www.digitapservices.com !!!

We now are back in the US to get things set up on this side of the world and wow I love the efficiency of our country. So much can just be done online, in the middle of the night, in my pajamas. And for a few bucks, an easy online wizard can guide you through many of the processes and offer instant chat windows to support filing a new business. I love this country! Digitap LLC has now been registered with it's own bank account and is operational!!

We also have put up a website at ...
http://www.digitapservices.com
(check it out, we need the initial traffic)

And created business cards, and some marketing flyers with our rates.

Our Village Wedding!

Today, very unexpectadely Tom and I were "married" again village-style!!! It was one of the most surprising and touching things that has happened to us. Tom and I went to the village to see the rest of the women I had worked with when I lived here in 2005. I was just expecting a series of sweet meetings, some hugs and awkward conversation (no one speaks English). But, when we arrived there was about 100 people greeting us at the door to a small house. They put garlands on us and there were young boys on the roof throwing petals at us. Everyone was cheering! They ushered us inside where we were immediately separated. Tom was taken with the men to put on wedding clothes. I was taken to put on a red sari and jewelry. They brought us back out, sang to us, prayed for us and then did several dances for us. I was obligated to join in ... ;) At one point a bunch of young girls "stole" Tom's shoes. He had to pay the girls to get them back. I guess this is a tradition of the younger sisters, cousins and friends of the bride to the new groom. It was all a rite of passage of sorts for Tom. They said that I was family, but that they now had to welcome the groom into the family and so now Tom is family too. :) It was a wonderful wonderful day!

Their Very First Easter!

Shem is a pastor here in Nepal who has decided to follow God back to his old porter/guide routes in the remote mountains of Nepal to share the love of Jesus. He's an amazing guy with whom I am honored to call a friend. Shem has been faithfully telling Gatlang and Nessing villages for 14 years about the love of Jesus. It took half that time before they even had a building (which is now busting at the seams to grow further). The village has heard of Jesus and many have accepted His gift of life. The past 14 years, God has been good but this year was special. Although many knew of Jesus, his death and resurrection, they didn't know their was a holiday to celebrate and remember . Last week, Shem went to tell them about Good Friday and Easter and took his camera. They celebrated, prayed and sang in the church for Easter for the very first time. Then over a hundred people processed through the streets of their tiny remote village, despite the persecution they receive, to proclaim the joy they have been given. When I saw the pictures and little video clips Shem had taken, I asked if I could turn them into a short video. I know I have been so encouraged by these brave souls and hope you are too. Enjoy!

Trekking Day 8

We get up at 4:30 am to pack everything up, take some coffee and begin our hike to the bus stop (2 hours away). Shem is going to stay in Gatlang another week, but is walking us to the bus stop to say goodbye. As we are heading out of town Prem comes out of his house and joins us as we walk. It was nice getting to spend that last bit of time with him so early in the morning.

We get our tickets and board the bus with no issues and head home to Kathmandu.

The bus ride was relatively uneventful by Nepali standards. We were overcrowded and I ended up at one point with a crate of chickens in my lap. Later we ran off the road and got stuck in a rice paddy field. I had been sleeping when this happened so I was a little grumpy to have to get off the bus and sit in a field for 30 minutes while they got a truck to pull the bus out. Thankfully, we were at pretty low elevation when it happened and were near a construction site so there was truck and cables available.

We continued our journey with Tom only looking to get us off the bus about 5 or 6 times when he caught the driver talking on his cell phone while taking dangerous curves at high speed. I finally convinced him to stop looking at the driver and to listen to my special “calming” mix on the ipod, made for such occasions. To be fair, the bus ride is by far the hardest part of the journey. But, we arrived safe in Kathmandu, caught a taxi and were just at our gate in Sanepa when the skies opened and an amazing thunderstorm began. It was a good cleansing end to a amazing week.

Trekking Day 7

I woke up today with a raging appetite. Thank the Lord! Had some coffee and boiled potatoes and I was good to go. Shortly after breakfast we heard some drumming and so we went outside to see. Below in the village we saw a slow procession of people making their way up the hillside. Shem told us it was a Tibetan Buddhist funeral procession. We watched for awhile and while we don't really know what was going on, what I observed was about 50 people walking very slowly and in a single file line. First there were a few monks and then a man carrying what looked like a large yellow sack (presumably the body). A few more men and then what must have been the immediate family for there were women crying loudly. About 20 paces behind them were about 6 more men walking, another 20 paces then 6 women, another 20 paces, about 5 men and then another 20 paces about 4 women. I don't know if these numbers have any significance but it was what I observed. They gathered at a very high point on the hillside (aka, mountain) where we saw a small fire that did not last very long, certainly not long enough for a cremation. Later we learned that they do not typically cremate the bodies up there because of the lack of firewood or some such reason. If the individual was a lama or monk then they might be placed in a sitting position and stones placed around them, but for most people they would be dismembered and placed on the rocks for the vultures to feed on. I don't know if this is what happened, but we did notice an unusually large number of birds later in the morning.

