DAY 9 (Friday 29 July 2011)

Today, what happened today, ah yes this is what happened.  As today was my last day to take over my job I thought that I would be really busy, however, I was, but not in the office.  I got to work early as there was still plenty to do, but not only was I to work today was the day I go shopping for a Sari, more of that later though.

I had a fitting at the beginning of the week for my Summer Mess Dress and was told that it wouldn’t be ready until Monday, anyway my office phone was ringing like crazy but I was in a meeting down the corridor, it turned out (when the caller eventually got me) that is was the tailor telling me that my Summer Mess Dress was ready and that I could pick it up, so off I went.  After that it was the daily ritual of tea on the balcony at 1000hrs, then no sooner had we had that I  managed to corner Neil long enough in the office to get him to hand over some more work, (not much though) as he has a habit of digressing and forgetting what he is supposed to be doing.  Well come 1130hrs I had to go again as I had a welcoming interview with my top boss who I really work for, but as he said he is only in office for a day and a half each week as he works at the Embassy too, which is over the river in THAMEL, anyway as my interview took longer than expected I had about 15 mins with Neil before I had to disappear to go and get changed into civvies (look at me talking about changing into civvies, I wear civvies to work so I should really say into smart scruffs) to meet Nicky and Susan so that we could go Sari shopping.

After saying farewell to Neil, I rushed off home to get changed as I only had 15 mins in the end to get home, change and back to the office to meet the girls.  Susan was at the office but we waited for Nicky to arrive before we left by taxi (another experience) to go to the area of where we were to buy our Sari’s.  When we got to the shop we had to take off our shoes (as it is customary) and sit on the mats as the shop workers were doing, but both Nicky and I couldn’t sit how they sat so they gave us some small stools to sit on.  We looked at the different red Sari’s with beautiful patterns on and gems, I ended up going for a deep red with a blue stone which for some reason seemed to suit my skin tone.  We were in that shop for quite a while as we had to wait for the tailor to come and measure us for our tops and underskirts to go with the Sari.  Fortunately I really only have to have one Sari as I need it for the Teej that happens one a year for women.  Mine definitely had to be red with me being a married woman (again tradition).

After we paid for our Saris (Susan managed to get Nicky and me some discount with us both working at the HQ of the British Gurkhas), we get to collect them next week, we went around the corner to go and buy the bangles that are worn with the Saris and Tika’s (Tika’s are the little jewels that are worn on the forehead), for this I went for a blue gem to match the gems in my Sari, my bangles are a mixture of red and blue and I have enough to either wear on one arm or split them to wear on both, (I think I shall be wearing them on both as there are lots).  You can have any different style of necklace for wearing with the Sari, so off we went again to another stall where they actually make your necklace (in beads) there and then if they do not have the colouring that you want, fortunately for me though the bloke at the shop had already had a blue one made that matched my Sari so I bought it from him.

After Nicky and I had finished getting what we wanted we went looking for some sparkly type shoes for me to wear with my Sari, but at the moment I still haven’t found anything that I like, at least I have got some time to still have a look around as the Teej isn’t until the end of August.  Nicky managed to buy 2 pairs of normal sandals before we headed back for home.  We got in a taxi (again a different experience as we were taking down loads of back roads to get away from the mad rush on the roads, but the roads we went down were full of bumps and holes so I really don’t know what would have been the lesser of 2 evils).  When we got back to where we wanted to be, Susan got out and headed home and me and Nicky got out and headed for back to camp, but not before we went to KEELERS (the doughnut shop), in there we had a doughnut each with a coke (which was really needed), before I bought 2 more doughnuts to take home for me and Charlie after tea.

Charlie had the BUWO Brigade Unit Welfare Officer) come round to the house for a visit and also with him were Kim Thorpe and Laxmi, they are part of the Partners Club and they came to welcome him to Nepal, this is where he received anoher KATA.

Charlie receiving his KATA from Kim Thorpe (my RAO's wife)

Charlie with Kim and Laxmi

That was all that happened today.  With tomorrow being Saturday Charlie and I are going to go out for a look around and take photos of the streets just so you can see how hectic life can be, but saying that, with it being Saturday tomorrow, it will be quieter as Saturdays around here usually are, so until tomorrow, I shall bid you a goodnight.

DAY 8 (Thursday 28 July 2011)

Today started off with a PT session, I went to the gym and the rest went out for a run.  Managed to get a couple of programmes done for people visiting Nepal in the very near future so at least I managed to achieve something in work today, might not have been a lot, but at least it was something.  Didn’t finish work until late as tomorrow I am going shopping for a Sari with Nicky in the afternoon, so had to try and get a bit more done. 

