First Days in Bhutan aka Dear Central Heating aka Eden Took a Caffeine Pill

First, a disclaimer.  This is Amy writing, not Eden.  I will get to that in a minute.  After 5 days, 2 weather related flight delays, one unexpected 24 hour layover in LA, and one city-wide shutdown in Bangkok, Eden and I are in Bhutan.  Our first reactions are that it is stunningly beautiful, and the weather is actually mild and pleasant.  However, as one title of this post suggests, there is no central heating.  Our two-bedroom apartment, which would otherwise be quite comfortable, is so cold that we are dressing in layers while inside, then take some of the layers off to go outside.  Two small space heaters are our only source of heat, and we can not have them plugged in while we have the internet on.  So, we have warm time, and then internet time, then warm time, and so forth.  The good news is that my husband is very handy and creative in situations like this, so we are holding out hope that when he and Hope and Trey arrive on Sunday, our situation will improve.

The other interesting living situation is the massive hill that is the road to our apartment.  This, I was not prepared for.  Other people that we have met don't refer to coming to visit us, or to stopping by, they say "I will trek up to see you", or "I will make the journey up to see you".   Obviously my cross-country running daughter is fairing better than I am, but she has been patient with me. The other humbling thing is watching Bhutanese who are clearly 30 years older, and 30 years younger, than me whiz by me up this beast of a hill as if they are just on a leisurely stroll.  It has to get easier. I am telling myself it is preparing me for the actual "trekking" we want to do while we are here.

So, we spent our first days just focusing on the necessities:  food, heat, and internet.  That pretty much consumed all of the first three days, but we are still not warm.  Today was more fun.  I started work, and we met a wonderful, helpful family from Chicago who took Eden and I under their collective wings.  Brian is also a psychologist working at the hospital, and he spent a great deal of his day getting me oriented.  Meanwhile, his wife and son kept Eden entertained all day, then we were treated to coffee and homemade crepes and fascinating conversation at their apartment after work.  Now to the final title of this post:  As Eden started to crash from jet lag, his wife graciously offered Eden a caffeine pill, which she accepted.  If you know Eden, you can imagine how this plays out.  She and her 11 year old companion were soon racing in the streets.  However, caffeine pills only last so long.   She is now experiencing a post-caffeine crash and therefore delegated the first post-writing honor to me.  Ironically, she refuses to take an Advil for the headache, because she "doesn't fight fire with fire".

I think that is all for now.  Work wise, there is much to process and think about as I figure out how I can be most useful.  More on that later.