About midday, we went with a group of people down to the river to have an “amazing” time together. The way down was very steep, very very steep. Despite wearing hiking shoes, I was going very slow and probably holding up our own procession. So a woman wearing a basinet (complete with infant) strapped to her forehead and a bundle in her arms and flip flops on her feet decided to take my hand and lead me down to the river. There were probably about 20 of us and it was a joyful bunch, an interesting contrast to the procession going up the mountain for the funeral. If you are interested in hearing more about this then I can tell you about it in person. Some things cannot be shared here.

Had lunch at Yungchin's house today. It was delicious and I was so happy to eat. After lunch she gave us some Yak milk to try. It was tasty, so rich and slightly sweet. Best milk I've ever had! Her family are yak farmers. We also tried Tibetan tea. It's make of yak butter, salt and a few tea leaves. I really don't think they should call it tea though. It gives the wrong impression in your mind, because it smells a bit like detergent and tastes like very rich melted butter. It's not a bad taste, but not what you think of when drinking tea.

In the afternoon, I went to the tent to rest again for a bit. It was an unsuccessful rest though because kids saw me go into the tent. And apparently decided to spend the afternoon haunting me. They would circle the tent and occasionally a brave kid would press himself against the sides or play with the zippers. Tom was hanging out in the church and so kept running out telling the kids to leave me alone. They would run and hide and then 5 minutes later begin again. I could see their shadows coming closer and closer and hear their loud kid whispers. Sometimes there would be a finger testing the zippers or pushing the sides. Then some of them started throwing rocks at the tent. Eventually Tom had to just come outside and be near the tent. We had already been carrying all of our valuable items on us at all times, but we are convinced if we were there one more day the kids would have gotten bold enough to get in the tent and probably take some things. Kids in 3s and 4s are pretty cool, but they can become a mob together if you let them. I've seen some scary things in Guatemala when you pull out a bag of candy in a school yard …

We have dinner that evening with a new friend and a man from the government who was handing out eye medications. Tom and I both got a very strange feeling from this guy. We don't know why, but there was something off about him. After dinner we made the rounds to say goodbye and then headed to bed. We had an early morning ahead of us.

Day 6 - Trekking

I have been feeling weak for the last day and this morning I wake up with no appetite and slight nausea. We go over to a friends house for a big meal of “daal bhaat” for breakfast. I decide not to eat the meal and just have a granola bar instead. The problem is we are going to trek back to Gatlang today. That means about 4 hours of hard walking, mostly uphill. Just the last 45 minutes was going to be downhill. I know it is going to be hard for me, but we all agree to go slow. After about 20 minutes of our journey we stop by a small waterfall to fill up our water bottles and apply sunscreen. I lean against a rock to rest and make the mistake of leaning against a very spiny plant called “polo.” Tom had made this mistake on our first day in Gatlang when his hand brushed the plant and he was in pain for hours afterward. It is a green leafy plant that is covered in razer thin spikes that apparently goes through denim! It's quite painful and certainly takes my mind off my nausea for a while. After about 2 hours the pain subsides. An interesting thing about this plant that we found VERY hard to believe was that it is edible. Tom often asked how it was possible to pick a plant like that much less to actually eat it. We found out later that night when it was served to us with our meal.

We arrived in Gatlang in pretty decent time despite my weakness. Before we fully reached our destination we were called into another home for tea. It's the first home we've seen that actually has a bed with a bedframe and Tom noticed the lady had clean feet and painted toenails. We are invited to dinner the next evening.

I spent the rest of the afternoon resting in the tent. Yungchin (Shem's adopted daughter) came by at one point to bring me tea and to invite us to lunch the next day.

That evening we go to Prem's house for dinner and I still have nausea, so I don't eat again. I'm not sure what the hostess really thought of that, but what can I do. I am desperately hoping to have my appetite back soon.

Day 5 - Trekking

This morning we were attending the village church so we decided it time to wash our hair. We had a pot of water heated on the fire and took turns bending over a bucket while the other poured water over our head being careful not to get our clothes wet. It was awkward, but effective and it's a wonderful to have clean hair. It turns out there was a “Village Development Committee” meeting this morning so most of the adults attended that, which left only a few elderly people and a lot of children attending the church service. It was nice, if a little chaotic.

