June 18 Late at night here

This is Jane checking in for all of us at A Gift for the Village, on June 18th eveing here 11 p.m. our time, 1:15 in the afternoon your time, same day. We have been here since yesterday afternoon and we have already experinced and accomplished what feel like worlds and worlds. The painting, for example, is now in the hands of Kathmandu tailors, who had near-endless animated discussions with Tsampa, the man in the painting, about the correct and most museum-quality ways to brocade the work. In two days, this rare heavy-silk brocading will be completed, including a huge yellow sil cover, embroidered with their version of my handwritten title, "Amchi (Dr,) Tsampa Ngawang Life Sotry, Jomson, Mustang, Nepal, 2007." This, in both an embroidered version of my English, AND of Tsampa's parallel Tibetan. Should be beautiful. This embroidery and brocade will really finish and formailze the painting, and is a gift from Jenna and me. Tsampa was so appreciative.

Also today, among many fun adventures, we were interviewed by Kathmandu's leading newspaper and Nepali television, as well as by one reporter who covers southern Nepal. These reporters were charmed by the cross-cultural nature of our work and by our team's commitment to pursue this documentary against all odds--and you can be sure we reported that this perseverence was only PART of our ability--the other part being help from all of YOU. So we are actually leading cultural news in Nepal, just behind the vist of Jimmy Carter, to came to help broker peace between formally incongruous factions. No kidding.

Jenna talked to a pair of young men on the busy,chaotic street, who ended up coming to the garden courtyard of our gorgeous hotel, performing for our project's soundtrack. WOW. More soon, with our love, Jane and crew