Kathmandu

Sitting here in an "cheap" internet cafe in Kathmandu. The horns of all sorts outside are loud. Just found out about this internet cafe. The other one was quite expensive as it was in the heart of the tourist area.
So...it has been an interesting adventure thus far. I have been staying in a guesthouse, rooming with a fellow volunteer. There are 13 of us in total. For the most part a good group. On Friday, which was my real first day, there was just two of us. After sleeping till 1, we managed to go into town get some food and experience Thamel. I bought some pants and haggled from 850 to 450. That evening we went for dinner with 2 more volunteers and a Canadian man who has been to Nepal many times and was full of great wisdom. After returning from dinner we found 4 more volunteers enjoying Nepali beers in the restaurant at our guesthouse. We joined the group and quite a fun interesting night getting to know each other.
Saturday was quite an adventure. After lunch, 6 of us decided to head to a Buddhist temple. Only 3 people made it...not including me. I was stuck in the taxi with someone that decided what they saw was where we wanted to be and we all jumped out. You live you learn. :) Don't let the boys make decisions. haha.
Yesterday was our first day of orientation. We had some language training in the morning and then a 3 hour break. 6 of us hopped into a taxi....well, rather chased down a taxi that would fit all of us, and headed to Pashupatinath. This is a Hindu temple and also the cremation ghats. Quite an interesting experience. It felt quite wrong standing there watching this. We had a unsolicited tour guide who proceeded to charge us 500Rps per person for the tour...not exactly what we were looking for though it was very interesting and informative. A couple of the girls wouldn't put in the 500 and the guide was not happy. Sometimes, you just have to suck it up. It was very busy as it was some sort of festival/holy day for the Hindus. To get back the guesthouse we decided to attempt the bus...more like a mini van...like one of those 9 seaters, though at one point there were 26 of us. Instead of a taxi for 500Rps, we each paid 20. Quite an adventure. FUN!
We got back to the guesthouse just in time for our afternoon outing with the group. We went to the monkey temple, Swayambhunath. 365 steps later we made it to the top. A fair number of us well out of breath. It was a fun afternoon with our "guide" from the organisation, Rabin. He is super sweet and very helpful....
I am running out of time on here so I am going to finish up.
Although it has been very interesting getting used to everything here, I think there is still a lot more to come. I think I will be going to my homestay on Wednesday. Atleast I hope. It is going to be interesting.
I am really not a blogging person...this feels very dry and not exciting to read...sorry. Hope everyone is well.