Afterwards, most of the adults (and ALL of the women) went out to the fields to work. There is no day off until winter. It is a very hard living here. It looks like they only grow potatoes and millet. A few people tend to cows, yaks and sheep, but there is not much else here. There are no stores and no money. When the people need anything more than millet and potatoes they have to walk two days to get to Dunche and back, carrying sacks of goods to trade. What little money they get will usually go to oil, salt and rice, maybe some lentils. No soap, no medicine, no other spices or food, clothing just has to last … forget toys. Though, I did spend some time watching a girl who was supposed to be tending cows jump rope with a bamboo switch.

The homes are made of wood and stone, usually two story with any animals they have living below the main house. The walls are made of stones that are just laid one on top of the other. It is remarkable how straight and secure it seems, however there are gaps between the stones so I can't imagine how cold that wind is in the winter (it snows up here) and then I heard they have tons of leeches that come into the homes during monsoon. All in all the homes are clean and comfortable for this time of the year and a little roomier than many places I have seen in Kathmandu.

For dinner, Shem wants to go to an old friends house.

Shem says “I want you to meet a man who has 12 children.”

I say, “from one woman?!”

Shem says “yes, from one woman.”

I say “forget the man, I want to meet the woman.”

Shem says, “she died last year.”

I say “oh, I'm sorry. How did she die?”

Shem says “in childbirth.”

(sigh)

We go for dinner and have a lovely time, sharing stories (through translation), eating with his many children and even hearing some Tibetan songs played on a hand-carved instrument that reminds me a bit of a banjo but smaller. For dinner, we had meat. They had obviously killed some animal for us because there was a huge platter of raw meat on the floor. Tom asked if it was “buff” for water buffalo and was told that it was the “other kind.” Wow!

Day 4 - Trekking

This morning we packed up our tent and belongings to trek to the next village of Nessing. We had been invited the night before to have breakfast of daal bhaat with another family on the way out of the village. We set the time to eat at 9:30 because we wanted to be walking by 10 am. The family said yes the food would be ready at 9:30 am. We arrived on time to a two room house. One room was for the cows and chickens and the other (divided by a fence) was for the kitchen fire and sleeping planks. We waited for another hour for the food to be finished. Shem asked why when they said it would be ready at 9:30 it wasn't ready until 10:30. The father said that he didn't have a watch or clock and so he looked at the sun and thought it was about 9:30.

We had a large meal, took some family photos and set off. It was going to be a 3 hour, or so, walk until we got to Nessing. The first hour involved us going about 1500 feet straight up to cross a pass. Tom was cruising up the mountain, but I had learned my lesson from the day before and went very slowly, taking the smallest steps possible and making my own switchbacks on 3 foot wide trails and stone steps. It worked, my body never got tired and I was never out of breath. I was ultimately even able to make it to the top in very good time because I never needed rest. Shem was a trekking guide and so he showed me (by example) how to walk this way. The rest of the hike was a long gradual downhill through a Rhodendendrum forest (the national flower). We met men shepherding goats, a women camping by a stream with a cow who invited us to tea and saw view after view of distant remote villages. It was beautiful and I was overcome several times that I am so fortunate to be living my dream.

On approaching Nessing, we were joined by a group of children ranging in age from 8 years to 3 years old. They all had a bundle of firewood strapped to their forehead, even the 3 years old had a big strap of sticks!

On arrival at the small church building in Nessing, we set up the tent, made a cup of chai and were shortly joined by a woman with an infant. The child was about 4 months old and had fallen in a fire and his backside had 3^rd degree burns on it. It was awful, the skin was black and crusty and the entire baby was filthy. Again, we are not doctors, but I did have some soap and triple antibiotic. We heated some water to lukewarm and I showed the woman how to clean the baby and gently get the dead skin off and apply the antibiotic. I was as gentle as possible, but the baby screamed (as burns are extremely painful) and then peed on his mother. We covered the wound with some toilet paper as there was nothing else clean to be found. There are no stores and no soap available in this village. No soap at all!!! So, we cut off a chunk of our soap and gave it to the mother with some more triple antibiotic and instructed her to clean the baby at least twice a day. I didn't know what else to do and so we prayed for her. It was not long before I realized that Nessing is very very poor in a way I have not seen before and very very cut off.

That evening we had dinner at a home of a young married couple. The wife was 16 (and a good friend of Shem's adopted daughter) and the husband was 19 or 20. She was a fantastic cook and her potatoes were some of the best we'd had. We started to make very simple Nepali conversation and I asked them how long they had been married and he said about 8 years. 8 years!!! What?! Did I hear that right? She confirmed and said they were very young. Young is right, she was like 8 years old! I started asking around and found that it was very rare if I girl was not married before puberty. Wow, wow. This began a string of thoughts that I have yet to fully process. It's a different thing hearing about this practice that I find pretty much repulsive, and then sharing a meal in friendship in the house of a couple where this is common and accepted. Sometimes, it's a good thing that I don't yet have the words to share my complete thoughts on a subject.

