The Daily News

Today we went to the Nepal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to apply for Wynn's travel documents. I'm not exactly sure what is included in these documents. All I know is that this is what he needs in order to be able to leave with us. Aruna spoke with a few men, handed them our paperwork and we paid a fee. They told us to come back NEXT Wednesday for our travel documents. Not exactly what we wanted to hear. We were hoping that they would be ready sooner. . .but this is Nepal. Aruna was going back to the Ministry later today to see if she could get them to hurry things along.

The scene at the Ministry was something right out of several foreign films I've seen. We were inside of a very 'rustic' office with several men sitting at metal desks, speaking Nepali to each other and handling a lot of paper. Outside of the window were several hundred people, mainly young men, applying for visas, hoping to be able to leave the country to find work. (It's not clear to me whether or not that long line is impacting our 10-day turnaround for our travel documents.) Unemployment is very high here. Many people leave Nepal, going to Malaysia, India, etc., to find work. We were also told at the U.S. Embassy last week that Nepali citizens receive so many visas a year (a lottery is held to award them) to permit Nepalis to immigrate into the U.S. as it's considered an under represented minority in the States.

We left the Ministry and went to the U.S. Government-run medical clinic. Today they only took a blood sample to test Wynn for TB. We will go back on Wednesday to have the results read and for his medical exam, as we were told that they don't do medical exams today. This is truly a lesson in patience. . .particularly for impatient Americans.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. We had a thunderstorm along with some much needed rain in the afternoon so we stayed inside. Nepal has a dry season and a wet (monsoon) season. The wet season begins in June. There is a chance of rain in the forecast for the next several days but I think it's too soon for the official wet season. Blackouts are also a daily occurrence. . .and I'm sitting in the dark as I write this because the power just went out. I can hear the building security people starting the back-up generator. . .there it is. Better. If you're visiting Nepal, the key is to stay at an apartment or hotel with a generator. If not, you'll be spending at least several hours a day without electricity. We had a blackout this afternoon during the thunderstorm. Of course no one was going to go on the roof during the storm to start the generator. Thankfully we had some daylight. The four of us layed on our bed as the kids had a light show for us with two flashlights that I brought from home.

Photo captions - Leah, Wynn, beautiful Nepali girl, our neighborhood market (It's no Giant Eagle but it will do in a pinch.)