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The program I attended in Boudha began with an orientation. Two teachers stood brightly at the head of the class and outlined how to survive in Nepal. Don’t eat anything unwashed. Skip the raw vegetables. Forget the salad. Don’t eat street food. Try to drink bottled water or water that you’ve boiled. Don’t step over religious texts or people praying. Don’t point your feet at people or towards altars and religious statues. Oh, and Kathmandu is in a major earthquake zone. There is a major earthquake every century and we’re about due for the next one. This last information rattled me.

Mid-way through my second semester, I started having troubling dreams again. In one, I overlooked the hills of the Kathmandu valley. I saw the face of Che Guevara appear in the greenery of the hillsides. It then dissolved into a skull. Che Guevara is a popular symbol of the Nepali Maoists and shortly after this dream, the Maoists were elected. Later, I dreamt again of the green hills of Kathmandu. This time, however, I stood at the foot of them, and they were curtained in darkness. As I gazed upon them, I suddenly realized with a weirdly calm clarity, “Oh, if the Maoists do something violent, there’s going to be a major earthquake.” These two dreams unnerved me, and I cut my stay short.

I later learnt the Maoists had, as part of their constitution, a mandate to use violence to achieve their aims. The Nepali constituent assembly was coming to an end and the Maoists had an opportunity to cause chaos if they wanted. Happily, the Maoists chose peaceful rather than violent means that spring and renewed the constituent assembly. An earthquake occured in the summer but it was minor.