Celebrity Sightings! (Part 1)

Hi.

OK, by the law of averages, sometime soon we should run into a celebrity here in Nepal!

(Each picture here is from the newspaper article linked to above it.)

Maybe it will be Prince Harry!

http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/prince-harry-visiting-nepal-late-march/

We already missed:  

...the Danish crown prince, but we were on vacation then!

http://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/danish-crown-prince-in-lamjung/

However, Benedict Cumberbatch was here right after we came back!

http://thehimalayantimes.com/entertainment/benedict-cumberbatch-in-nepal/

This picture from the article is from Prayush Khadka, Twitter @technicalyright.

He was shooting a Dr. Strange movie. We would have been in Kathmandu that day
if there wasn't a fuel crisis!  Now we have to limit our "Town Days." 

We have seen a Nepali movie being made at the spot in the photo some time ago, but of course I can't find the pics!  I know we saw Nepali celebrities, but we don't know who they were!
There was a traffic jam so I was able to get some nice photos.
Well, maybe I'll run across them sometime.

Anyway, this link shows Benedict in places where we often walk.  I usually don't pay attention to the people walking by, unless they are really noticeable--and some are (!),
but now I'm going to pay attention!

http://www.monkeysfightingrobots.com/first-look-benedict-cumberbatch-as-doctor-strange/

This picture, from this above article, 

was taken very close to here:

Of course, I have pictures of that exact spot, but I'll never find them!

This Ace Holidays post has a nice article with pics of celebs who have been here,
some of whom have been here since we've been here:
http://www.ace-holidays.com/hollywood-celebrities-who-visited-nepal/

Susan Sarandon came after the earthquake:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3095193/Susan-Sarandon-68-volunteers-earthquake-hit-Nepal-following-painful-split-boyfriend-five-years.html


How fun to have run into one of them while walking around!
Would we have asked for their autographs?  Hmmm...would you?
Stay tuned for Part 2, when I'll tell you more...!

Have you seen any celebrities in person?

Please continue to pray for Nepal and all the troubles here.  Thanks.
We're praying for all of you!

At the hospital, Ramon has worked with ADRA Japan's Cleft Palate Repair Team

and Hong Kong Adventist Hospital's ENT Team.

We thank them for coming and helping those in need.

Have a nice day!

Newspaper Stories

Hi!

Hope you're having a nice January!  We're fine, and are just keeping on keeping on as they say!

Nepal is still in a deep crisis, and, without heat, it's still very cold inside buildings, but outside in the sun it can be quite nice actually, although one must be careful of being in the shade and cold wind!
It's now about 55-56 F in our apartment

and not 51 anymore!

Yeah!
Still wearing 4-5 layers inside, but at least we have layers to put on!

The weird part for me is that it's cloudy every day, which has never happened during the winter since we've been here.  Previously during the winter we have had amazingly blue skies and awesome views of the Himalayas!  Usually our views are like this:

This year it's like this:

These two pics were taken in about the same place.  Hard to believe!
You can't even see the hills, let alone the mountains!

Anyway, today I'm going to post links to some interesting stories from the newspapers here.  I read The Himalayan Times every day, even when we're on vacation.

This story has great pictures of much needed winter relief in the mountains.
(I saw many people walking around without socks today just like you'll see here.)
Man!
http://thehimalayantimes.com/multimedia/photo-gallery/quake-survivors-get-relief-in-helambu-snow/

There are still aftershocks.

http://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/425th-significant-aftershock-of-nepal-earthquake-recorded-in-dolakha/

This one was recent and was the 426th above 4 on the Richter Scale.
It made some of our pictures tilt.
http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/nepal-earthquake-tremor-felt-in-kathmandu-valley-at-107-am-epicentre-in-gorkha/

The quake fault is still straining.
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/quake-fault-straining-underneath-kathmandu-study/

This festival recently occurred:

http://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/thousands-of-devotees-throng-gaumukhi-on-maghe-sankranti/

Another one is starting.
http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/onth-long-swasthani-brata-katha-begins-today/

For new readers, here is the link to a post early in this blog, soon after we moved here,
with a cute conversation I had about festivals with the kids at school:
http://himalayanhappenings.blogspot.com/2010/08/festivals.html

Recently a leopard wandered into someone's house in Kathmandu!

http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/leopard-enters-residential-house-in-kathmandu-downtown/

Another leopard wandered into a supermarket in the middle of the afternoon!
http://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/leopard-enters-pokhara-supermarket-injures-one/

...and yet another one...
Man!
http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/leopard-enters-kirtipur-settlements-injures-1/

I also like to read The Kathmandu Post.

