Fire Rabbit

As of today the load-setting schedule has changed to 46 hours a week, and the times are different as well. If it increases any more we will basically have no power for most of every day. Still, today was a good one. Scheduling options for the month that Amchi Namgyal is away are being explored--I'm thinking of doing a crash course on Ayurvedic medicine at another clinic near Swayambunath, about half an hour away from Boudha, with Dr. Koirala. From everything I've heard, it would be a very enriching experience to do some work with that system as well as Tibetan medicine, and I hope it works out.

The evening was fun. Lhosar begins on the 7th, but the monastery dances and celebrations begin on Monday. Ama-la took out all the chupas (traditional Tibetan clothing) and we had a sort of impromptu fitting after dinner. Everyone dresses up traditionally, including foreigners, so Tais and I tried on the clothes we would be wearing too, gorgeous heavy satiny/silk fabric and beautiful folds. I remember dressing up once before like this when I went to the Tibetan new year celebration in New York with my friend Kunchok, but this is a different style of chupa and seems more like party garb. We also got to see the boots Wang-la got Ama-la for their wedding, and the old knife and chupa that used to be Popo-la's and now Nawang will wear. Family heirlooms and cultural heritage are lovely to witness anywhere, and it feels so nice to be a part of it here.

Tomorrow Patricia leaves for India. I hope we will meet again someday. Her warm presence was nice to encounter. Though this is probably irrelevant to everything, she and Vidhea are both Libras, which is fun; I haven't really gotten to know any Libra women before. My suspicion that astrology has some merit underneath all the nonsense is confirmed every time I look a little deeper. Speaking of which, I've learned a tiny bit about Tibetan astrology. According to their calendar I'm 22 years old, and I am a fire rabbit (birth year assigns both an element and an animal). I looked up a few friends, but my favorite (and accurate) mental picture was a water pig!