Jan 20, 21, 22

Jan 20 (Wed) 8:00 PM
Today was another day off from school. The family had a celebration at the monastery but only Pemba went. There were a lot of things to do here. The girls had homework and more patty things had to be made (rice flour and water mixture deep fried). I did wash again. I feel I was more successful this time and also less rushed. In the morning the girls and my host mom took me shopping for a dress for festivals. I was too tall to buy one already made so I got to choose fabric and had it specially tailored. Nobody seemed too excited about it but I am looking forward to going back in 3 days for it. I walked to the grocery store again today (Gemeni) to get the candy for the students. The children here don’t know what “candy” is because anything sweet is known as “chocolate.”

Jan 21 (Friday) 8:30 AM
Interesting things from the newspaper this morning:
1. The #1 cause of death for women in Nepal between the ages of 15 and 49 is suicide. And they say that # is underestimated because most people don’t want Police attention when that happens so take care of it on their own.
2. It was not until the last few years that fatherless children were allowed to become citizens of Nepal. This came about (if I understand correctly) because the civil war that lasted 8 years and ended in 2006 left too many children fatherless. Also, if the parents are unknowns a child can be given the last name Nepali.

Jan 22 (Sat) 10:00 AM
I think yesterday has been my favorite day here so far. School went better – the students weren’t determined to push my limits. During one of my breaks I was looking for the English newspaper and walked into the teachers lounge. The female teachers always hang out in the room while the boys tend to sit outside. Anyway, one of the girls had string in her mouth and both her hands and was hovering over another girl sitting on the floor. I asked what was going on and she was fixing and shaping eyebrows. They asked to do mine which was helpful because I didn’t bring tweezers. It was absurdly painful but I don’t think my eyebrows have ever looked so good. They were laughing at me (for fun) because my eyes were watering so badly and my eyebrows got so red on my light skin. The students definitely noticed the redness even in the dark classrooms. Then Susil took me out to a music show. He is currently a student of music and his classes were canceled for this show so he asked if I would like to attend with him. I loved it and was more than impressed by what these musicians could do with the special Nepali drum they used. I really liked it. Plus I got a 30 min motorcycle ride to and from the show, which was at the same location as the orphanage talent show. I love riding the motorcycle here. It is scary but relaxing at the same time and it is a great way to explore Kathmandu. Then we had visitors for dinner at home – which is always a surprise to me – and a volunteer from another NGO from China was there. We talked a lot and it was nice to hear how she enjoyed Nepal as her stay is almost over.
Today I am at a picnic, I think mostly family as I recognize several of the people from dinners during the past week. It was pretty much like our picnics except we had potatoes and “beaten rice” rather than hamburgers and we sat on tarps rather than at tables. I am still unsure how the people can sit cross-legged for so long. My legs fall asleep and my hips ache after not too long. It was an hour busride to the picnic where all the women and children got seats (although we were very squished) and the men stood in the aisle.