Day 3 - Trekking

Got up today to find that some villagers had brought us about 50 potatoes and 2 pumpkins. I know we have lunch and dinner plans so I don't know when we are going to eat all of these.

I was preparing to speak in the evening so I spent much of the morning in a chair overlooking Gatlang village studying. A 4 year old girl decided to spend her morning watching me and touching the skin on my arm. Tom spend the morning talking Nepali with some of the men who had come to dig a new ditch around the church and then apparently boiling potatoes for breakfast!

For lunch we went to a new friends house for millet and chicken. We've never had millet before, but it is a staple food for the area as they do not grow rice here. Prepared millet is a sort of hardish brown mush that does not have that much taste. We dipped it in the chicken gravy and it was pretty good. The chicken was delicious, but I slipped Tom a chicken stomach and told him to eat it, which he did, but he was not happy when I told him what it was while he was still chewing.

While here we are talking family photos. Most people don't have a mirror, much less a photo of themselves and their family. So, we've decided to take photos of them, get them printed in Kathmandu and then send copies back to the village with Shem when he returns in May.

It's hard to get people to smile in their photos as for some reason everyone wants to take a “serious” photo. So, we've learned how to say “I like potatoes” in Tamang (and Nepali) and that usually makes people smile long enough to get the better photo we were looking for.

While walking through the village this morning we are chased for about 10 minutes by 6 very small children yelling “Nameste” at us and eating rhododendron flowers. It was cute at first, but after a few minutes of “Nameste, Nameste, Nameste, Nameste” each word getting more and more scrill it started to be a bit of a “Children of the Corn” moment.

In the afternoon, some young guys decide to take Tom and I on a “walk” to a pond. Shem says that he does not want to go and urges the boys to “go very very slowly” with us. I know it will take about one hour to walk there, but do not realize that the 1 hour is straight up! I quickly learn about altitude walking. My body was fine, but I could not breath and had to rest very often. The sun was strong and there were few trees. We made it to the pond, which was lovely and clear, but extremely windy. The boys then decided that Tom should go higher to “see a yak”, but that “sister looked done.” I was done. I found my way to a family house that happened to be a small shop with a bench outside. I was quickly surround by young women with small children. I don't know that much to say in Nepali, but was able to put together that, “My husband is watching yaks.” They proceeded to laugh and laugh at me, a lot, and at everything I said to them. I didn't think it was that funny …

Trekking Day 2

We had set up our tent the night before in the dark in front of the church. We woke up in the morning to a beautiful site. The village of Gatlang lay just below us with the low mountains (they call them hills!) all around with the Langtang Himalayan mountain just ahead. A breathtaking view!

I wondered where we were going to make a campfire when Shem started taking up the wooden floorboards to the church! Below was dirt, a firepit and metal grill. For breakfast we had chai and wai wai (an amazing sort of roman noodles with really good spices).

Shortly after breakfast the children came. There is a school next to the church and the kids seem to have a honing beacon for foreigners. Today, they were mostly circling and staring, but were particularly curious about the water bladder.

Shortly after 8 am, some adult villagers started coming by the church. They were looking for medical help from us. This happened very often and almost everywhere we went in the village people were telling us of their physical problems. They have no doctor living there and the next doctor expected to come won't be November. The first woman to come had serious breathing problems, head pains and eye problems. Again, this became a very common set of symptoms, almost entirely from women. Shem said it was from the cooking fires, which are in the middle of their house and most have no chimney so they are constantly getting smoke in their eyes and lungs. We also saw in a lot of the women, their eyes have started to permanently turn to the side (opposite of crossing). Tom and I are not doctors, so we prayed for her and gave her some ibuprofen for the pain. (Sigh).

In the later morning we started to go visiting some of the homes of the village. I'm amazed by the handcarved windows and doors. I had seen the work before in Durbar Square, but assumed it was historic art not current. I'm pleased because it is so beautiful and everywhere.

House #1 – had tea, prayed for woman with trouble breathing. While praying 6 woman joined us carrying huge loads of firewood strapped to their head.

House #2 – had tea and whole boiled potatoes.

In this area, potato is the major crop and so we were constantly being offered potatoes, whole boiled potatoes. I actually really love potatoes, so had no problem just sitting to a lunch of whole boiled potatoes dipped in chilli sauce. However, in the first 24 hours we counted that I ate 17 whole boiled potatoes. Tom had 24. See photo for a typical plate we were each given.

