On Wednesday I went to Kathmandu again to do some shopping for our Muscular Dystrophy care center, and to go to the Post Office. I got back to Banepa at about 6:30 pm and the plan was to head to the MD care center to do some painting starting at 7:30. I figured I could get one load of laundry done during this time, so I headed off to my Uncle Carlyle’s house to use the washing machine. I stuck the laundry in the machine and then went to use the bathroom. I always dislike using their toilet because I have a hard time getting it to flush, so sometimes I’ve even walked all the way back to my house in order to avoid this problem. But the last time I was there, I asked Carlyle, “Is there a trick to getting it to flush?” Sure enough, there was, and so now this time I was confident I could get the toilet to flush, so I went ahead and used it. It flushed first try. Success! I thought to myself. I went to another part of the house to use the internet. An hour later, after Yvonne had called to say we couldn’t start painting ‘til 9 because that’s when their electricity would come on, I decided I’d head back to my house to get another load of laundry. I turned off the light in the room I was in and stepped out into the hallway....and nearly slid into the opposite wall. The hall floor was covered in water and it was seeping into the laundry room and now the room I had been working in. I turned the light back on and discovered water pouring out of the back of the toilet (so the water was clean at least!). It was pouring out a small pipe in the back of the toilet and into their 3 gallon trash can, which was now overflowing. The bathroom was filled with about a 1/2 inch of water. I turned off the water to the toilet, then went to the kitchen and found a flexible cutting board which I used to scoop water off the floor and into the shower. And I began bailing water like I was in a sinking ship. It actually worked amazingly well, and I managed to get up most of the water from the hallway and bathroom and everywhere else. By this point I’d given up the thought of doing more laundry, but ran back to my house (in the pouring rain) to grab a couple towels to mop up the rest of the water.
At this point, I really couldn't have cared less about what was wrong with the toilet, so I left my uncle a note, in case he wondered why there were floor mats and extra towels hanging in his shower, and why the toilet didn’t work.
At 9:15, Sangram, Santos, Izhar and I started painting at the muscular dystrophy center. We painted until about 1:45 am, at which point our efficiency was nearing zero. We then attempted to wake the family who lives above so they could come down and lock up the house. We must’ve rung the doorbell 15 times, called them on the phone, and yelled for them. At last we heard someone get up, and we looked up to the window with a light on. A creepy shadow of an old lady came to the window. Sangram and Santos tried to ask her to come down and lock up. She never said a word. She just stood there and stared, and with her hair hanging wildly around her face, she looked like a witch. I was pretty creeped out, but we got a good laugh out of it later. Thirty seconds later someone else appeared to close the door.
As we walked back to the hospital, I got pooped on by a sleeping bird. Didn’t its mom ever potty train it? Immediately following that, I stepped on a slug. At home I promptly got in the shower.
It’s funny because during Spring Quarter, I promised myself I’d get more sleep once summer came and I went home. At home I often stayed up later than at school, so I promised myself I’d sleep in Nepal. Hah! So far that hasn’t happened as planned either! We’ll paint again tonight starting at 5, and hopefully we can finish the job.
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