It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No, It's...
Josh's research visa!!! Yesterday, at 5:00 p.m. Kathmandu time, a beauracrat at the Indian Embassy pasted a tiny little piece of paper (that we have been waiting for since August) into Josh's passport that is the key to actually BEING a Fulbright scholar. Hope has been restored, if not actual faith in the Fulbright grant--by this point it's become clear to us that if we hadn't come in November and sorted out the needed information on our own, we would still be waiting in the states for a grant that would probably never have come (isn't that a song?). But, so it goes...and so we go, back to Kolkata on the 26th after 10 days exploring the nooks and crannies of Kathmandu, wrapped up in our winter jackets pretty much the whole time since it's about 40 degrees outside AND inside. Makes finding a warm spot in the sun or getting toasty under the down sleeping bag all the more exciting.
Also has been an adjustment for my newly bald head, which will soon be celebrating its one week anniversary. I'm still getting used to the sensory overload everytime I step outside and feel cold air on my scalp, but it helps me blend in with all the monks in our neighborhood (doesn't totally counteract the tall white lady thing though). Ever since my aunt Dee rolled up in all her bald glory to our house in Rutland many moons ago after biking cross-country with my uncle Elvis, I've wanted to shed my wild locks for something a bit more elemental. I also couldn't quite get myself to shower here in Kathmandu, what with the cold and all, so I decided it was easier to take hair out of the bathing equation. Josh and I both went under the clippers in a little barber shop off a Kathmandu alley (fotos of the transformation are on their way) and got head and shoulder massages with the deal, all for about US$3.50. I've noticed that my husband gives me way more spontaneous head rubs then ever before--not a bad reason to keep this look for a while.
As always, more stories to follow, but my eyes are beginning to tweak out from the computer screen so I think we'll go wander around the Buddhist stupa down the street--the largest one in the world--get some air, eat some yak cheese, watch the Tibetans perform their prosterations and circle the stupa with their prayer beads, and maybe offer up a prayer or two ourselves.
With love and peace,
J&J
Also has been an adjustment for my newly bald head, which will soon be celebrating its one week anniversary. I'm still getting used to the sensory overload everytime I step outside and feel cold air on my scalp, but it helps me blend in with all the monks in our neighborhood (doesn't totally counteract the tall white lady thing though). Ever since my aunt Dee rolled up in all her bald glory to our house in Rutland many moons ago after biking cross-country with my uncle Elvis, I've wanted to shed my wild locks for something a bit more elemental. I also couldn't quite get myself to shower here in Kathmandu, what with the cold and all, so I decided it was easier to take hair out of the bathing equation. Josh and I both went under the clippers in a little barber shop off a Kathmandu alley (fotos of the transformation are on their way) and got head and shoulder massages with the deal, all for about US$3.50. I've noticed that my husband gives me way more spontaneous head rubs then ever before--not a bad reason to keep this look for a while.
As always, more stories to follow, but my eyes are beginning to tweak out from the computer screen so I think we'll go wander around the Buddhist stupa down the street--the largest one in the world--get some air, eat some yak cheese, watch the Tibetans perform their prosterations and circle the stupa with their prayer beads, and maybe offer up a prayer or two ourselves.
With love and peace,
J&J
posted by Jessica Pierce at 3:01 AM
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