West Meets East

Well my family came and went in what now feels like no time at all. But we managed to pack a whole lot into 2 weeks from seeing the sights of Kathmandu, to a 5 day trek amidst the himalayas, on to a brief jaunt through the jungle, and back to spend time at my home in Kirtipur. Having my family here made home feel much closer and much farther both all at the same time. Closer because having the 3 of them appear out of thin air one night made it seem easy, like they just lived around the corner and could drop in any time they wanted. But farther because their shocked reactions and keen observations of all the aspects of life here that I've become quite accustomed to by now made me realize again that this place is, in fact, rather different from home.

Family plays such an important role in Nepalese society that having mine here was not only a lot of fun for me and welcome reminder of my roots, but also I think it has made me feel even more connected to the various people that they were able to meet. It's almost like you can't really fully know a person as an individual here, but instead need to know them in relation to their immediate family to understand who that person is. A highlight for me was seeing all my Nepali friends and family go out of their way to welcome my parents and sister and show just how generous Nepali hospitality can be. They were essentially treated like royalty anywhere we went. Even the students at school seem to feel like they know me so much better now. They were somewhat shy while my family was there to visit, but the following day peppered me with all kinds of questions and showed boundless excitement about having seen them in their very own classrooms.

Now, I figure you're probably all just about sick of seeing only my words at this point, almost 4 months in, and those of you still reading are likely just barely hanging on by a thread at that. So, I collected some comments from my family before they left to offer a break from the mundane and some fresh perspectives on this new country of mine. Here's what they had to say:

Dad:

Nepal is a country of great natural beauty, but from the moment that Lok and Ram greeted us at the airport with Tihar garlands until our final evening with the Dhaubhadels it was apparent that the highlights of the trip would be the many wonderful Nepalese people we would meet. Sarah’s host family, Chandra our jovial trekking guide (and porters Krishna and Ram), Narendra and Ganesh of the Chitwan park service, Buddhi [our elephant and Tharu village interpreter], Harsha and Shashi [Sarah’s adopted parents], the students of Vaishnavi School and the many, many casual acquaintances along the way. The fact that Sarah has become quite conversant in Nepali certainly helped us make many of those friendships.

Mom:

Shuva bihaani! (Good morning!) We’ve had two too-quick weeks immersed in this beautiful country Nepal, led by Sarah, nicknamed Santi by some of her Nepali friends. The people here are probably the most friendly and generous you will find anywhere in the world. So many highlights! : fascinating, sumptuous dinner and teas hosted by the Khadka, Maharjan, Amatya and Dhaubhadel families, and the tea houses and hotels along the way; occasional peeks at the grand Himalayan peaks - gorgeous weather but cloudier than usual for this time of year; the elephants and other animals of Chitwan National Park and the Tharu village. We survived the wildest night taxi drive through the crowded streets of Kathmandu. And apart from that, the honking horns and barking dogs, this is such a peaceful place. As one handmade sign states:

Never

End

Peace

And

Love

Namaste. Alice.

Sister Shirls:

Nepal is a beautiful country with the friendliest of people. Other than a few scary taxi rides and one very long bumpy bus ride, the trip was absolutely amazing. And Sarah proved to be an outstanding tour guide; I don’t think we would’ve had quite the same experience as tourists to Nepal without Sarah living here first. Partly because Mom, Dad and I seemed to lack any kind of Nepali language skills - I only managed to learn “tikcha” (I am good) and “ramro cha gin daggy” (the poor grammar way of saying “is good. Life.”) the whole two weeks. And secondly because we had a much more authentic Nepal experience by getting to stay with Sarah’s Nepal family and meet all the wonderful people she knows here. Without taking over Sarah’s blog, I will just list a few of the million highlights for me:

• hiking up to Poon Hill at sunrise to see the Annapurna mountain range -> despite it being cloudy it was breathtaking to see the towering peaks, especially Dhauligari (the 3rd highest mountain in the world)
• riding an elephant and seeing a rhino only 10 meters away; also, getting bathed by an elephant even though I didn’t feel any cleaner after, maybe just colder
• and last, but not least, getting to give Sarah a real birthday hug

Overall, this was an unforgettable family trip with many memories I will cherish forever.

Festival of Lights

Just a quick one before I head to the airport and get to spend 2 weeks with my family (!!!)

I've been celebrating Tihar the past 3 days, and it's been unbeatable fun. The first day was Kukur Pooja, which means the day to worship dogs. As a result, there were embarrassed looking dogs all over the place with big red blotches on their foreheads and wearing yellow flower necklaces. They must have been confused by all the attention. We had to wrestle to the ground one of the stray dogs that sleeps in front of our house to get the flowers around his neck and even then I think he only put up with it because we also gave him crackers. Day 2 was Gai Pooja (the day for worshipping cows) and the dogs went back to being ignored or kicked out of the way. Today was Bhai Tika, which is a celebration between brothers and sisters. There’s special multi-coloured tika, which I gave my host brother along with malla (flower necklaces), fruit, nuts and blessings to wish him a long, happy life and success in everything he does. He also gave me tika and gifts. So we’re now officially brother and sister, dai and bahini.

At night throughout the festival everyone hangs up multi-coloured lights and groups of people will go from house to house dancing and singing so that people will give them money and a special type of bread. Lots of groups of children will practice performances in advance, but with the big group of friends I went out to do this with last night it was a much more spontaneous decision. The typical Tihar song / chant has one person say a couple words and the rest of the group all sing / shout “dyosi re!”, all the while dancing around in a big cluster. My voice is still hoarse. “Dyosi re” doesn’t really have a direct translation, but is along the same lines as “hear, hear!” in English and is used to give blessings at each of the houses.

New pictures on the right!