20. november

I got up early to have breakfast with Lasse - he was picked up at 8.30 to go to the airport so we said goodbye and off he was. I sat down and thought about my first day alone in this strange, beautiful country. I decided to be wise and do some work before going out, so I worked on my report for a little more than an hour. The sun was coming in through my open door and it looked so nice outside that I decided to go for a walk earlier than planned ;-) I wanted to get to know the surroundings a bit better - and to practice walking downhill and especially uphill to get those red blood cells working!

It was hot - like a hot summer day in Denmark and I didn't need any jacket - wonderful. I found my way rather easily (downhill) and found the main street without any problems. I knew there was to be a marked down by the river so I followed some local people who looked like they were going shopping ;-) And right on! There was the marked - very big. There was a vegetable area and then a fruit area. Great! I bought some small carrots and some grapes - nice to have something to snack on. It was around noon and my stomach told me it was lunchtime and I was lucky - there was a small cafeteria at the market. I ordered a cup of tea and some vegetarian rice with vegetables. It was SO cheap - 50 NU which is less than 7 kr. or 1 Euro! When I sat down a small boy was cleaning the tables and looking at me when he thought I didn't notice. I said "Hi" and got myself a friend right away! He wanted to talk and he was really good at English. He turned out to be 10 years old and he was helping his sister clean the tables after use. His name was Denzjin or something like that (don't know the proper spelling). We had quite a philosophical conversation about what happens when we die. He told me that we will go to see the demon and that he will decide if we go to Heaven or Hell. He seemed scared of the demon and wanted to know if I had ever died and met him? I told him that as long as we do our best we don't need to be scared of the demon. It was a strange and special experience. While talking with Denzjin I tried to eat my rice and vegetables but of course I had not thought about the fact that I was eating at a local cafeteria, where they normally serve Bhutanese people, so…. Yes, it was extremely HOT! I tried to swallow the food without chewing on it but had to give up after finishing 1/3 of the dish ;-) The tea was very good though! When I left Denzjin came running after me wanting to know my name and if I was coming back another day. I promised him to come back and talk more about the demon next weekend when the marked was open (I think I'll eat before going there next weekend ;-))

The I started the climb uphill - it was very hot and I had to walk very slowly. I passed the craft shops on the way and bought 2 brooches for my kira - I'll need those tomorrow to keep my jacket shut. I bought them with dragons on them - now that I am in the land of the thunder dragon ;-)

I was determined to walk home so I did but I was soooo warm when I came back - and of course the lift was out of order so I also had to walk up the stairs to the 4. th floor. I took a shower and relaxed with a book for half an hour before I started writing my report again - and a few e-mails.

At 5 pm the reception rang me to ask if I was going to eat here, which was my intention. They would like me to order the food now! The hotel is so new that they don't have a menu yet so I had to ask what I could order. We agreed on vegetable soup and fried vegetables (not hot please) with some kind of bread. And we agreed that I would be down for dinner at 6.30. It all worked out fine and dinner was ready when I came down :-) It tasted perfect.

In the evening electricity broke down and the sweet guy from the reception came knocking on my door with a candle and some matches :-) How I love these kind and helpful people. He even excused for disturbing me!

Tomorrow it is back to work at the Ministry - I am looking forward to it!