Village stay: Part 1
on Adventures in Nepal (Nepal), 24/Dec/2009 07:37, 34 days ago
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View of the mountains from the village. This is what I woke up to every morning.... ahhhh!Village community member sitting (contemplating? resting?) as the young people were engaged in a sports and games day.The villagers gave us an amazing welcoming ceremony during our stay. There was much talking and welcoming, they gave us white scarfs (of the Buddhist tradition) and flower garlands - Mala ( Hindu tradition), and there was tons (i.e. hours) of impromptu singing and dancing.... You can imagine how happy I was!One of the only flat parts of the village - and therefore the main meeting/public area. No soccer here at this village- the ball would just roll down the hill....My bedroom window in the evening. Evenings we were often without electricity, so my cozy (and actually quite warm) mud house was lit by candle light. Our house was a very simple, small mud house with space for the animals on the ground floor, bedrooms (which double up as living rooms) on the second floor, and a kitchen with only a fire to cook with on the top floor.One side of the double house (two brothers live side-by-side with their families - houses joined on the top floor) and the barn that housed a water buffalo and many, many goats.My family! Prasidi (older sister), Supriya (younger sister), and Prakesh (father) in the background holding his 6 month old niece for a moment so her mother could bathe herself at the tap.Sita (mother) doing "Nepali" work as she called it (aka *hard* work). She wanted me to take a picture of her spreading cow dung on the front "porch". The cow dung,when it dries, keeps the dust away and makes a nice ground on which to sit in the morning sun or to lay the crop. Sita woke up every morning at 4:30 AM to gather firewood, take care of the animals, gather food for breakfast, start the fire in the kitchen, and to have breakfast ready by 9:00 AM. She then went to work from 10:00 to 3:30 PM as a teacher in the local school and returned in the evening to repeat the early morning activities.One of their three cows! A calf, actually. All our milk for breakfast and meals came from the mama cow (milk which was also sold in the local town).Part 1 -I am back in Kathmandu after spending a difficult and absolutely amazing week in what I am sure must be one of the most beautiful villages in the world. Just in time for us to create a Christmas party here in the big city with the other volunteers, our teachers, and the folks who run our guest house.My experience at the village is one that I am sure will unfold slowly - layer by layer - over time. I am reminded of going to Native American ceremonies back home and returning and feeling like I could never put into any words what the experience was like. Partly, because it was an experience of a worldview so incredibly different than the mainstream worldview, and partly, because it takes away the magic and power of some things to try to describe them and put them into words.In the village there were so many new experiences to take in, and so many cultural differences (some good and some quite challenging) that I am hoping will only become more clear as I become more familiar with Nepal and the people here and as I feel more rested and have some distance from the experience. For now, I am hoping some of the pictures I can share will give windows into the village.I am exhausted after spending restless nights with more mice and rats running around my room at night than I'd like to ever think about again. And feel peaceful in a way I have not felt in a really, really long time. The villagers were so amazingly kind and open with us, welcoming us into their lives, difficulties, joys, and homes.I am going to first enjoy some sleep and a schedule that is finally my own for a few days here in Kathmandu....will write more about the village stay in Part 2.So - for now - I wish you all much love and light as you celebrate the winter season and the promise of the sun returning in the spring however you might celebrate._uacct = "UA-3483228-1";urchinTracker();