Last Year and This Year

Hello!
Yes, it's February, but we can still wish you a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow, another year has gone by!

Yes, it's true:  Time Flies When You're Having Fun!  I'm not sure we had fun every single solitary minute of every day, but I am dead certain that we were richly blessed every minute of every day!

We hope you were too!

So here's a comparison between last year at this time and now.

First of all, we're on our vacation right now!  Last year we took it at the end of March, but
this year we chose February.  We're so thankful to be able to spend time with our families
and friends and relax a little bit.  

This time last year in Nepal the roads looked like this...

 

...not many vehicles in the road, right?

We were in the middle of a very cold winter with a fuel crisis going on.  Did you hear about it?

Go to the Labels section, and click "Fuel Crisis" for information if you missed those posts.

You'll see pictures like this of vehicles waiting in line, sometimes for days,
yes, days, for fuel.

Now, we spend lots of time stuck in traffic since we have fuel, but we're happy to have fuel,
so...there you go!

Ramon said he's thinking of buying either a car or a motorcycle.
When he makes up his mind, I'll let you know!


 Last year was a difficult time for the country and especially those living in temporary housing

after the earthquake.  Some are still living in temporary housing, although
lots of construction is now in progress--YES!

It's so nice to see this these days

since these areas were empty last year!  Ugh!  

The restaurants, including our hospital's canteen, do not have to cook on an open fire anymore.

(This is not the canteen, it's a local restaurant.)

Did you notice the gray sky in the first picture?
This year we SOMETIMES have blue skies again like we used to before the earthquake:

I never get tired of seeing that!

  Hong Kong Adventist Hospital's ENT Team came for their annual trip for cochlear implant
and middle ear surgery.

They've actually been here already this year and Ramon worked with them again.

What a blessing they are to those in need!

This is the time of year that I start teaching the Kindergarten students how to use the library
and take care of books.  It's a fun time!

It's a new concept for most of them and they're so excited!  The new school year starts 

in April, soon after Nepal's new year, and once in first grade, they are able to check 

books out for a week like the "big kids."  They take it very seriously and besides being more than adorable, they are very responsible.  Our school has the only library in our district that allows children younger that Grade 4 to check out books!  I'm very proud of all of our students!

I don't have fines for overdue books.  Instead I give a cookie to the kids when they return their books.  It works!  Once when one of the new kids said to me, "See you tomorrow!" I said that he wouldn't see me until the day after tomorrow because I was going to go to Kathmandu the next day.  One of the kids who has been at the school for a number of years turned to him and with a voice of experience said very seriously, "Yes, she has to go to Kathmandu to get our cookies."  "Oh."  They solemnly nodded their heads.  Yes, the only reason Dr. Ramon and Kathy Ma'am go to Kathmandu is to buy them cookies!  😊

In town, then and now, and usually quite often in fact, we see Gurkha soldiers guarding buildings and in the winter they never wear coats.  At least this one has gloves on.  I do hope they can wear long underwear!  Everyone else is bundled up!

Here's a very interesting article about them:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/g2173/10-amazing-gurkha-stories/

After reading the article, I found out who this fellow was:

(photo credit:  the above article)

Lately this statue has been decorated:

Well, that's enough for now.  We trust you are having a nice year too and we thank everyone for your prayers!  Blessings to all!