Today has been a quite remarkable day. I’ve got some work done. Tadaa! That you didn’t think about me, now did you? I’ve prepared interview questions for an area I will visit tomorrow or Sunday to see if I can get any result out if my questions. But most amazingly for me today wasn’t that I’ve been working, but the ice storm (don’t know the exact English word, but in Swedish we would say “hagel storm”) that struck Pokhara in the afternoon. Now we’re talking about ice that where around 2 cm in diameter.


  Damn that was some big pieces of ice that decided today was a good nice moment to drop out of the sky. I promise, it wasn’t my fault, what I know of. Perhaps I made a Hindu god upset or something. Perhaps Kali wanted to just make a remark about that some people jokes and call me for Kali down here instead of Carl. Well, Kali is the bringer of death according to Hindu religion, so I prefer Carl. Just very simple.

  Oh, I’ve might have forgot to tell you, but the Nepali calender and weeks is a bit strange. You, where ever you are in the world and you who follow the Gregorian calender (I think it is that one..) might think that it is year 2010 now. Well. Busted! It’s actually year 2067 according to Nepali calender, so in a weird way I turned 87 when I got here. Wonder if I can get my Swedish retirement money now while I’m still a student in Sweden? So yes, the Nepali calender is 57 years ahead of the one we use in Europe and in a lot of other countries. Don’t ask me why, but there is a logical explanation to that I guess. Just as you might have missed that Nepal was closed off for foreigners until in the 1950’s, when the then present king slowly opened up Nepal’s borders. Ah, and yes, so how about the Nepali week now when we have sorted out which year it actually is right now. So, the week starts with the Sunday as first day. So Saturday is the big “red” day of the week when you everything is closed and so. Just as I remember Afghanistan had their “red” day on the Friday in their calender. And did I mention the time difference? 3 hours and 45 minutes. Just to point out that Nepal isn’t a part of India, but I’ve guess I’ve already told you that.

  Yesterday I had the boring pleasure of paying some invoices. Don’t know really what it is, but I never do find that so very exciting. Perhaps because I feel like some one is robbing me, even if it is my own choices I have to pay for.

  I’ve got a message from my contact Sascha, that he is now on his way somehow to Nepal. So hopefully I can get some real work done by this weekend and then start going to the other areas, who’s contacts I’ll call tomorrow, next week. I also got the pleasant surprise of be able to experience a Maoist rebel strike, “bandh”, here in Pokhara tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. That just means that there will be no traffic at all. Now this evening I heard people chanting something outside on the road. Probably a “pre-party” for tomorrow.