House #3 – had tea, visited, started to learn some key words in the local language of Tamang. Heard a weird humming and noticed a huge swarm of bees (thousands!) flying past the door. Tom asked if we should close the door. No one seemed nervous.

House #4 – had tea and boiled potatoes. When we first came into the house, it was very dark so the husband went and took apart some of the roof to let light in. It was effective.

House #5 – more smoke issues, but delicious boiled potatoes.

House #6 – went to Prem's house for dinner again. We are having daal bhaat and I'm not very hungry as I had eaten many potatoes. However, I take what I'm given and begin my first meal of sneaking rice to Tom when no one is looking.

Here is the dilemma. The guests are served first and the most and then constantly urged to take more. Only when the guest have finished eating can the family begin and only when the family has finished eating does the person who cooked the food (nearly always the woman) eat what is left. Further, I'm told that it is rude here to share food from your plate with another. It's also rude not to finish what is on your own plate. The women seem to assume that if you eat slowly or not everything that you don't like it and will tell you that you don't like it. I, unfortunately eat slowly and also fill up fast. This meal was to begin my dread of meals. The food was good and I liked it, but the amount of rice I was given was appropriate to someone who has worked hard labor all day, not someone who had only been eating potatoes and visiting all day! A huge dilemma for me. Tom, however, is a bottomless pit and the women loved how much and how fast he eats. Grrr. But, Tom is my hero as we devised a system of diversions so that when the host and hostess were distracted I could quickly dump food to his plate, which he promptly devoured. I should also mention that Tom continued to lose another 5 pounds on this trip.

Trekking Day 1

We left home with our packs at 5 am and walked to the church to meet our travel companions: Pastor Shem, his adopted daughter Yungchin (from Gatlang Village) and Pastor Prem (of Gatlang Village). We took a taxi to the bus park across town, took some Dramamine and were ready for our 11 hour bus ride to near the Tibet border. There had been a “Bandh” (a transportation strike organized by the Maoists) north of the city the day before and so the bus was full and crowded with every space taken and about 20 people on the roof. We had gotten our tickets a couple days before so we had a seat, but many people were standing in the aisles throughout this journey. About 1 hour into the bus ride passengers were being held out the open door so they could vomit. Thank the Lord for Dramamine and an ipod! As we continued on our journey more people joined us on the already crowded bus and sacks of rice, potatoes, and flour were also stacked in the aisle with children perching on top for seating. I think at one point there were some children even sitting on Tom. I asked Shem if this was normal and he just smiled. I don't think it was normal though because as we passed village after village I would see people come out of their houses staring openmouthed at us and at how many people were on the roof. This reaction made me a little nervous …

However many times I thought we were going to tip over and roll thousands of feet below, we never quite did and made it safely (though perhaps a few years of life shaved off) to our final bus stop. We retrieved our luggage, our headlamps and continued the last two hours of journey on foot, finally reaching the village of Gatlang and a welcome meal of daal bhaat at Pastor Prem's house.

Take to the hills!

So we are getting out of Kathmandu Valley this week with all of it's pollution and heading up to Langtang National Park in the Himalayan Mountains (the mountain range of Mount Everest). The pictures I'm putting here give a glimpse into the amount of air pollution in the Kathmandu Valley. The two pictures are roughly the same except one was taken during a normal day in Kathmandu and one was taken the day after a rare rainfall that temporarily swept the air pollution out. Pretty incredible.

Anyway, we are heading up to a very remote part of Nepal for 8 days where we will visit two villages that are a few hours hike to the nearest road. The trip there includes: a 30 minute hike, followed by a 20 minute landrover ride, followed by a very curvy 11 hour bus ride (if we don't hit any areas where strikes are going on), followed by a hike up to the village which apparently takes a nepali 2 hours, and a really fit Hawaiin guy 4 hours so anybody's guess on how long it will take us. I'm really looking forward to the trip and seeing what village life is like here in Nepal. We plan on taking lots of pictures and have actually phoned ahead to the two villages to let them know of our plans to take a ton of family portraits. It is very rare to have any photos at all of your family in this area and people absolutely love them so we decided to set up a number of shooting days to take photos and get them printed and sent back to the villages from Kathmandu. We are also taking a couple of medications with us to hand out. It is amazing the number of people who die from diarrhea so we are taking a number of Imodium pills and rehydration powders, as well as a Katadyn water pump and iodine for our own water.

Oh and I thought this was pretty funny. One of the doctors who has been working here in Nepal for many years told us that we should really be hoping to be sleeping in a hut that has cow dung for a floor. The other possibilities are concrete and wood which he said will either be filled with bed bugs or extremely hard to sleep on. I've never hoped to sleep on cow dung before but life's full of surprises!