The weather here is absolutely manic with rain.  When the heavens open, they open, fortunately as I only live round the corner from work I didn’t get too wet, but then I have managed to get hold of an huge, and I mean huge golf brolly (they don’t do things by half over here with some things).

Charlie had a bit more of an interesting day again today.  He was SHOPPING, yes SHOPPING with another woman (not what you are thinking though), Kim (my RAO’s (Regimental Admin Officer’s) wife) took Charlie to show him where she gets her fresh (if you can call it that) meat from, apparently for it to be fresh, you need to get there quite early in the morning so the heat of the day or flies doesn’t spoil it.

At last we have managed to get the internet, so hoorah to that.  All I need to do now is get our phone sorted; we have a line and connection, just no phone.

Well nothing more to tell you from today, so with that, toodle pip until tomorrow when I can tell you how my shopping for a Sari went.

DAY 7 (Wednesday 27 July 2011)

Well there was me thinking that I would have a busier day in the office, but to be honest, I didn’t get much done, even though I am still trying to take over my job, things kept cropping up out of my control. 

After work was good though as the G1 Admin staff were having a leaving function for Neil and his family, both me and Charlie went to the outside bar for the function where we were both welcomed and again given a KATA each, (this is customary within Nepal for arriving and leaving).  The night was very good; there were different styles of curries, fortunately not Goat (as is the favourite over here).

However, I did get to meet my direct boss, but not officially, I have to wait until I go into the office first thing before he disappears as he is on leave and I won’t really see him until the second week of August.

Charlie managed to get a ride on the back of a motorbike today and he came home saying that he felt safer the back of a bike than he did in the Maruti Jeep that we were in on Sunday.  However, under no circumstances am I getting on the back of one of those out here, not entirely sure I want to drive at all out here.

So not such an exciting day really.

DAY 6 (Tuesday 25 July 2011)

I got up at 0630hrs as I was to meet everyone by the Basketball court for just before 0700hrs to have a cup of tea before we started, however, as it was raining there was to be no basketball as we only have an outside court and as we had no PTI (Physical Training Instructor) there was only one thing that we could do and that was go to the gym for a session, it ended up with us doing a 5 minute warm up of doing step ups, then going on each of the machines, apparatus or a free standing section (medicine ball lifts, sit ups, etc) for a minute each, that was a killer as the air conditioning unit wasn’t working in the gym and the ceiling fans were trying to do their hardest to keep us cool but it didn’t work.

After PT had finished we all disappeared off to our respective accommodation to get showered and have a quick bite to eat before we had to be back into work for 0900hrs.  The day doesn’t really get any more exciting, oooh I lie, I went to the Mess at 1000hrs to have tea and toast and instead of toast I had a vegetable Samosa.  I had to take a trip to the tailors so that I could get measured for my summer Mess Kit as the temperate one is quite heavy and doesn’t do well for us to wear it in the heat that we get over here.  It has to be ready for 2August 2011 as Charlie and I have a dinner night to attend.

I eventually managed to get some time in the office with Neil to actually start our handover/takeover as he leaves on Friday and there isn’t much time to go through the amount of stuff that he actually does, saying that though, it looks like he does a lot when it is written down on paper, but I suppose once you get on and do the actually job, it doesn’t really take that long.  We eventually had to call it quits at 1700hrs as the email system ended up disconnecting (happens a lot over here) so we couldn’t do much of what we wanted to do until hopefully the system is back up and running tomorrow.

Charlie had a busy day, after he called into the ASU (Accommodation Stores Unit) to let them know that our cooker was not working properly, he then did a couple of other calls to find that when he returned to our home there were a couple of men outside the back door waiting to exchange our cooker, he then had to wait for the gas man to come and disconnect the old cooker and connect the new one.  When I got home I found that he had also managed to get the ironing board exchanged as the legs were twisted and it would only open to about knee height and tilt backward (or forward) depending on which way you opened it.

However, when I did get home I found that Charlie was no where to be found so I went for a shower to cool down, when I came back down stairs I found Charlie in the kitchen getting ready to make tea (he had gone to get some food after the cooker men had been).  The only problem Charlie had before he started to cook tea was that when he went to open the tin of tomatoes to go in the Spaghetti Bolognese he found that there was no tin opener, with that I said we should eat out tonight and get a tin opener tomorrow so we could have the Spaghetti Bolognese for tea tomorrow, so with that we went to the Red Dingo restaurant and had steak and mushroom for tea.

When we got back home I remembered that I wouldn’t be in for tea tomorrow night as there is a farewell for Neil from the Admin Office and those that work in the same building as him, so Charlie will have to fend for himself if he wants to eat.

Tomorrow should be a busier day for me in the office.

