The eye clinic was definitely smaller today. Most everyone in town has already seen the doctor over the first two days. We have some patients but my job was really simple today as we never had more than a dozen people in the room at a time. After only ninety minutes, we closed up shop.
The nomads were holding a celebration out in the plains today and we were all invited as honored guests. I was angry enough with Khandro-la and humble enough not to be part of being “honored” that I decided not to go. Melanie felt uncomfortable with the whole thing too and decided to hang out with me instead of attending the yak and pony show. Almost everyone in the village went though so it was close to a ghost town in Korzak. We figured we were on a service trip so instead of “being honored”, we went to work. We picked up every scrap of litter in the main square – and it had a LOT of litter. Actually, a few kids and older people who had stayed in town helped us once they saw what we were doing. We gave them a few rupees, hoping to instill positive feedback but I doubt that it will help much. I saw one young boy who was picking up littler also dropping a candy wrapper when he stopped for a snack break. Ugh. Also, when the mayor got back to town, he actually noticed that it was cleaner. We told him what we did and, while appreciative, also told us that every September, they whole town has a clean-up day to pick up the litter before any snow comes. Oh well, at least we gave them a head start.
Our friends in town:
Our friends in town:
Melanie & Michael Go Walking 