OK.  So I haven’t posted in what the American yoofs would call ‘like ages’.

This is because there has been a really BIG increase in the number of powercuts here.  The Nepal Electricity company call it ‘load shedding’ and when you are the load they are shedding, as folks say around here ‘no choice’…

It’s now up to 35 hours per week and seems to still be rising, with the most common times being in the evening.  There is a new schedule every week or so and no power = no telephone booths and no or at best VERY slow internet.  Last week it took me an hour to post two pictures and a small comment on my Facebook page.  Somehow it seems whenever I have time away from studying, no power.  Hyper-frustrating!  We are all getting a bit concerned about how exactly we are going to write up 2 x 2500 word essays and print them out for November with no power.  But as they say… ‘no choice’!

The other evening I was reading for the History class in my now-favourite cafe Double Dorje* and when the power went off I just reached in my bag for my head-torch and carried on reading.  Only really thought about it afterwards.

I think a fellow STA Explorer (hello everyone – I AM still here!), mentioned his head-torch as making him look and feel like he was in a SWAT team.  In his case maybe this was so, but for me it is rather difficult to look cool when you’re reading with a head torch.  More dork-ish, or hey, SWOT team perhaps – I like that!  LOL!

Cue image of rows of Nepali students of all ages with headtorches on their heads and books in their hands.

What team are you in?

The SWOT team!

The WHAT team?

The SWOT team!

Sound off 1, 2, 3, 4….

Ahhh.  Having no power gets to you like that, sorry!

Seriously, the people here, Nepalis and Tibetans alike, are pretty fed up with trying to run homes, families and businesses on random and extending blackouts.  These things run for four hours at a time at the moment & apparently last year by Janurary it was 8 hours per day.  Yipes!

So, if you are coming here to lovely Nepal anytime soon (and it is lovely when you can see it), bring a head torch and probably a wind-up torch as well (and if they do wind-up head torches now, bring one of those! )

*  Double Dorje do lovely Mo-Mo’s, that’s Tibetan dumplings to you (and stop chuckling at the back there) and a VERY fine Apple pie (occasionally, by request the day or so before).  It is a good place to go once you’ve been here a little while and acclimitised.  Relaxing and friendly.  Lots of us Shedra students hang out there regularly (but we’re a nice bunch!)