A week with a Nepali family

After 8 weeks of learning Nepali, I thought it was time to put my language skills to the test and so, I spent a week living with a Nepali family.

I arrived after my language class on Monday evening and after some introductions by my language teacher, I was left to fend for myself. I sat with the mum (Manju) as she made Dahl Baht for dinner and asked her about her family and the food she was making. After dinner, we sat around in the living room and talked a bit, getting to know each other.

The family of 4 was made up of Manju, her husband Mahendra and her 2 sons - 1 son was studying in the States, and 1 son was living at home. I sure was glad to have Sanjil (the younger, 17 year old son) around because he could speak some English which was very helpful with translation, as well as some English conversation when Nepali got a bit much.

I remember waking up on the Tuesday morning. I grabbed my towel and headed for the bathroom, only to be met by Manju who started asking me some questions. Having to think in Nepali straight after waking up was a bit hard going but as the week went on, I got more used to it.

I headed to the bathroom and got ready for a shower, only to find that they didn't have any hot water (oh...AND they had a squat toilet...boo). From then on, each morning, Manju would boil a bucket of hot water for me to bathe with (washing my hair with a bucket of water was not an easy task!).

I headed to school for my language class around 10am each day and would return around 5:30pm in the evening. Waiting for me when I got home was a cup of chiya and some biscuits. We would then eat dinner around 8pm at night, sit around and chat after dinner (or watch TV), and then go to bed around 10ish (they kindly put down a mattress in their toasty warm living room for me to sleep on).

On Friday, Manju took me to Pashpati - a cremation site along a river. It was quite interesting watching people being brought in and the different rituals they performed to get them ready to be cremated. After washing their feet and putting water in the mouths, the dead person would be covered with the correct coloured cloth, then brought to the woodpile to be cremated.

When the dead person arrived at Pashpati, they were covered with a blanket. The thing that surprised me the most was that a bunch of homeless kids would hang around, and after the blankets were taken off the person, the kids would run off with them, happy to have something to keep them warm at night (the idea of using a dead person's blanket kinda freaks me out but I guess you use what you can get).

It was an interesting experience and gave me some new insights into Hindu beliefs and the rituals they perform so that their loved ones will be reincarnated as something better.

It was also a good reminder that I don't need to fear death, and that I have assurance that when I die, I will go to be with my awesome God in heaven, not because of anything I've done to deserve it, but all because of God's grace in sending Jesus to die and rise again.

When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Because of his grace, he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. - Titus 3:4 & 7

Looking forward to more adventures ahead!

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Home away from home

I write this from my new apartment which I moved into just a few weeks ago. I feel like it's been a long time coming and I'm so stoked to finally be settling into this new pad.

After a few weeks of looking around at not so great apartments, a little over a month ago this apartment came across my path as a family from school were moving house and were looking for someone to move in. I checked it out and really liked it, but needed some expert advice on whether this really was a good apartment or not. You see, in Nepal, it's not just about whether you like the look of a place. You've gotta take into consideration what the water supply's like (by February, Nepal will be short on water so working out if you'll need to truck in water and who pays for it if/when it happens is a big deal), how safe and secure the area is and how noisy it gets.

After getting the OK from a missionary friend who's been here for 10 years, I set upon writing up a lease agreement. Unfortunately, the landlord's husband was away for work and wouldn't be returning for several weeks so the lease wasn't signed for awhile.

After he returned and an agreement was made, he got the place painted and I started to move in.

In the weeks leading up to my move, I'd started to scout out who was leaving Nepal and who I could buy 2nd hand stuff from as buying things new is very expensive (if only they had IKEA here). I'd managed to track down 5 people and bought most of what I needed from them, including all my furniture (having a couch is the BEST), kitchen stuff, linens and lots of other bits and pieces.

I also had to get gas bottles filled, a water filter installed, the internet connected and work out who to hire as house help (the thought of having someone come to clean your house a few times a week may seem ridiculous, but it gives local women employment, and with washing machines being a rarity, it's definitely handy having somebody come to wash your clothes).

