Lamjung

Today started as normal, breakfast, walk to school. Go to classes, sneak away for a phone chat with Kris and Anita, then as I was on the phone one of the teachers walked by me and invited me to go to a festival at the senior school. So I went, and acheived one of my goals of walking up to the top our our mountain peak! The walk was 1km in distance with 250m elevation gain. All stairs really, and hot!

And, I cannot even begin to describe how amazing the mountains are. It's just not possible to capture them on camera either though I did try.. I thought that because we grew up with the Rockies in the background I'd be hard pressed to be awed by another mountain range, I wasn't really by the Alps when we were in Switzerland. But the Himalayan mountains are something else. In part I think it's because of how dynamic they are, there are peaks and valleys everywhere rather than a more consistent line. Or maybe it only seems that way because I'm right in the middle of them, but I don't think so, it's completely different than our mountains at home. Another thing is how the mountains have been tamed. There are settlements and farms carved into every hillside that you can see. I think that's what amazes me the most: the sheer durability and resilience of the people who have made these mountains their own.

The senior School is much larger than the basic school I've been at. It has two levels and probably 30 classes? There were a ton of people there. There's also a couple small markets carrying the basics that people might need such as soap, notebooks, snacks, shoes, etc. The festival itself was very similar to the one our school had to celebrate it's anniversary. There were 3 different groups that danced: one traditional with two girls, one more modern with four boys, and a lovers dance with two boys and two girls. The students doing the traditional dancing were older than our students and a bit more fluid and synchronized with their movements. Both were lovely though! I really enjoyed the dance by the boys, they just had so much energy and creativity. I can't think of what to compare the dancing to, but it was like something you'd see in a music video but to Nepali music. The lovers dance was super cute, and it looked like the couples preforming it were slightly nervous which made it even better. It was a slower dance and was more similar to dancing we know at home with partners moving together as one rather than two separate people doing the same dance. The dancing is definitely a highlight of these festivals for me considering that I can't understand anything else. I am starting to differentiate between words now and can pick out words and recognize sentence structure but I don't know what any of the words mean! Which means I still haven't a clue about what they're speaking about.

During the festival there was a man dancing in the background to all the student performances who appeared a bit... Off his rocker. He later approached me and starting talking to me about things and then said that he likes me, loves me, wants to marry me. I would have been uncomfortable had Bobita not been sitting right next to me laughing. She later explained that he's just "mad" and not to pay any attention to him. It was entertaining at least I suppose! On the walk home I received a second offer from a different gentleman (who was also joking as he's married and has grandchildren) to marry. I'm beginning to think it's a common theme because of our limited language skills; every woman I meet also asks if I am married. I didn't walk home with Bobita, but with another woman from the village and when we reached her home she offered me tea and water. Her children are students at the school so we tried to talk a bit but my Nepali sucks! From her house I somehow made it home... It was a new route for me and by some miracle, or a better sense of direction than I thought I had, I made it home first try, picking all the correct paths at forks. That was kind of fun though! Maybe I'll start exploring a bit more around here. The only worry I have is accidentally ending up in someone's yard. When I was walking with the locals we wandered through so many random people's properties, and I do see random people pass through our property too, but alone I wouldn't be comfortable doing it.

I made it back from the festival later than normal, and Beda and Bobita followed shortly afterwards. Bobita from the festival and Beda from town. Bobita had a couple friends over for dinner and she made rice pudding again yum! Beda had gone to town and bought some chicken and some Nepalese wine. After dinner Bobita went down to the village to a friends house and Beda, one of his friends, and myself shared some of the wine. And for anyone considering trying Nepalese wine in the future, it is not wine as we know it! Oh boy that has a kick. He bought it direct from the person who makes it and it came in a big plastic bottle with no label. It was fresh so it was warm when we were first drinking it and I think I actually prefer it that way strangely.. To drink Nepalese wine you must also have some snacks that you eat along with it, "slowly slowly" so that the wine doesn't hit you as hard I presume. We had some carrots, spinach, and chicken as our snacks. And while snacking you talk. The card games came after the eating and drinking was done. Apparently, they usually play for money but because I'm learning we skipped it. Thankfully.

Anyway, back to the wine. It's not wine as we know it, it's made from millet and the percentage is somewhere between 20 and 30 I think. The taste is different. Reminded me of a cross between Grappa and Sake. Maybe with some hints of Port in there... For those of you who know me, none of those drinks are something I enjoy the taste of, but I preservered and began to enjoy the taste after the first cup was finished ;) Thankful for those afternoons of Scotch tasting right now! Didn't enjoy that either at first and now love it soooo maybe this will be the same. But, because you have to walk over an hour one way to get the wine and then carry it up, I can't imagine that it'll be a common occurrence. But, the evening was quite nice and relaxing! Definitely much needed. Reminded me of home and hanging out at the kitchen table just having a good time..Read more