DAY 5 (Monday 25 July 2011)

Well today started with me getting up and going for breakfast in the Mess as we are meeting up with Neil just before 0800hrs so that he can take both myself and Charlie to the briefings that we need to attend.  All I can really say about today is that I had briefings and took over my accommodation that was to be my permanent abode for the next 2 years. I got to meet loads of people but believe me I can tell you that there is no way on this God’s Earth that I shall remember them all, not straightaway anyway.  There are a few that do stick out but other than that I shall have to take each day as it comes for remembering names to faces, I have decided though that I shall make a list of all those I have met (with the help of Neil) and what department they belong too so that at least I have a fighting chance.

Other than that there is nothing else to tell, so I shall sign off as I have to be up at 0630hrs to be on PT (Physical Training).

DAY 4 (Sunday 24 July 2011)

Well today is the day the we went to THAMEL, we got up and had Brunch again in the Mess before heading over to the Hetherington’s at 1100hrs, from there we were taken by jeep (another eventful experience) seriously, not looking forward to driving over here at all, when we got there Neil parked up in the little car park by the Garden of Dreams, we went in to have a look around, the price to get in was NRS160 for each adult.  When we looked around I got to meet Nicky Young (she is one of the single girls out here working within HQ BGN).  I took a couple of photographs of the building in there, the buildings were very colonial in their style, the garden was very peaceful, there were people in there that just come to sit and relax with a book or just to chill out it there own way as some of them were local nationals.

Fish Pond at the Garden of Dreams

 

Restaurant / Tea Room in the Garden of Dreams

Elephant Statue outside the Restaurant / Tea Room

 After we had finished having a look around the Gardens, we went back to the jeep where Neil then drove us to the British Embassy so that we could have a cool drink and a spot of lunch.  We stayed there for a couple of hours just relaxing and enjoying the sun, even though it was still very humid as there were threatening clouds overhead, fortunately (or unfortunately) depends on how you want to look at it, the clouds didn’t break.  As you can see I managed to get a picture of Charlie playing on the swings before we left to start to head back home. 

Charlie on the swing at the Sterling Club.

Even though the British Embassy isn’t that far away, because of the traffic it can take an age to get there or back from there to our location of HQ BGN.  Today the traffic was no different, again you also saw dogs and cows quite happily lazing at the side of the road, or even crossing it.  There was also one occasion that we had young children begging at the car window whilst you were stuck in traffic, the only thing you could do there was to ignore the children and hope that they’d go away. 

We finally arrived at our next destination on our way home which was the massive new local supermarket (BHAT BHATENI); I think this was the name of the shop, not the meaning of the word supermarket.  We only stopped there so that Becky could pick up a couple of provisions for their tea tonight.  After leaving there we arrived back to the Hetherington’s house where we left them to come back to our room in the Mess, fortunately this is only for one more night as tomorrow I should be taking over my accommodation that I shall be living in for the next 2 years of my tour.

Tomorrow is the my first day of work, which at the moment will consist of briefings on the way of Nepal and other matters relating to the area, spouses are able to attend these briefings so that they to have an idea as to what they are allowed and not allowed to do and where the best places are to go and where no to go.

 
So until tomorrow has ended I shall bid you a goodnight.

DAY 3 (Saturday 23 July 2011)

We had arranged to meet Neil and Becky at 1000hrs for Brunch in the Mess before we started out for our day of being shown the local area.  When they arrived they had their little 4 year old daughter with them (Shania).  We sat and had brunch then as we had to be in smart gear to go into the mess Charlie and me came back to our room to get into comfortable attire whilst Neil and Becky went back to their house to get changed too.  We were to meet them outside the front gates of the camp where we will be working and living so that we could all walk to around the local area.  They took us to the area called PATAN; this is not where you see a lot of tourists but the odd few.  Today was just a day for walking round and for Becky to buy a pot which is known as a singing pot for Shania (apparently daddy (Neil)) had one so Shania wanted one of her own.  To go into DURBAR Square (which is like Buddhist Courtyards) which is understandable as there are loads of temples in the Square you have to pay to get in which is about 200NPRs (about £17) to get in, however, when we have a HQ BGN pass we will be able to get into some places for free.

When we had finished going around PATAN, we went back to Neil’s and Becky’s house where we stayed and had a lovely Beef Casserole (Becky was running down her freezer) and a chat as to what we were going to do for the day tomorrow as it is our last day before I start work on Monday.  The decision was made that they will take us over the River to THAMEL (the touristy side of Kathmandu) to have a look around and to go to get some food shopping in for when we move into our house on Monday.  With our activities for tomorrow being decided, Charlie and me left to come back to the room to have an early night as last night was a late one.

So tomorrow we will meet with the Hetherington’s at 1100hrs to go for another day of adventures.  See you then.