So Steffen has left Bhutan - I hope he arrived safely and healthy at home. I know he was looking forward to seeing his wife and dogs again. I am also looking forward to getting home now - and I am going to enjoy my fast and stable Internet A LOT!

I am busy finishing the draft for a counselor education here, making criteria for selection of the counselors and writing a job description also. Then I'll have to make presentations of it all. There is enough to do and I hope to get a little time also to prepare for the next module for the Master Trainers!

Today I talked to a shop owner downtown - we talked about the monks in Bhutan and Buddhism. He told me that to reach Nirvana and not having to be born again we need to meditate deeply. I asked him if he meditated and he said "Not enough". Then he explained to me that at least once in our lives we should meditate in complete quietness - like high up in the mountains - for 3 years, 3 months and 3 days in a row! He said some monks do that 2, 3 or 10 times during their lives. I was wondering what they do for food so I asked if they didn't eat all that time. But they do - they eat once a day - very little - and then it is back to meditation. I guess they also need to sleep every now and then? Anyways, I could see that my 20 minutes a day with a busy life and noise around me probably won't take me to Nirvana this lifetime. Ah well, life isn't so bad after all - I'll come back and do it again ;-)

The weather is really nice here during the day - it is so warm and nice that I just want to sit outside and enjoy myself ;-) Mornings and nights it is a bit colder but much warmer than when we arrived in February. Trees and bushes are blooming and it is extremely beautiful right now.

On my way home I met 3 kids today. They called to me: "Hello, where are you frim?" I didn't quite understand, so I walked over to them and talked to them. Of course the boy meant "from" - so I told them I was from Denmark, but they had never heard of Denmark or Germany or Europe - so I ended up explaining it was far away to the north ;-) They asked me if we could be friends and of course I agreed and gave hand to all 3 of them introducing ourselves. There were 2 boys - 6 and 8 years old and a girl 9 years old. The smallest boy wanted me to come and see his home and we agreed that he should talk to his mother about it, then if it was ok with her I might go with him tomorrow. We'll see :-)