The view of my village's rice paddies at sunrise in October.
Thamel. When my mom was here, she opened my eyes to some things that have become second nature to me but are most certainly not normal. Here's a better description of Thamel than I have given in past posts: it is a Medieval city trying to accommodate 21st century needs -- small alleys have motorbikes flying by at outstanding speeds, especially considering it is common to find 4 people (including women in saris riding side-saddle and babies held in the arms of the drivers) squished onto the bike with only the driver wearing a helmet (and there are no sidewalks); it is so full of pollution (from petrol, which people wait in mile long lines for because of government regulations; burning plastic in huge trash piles in the streets, which people hover around for warmth with heads turned away; incense and noise) to the point that the locals constantly wear face masks and from my village you can see a thick layer of grey hovering over the city; lepers sit on every corner begging for money; it is common to see rats scurrying through even the nicest restaurants without any concern on the part of the staff or customers; electricity has been limited to six hours a day now; you can't stop for a second in front of a store window without the owners pushing you in saying "free looking"; and "hot" water comes from solar panel heating, which in the winter months leaves you with none. But there are some beautiful and culturally rich parts of Nepal like...
my ghar.
My house at the end of October.
My house at the end of November (for those of you keeping track of how the cornfields have changed, ahem Nora ahem.)
My aama, sisters and aunts picking oil from the flowers in front of my house in December.
At the end of October, there was a wonderful festival in which Hindu pilgrims all gather in what happens to be my training village (an hour walk from where I live now). Here there is a small rock cave that, if you pass through the small crevice without getting stuck, will abolish all of your sins -- a good motivator for dieting! So people line up in single file (in the picture you can see the line progressing through the greenery) once a year to, hopefully, walk through the cave and end up at a small pagoda where people celebrate by eating...peanuts. Actually, the whole village was covered by what reminded me of circus tents, which sold all sorts of delicious Nepali food, ice cream and even cotton candy. It was a beautiful day of celebration.
The glaciers hovering over Kathmandu Valley. When I walk through the village and see this, it seems easily understandable to me why people have believed that the gods live in the clouds.
Spider webs.
Another view of the glaciers from my village in December.
I helped with a Halloween celebration that Adrienne and Brooke had for their Children's Home. The children seemed to understand that it was a festival of candy, encouraged by the pinata and snacks given throughout the day. I think they really enjoyed the face painting and hand-less apple eating contest (hung from the clothing lines) that Adrienne and Brooke arranged. Later, the Home had a huge dinner with pilow (sweet milk rice with coconuts and raisins) instead of dhaal baat, an amazing curry and a special treat--chicken! My brave friend Brooke, who truly enjoys eating intestines and such (Nepalis love her), displays the yummy chicken feat below...
I was able to visit the ancient city Bhaktapur with my sisters. Here is one of the stupas in its Durbar Square.
My aama cooking in the brick and clay (or cow dung) kitchen.
My November roommate, Kersten, and I enjoying an early morning dhaal baat.
My mom came to visit for two weeks in December! Here she is ringing a Buddhist bell at the pagoda in Boddhanath.
on the stupa
in Kathmanda
We were able to take an eight hour bus ride to Pokhara, a quaint and peaceful city situated at the edge of a lake and surrounded by the glaciers of the Annapurna Range.
After rowing across the lake, we hiked up to the Peace Pagoda, mostly on these treacherous stone steps for 1.5 hours.
The view of the mountains from the top of the Peace Pagoda.
An example of the cows that leisurely roam the streets in Nepal.
Merging traffic...
Sunset on the lake.
After a 2 hour hike up to the top of Sarangkot to watch the sunrise.. my mom is a trouper.
My mother and oldest sister, Sarita, with her 1 month old son (no name until it is 6 months old). It is a cultural tradition for a new mother to move back into her mother's house when the newborn is 1 to 3 months old to learn how to care for the child. So in the beginning of December Sarita moved back in, bringing a great new source of pride (and entertainment) for the family.
For Christmas, the three boys that I have worked with on the site in December decided to throw a party in our village for our families and all of the volunteers. This is the oven that Tom and Dave created to roast vegetables. The main attraction of the day, however, was a goat. The boys a few days earlier bought a live goat and cared for it until... they slaughtered it on Christmas morning. Although Brandon was responsible for the killing, Tom and Dave's baa was close by (as were several other village onlookers) to help take off the fur and take out the intestines and such. The boys had control over how to cook most of the goat (like a pig-roast) but the family took all of the insides and made an (apparently) delicious stew. It was wonderful to see the baa bless the goat with water before the Christmas "sacrifice" and treat the whole event with a great respect for the animal. My sisters later shared that they were very impressed that goat and vegetables could taste so good without being cooked in a curry. I'll spare you some of the more gruesome photos, but here's the general idea:
Brandon standing ready with the khukuri.
The before...
and after.
A local using boiling water to scrape off the hair.
Tom and Dave's baa giving a wonderful lesson of goat anatomy. (Or the vegetarian spin on the whole thing..)
The goat roast (held together by rebar, bamboo and rope).
Nighttime celebrations with local drumming.
Back in Thamel, Brooke getting bhatmas, or street food of dried rice, lentils, popcorn and nuts.
The last week in December on site, we dug a 15'x8'x10' septic tank hole to accommodate 35 people. Since, the workers have come to lay a brick lining and insert the proper piping.
The general progress of the Children's Home (as of December).
