what happens now?

So, things have come to a head here in Nepal. The Maoist Prime Minister unilaterally sacked the army Chief. The other parties walked out, and the President said the dismissal was 'unconstitutional', and told the Chief to stay put. This resulted in the PM resigning, and declaring that the President's interference was 'unconstitutional'. Which is quite interesting, since what the current government was supposed to be doing was writing a new constitution for the country. Now, it's not clear what will happen. Kathmandu has been rocked with protests, and likely there will be more. The two other main parties will try to form a government, and the Maoists will probably sit as opposition. Certainly everyone is hoping it doesn't mean a return to the 10 year conflict, and for now that seems unlikely. But things are all very uncertain here. It did mean that the strikes on the Terai have ended, seeing as they were protesting better terms in the constitution, which for now, seems to be on hold...

I've been doing the rounds of farewell dal bhats with Nepali friends - tonight will be my 6th in a row. I am getting to eat lots of Nepali food just before leaving - which is yummy, but means that probably I won't miss it until I've been gone for awhile, having eaten so much now.

On Sunday another co-worker got married, a Christian wedding, and the first time I've seen a Nepali bride in a white sari. It was a lovely service, with dal bhat afterwards, and I got to wear a beautiful borrowed sari for the occasion.


One thing that I have gotten used to here in Nepal is being tall - it is so clear in the picture above how much I tower above most of my Nepali friends, with my huge 5'3" stature. It'll take some getting used to, being average to short again when I get home!