Time is flying

So I'm sitting at work, wearing sandals and socks in the office, wondering when the rash on my face will go away, plotting against the "one lame man", and it occurs to me that maybe it's well past time to go home.  Six weeks!  I'm already trying to take mental notes about the behavior that I've picked up that will cause my mother to give me "that look".  Nepalis have this conversational marker they use to show that they're listening, kinda like we repeatedly say "uh huh" to people when they're talking, which is a grunt.  I can't imagine how me grunting at people when they are talking to me is going to go over in America.  Of course I picked that trait up no problem while still struggling with my Nepali numbers over 20.  Damn.  Bev and Karen came to trek and it was Biblical.  Of course our flight was cancelled and we had to drive two days to get into the mountains (and climb over land slides, ride in buses with chickens, push vehicles out of mud, you name it).  The trek was surreal as we went up onto a high desert plateau which is similar to Tibet.  At 12,500 feet were were STILL staring up at really high mountains.  Let's just say that one bus ride back down the mountain was so scary, the bus was so overloaded that we snapped a wooden bridge that spanned a gorge with our real axle as we passed over it, that we insisted on getting off the bus and subsequently got drunk on Nepali rum.  Like singing the Canadian national anthem and sorority songs for hours drunk.  I think that the terrible bed on which I later "slept" contributed to the rash.  But it was beautiful and loads of fun and soon we'll post pictures.  xoc