Holiday Memories!

Hi!  Wow--how is it possible that the holidays are now just a nice memory?!  We hope you had a very happy holiday season!  We were blessed to have had my mom here with us this year for two months, and it was nice having her around to "mother" us with her good cooking and good company! 

Here we are in Dhulikhil, Nepal where we ate Christmas dinner with this view!

She also helped out at the school and played the organ for our two programs.  She enjoyed interacting with the children and I'm not sure if she had more fun or if they did!

The first program was at the hospital for the patients, workers, and anyone who happened by.  The older students sang and put on a Christmas play.  They did their own translating into Nepali, which made all of us very proud.  They did such a good job.

 

 

What's a program without food? :)

When Sabbath came, the youth presented a Christmas pageant and Pastor Chuck presented a Christmas sermon.  Then we had the annual Christmas potluck dinner.  The weather cooperated and it was a beautiful day!

Tracy and Sarah were able to find some of their favorite foods!

 

Baby Hannah didn't eat any Nepali food, but she smiled for everyone and looked pretty cute in her hat!

Our school program for the parents was on the afternoon of Christmas Eve.

As parents arrived, Mom did a sound check with the sound guys.

You can't see it, but she looked really nice in a pretty kurta.

I went over the hand motions of a song with some of the kids before the program.

Anjan did most of the work orchestrating the program (both programs actually).

Good job Anjan!  You deserve a day (or three) off!

This program had singing,

(I was leading and Mom playing for the "English" part of the program, I don't have any pictures of that--sorry!)

 dancing,

(Tried to upload a video--but had no luck!)

(Some of the little ones got in practice for next year's program:)

 

a Nepali play the kids wrote (good job kids!) about a boy who learned his lesson
the hard way about proper eating and sleeping habits and he had to see the doctor,
(Our young doctor did such a good job he may be recruited by the hospital!)

prizes,

 

and last but not least--the cultural show--which I love!

 

 Great job kids! 

This is the view we had on Christmas morning.

 This is Mom taking a picture of the view we had at the restaurant we went to in Dhulikhil (about five miles away) where the first picture in this post was taken.

As you can see, it was a beautiful place for Christmas dinner!

 It was really relaxing to eat out on Christmas--no cooking and no cleaning up--just enjoying good company, good food,

and good views!
 

We plan on eating out on Christmas day more often!

Here's a pretty cool picture Ramon took of someone else enjoying Nepal's views!

  Christmas and New Year's Day are not big deals here.  (Remember that the Nepali New Year is celebrated in mid-April.)  Life was pretty much "Business as Usual"
although we did see this Christmas tree at the grocery store

and this cutie shopping with her "mommy!" :)


We also saw people selling festive balloons

which looked slightly easier to carry than these boxes!


Pretty sure this sign says, "Men at Work" or something similar.

Glad to see this fellow wearing gloves--not all have that option.

Somehow this young man sews with his gloves on!

This young lady found time to relax

and so did this "family"

We were able to relax and have fun because we were together too!
 We hope you had a fun holiday with your loved ones too
and we wish everyone a safe, happy, and healthy 2013!

Coming up--our visit here:

Last Days of Vacation

Hi!  I'm back! FINALLY I have time to update this blog!  Our vacation in Paraguay is over and we're busy and back to work here in Nepal--and we have some beautiful memories to remember.

Here we are at the famous church in Aregua, a short drive out of the city.  It's quite beautiful!

  
While driving around Aregua you can see pottery and other items made by local artisans for sale.

We also went to see the famous basilica in the town of Caacupe where there is a pilgrimage every December 8.  We were there on a "regular" Sunday, and it was still crowded--but of course, nothing like it is on the day of the pilgrimage!  Why don't I have a picture of this beautiful cathedral?  Well, right after taking the above pictures, my camera's battery ran out.  I put in the spare.  It was dead too!  WHAT?  I had forgotten to recharge the spare!  UGH!  So, I also lost out on taking pictures of Lake Ypacarai and the lovely resort town of San Bernardino--where I told Ramon I want us to retire to!  I loved it!  You'll have to wait for pictures until next year!  (Of course, you can also look in Google Images!)

I do have some pictures of Asuncion though (after I recharged BOTH of my batteries!) and here they are.  We saw the tomb of the unknown soldier

which is in this beautiful building called the Panteon del los Heros.

Here are some other sights to see as you walk around Asuncion.
I've posted some pictures of Asuncion before, but it was some time ago.

You never know what you'll see :)

Among the many things we did was eating excellent pizza with with the excellent company of cousins

and enjoyed a wonderful pasta bar with wonderful friends.

I must mention something about this pasta bar, named Bellini.

When you find yourself in Asuncion and you want the BEST brownie you will ever eat outside of the United States, please find this restaurant (in the downtown--yes, right next to McDonald's!) and you will be very happy!  I'm not kidding--it was THE BEST!!!

We also enjoyed this Food Court at Villa Morra Shopping Center--many times I might add!

Well, all too soon it was time to say Goodbye and head home.  Look what we had to miss!  :)

At the airport in the waiting lounge, there was, as there often is, someone playing a harp--lovely!

We flew again on Qatar Airways, which we recommend.  Our layovers were in Sao Paolo and Doha, where we met up with my mom.  Thankfully she had had a nice flight.  She arrived before we did and waited for us in the Oryx Lounge, which she recommends.  We had a beautiful sunny day to fly and for the first time we could see more of Nepal other than the tops of the mountain peaks over the clouds--since the clouds were few and far between.  Fascinating!

