Nepalistan

Ah, Nepal. A place among places. Whatever the fuck that means.
I always felt like I had done some 3rd world experience: thailand, vietnam, philippines... all seem like San Francisco compared with Nepal. Not that there's anything wrong with that. This place is crazy. Traffic is a mess of horns and potholes and cows, with some people actually getting from point A to point B, though it takes a long time.
I arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday and met my friend Fiona. She, along with Ben, are the ones I'm traveling with / working in the hospital with. We spent the next day or two walking around and eating a lot. I have been to a Nepali restaurant perhaps twice in my life and never really gave much thought to its cuisine but man is it tasty here. There's all the good stuff of north Indian food, coupled with delicious dal and momos and other shit. Also, it's dirt cheap.
We went on a long walk to the monkey temple: really, it's a temple with a lot of monkey and a decent view of the city. Other things to do around here are eating, as I've mentioned, and shopping. There are also lots of temples, of course. There's a great collection of knock-off hiking gear at prices that make me wish I had an extra bag to check in on my way home. Lots of roof-top restaurants and bars, too, which make relaxing that much easier.
On Thursday we flew to Pokhara, a largish city and, more important, gateway to Mt. Annapurna and the rest of the Himalayas. Rest assured, the view from the airplane was absolutely amazing. We went straight to the hospital when we arrived and proceeded to wait for 4 hours for someone to show up and tell us what to do. Thank krisha that I had the foresight to bring travel Scrabble (more important than extra clothes, if you ask me). We found a hotel right on a beautiful lake to stay for the next 4 weeks, at 5$/person/night.
Friday was our first day in the hospital. We are starting off on the community health rotation and thus piled into a big bus and went to some very poor district and got to the clinic: a shack, 12 ft by 12 ft, filled with crying babies and their moms. Once a month, the interns from the hospital go to a different area and provide free vaccinations and basic checkups as well as basic medicines. It was several hours of upper respiratory infections, diarrhoea, measles, and scabies. We were of completely no help since, obviously, we know nothing, especially Nepali. Very interesting, nevertheless.
The next day started off with a morning swim in the beautiful lake. We went to the hospital and on to the clinic, which was more of the same thing, followed by a picnic with the interns. All of them are Indian, doing essentially what I'm doing: going to medical school in an inferior country because it's easier to get into and cheaper. Ouch, it hurts, don't it? Regardless, they are all very nice to us and fun to be with. We rented 2 paddle boats to go on the lake with several bags of take-out Indian and Nepali food, as well as alcohol. We passed several hours on the middle of the lake/shore, eating and chating and drinking and having a good time. One thing that was really distraughting for us (Fiona, myself, and 2 British girls who were also working in the hospital on the same kind of elective thing) was the littering. Here you had educated smart young people, out on the lake - why the lake? because it's beautiful and nice, etc - and littering like the world was ending tomorrow. Finish a bottle of vodka? throw it in the lake! Leave the bag with plastic spoons and plates on the beach, why not? As I saw an empty bag of Masala Lays floating away, shuddering at the knowledge that the next time I go swimming I will run into it, I couldn't help but feel sad.
In the meantime, the next couple days will be more or less the same - hospital in the morning/afternoon, followed by eating and some drinking and relaxing. Next week, we're due for a big hike - hopefully that comes true!