Upon arrival in Kathmandu we traveled to Banepa and met the staff and took a tour of the hospital and the adjoining school (see http://www.scheermemorialhospital.org/). Brian met the principal and some of the students. It is a nice school with 6 classrooms located around the periphery of a large gymnasium. The grounds around the hospital and school are meticulously maintained with hedges and flowers around each path. There is a central courtyard with two large trees. While we were there, we met an American general surgeon from Minnesota who is working here. He has spent most of his career serving in Adventist hospitals around the world. Next we separated the school supplies and vitamins that our team brought from the medical and surgical supplies in our bags. Part of the team will go out to some villages and set up a clinic and distribute the community health supplis that we have donated. The rest of us will begin surgeries on Monday. The patients who need surgery this week are from a region in southern Nepal calld Terai. 
After making these preparations at the hospital, we dropped off our luggage at the hotel and then drove out to the Namoboudha shrine. It is one of the holiest shrines in Tibetan Buddhism. (Tibet is just over the mountains from us.) To get to it, we hiked up a steep trail through the forest marked by red, blue, yellow, white and green prayer flags and many giant spider webs with large green-bodied spiders poised for their prey. While we were there, a large ceremony was taking place at the monastery. All the monks (both male and female--all with heads shaved and all in maroon robes) gathered together for dancing, music, and chanting. The leader of the monastery, the Rinmposhay (sp.?) was in attendance as well. He is apparently one of the most prominent leaders in Tibetan Buddhism second only to the Dalai Lama. The monks danced in elaborately embroidered costumes and in a variety of masks. They danced around a central stone along circles of white paint which were incorporated into an 8 pointed star. Three of them seem to play the role of clowns. The music played by their traditional instruments and the chanting was certainly like nothing I've ever heard before. All this played out with a back ground of green terraced hills and with the snow-capped Himalayas off in the distance. It was a beautiful clear day.
After making these preparations at the hospital, we dropped off our luggage at the hotel and then drove out to the Namoboudha shrine. It is one of the holiest shrines in Tibetan Buddhism. (Tibet is just over the mountains from us.) To get to it, we hiked up a steep trail through the forest marked by red, blue, yellow, white and green prayer flags and many giant spider webs with large green-bodied spiders poised for their prey. While we were there, a large ceremony was taking place at the monastery. All the monks (both male and female--all with heads shaved and all in maroon robes) gathered together for dancing, music, and chanting. The leader of the monastery, the Rinmposhay (sp.?) was in attendance as well. He is apparently one of the most prominent leaders in Tibetan Buddhism second only to the Dalai Lama. The monks danced in elaborately embroidered costumes and in a variety of masks. They danced around a central stone along circles of white paint which were incorporated into an 8 pointed star. Three of them seem to play the role of clowns. The music played by their traditional instruments and the chanting was certainly like nothing I've ever heard before. All this played out with a back ground of green terraced hills and with the snow-capped Himalayas off in the distance. It was a beautiful clear day.
The grounds around the hospital medical Autoclave and school are meticulously maintained with hedges and flowers around each path. There is a central courtyard with two large trees.
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