Today should be our last in Kathmandu before leaving for the trek. My flu had gotten quite a bit worse since the last update and yesterday I took myself off to the clinic for a check up. It was an interesting experience. Betty came with me to make sure I could hear what the doctor actually said. The clinic itself, was beautiful, clean and modern, almost no wait, and the doctor was a lovely Nepali woman who had trained and done residency in Boston for 12 years. I would take that clinic over any hospital I have been to in NY boy it was nice. At the end of the day, it turns out I have a sinus infection, not such great news, but not such bad news either. I am now on antibiotics and should start to feel better in a day or two. My strength seems to have been a bit compromised by the fever and cold, but I will still start the trek and if I have to, I will stay behind at a local village, to me that could be almost as much fun as going to base camp anyway.
Oh yes, Fredrik arrived on Friday, the day we came down from the Gumba and he looks great and is getting excited for the trek as well. We have been shopping our way around Kathmandu, buying hats and socks and warm undergarments, and jackets. They have a lot of this kind of thing done very cheaply here. Knockoffs of major brands, or some that have just fallen off trucks it seems. There is a trekking store every few meters and that is kind of fun. We have, even I have, gotten pretty good at bargaining. I sharpened my skills in Bodh Gaya, and have applied them here. I tend to over pay the Rickshaw guys though. I mean after all they are carrying me and Betty around and they are not big folks! So If I spend an extra dollar on that, it is a dollar well spent in my book.
I am going to try to load up some pictures again, hope it works this time.
This could be the last post before we leave tomorrow morning, so...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Just a couple of other photos while the cyberspace god is smiling. The one above is of a sweet young woman who invited us to her house when she met us out walking. We had to cross this Iron beam to get to her place, can't believe I did it, even if it was hardly any drop.
And the photo to the left is of the Ani working on little prayer offerings. They are wrapping yarn around prayers that have been wound tightly around a small stick. The prayers are used to put in and on or around statues. I helped, and it was a lot of fun. There was music, Hindi, and lots of trash food like chips and things, it was fun.
And This is me actually teaching, imagine that. 
We would do the Hokey Pokey at the end of every class, and that was a big hit!
This is the view from the class room of the sun coming up. Ain't it beautiful!