The Adventures of Pokemon

Well to those that thought that we fell off the edge of the world you were wrong but not by much (you will understand when we are able to post the pics of some of the trails that we walked on). Anyways for most everyone we have been a little slow on communicating back. That is because there are only two internet stands within a 12 mile radius in which we were living for the last two months and both of these were far too slow for us to be able to post anything. It was barely able to work long enough for us to send an email back to our families. As for what we have been doing, well that is hard to tell. We have been working in a small school working with a group of young monks. We stayed with a wonderful family who owned the only guest house in the city that we were staying in. Also there was not even a completed road for any vehicle to be able to get to us. The family consisted of the father, mother, the cook/helper/go-for etc. and the shephard. For the last two months we lived, worked, ate and slept with this family and became a part of the family as well. We came to consider this our second homestay. Another interesting note about this family was that durring the time that we stayed with them, we only saw the father for 3 days. As for the place that we stayed, it consisted of a small room that had only a bed, a small table, and 2 chairs. Now, the walls were made of mud and that when the tempture got down below freezing (which it did all but a few nights toward the end of our stay), that it made the room very cold. Also, I believe that I forgot to mention that there was no heating system inside the home. (During this time we tried to post a blog stating how we stayed warm... we were unable to do so, but this blog will still be posted along with other short stories at a later date). During the day we would go to the school and volunteer teaching English. When I was young I would listen to my grandfather talk about how he had to get to school and how it was uphill both ways and I never believed him. Well now I do now, because for us it was up hill bothways - and sometimes in the snow. As for the school itself, it was usually utter chaos. There were three teachers (and us 2 volunteers) but for most of the time that we were there only two were present and then for a while there was one. Then on one day it was only us and the 20 students that happened to show up that day. On the positive side of this, we were able to share the Story with some of the students in their own language. Please remember to yarp for this village that the seeds that we were able to plant may take root and Grow in the Father's time. For a three weeks I had the geat pleasure to work with an incredible national brother (S) who worked as my translator, language helper and then became my very great friend. S and I traveled everywhere together (we would travel an average of 10 miles a day by foot). While I would never choose anyone else in which to have worked with, there was some very interesting thoughts that S has. He loves to tell the stories from his mountain village about the Yeti and Pokemon. Now this Pokemon is not like the cute loveable Japanese anime cartoon. This creature is very mean and will come into your house and steal your food and take your clothes and hang them in a nearby tree. If you are bold enought to tease the Pokemon then he will do even worse things than this which I can not write in a blog. If you email me, I will tell you. Anyway this became a very big joke between S and me, and anytime we would go into a valley (where Pokemon is claimed to live) we would tell the other one to be careful and watch out for the dangerous Pokemon. Well one day, as we were out visiting another village, we decided to go back another way and try and see a few more villages in the process. As we went up a very steep hill we finally came to the top and saw a house sitting all by itself, which is very strange in this area of the world. As we got closer, we saw that no one was home so we proceded just to walk by on the trail and continue with our journey. As we passed the house the BIGGEST POKEMON ever came at us from on top of the roof and tried to attack us. Now from S's stories Pokemon was very small the size of a cat but this one was the size of a bear, a very big bear. Needless to say we both jumped and then hurried down the trail. As it turns out it was just a average size dog but at that time it looked a lot bigger. On a more serious note: Yarp Requests- For our cook friend. (S) We gave him the Story and he has been reading it.- Our friend from the city living in the village. (M) Also reading the Story.- For the lamas (monks) we taught in the school. We also gave them the Story just before we left and shared it with the many times. - For our friend (D) who works in the monastery. He has many questions, and we gave him the Story before we left and had some great discussions with him. - For the guest house owner - (S). She asked if becoming a sister would make her rich. If so, she wanted to be one. Yarp she realizes there is a richness outside of money.- For us - we are now going back to the city to work here in this country for 1 more month before moving south. Yarp that we can reunite with old contacts and meet new friends. PraisesWe came back tired - but healthy and safe. We love the area where we worked and know a little more about our Father's plan now. We've learned more about strategy. PicturesWe have TONS of pictures. But it takes so long on a blog page wih the slow internet here and I found a great new program. So for the time being - we will post the link. www.dropshots.com/SheenaBall