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Published: July 29th 2008
We're done with our volunteer work and homestays. I wish we could've stayed longer! The past two weeks have definitely been my favorite so far! It's fun to play with the kids in the orphanage and help plant trees and feel like we're actually making a difference! And our family was AMAZING so of course it was sad to leave. Dori and I got the best family I think. Our food was always delicious and there was even variety and our family really made us feel welcome, especially the sister, Kamala. She's really sweet and fun and we could tell that she likes having volunteers. She even cried when we left!
Some more about Nepal... the arranged marriages aren't really as terrible as we originally though. It's changed a lot even just from our parents' generation. Today the kids usually at least get a say in the marriage choice. They can tell their parents if they like the person or not and while their opinions might not always be followed, at least they get to state them. Supposedly there are a lot of love/arranged marriages. Arranged marriage has sort of evolved into a marriage where both families have talked about it and are okay with it. Our sister told us about a German volunteer and a Nepali man who fell in love and ended up getting married and she called it an arranged marriage, simply because the families had talked it over and were in favor of the match. So it's still not at all like the Western world, but it isn't as restricting as we thought. They don't date either though so it's still sometimes hard for them to really get to know the person before they marry them. Apparently it at least works pretty well because most people seem pretty happily married. I guess it's hard for us to tell though, as outsiders.
I don't know if I mentioned the scheduled electricity outages before, I think I might have. But in any case, each region/town in Nepal has 2 scheduled days when the electricity goes out for 2 hours so that the country as a whole can save electricity. I think it might always be from 7-9 pm but I'm not sure... And then of course there are all the other unplanned outages all the time. The last night we were with our family (the 28th) we had our whole dinner and dish washing with the electricity on! For the first time!
Every evening our family sort of has family time. Family seems to be more important here than in the Western world, mainly I think because they don't fill their lives as much with stuff. Their lifestyle is more laid back. They definitely work hard, don't get me wrong, but then in the evenings they relax more. They watch tv pretty much every evening, sometimes doing work (husking corn, etc) while they do so. They don't play games or anything like we do in the US, but they do talk and spend time together. I think once the kids start school again they'll have more homework and be more busy in the evenings.
Our second to last day one of our sisters' friends came and did mhendi on our hands. She was really good at it and it was extremely intricate! Really impressive!
At various times during the day our family members pray. Not together, but we can always tell when they do. They use a little bell to ring to send their prayers up to the gods. Another interesting thing: when women are on their period they can't enter the kitchen and they can't pray. The first time they get it they have to sit in a room and can't even look up towards the sky (towards the gods) but after that there's only the kitchen and praying restrictions. It still would be annoying though.
Our last night we had dhindo with our dhaal and tarkari instead of rice. Dhindo is the Nepali national dish and is made basically by placing rice flour or corn flour in boiling water. It was alright, but I think I prefer rice. Dori and I also got to make dhaal one morning! We wanted to learn so that we can make it at home so our mom and sister taught us. It's actually really easy. They lentils are different than in the States though so I don't think it will be anywhere near as good.
The last day at the orphanage we finished painting in the morning (and it all looked amazing by the way :-) ) and then in the afternoon we had a party for the kids. We planned a bunch of games (egg and spoon race, 3-legged race, tug-of-war, that kind of stuff). We then split them into teams and had a blast! My team lost. Literally last place. But we won one of the games and we had a lot of fun which is the important part. We then fed them: chips, cake, biscuits, soda (yes, tons of bad food that they never ever get) and fruit salad. The fruit salad was amazing! We don't get fruit hardly ever here so it was a huge treat even for us. Pineapple, mango, apple, banana, pomegranate. There was tons and I ate way too much but it was amazing and definitely worth it! The party was perfect and I think it was definitely a highlight for the kids!
In the evening from 8-10 we had a cultural dancing party. It started out with some performances and then we all danced. Our sister taught us, or at least tried to. Basically we all made fools of ourselves but it was fun which is what it's all about. Our 2 younger sisters (9 years old) always wanted to dance with us and we ended up doing a lot of spinning. The whole day was perfect; a perfect way to end our time here!
I'm trying to think of other things that I need to write about and I think that might be it! I think I'm caught up!
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tosha
non-member comment
:)
Aw that made me sad to read that you're leaving. Sounds like you're having an amazing time there and you guys did so much to help them out. I bet they miss you all as much as you miss them. You'll have to make this amazing food for me when you get back to ak :)