Well last night was the volunteer party and the chance to unwind after a few stressful days at the orphanage and a chance for the new volunteers to relax after training and before they start their placement..... we all needed it! The past few days have been a little testing, I know what Nepal can be like but sometimes it is draining and can make you scream, but other times Nepal is an amazing country and I love it here, especially working with the kids....swings and roundabouts eh?! Sometimes you need the time out to realise this as there are inevitably times where you stop and wonder if you are making any sort of impact or just cultivating and enforcing a culture of dependancy and greed. That said we all realise that despite the various problems we all experience with our orphanage managers and boards, at the end of the day our first priority is the welfare of the kids under our care. Our second priority is our own welfare and sanity for that matter!! As you can see I am horrendously sunburnt, thats what a few hours in a field with factor 20 does to you, nepali sun is serious stuff! 1905 was the scene of the crime last night although John, Joe and myself nearly created another when we took a dodgy ricksaw (Basically someone give 3 people a 'backie' on his push-bike.) We agreed before hand 20 rupees to take us round the corner, the guy goes through a red light at the intersection at Kantipath and we had to dodge jeeps, taxis and general bypass traffic! After taking us way past 1905 we had to get him to stop, where he demanded 100 rupees! He got his 20 Rupees and of course done the usual shouting the cycled up the wrong side of the road, i.e. towards oncoming traffic on a two-lane road before pulling up alongside us again asking if we needed a ricksaw?!!! Luckily we could laugh off our brush with near death... lucky for him that is! Keeping with tradition though we all kicked off our flip flops and danced in our bare feet to the reggae music (I haven't turned into a hippy) at 1905.... old Vollies will reminisce about last years parties! Its actually cleaner than some of the conditions we live in, but you definately couldn't do this in club de mar either!! Tim was the real surprise of the night though, didn't have him down as a dancer until the beats started pumping and we couldn't shift him.... John Travolta eat your heart out! Jason was also busting his robot moves, I was hoping some kind of strange dance off would happen but it didn't.... well not in 1905! One thing we all had in common was comparing what we call our 'swelly bellies' i.e. how much we have blown up after eating nothing but dal bhat and drinking water. Despite our swollen tummy's we all admitted craving dal bhat when we weren't having it! Sounds sad but it can get quite addictive, even if it is poor quality! One of the best moments of the night had to be when U2's 'With or Without You' came on, cue alot of hugging, singing and everyone thinking of their own reasons for loving the song. On that happy and sentimental note (I am an English student) I'm off to get some supplies before Joe and I undertake our hour long walk back to the orphanage, weather permitting of course, otherwise it might take a bit longer battling the hills and mudslides in flip flops....I love this country. Helen- You're doing such a fantastic job I'm soooooo proud of you, keep up the good work sunshine and the boys miss you lots as well. Kevin- Happy Birthday bro, sorry I'm missing it, have a good one though! Take care everyone Big love, Lauren :) xxxxxx