Finally we began to see the Himalayas and since Mom was sitting by the window, she was kept busy snapping away for herself, us, and the three girls sitting across the aisle from us--alternating five cameras!  Thanks for taking these beautiful pics Mom!  Here we go--the first glimpse:

Let's zoom in:

And now, because there aren't too many clouds, we can finally see more of Nepal!

Can you see the villages and terraces?

...and then we were in Kathmandu again.

 

It's good to be back at work with my little sweeties!  I always feel like a celebrity when I walk into the school and they run to me with their hands spread out--it's wonderful!

Ramon is busy and busy!  At the moment, there is a team from ADRA Japan here doing surgeries.

It's been great having Mom here!  I've been fighting a bad cold and she's been doing "Mom" things like cooking and cleaning!  Ramon asked her if she wanted to stay for only eight more years.  (She said, "Thanks, but no thanks!")  We have been able to get in a few fun things though, and here's a picture of her in the Garden of Dreams in the middle of Kathmandu.  Did you know there was such a beautiful garden smack dab in the middle of this city?

Well, that's all for now.  More on what we've been doing later.  Have a nice day, take care, and God bless! 

Vacation--Paraguay!

Hola and Hello from Paraguay!  We're here visiting Ramon's family.  He's been working very hard and it's vacation time! 

We were so thankful for an uneventful trip with no problems!  This time we flew on Qatar Airways and can recommend it.  The main thing we love about it is that we didn't have to go through India!  We flew straight from Kathmandu to Doha where I saw this for sale:

I said, "Oh, look Ramon!"  He said, "No way!"  :)  I tried to lift one, but couldn't and Ramon wouldn't try :) so I had to leave it behind!  :)

I did buy this book which is as interesting as it seems it might be!

Partway through the flight I woke up and looked out the window.  We were flying over the desert just north of Khartoum and this is what it looks like!

It looks like there are desert crop circles, doesn't it?

Here is Sao Paulo from the plane, where we had a layover.

When we landed in Asuncion, around midnight, there was a singing group playing some nice music.  The lead singer had a really good voice.  Ramon was disappointed that they were actually playing Mexican music and not Paraguayan music.  Oh well!  People like me wouldn't know unless someone told us! 

Sometimes there is someone playing a harp, which is really nice too.

Anyway, we've been having a lovely time resting, visiting with family and friends, and of course eating!  We heard that one of the grocery stores had a shipment of food from America that had just arrived and we headed over.

What fun!  We have gone twice already and may go again!

One of my favorite places here in Asuncion is where there are twin malls side by side.  We find ourselves there often!  The tables you see here are at the little confectionery called Sugar--the place I have mentioned before with the most amazing hot chocolate EVER!  (Their secret ingredient is ice cream!!!)  However, this time of year (it's hot!) I tried their chocolate milkshake and it was good too!

Speaking of it being hot, brings to mind that as far as I can tell, Paraguay jumps from Winter right into Summer!  I mean it is Spring, but the weather feels like Summer!  When we got here it was coolish--long sleeves and actually quite nice and then--from one day to the next:  BAM!  It was HOT and HUMID!  I was sweating like I was back in Curacao!  This meant I didn't have enough short sleeved shirts so I got to go shopping!  However, it will be getting cold when we get back to Nepal, so I won't be able to wear them there for awhile.  I'll enjoy the heat while I can!  I haven't complained about being too hot because I told Ramon (during the very cold winter in Nepal) to shoot me if I ever complained about being too hot again!  :)  

One nice thing is that watermelon is in season right now and Paraguayan watermelons are REALLY good!

Ramon has always told me that I have a VERY thick American accent when I try to speak Spanish and even when I say, "Gracias" or even "Si" for that matter I'm very noticeably American.  Well, today we were coming out of a frozen yogurt shop and a man coming in held the door open for us.  I said, "Gracias" in my very best Spanish and he said, "That's OK" in English!  When Ramon said, "Gracias" he answered, "Da nada" in Spanish.  Well, I guess I haven't improved my Spanish AT ALL!

Anyway, after this, as we ate our yogurt on the little patio you see here, we saw these taxis across the street and it reminded us of something funny.

  

On my first trip here, Ramon asked me not to talk while inside a taxi (because of my thick accent).  Well, when you shop here, because so many people walk or ride buses/taxis, stores have cubbies or lockers just inside (or outside) the front door for bags from other stores.  Well, one time when we got into a taxi I suddenly remembered that we had forgotten to pick up our other bags so I had to talk.  "Ramon, our bags!"  "What?"  "Our bags!  We forgot our other bags."  "Oh yes."  He headed back to the entrance of the store.  The taxi driver looked back at me and said in Spanish, "You an American?"  Of course, I had to admit, "Si."  He reached up to the meter and turned it to US $2.00 (which was more than the fare home).  It wasn't much, but I thought, "Well, now I know why Ramon doesn't want me to talk!"  Then Ramon got back to the car, got in and started talking in Guarani (the other official language of Paraguay).  The driver reached back up to the meter and turned it down to US $0.20--yes, 20 cents!!!       Isn't that funny?  Well, I guess my accent hasn't improved any since then, and it probably never will.  

That's all for now!  I'd better go and practice some Spanish!  Have a nice day and God bless!  

Adios!