Wow. There are a lot of very interesting topics being discussed here. I already have a list of things to bring back to work, and it’s only halfway through day 1! Hopefully I’m able to retain the excitement after 3 weeks in Nepal!
I have attached some pictures from the grand welcome dinner last night.
I want to share a story from this morning that really brought me to tears. As many of you know, I am doing the dawnO unconventional travelling method and staying in a guesthouse that is not part of the conference. This means I am responsible for finding my own transportation to and from the conference (about 15 minutes by auto rickshaw). This morning I was trying to explain where I needed to go to a non-English speaking driver. Of course, a crowd of people trying to help arose. It was about 5 minutes later when a man with some English skills came along and took charge of the situation. What was heartwarming wasn’t just his willingness to help, but that he went above and beyond. He wrote down the autorickshaw number and had the driver provide his cell phone number (which he actually tested by calling it) to ensure my safe delivery, as well as ensuring that I would be paying Indian (rather than my typical ‘white person’) fare. Another thank you to the kind hearted indian people.
…postscript for the moms: I wasn’t in a really unsafe predicament (I travelled this route yesterday and was very comfortable).
pps from RobO- This is our 100th blog!!