So we will be back on the 30th and appreciate your prayers for the villages of Gatlang and Nesing as well as our own health and travel.

Nepali Style

Spring has come and the days are hovering in the late 70s, early 80s. It's wonderful! The spiders have come out as well. I told Tom about a week ago that it was getting warmer and the spiders would be coming. I have sort of an issue with spiders so I have to keep my eyes open or I will be dreadfully surprised. So far, we've only had one major spider come in. I told Tom to get him in such a way as to send a message to all the other spiders out there looking to come get me. I don't know that Tom really got what I wanted, but he did kill the spider for me. :) We also bought some pretty heavy duty bug killer as well.

Another recent purchase was a really ugly used bicycle. It's yellow, pretty beat up looking, the pedal and chain keep falling off and best of all the brand seems to be called a "lemon." Yes, "lemon" is printed right on the bike seat. Tom uses the bicycle mostly as he is forever wandering around and getting restless, making friends, etc. However, sometimes we ride the bicycle together "Nepali-style." I don't enjoy this very much as it means that I sit sideways on a metal grate over the back tire and trust Tom not to turn us over or a car to hit us. We get A LOT of double-takes from locals when we ride this way. I try to smile back, but I'm usually a little bit too stressed to be friendly. I will admit that we make faster progress when we both ride the bicycle, but I think soon it will be time for a 2nd one.

When not riding the bicycle, the most common way we get around is by Tuk Tuk (also called a Tempo). This a three-wheeled sort of van that runs along routes. We have yet to find a route map of any sort, but are starting to make our own. A Tuk Tuk holds about 8 people comfortably, but will often pack as many people as possible. I've been in one that has had 14 adults and 3 children. That time we were coming back from visiting a new friend up in Kathmandu proper near Durbar Square. There were a numbers of friends with us (all women with children). As more women were getting on, Tom would be the gentleman and offer his seat to them. Finally there were truly no seats left to offer and Tom ended up riding outside the Tuk Tuk hanging onto the roof. There was a collective gasp from all the riders when this big white man started riding the Tuk Tuk "Nepali-style." He was able to hang on just fine as we were only going about 20 miles an hour anyway, but it sure was funny looking.

The first application is in!

So we submitted our writeup and application for the business to the Department of Industry on Thursday just before the office closed. This was important because otherwise the office was going to be unreachable for the next 5 days. Friday - Democracy Day; Saturday - Always off; Sunday and Monday - Scheduled Maoist Bandha's or strikes where they stop all traffic from flowing through the city.

So now that the application is in, the department will talk about the business in several different groups to see if they will allow foreign investors to start such a business. It's totally out of our hands but never out of God's so please be praying for us, the application, and Bipin. Bipin is one of the directors with the Foreign investment branch of the department and would be pivotal in these discussions. I had the chance to talk with him for a bit and explain the business a bit more to him. He said he thought it was a great business but wasn't convinced whether or not it would be allowed. We are also trusting that if this is the business that God wants here that it will be able to be done without us having to bribe them to do it. Please join us in prayer over this process.

Thanks everyone and don't miss the other post I just did below of a few pictures from the week! (You may have to click the "Older Posts" link at the bottom to see it)

Some quick photos of the week

So I wanted to put up a couple of quick pictures of the week.


This is an snippet of the nepali characters we are trying to learn. They have 4 d's and 4 t's that are so closely sounding to one another that I'm failing miserably to tell them apart. We are spending 2 hours a day; 3-4 times per week with a private tutor and then probably the same amount doing homework additionally. I can now proudly direct cab drivers in their own language. =)





This second photo is from a new friend of ours who got married last week and then had the reception this week on Monday (by the way, that's normal). Our first nepali wedding and Alana went with another new friend Rita to find the Kurta she is wearing in the photo. Oh, and this reception is the one and only time where Alana and I hitting the dance floor brought down the house. I have the same dance moves now as I did when I was 5 dancing at weddings if that tells you anything. But a lot of people found it really entertaining that we were on the dance floor. My favorite moment was when the whole dance floor filled with only nepali men, all of whom were had to be over 45, to dance to the song: "My hips don't lie" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLQgjEhH400)






This picture is a breakdancing concert that was put on about a hundred feet behind the guesthouse we were staying in. So we decided to go check out what all the commotion was about and had a great valentine's day watching nepali's breakdance. Who knew?