Then, there was the inverter - a backup power source for when the electricity goes out. Before coming to Nepal, I'd never even heard of an inverter, but with electricity cuts for up to 18 hours a day, having a source of power is a must. After trying to work out exactly what an inverter is and asking around for where I could get one installed for a good price, I decided on the help of a missionary guy who installs inverters as a 'Business As Mission' venture.

So, as I sit here on my comfy couch with christmas lights flashing around me, I'm so excited to be in an apartment that I love and that I can now call 'home'.

Looking forward to many more adventures (hopefully not to do with house disasters!) ahead!

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The Last Resort

I just spent a week with Grade 9s from KISC at 'The Last Resort' - an adventure camp about 4 hours out from Kathmandu.

We set out early on Monday morning, and after arriving at the Resort, we found our tents and began team building games. The guys leading our camp group were amazing at keeping the kids engaged and challenging them to stretch themselves and work better at communication and teamwork.

That afternoon, we walked to the centre of the bridge and we all had 3 goes at absailing down it - the first time the camp guys lowered us down, the 2nd time we lowered ourselves and the 3rd time we raced to see how fast we could go.

Day 2, after a fantastic breakfast (how many other camps cook you omlettes in the morning!) we split up into 2 groups and headed out on a long hike. Most of the way up the mountain required lots and lots of stairs so we'd walk for 5 minutes, then take a 10 minute break. It was very exciting, after 3 hours of walking, to make it up the mountain. After lunch, we headed back down and were totally stuffed so we just hung out and played cards for the rest of the afternoon.

Our 3rd and final full day, we got into our swim suits and got ready for canyoning! I'd never even heard of canyoning before, but it's where you absail through waterfalls - AWESOME!!! It was SO much fun and totally new for me which is why I think I loved it so much!

That afternoon, we headed for the high ropes course and spent the rest of the day doing obstacles between the trees.

In the evening, we were in for a treat. After a delicious dinner, some of the resort staff did fire dancing, and after that, there was live music by some other resort staff! Good times with some fun dancing!

Our last morning at the resort, before breakfast, we all had a go at 'horizontal bungy' which made us all really work up an appetite as it was hard work!!

Overall, a fantastic week of fun activities, yummy food and great company!!!! Probably one of the best camps I've been on EVER!

Looking forward to the adventures ahead!

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Out of the Comfort Zone of the Classroom

For the past 6 weeks I've spent 3 hours a day, 5 days a week learning Nepali. It's been lots of fun and I've slowly been able to communicate more with Nepalis at school and in the wider community.

As part of my language learning, my teacher's got me doing a thing she calls 'CLL' - Community Language Learning. This started a few weeks ago where I would find a Nepali who worked at KISC and have a 10-15 minute conversation with them using only Nepali. I asked them the usual questions about their family, where their house was, what foods they like etc, and they would answer using words and phrases I didn't really understand. Even though our conversation was limited, I enjoyed this time as it gave me an opportunity to get to know some of my colleagues.

Then, about a week ago, my teacher decided it was time to step out of the comfort zone of the classroom and into the community. We walked along the street and found a woman who was with her child at the park. I sat down with them and began asking her the questions I knew (where is your house?, how many people in your family?, what do you do for work?). The conversation was pretty one-way and after I had exhausted my questions, there was no-where else to go. The conversation was over in about 5-10 minutes.

After that experience, I was feeling pretty apprehensive about CLL as I realised how very limited my Nepali was, however, just the other day, my confidence began to grow after my conversation with Nabin.

Again, my teacher and I ventured out of the school grounds and headed up the street trying to find someone for me to talk to. She initially asked an older guy to speak to me but he wasn't too keen. Instead, this younger guy who was nearby volunteered and so I began to speak to Nabin. He was great! He spoke very S-L-O-W-L-Y and if I didn't understand something, he repeated it again S-L-O-W-L-Y, then said it in English, then again in Nepali. I came away with a few new phrases and a bit of reassurance that stepping out and speaking Nepali with the locals isn't too bad after all.

Looking forward to the adventures (that involve speaking Nepali) ahead!

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