Earthquake amputees get new hope:
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-01-16/a-new-hope.html

Here's a look at the lives of Nepali ladies outside of the city:
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-01-16/beyond-the-city.html

Here are some Reflections:
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-01-09/stories-of-nepal-reflections.html

Well, that's enough for now!
Have a nice day!

If you are experiencing the East Coast Blizzard, stay warm and be careful!
Man!

Bye and Blessings to all!

Goodbye 2015! Hello 2016!

Wow, I'm a little behind with my posting!
I guess time does fly when you're having fun!

These are the little ones at Esa Memorial School greeting me with cheers!
Isn't that a wonderful way to be greeted?!

Anyway, we made it through the difficult year of 2015 and are thankful!
We hope everyone reading this can also find many blessings to be thankful for!

We're fine, although the country is in turmoil.  Yes, we're still recuperating from the earthquake, and the continuing aftershocks, although thankfully they are not as frequent as they were.  Now there is the problem of the fuel crisis, which is hampering the progress of helping the people who still desperately need help, especially now that winter is here.  It's bad people, it's bad.  Just Google it, and you can find any number of articles about the dire situation.

This article is from a couple of weeks ago, and it's only gotten worse since then.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-nepals-fuel-crisis-will-push-almost-a-million-people-into-poverty-2015-12

Normally we are blessed during the winter to have a gas room heater, but we can't use it now.  Five years ago I wrote this post about preparing for our first winter here:  http://himalayanhappenings.blogspot.com/search/label/Weather

 Now, without gas coming in, we have to save our meager supply for quick showers and load shed with the rest of the country to save the generator's fuel for the hospital's needs.  We can't use our ugly, but wonderful, gas room heater!  I miss it!  We're using two electric heaters, one for the bathroom and one for the living room, when there's no load shedding.  (We bundle up when there is load shedding!  I look like Jolly Mrs. Santa Claus with all my layers, but you do what you gotta do, right?!  I know many people don't even have room heaters, so I'll just add another layer if I get cold and keep going!  We bought an electric water kettle (we have to boil our water and put it into a filter before using it) and an electric skillet since we can't use the gas stove.  Those two, combined with our microwave and toaster oven, solve our cooking needs nicely.  However, as I mentioned, we can only use them when Banepa has electricity, which is usually three - four hours during the day!
Yep, that's how we're rollin' now!

 The operating rooms and the OB ward are the only places on campus allowed to have heaters on during the load shedding.

Here are some pictures I took of people waiting in line for cooking gas.

Obviously this line goes on and on both ways!

Imagine!

Here are some pictures I took of some of the lines for fuel.  These lines go on for about a mile for each fuel station.

As soon as one line ends, you see the next one forming.

Yes, one can get nervous watching the young men on top of the buses who volunteer for the top because there's no room inside.  Now that is nothing new for Nepal.  During some of the festival times, when people travel to visit families, buses can also get this crowded.  However, now they are
crowded because only about half of them have fuel to travel anywhere.

This picture is blurry, sorry (!), but you can see that the boys hanging on in the doorway because they couldn't fit anywhere else are just inches from the parked buses they are passing.  Yikes!

It's difficult to see the parked trucks and taxis because each one means someone
is missing a much needed paycheck.


This article has lots of pics.  It's sad:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2015/12/crisis-nepal-india-border-blockade-continues-151223082533785.html

Well, that's what's happening here.  We're counting on your prayers!  We also will be praying for all of you reading this to enjoy a nice year and stay warm this winter!

For those who are interested, here are two more articles.  This first one is about how the fuel crisis has now become a humanitarian crisis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015-2016_Nepal_humanitarian_crisis

This second one is just a rather interesting one I stumbled upon.  Even if you skip some of it,
please don't miss the ending!
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-01-02/the-chepang-people-of-chitwan-and-their-conversion-to-christianity.html

Goodbye, take care, and God bless!
To close, here are the cutie pie first grade girls in the library...

...and the whole class with their books.  Beautiful!

Have a nice day!