Cavorting with Catie and Jon, part 2

So Catie and Jon go back to India tomorrow :(. It's been so much fun having them around! It's really nice to travel with other people, esp. ones from home. We've been having a lot of fun.

On Friday, we got back from Nagarkot and I renewed my visa. That evening, the eve of Jon's 19th birthday, we stayed up late in order to be awake for the beginning of his b-day. We were goofing around and whatnot, and around 1am, we decided to go to bed. We went into the hallway to brush teeth, and we heard commotion coming from the street below. We climbed up to the roof to look down and see what was going on. There were all these police vans and soldiers all over the street. They were running around, chasing people. Jon said that he saw a broken window and had heard someone break it while we were inside. It was pretty terrifying and crazy. I asked another couple, who had gotten to the balcony before us, if they knew what was going on. They said they had seen the police arrest a drunken Nepali guy, but that was all. I had heard about police raids, riots, etc. going on, but this seemed really intense.

The next day, I asked a friend if he knew what had happened. He nonchallantly replied that the police had raided Reggae Bar and chased everyone out. Reggae Bar had not been following curfew regulations or something. He then left Reggae and went to another bar. I guess since I don't really go out much at night, I've never seen this. I don't plan to change that fact. Regardless of the claim that the police never beat up white people, I have no desire to be chased out of a bar by soldiers swinging big sticks.

On Saturday, Jon's birthday, we went to the Monkey Temple. Jon really really likes monkeys and temples both. It was really enjoyable. After that, we briefly shopped and then went to a Nepali Movie, Sano Sansar ("small world"). It was a romantic comedy and was fairly difficult to understand. Unlike the other non-english movie I'd seen here, it didn't have much action; instead, it was mostly dialog. Despite this, it was REALLY cool to see all these places I'd been to depicted in the movie! All the dates were at restaurants I'd been to and such. It was fantastic.

Today, we went to the Garden of Dreams and then to Patan. It felt like going home to go back to Patan, as I'd lived there for 2 months. (I'm traveling now, as my work and homestay are finished). This evening, we stopped by Happy House, the orphanage, briefly, just to say hi. All the girls were so excited to see me and it was so wonderful to see them again. They all started pulling out these cards that they had made for me. (I'd told them I'd be back to visit sometime this week.) They all had colorful drawings and adorable messages written in slightly imperfect English. They all said things like "Hi Jenni Didi. I miss you very much. Thank you for teaching us. I very love you much. From _____" I nearly cried, it was so sweet. Definitely my favorite souvenir from Nepal.

I can't believe how fast the time has flown by! In 10 days, I'll be on a plane to Egypt! How incredibly insane is that??!?!?! I can't believe that this will be my last time in Nepal though. I don't think it would be possible for me to leave these children and never see them again. I'm so sad to be leaving. I really feel like I've found a home here. I have family and friends and favorite haunts and everything. Oh well, moving on to other exciting things! I'm incredibly excited about the rest of my journey and what every place has in store.