Jan 17th

I called Steven today to wish him HAPPY BIRTHDAY because it is still Jan 16th back home. Yesterday (Nepal's Jan 16th) was the first day of the new year. I think it is year 2157 or something like that. I wrote it down in my journal but can't remember now that I am sitting at a computer in an internet cafe. It is much later than 2010, that is for sure. The celebration traditionally goes 15 days but my family will celebrate for about the first five. Each day they have dinner at a different house. Yesterday they went around and said prayers at each house and drank beer or tea and today the dinner at each family member's house starts. We went to four houses yesterday so by the end of the day there was a lot more celebrating as a lot more beer had been consumed. I took lots of pictures but didn't drink any beer.

Another celebration was on Jan 15th for a different culture. They were celebrating the new year as the year of the tiger. It is difficult to keep track of this new culture because there are so many different cutures here in Nepal that I am not learning about just one, but about many.

I took the day off of school today because I am not feeling well. I have just a normal cold but it has made me more tired than any cold back home. I have been doing a lot of sleeping the last two days. The food is still fantastic. When I am sick I get more noodles rather than more potatoes and rice. The quick noodles that I get are very similar to ramin back home but they put vegetables in it, which is nice.

I realized I haven't said much about how we eat here. There is not a dining room table like there are in most homes back in The States. In my house here there are three couches along each wall in the room. The fourth "wall" to the dining room is a curtain that separates the kitchen area from the dining area. Two of the couches are just a few inches off the floor while the third (the one I sit at most often) is probably just an inch shorter than most chairs back home. The tables are a foot wide and go the length of the couches and are at the level of my knees when sitting on the high couch. You have to really lean over to eat at the table! So the family pretty much sits in a circle at their own spot on the table. The food is dished for everyone so we don't get much of a say in how much we consume. My favorite food so far are the oranges (like tangerines back home) and the cabbage (that is put in almost every meal). The soups are fantastic and do a good job of keeping me warm. It will be colder in the village so I need to get used to being a little cold. I have been told they drink a lot more roksi (rice wine) to "keep the bones warm."

Sorry if I haven't been answering everyones questions. I read the comments and then post again and sometimes forget all that was asked. It takes a long time to go from page to page here so usually don't want to spend the time to look things back up. Feel free to ask the questions again if you want to know!!!!! Well I am going to go home and rest some more. It is not fun being sick! Have a great weekend everyone!