House Hunters International

We arrived in Kathmandu with a temporary place to stay with the expectation that we would find an apartment while we are here. It was interesting. Our first day of hunting was spent just walking around looking for "to let" signs. It was exhausting as we didn't really know the backroads yet and after awhile the dust and honking start to grate on the patience. We found a few places that way, but couldn't get ahold of the owners. We did find a few real estate agents and were able to set up some time with them for the next day. All of the apartments we saw were furnished so they were a little more expensive than the average flat. But, since we are only here for three months on this trip, we decided that it would be much simpler to just spend the extra for a furnished place.

Real Estate Agent #1:

Flat #1 - ($245 month) 2 bedroom, (with carpet!), small kitchen, has TV, phone and internet. Security guard at the gate, but would have to pay him separately, toilet is not flushing properly. Overall a nice cozy size and well away from honking and traffic but the walk up to the apartment had an empty lot with a lot of brush (aka, hiding places for bad people).

Flat #2 - ($216 month) 2 bedroom, nice size kitchen with good table for entertaining, big sitting room, no security guard, but Nepali family lives next door. Australian family lives on 2nd floor. (Note: when we arrived a Nepali woman in her 40s, maybe, came running out of the other house to open the door for us. You don't see too many women of her age just running for no real reason like that. I liked her.) No internet, no TV. I liked the place overall, but not having internet was going to big problem.

Flat #3 - ($405) Big building, almost a high rise residential building. Lots of security. Flat was on the 4th floor. Carpet, has nice balcony. 1 bedroom, very tiny kitchen with only one burner. But, it had a water purifier and a water heater and 24 hour internet. There was a maid that came once a week and also did your laundry. Also the view from the roof was amazing. However it was very expensive and I thought the security was intimidating for any new friends who might come to visit us.

Advertised at Helmer's Baker:

Flat #4 - We found this place while we making a quick stop in Helmer's Bakery. This is a tiny, but very busy little bakery because it is the premier place to get all kinds of locally made cheeses (Yak, Swiss, Gouda, Tom cheese - named after a French guy named Tom, and the ever available Cow cheese). They are not all named properly, but they are pretty good nonetheless. While Tom was getting us some chocolate filled croissants, I noticed an ad telling about the apartment above the bakery that was available. The owners sister took us up to see it. The entrance was quite rough. There was an old guy spitting up phlegm, a couple of rabid looking dogs and the lock to go up was in a sheet of tin nailed to a wooden fence. Going up the stairs there was a friendly "clean" dog tied to a door. We got to the 2nd floor and there we piles of dirt everywhere, even the woman showing us the place said "wow, very dirty." However, we suddenly noticed the smell of cookies! In a place where the pollution makes the air feel thick with dirt, this sweetness was a welcome change. The apartment was fine. It was basically one big room with the bed sectioned off by sheets hanging from the ceiling. The kitchen was the nicest yet with a 4 burner stove, toaster oven and a microwave! We thought if the price is right, we can deal with the dirt outside. However we found that it was $230 and it didn't have internet.

Real Estate Agent #2:

Flat #5 - ($235), This was in the center of Jawalkhel, so very easy access to "Tuk Tuks" (cheap public transportation on 3 wheels, sort of like a go-cart bus, that fits 6 people comfortably, but usually has 10 riders). This was a 1 bedroom apartment with an amazing kitchen. Gas and electric heat for water. The bedroom was huge with a nice balcony and they whole place was set up for back up power and wireless internet. There was a Korean woman staying there at the moment and it wasn't available until April 1st, which was too late for us.

Flat #6 - ($400), This was in the same building as Flat #5. It also had gas and electric heat, a great kitchen, wireless internet and back-up power, but has 2 ridiculously huge bedrooms. One bedroom was all windows on two sides and was probably the size of our entire apartment in Eastern Market. That may sound nice, but considering how that the inside of homes get as cold as the outside (right now as low as 39 degrees) that makes it very hard to get the room warm. Smaller rooms are better for keeping heat in.

Flat #7 - ($216), This was a little farther away from Jawalkhel (about a 20 min walk) into a quiet residential area called Sanepa. The farther we got from the honking the happier we were, so we were delighted when we opened the heavy iron gate to see a huge vegetable garden and a lovely brick home with ornate wooden shutters. Before we went inside I turned to Tom and mouthed "I love this." The flat was on the 2nd floor and there were some American hippies staying there at the moment. It was 2 bedrooms, a sitting room, a nice kitchen with south facing windows. The toilet worked and there was wireless internet. The walls were brick and the doorways were arched. We could also access the roof! There was a Nepali family living downstairs on the first/ground floor and their son who is studying to be a doctor lived above us on the 3rd floor. It was perfect, but not available until the 15th of February (or earlier … alas, those noncommittal hippies!). However, this was the one and we are happy to wait a bit longer. Photo of the chosen apartment is shown above.

