Holiday Fun!

The end of 2011 has come. What a year! It has had its ups and downs, stress and sadness. I would have never imagined I would be where I am today 12 months ago. But I know now coming to Nepal was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. It’s hard to believe I will be going home in less than a month.

I also can’t believe I haven’t written on my blog for so long. A couple days after my last post was my birthday. The other volunteers made sure all the kids knew so when I got to the orphanage that morning all the kids in the “baby room” sang Happy Birthday to me. I was called “birthday auntie” for the day. One of the older boys wrote me a note on the volunteer board that said “Happy Birthday Mandi Auntie”. Later in the day I had gotten all the kids little treats and I passed them out during their snack time. While I was passing them out all the kids and Didis sang Happy Birthday to me again. Throughout the day I was getting cards that the kids had made me. When I got home that night I found that my family had sent me a video from home with my sisters, mom, nieces and nephews wishing me a Happy Birthday. It was a great day, and will be hard to beat in years to come.

About a week after my Birthday we went to the orphanage in the morning and there was excitement in the air. All the kids were talking about Manju sister getting married. Manju is one of the house mothers. We asked them when she was getting married, and they told us “today at ten o’clock”. We didn’t really know what to think because we hadn’t heard anything about you being engaged or even dating anyone. When we talked to one of the Didis she told us that Manju had only met the man 3 days before and that it was an arranged marriage. WHAT!? I didn’t really know what to think about that, but that is how things are done around here. So of course we went to the wedding. It was very interesting; in the middle of a park that I have walked by dozens of time is a little area with 5 or 6 little temples that I had very noticed before. The wedding was in one of these temples and there was only enough room for the bride, groom and that man doing the ceremony. I couldn’t understand what was being said but it looked like the made offerings of money and fruit to the holy fire. They exchanged rings. Then the groom applied an orange powder (sindoor) down the center part of the bride’s hair. It is tradition for the woman to wear this marking for the rest of her married life. After the ceremony we were invited to the brides new house. (The woman moves into the family home of the groom.) At the house we were served Dal Baht and Fanta. And after about an hour the party was over and we were given a farewell, with flowers and a scarf. It was a fun day and I hope Manju is happy with her new husband.

A week and a half after the wedding it was Christmas!! What a great time we had. On Christmas Eve we made crepes for the after school snack (Tiffin). That was a huge success. When we had finished with tiffin, a couple other volunteers and I took my laptop over to our sister orphanage where some of my other friends are volunteering. Because this orphanage has Wi-Fi I had talked to my dad (Santa’s helper) about Skyping with the kids. We ran into a couple bumps (my dad couldn’t see the kids) but that didn’t seem matter; the kids had a great time. We let them ask Santa a few questions. How old are you? Are you married? Are you married? Do you have any sons? Where do you live? Do you have any daughters? The kids wanted to meet all of Santa’s family. At the end of the Skype Santa told the kids that he was not going to be able to make it to the orphanage but he was sending some elves by to drop off their presents. Soon after the kids said good-bye to him the doorbell rang. All the kids ran to the door and when they opened it all their presents were on the porch, and the kids were looking everywhere for the elves. They loved it, it was so great. That night my roommate and I watched “The Sound of Music” her family watches every year on Christmas Eve. I’ll admit I fell asleep half way through it. On Christmas morning we got to the orphanage around 9:00 and took the kids up to the roof to do some face painting. We had talked about what we were going to paint and said we were just going to do small things on their cheeks, I do a great snowman. But some of the older boys wanted to do each other’s faces so we did end up with some zombie looking boys walking around on Christmas. While most of us were on the roof the other volunteers had gone down do the lobby and started putting out the presents we had gotten. Thanks to many donations from friends and family we were able to get each of the kids clothes and some kind of toy or other item that they needed. When we all went downstairs the kids were so excited. The volunteers took turns handing out the presents to each of the kids. When all the presents were out we had them open them all at the same time. It was great seeing all their faces as they look through what they had gotten. After about an hour we put a movie in for the kids to watch. I was so excited because it was “A Muppet Christmas Carol”. The kids love the movie and after words had lots of time to play with their new toys. That night all the volunteers went out for dinner. When dinner was over I got a chance to Skpye with my family for a couple of hours. It was great to see them all and all the things they had gotten for Christmas.

Now its New Years day and I am so ready to see what the year new has in store for me. I am very lucky and thankful to have been in Nepal with all the kids for the holidays. I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Years. Love and miss you all!