We’ve been at Tansen for about 2 weeks now, and have started to settle into a bit of a rhythm. I’m still doing language study for another 2 weeks before work starts. Becky is doing ‘teacher’ work… and has postponed language for a few weeks, while the local teacher is taking a well deserved paternity break with his wife. They had to bring the baby into town-center to get the appropriate stamps, and next week travel to Kathmandu to make their baby officially ‘American’. In the meantime Becky is trying to keep on the same schedule at school.

For lunch, we eat as a family, with Jibu, a lovely woman who helps us weekdays, and often her brother-in-law joins us for part of it, or for tea… Learning nepali in class is great, but trying out different phrases with our Nepali friends is much more motivational, and entertaining. I found myself telling Jibu the other day, that my Nepali stomach was finished. (stomach, and ‘lesson’ are almost the same.) The other day Becky (who I find has a much better ear for catching Nepali words in conversation), heard Jibu asking me something about another guest who had arrived recently: the “arko shrimati” referred to someone else’s wife…. But Becky quickly intervened to confirm that I did not in fact have have an ‘arko shrimati’. I have on occasion at Christmas parties, introduced Becky as my ‘first wife’, but don’t quite know yet how to say it in Nepali. Perhaps Becky would prefer I stick to medical vocabulary. On the other hand I did learn how to say: “Your testicles are normal,” which might come in handy depending on the situation.

Infected. Bloated. Swollen. Bleeding.

Conrad my “bhai” (younger brother) has been visiting here for a few days, and has without embarrassment plunged into as much Nepali as he can muster, and decided to take a motorcycle to Pokhara, despite moderately unpredictable weather, and distinctly predictable problems such as conveying the following sentence in Nepali: “I need petrol for my motorcycle, because I am a foolish foreigner.” He did make the 120 km trip in about 4 hours without any mishaps, and is tucked in at a little tourist hotel for the evening.

I have met with my Nepali surgeon counterpart, as well as another English surgeon colleague a few times, and will be put onto the schedule after next week, at which time I will start official surgical duties. I’ve been told this won’t be quite as terrifying as imagined since they work hard to support the ‘baby surgeons’ with Nepali doctors who act as translators, and mentors — especially the first few months. There will be much to learn: hopefully at some point I will feel able to give back. At the moment however I, and our family, feel most grateful for the hospitality, and the soft landing we’ve received, and suspect that over time we will be very content working in this setting. It is indeed a gift to be living in this place.

For those who are able to pray: we are thankful for the family time we have together, and hope the children will continue to adjust without too much psychic trauma, and that Becky will be able to pick-up language again in a few weeks in a fruitful way, since she will find it more useful in the long-haul as she continues to interact with more non-English speaking Nepali folks.

A non-furry friend joined us for breakfast. The hospital roof & buildings are in the background.