I received my fourth toothbrush of the trip today from Raj’s wife. They’ve taken me into their home to give me respite from hotel life and food as I try to recover enough to make a plan.

I still needed to sleep all afternoon but I think, I may have turned a wee corner today. My cough is a bit more present/happening again but I think I only have one or two nights left where my lips will glue themselves shut and that will be a great relief.

So I’m on the mend…albeit much slower than I anticipated just a few short days ago.

The above article, front page news, saw the route to the summit should be in place in the next day or two and we’ll likely see summits the night of May 12. My team is likely heading up to summit shortly after the first window.

After my nap, I spent much of the afternoon/evening with Raj’s daughter. What a treat. Her English is fabulous and, bless her, she worked hard to teach me all the Nepali words for body parts. I might remember one or two. The word for tongue sounds like zipper and the word for nose was fun as well. I showed her the few photos I had from home and from my expedition as well. She has not yet seen Mount Everest. She had lots of questions about life in Canada and I was impressed when I found out that she is learning Nepali, English, French, and Chinese in school.

Her younger brother, about the same interval as my younger brother (I.e. about 6 years difference) enjoyed having me around as well. With my short hair cut, he kept calling me uncle (fine by me) and once again, I saw my skill in getting kids revved up and then giving them back.

It was great having a bit of distraction for the day!