participating. Their level of skill is very high. Andy has continued to work with the semi-qualified therapist to help him pass his final theory classes, and he is moving on too. The clinic has started to get busier and we have had up to 10 massage clients a day. Can be quite a juggling act with rooms and massage tables and space with the students to practice too.

We have also had an enjoyable week socially. Two of the qualified therapists who are a couple, invited us to their apartment in the university district. We travelled through the less touristed parts on public bus and met with some members of their families. They supplied us with fresh fruit (bananas and mangoes!! So much tastier here!!) and Nepali coffee (strong and sweet). Then we were taken for a short tour, including of the university where one of the students is also completing her bachelors degree.

We were quite humbled and honored to then be taken out to a local restaurant where they insisted on buying us dinner - we were treated to chowmein (Nepali style = very very spicy!), pakuadas and chilli potatoes, plus the local drink called lassi - made with bananas, curd and ice. All very delicious and much fun. They were quite interested to know if everyone in the USA is as fat as us ... little do they know!!!! We even told them about the Biggest Loser TV show where fat people lose weight to compete to win a big cash prize!!! Oh, the cultural differences!!! We seemed to be quite the show ourselves at the restaurant - two white foreigners and two blind Nepalis conversing and laughing in English!!

So, tomorrow (Saturday) is our one day off. We are going to meet up with our new friends to go to a Nepali movie. Our plan with them is as follows - they will translate the language for us and we will tell them what is happening on the screen!! Should be interesting!! After the movie, they will be working at the clinic and we plan to explore the old part of Pokhara some more (i.e. the parts where they don't have tourists). So who knows what we'll be up to tomorrow, but we're sure it will be very interesting.

That's it for now. Having a great (but tiring) time.

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"Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances." (Bruce Fairchild Barton)