leeches

Went to the British Gurkhas welfare bungalow on the Kathmandu valley rim at Kakani overnight last night with a couple of other families. We had a barbeque and the ten kiddies had plenty of rollicking fun. You see, when you say it like that, it all sounds perfectly idyllic. The reality was that there were sixteen of us in a bungalow intended for six, at most. Ten kids. Yes ten. And many, many leeches. And it rained. Oh, and the kids all woke up at quarter to five this morning. And it rained and rained so we could barely make it out of the house, and when we did, everyone trailed leeches back into the house on their shoes, so there were leeches in and out. At five o'clock this morning Hubby made me promise never ever to make him go through this again. And I promised quite cheerfully. 

Anyway, half term is over now and the kids are back at school tomorrow and Hubby is off to Pokhara, and all the leeches in Kakani will be hungry.

Also, I'm not vomiting any more (apart from at the sight of a leech fresh from the sucking fields of some four-year-olds foot), which is good.

I am freaking out a little at the realisation that we are halfway through the school term, and my goal of finishing typing up the first draft of the novel by the end of term seems almost unattainable. Still, if I manage to avoid leeches and bacterial infections for the next few weeks I might be in with a chance...