Two birds and a stone

Hey everyone, we're getting off to an early start to Manakamana with the DNC kids tomorrow, so I'm going to do two quick updates in one...update. But I do have pictures! The internet has been kind to me tonight.

Our Shivaratri Day at DNC was a momentous success. Ruth Moen carried out the same art project that we did with the kids at Kavre School for the Deaf, and the kids loved it at DNC as well. In addition, we had the Nepali Blues Society band (several members are Rotaractors) come and perform for the kids as well, and I was priveledged enough to sit in on drums for a few songs. Overall, the kids had a wonderful time, I KNOW the adults had a wonderful time, and the whole day was just a triumph.

DNC Painting Day

Today, we attended Swayambunath and Kathmandu Durbar Square. I took some notes during Mitralal's speech on the bus, so now for some fun facts!

Swayambunath
-Swayambunath Stupa is approximately 2500 years old, and is one of the oldest Buddhist monuments in the world
-It is locally known as "The Monkey Temple" for obvious reasons
-The stairs leading down to Kathmandu are 365 in number, representing 1 year.
-The tourist way up is 100 steps.

Kathmandu Durbar Square
-Most famous for being the location of the Kumari, or Living Goddess. This is a very young Buddhist girl, who is selected to be Kumari and then becomes Hindu. She is (obviously) a virgin, and when she reaches menstration age, she is replaced by a new girl.
-There is the Caste Mordab Temple (No idea about spelling) that was built in the 16th century from the wood from a single tree.

After our events, everyone went and had a nice Chinese food lunch, and visited the U.S. Embassy and got to meet the U.S. Ambassador to Nepal! She seems a very nice lady, and has had much prior experience in Nepal.

Swayambunath pt. 2

Following this, the group went back to the hotel to freshen up, and then to a large Rotary dinner hosted at the President of the Rotary Club of Patan's house. I missed this dinner, but I heard that a Nepali film star has agreed to help be a spokesperson for the NDACP! Wonderful news!

-Carey

P.S. I thought I'd also mention that I have a Flickr page where I do some post-processing to some of my very favorite shots, and upload them there. If you're interested, the site is:
www.flickr.com/photos/carey_rose