Yesterday we moved (or shifted as they say here) and are staying in the Shalom Guest house until the hippies move out. We are happy with our choice and process for looking for places to live was actually a lot of fun.

Cooking and a Math Date

Tom and I have been trying to see how we can help out with the kids here in as natural a way as possible. The pastors have suggested we just spend time with them and just see how we can be an encouragement. I agree that it a good idea, but what does that look like? Tom has been spending quite a bit of time with the boys. There are about 10 of them. There are a few girls now as well (about 3, maybe 4?) but they are a little shy. I get as far as “Jaimasi” (a greeting among Christians in Nepal, means “Glory to God” … I think) and the girls giggle, look at me with eager expressions, but then are overcome and take off. I may have to resort to nail polish or braiding hair (sigh). So, the other day Tom was talking to Nabin and found out that their big exams are in one month. This is the exam that will determine if he goes from the 7th grade to the 8th grade. Apparently he is doing fine in everything, but math. So, Tom set up a time to try and help him out. They had their first math date yesterday at 4 pm. The power was off so they met outside their rooms on the tables that they have dinner on. I was preparing dinner myself so I brought the vegetables outside to peel and chop. The rest of the boys came out to watch me cut vegetables. They were amazed that I was cooking "curry." I was making dal, rice and aloo methi (potatoes with a bitter herb). Apparantely the other westerners that stay here stick with either eating out or cooking pasta or something like that. One of the boys came back into the house to help us get some more purified water set up and he stayed the entire time I was cooking with occasional bursts of "wow" and "I can't believe." It was nice until he was mildly horrified at how much turmeric I was using (about 1 teaspoon) and claimed that I could get typhoid from it. What?! Um, no. Anyway, we've learned to take some of their "concerns" for us with a grain of salt. But, it's nice to have these moments regardless.

Today, I was able to get a little more from the girls. I took my camera out and just showed them the photos of people on there already. They are fascinated with family photos. Then I took a few photos of them. What pretty girl doesn't like having their photo taken? Later they were singing together and they wanted me to teach them some English songs with "actions." The only song I could think of was "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty" which I taught them. The other song I could think of was the "God's Army" song which I decided was not a very appropriate song here … I could use some more ideas. They especially like songs with dancing.

Off to a great start!

So for a little while, the church here in Kathmandu has given us an apartment to stay in and helped us look for our own “flat” ( ah, the breadth of british imperialism =) ). This is a picture of some of the street boys and girls from remote villages the church has offered an opportunity to come here and live and go to school. It's pretty neat to see how they invest so much in a few. I'm also excited to let you all know we had our first big concern met with the business visa application process which was opening up a nepali bank account. I was quite impressed with the bank we were recommended and that they even did provide insurance akin to the US' FDIC, but was told that two things we would have trouble with when trying to open an account would be (1) having a co-signer of the account and (2) provide a proof of address. I can attest today, though, that God was in the details on this one. When they asked about having a co-signer I said that I would rather not and after a manager was brought over, they agreed to this. The big one was the verified address, because they never even asked for it. I could see the requirement right there on the documentation but it never came up. This could have been a huge problem because we won't be able to verify our address until we get our own place, then get utilities, then get a bill that has our name on it, which would push back even being able to start our application.
We also have two scheduled meetings with real estate agents to walk us through some flats today so please be praying for us to find the right place to be living the next few months. Your neighborhood is your community and it's an extremely important factor of your day to day life. For example, if you don't get to know your mailman and, more importantly, that he knows you; you won't get your mail. So we're hoping to find the right place and a big requirement I have is to not be in a place without heavy traffic or near a road with a sharp curve (because EVERYONE honks their horn before going around the curve).
So next up is finding a place to live, getting the wire transfer to our bank, and then sitting down with the legal team to finalize our applications for the business. Thank you for all the prayers out there!
P.S. The church's Internet has been down this week so we have to go to a coffee shop midday to get Internet which hasn't let us do any Skyping yet, but soon to come.

And We're Off!

It kind of feels like we've finally taken off the training wheels when learning to ride a bike, but I also have of feeling of “finally.” We've been talking and planning for this for so long that it's a relief to move beyond just talking theoretically about it and to get moving.

Also, we've been greatly blessed over the past few weeks of friends and family giving us such warm send-offs and prayers, so thank you all who have been our encouragement through them.

We're hoping to post to the blog once or twice a week when we hit the ground so stay tuned!

Some prayer requests:

- Searching for an apartment for the next few months
- Finishing application to submit to Nepali government
- Reconnecting with people from the Himalayan Vineyard church
- Setting up local banking, phone, internet, heat, and water