sol statistical update: Darjeeling, India March 2005
Cost of my incredible lunch this afternoon of dahl baht, garlic naan, gohbi paratha and palak panner: 80 Rupees
US dollar equivalent of 80 Rupees: $1.84
US dollar value of eating lunch with your fingers: priceless
What never gets burned when you eat with your hands: your tongue
Average # of hours I study Nepali each day: 2.1
My dated goal for being fluent: 2006
How much easier it is to learn your 3rd language than your 1st and 2nd: considerably
How much easier it is to say that than do it: considerably
An extremely ambiguous adverb: considerably
Tenses I’ve learned in Nepali: past tense, present tense, future tense, command & formal/informal tenses
State of my mind: plain ol’ tense
How often bad puns have to happen: sometimes
When they should really be reserved for: old age, and more specifically, Dad-dom
Categories above to which I belong: neither
# of bad puns to come: 0
What you can do: sigh
One of the subjects we are currently studying with the students: karma
What I’ve decided I must have been in a past life to possibly deserve this one: a saint
Who, for me, currently holds saint status in THIS life, and is responsible for the lovely redesign of seekingsol.com: Merc
To whom I send my gratitude, admiration, support and love: Merc
Status of chin on how I’ll ever be able to adequately repay such altruistic favors: still scratching
# of pairs of socks I’m currently wearing: 3
# of pairs of socks I brought with me: 4
# of days it takes for socks to dry on a clothesline without sun: 3
Who likes to believe that cold weather kills funk: me
Who might beg to disagree: my 2 co-leaders and 9 students
How many times I’ve explained the squat toilet procedure to our students: 3
My favorite “think-of-it-this-way” description: “it’s like a little bath for your butt”
Percentage that have actually converted from TP to water: 10%
Who you can’t win: them all
What time we all got up to watch the sunrise over Kachenjunga from Tiger Hill: 4:00am
# of Indian tourists taking pictures of the funny looking white travelers: > greater than the # of Indian tourists taking pictures of the sunrise
# of Indian family photo albums that have my smiling and random white face in them: numerous
Our group record (held by Suren) for our “momo” (delicious Tibetan treats) marathon competition: 56
My personal momo-muching record: 9
My current status: last and losing pathetically
But who came through last year and took first place in a Chai Challenge: the author of this update
Who, I’d like to remind, wins the raise in the end: the tortoise
# of cups of Darjeeling tea drunken during the composure of this update: 4
How to say, “where is the bathroom” in Nepali: “Toilet kahaa cha?”
What I’m currently studying and trying to incorporate into my daily living: The Buddhist Noble 8-Fold Path
What I’m stumbling on: Right Speech & Right Action
Specifically what I need to stop: Lying (harmlessly?) to my students and stealing their pens.
What one group of my students believed was my middle name for a month: “Jellybean”
Who my current group of students sang “Happy Birthday” to today: my co-leader
My co-leader’s birthday: December 28th.
Who has issues with abusing the trust of her students: Um. Me.
# of waiters looking over my shoulder reading my journal right now: 1
# of days our group will be trekking up the Eastern Nepal-India border (“Singalila Ridge“) this week: 9
# of days I’ll be without internet access during that time: 9
The last time I had 9 days without internet access: the last time I went trekking for 9 days in the Himalayas
# of snake charmers I ran into on the street today: 2
# of opportunities one usually has to say that in a life time: not enough!
A story from my travels in India last year that I recently broke down crying about while recounting: “At Her Feet”
How much shame I have for crying these days: none
What I’ve realized is worth being embarrassed about in life: nothing
What I think is the biggest key to self-love: self-forgiveness
# of sol statistical updates posted since 2000: 6
In what countries and where you can click to read them: Ecuador, Thailand, Guatemala, Honduras and even my first (and so embrassing and thus self-forgiving/loving) statistical update from Costa Rica from five years ago!
# of new pictures in the India Album: 15
What I just realized was a hint that the café is now closing and not an attempt to read my journal: the waiter standing over my shoulder!