Christmas in Nepal

Well, that was the weirdest Christmas ever.

My Christmas break began on Thursday.  That morning I decided I'd bake some cookies.  Back home, my family always packs pears into "Slooper Fruit" boxes to give to all our neighbors and the people we work with.  I felt kind of empty not doing that this year (not that I missed making those wooden boxes, however) and so I took peanut butter cookies to all my neighbors.  You know, the ones with the Hershey kisses on top... except I substituted chocolate chunks for kisses since I couldn't find any kisses.

On Friday I took the cookies to my neighbors and some of the people I work with.  It was so fun!  Here are the two extremes of my experience.  There are two families who live on my floor in our apt. building.  In the one family, I have never seen the dear lady smile, with the exception of the time I nearly ran into her on the stairs.  When I stopped by to drop off the cookies, her husband answered the door and I said something to the effect of, "Merry Christmas!  Here are some cookies!"  He said, "Same to you!"  And that was all.  With the second family however - the ones who routinely dump Dal Bhat (rice and lentils) down their drain and then plunge it up into my kitchen sink - I spent over an hour.  Their daughter, Oshin, is a 4th grader at my school and I talk with these guys every day.  Sumitra made me the best milk tea I've ever tasted (and that's really saying something, 'cause I hate the stuff!) and we talked mostly about Nepal's school system.  It was really the best that Christmas eve could have been, being out of the country.

Rakesh, Oshin, Sumitra

I should also mention that earlier in the afternoon we also had a Primary Sabbath School Chistmas party and in the evening a Christmas vespers which included a bonfire.  These two events are apparently noteworthy, since I am telling you, but weren't all that special.  To me, anyways.

On Christmas morning, I got up WAY earlier than normal - at 5:50 am - in order to have time to call my family before Sabbath School.  Now let me tell you that getting up before the sun is a painful experience when your house is 50 degrees, which is why I never do it.  I talked to all the members of my household for an hour and a half, before traipsing off to Primary SS where I managed to control at least 25 energetic and noisy children for an hour and 15 minutes by myself, even taking them up to the Adult SS to sing special music.

At church, I sat next to a Pakistani couple with an incredibly cute kid.  This kid had very few facial expressions, although I did get him to smile once or twice.  They are settling here in Nepal as refugees, for safety reasons.  There are about 14 of them who have come, all one family.  Pakistanis are beautiful people!!!  If it wasn't so dangerous for Westerners, I've always wanted to visit there....

My new friend with Mom.  Dad to the right.

While I waited for someone to initiate the prayer and for potluck to commence, I was approached by a little girl who I don't remember ever seeing before.  She told me, "Kapaal beautiful chha."  A combination English/Nepali sentence telling me, "Your hair is beautiful."  It made my day.

At potluck we ate Dal Bhat.  Very Christmas-like.  NOT.  In fact, I normally like Dal Bhat, but on this special day, even my Nepali friends complained about the quality and taste of the food.  Oh well.  I did take a nice picture by the everywhere-growing poinsettias.  That, at least, is Christmas-like.  My 12-15 yr old brothers then came up to my house and we entertained ourselves playing very un-Christmasy games.

I could barely get them out of my house in time to go to the Christmas party at 6 pm with all the other missionaries.  There, we ate HAYSTACKS!  Oh, how I have missed those!  We even introduced this wonderful Adventist food to the Australian Catholic med student, who took my advice on how to build such a thing.  We ate carmel corn, strawberry shortcake, and some sort of Filipino rice cake.  After giving a few gifts, we watched Ratatouille, and I discovered I didn't really appreciate the movie anymore than the time I watched 10 minutes of it 3 years ago.  Not a big deal, I mean, what else was I going to do at that time of night?  Haha.

It was a weird Christmas.  On several occasions I thought to myself, "It doesn't even feel like Christmas."  And to top it off, my career as a science and English teacher officially started Sunday morning!  But it doesn't really matter in the long run.  So, for now, I've stopped listening to Christmas music, and I've definitely realized I have only 2 months 'til I come home!  WAHOO!