December in Nepal

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

December 25 is just another day here, but now and then you spot something

"Christmasy!"

This December we have seen several demonstrations, which are not uncommon in Nepal.
This one was peaceful.

This one we stumbled upon, and had to turn around for, had potential to not be peaceful.
I even saw someone throw a rather large stone and you can see smoke in the distance.

While walking and driving around, you see people rebuilding their earthquake damaged buildings.

 

 

This is good news, because some people are still living and sleeping in unsatisfactory conditions.

While it's been a fairly mild winter so far, it's supposed to get cold soon.  Right now our indoor temp is a balmy 61 F. as opposed to 51 F. this time last year!  Read the photo credit to find out more.

(photo credit:  http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-12-25/colder-days-ahead-says-mfd.html)

The other day our elementary school had it's Annual Program,

and the nursing school put on a Christmas drama.

Read the photo credit under this pic to see other Christmas celebrations.

(photo credit:  http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2016-12-25/christmas-celebrations-bells-carols.html)

This time of year is one of the designated times for weddings.  At any time you can see this:

and hear this:

Usually you hear the procession before you see it!

Next come the bride and groom in a decorated car.  This couple had an escort by Little Brother.

Littlest Brother looked like he wished he could go and run and play!

He was so adorable!

Recently we went to a wedding reception.  The bride used to be a nurse in the operating room.

Now she works in a big hospital in Kathmandu.  She was so beautiful!

There was gift giving,

and lots of food!  Here is the snack table,

Hmmm?  What to get?

...and the cooking area.

You could sit here

...or here, which is where we sat.

Ramon made a new and adorable friend.

The kids had fun dancing.

  Enjoy a lovely holiday with your family!

(photo credit:  countryliving.com)

Celebrity Sightings! Part 4--The Best Job Interview Ever Leads to a Celebrity Sighting!

Well, "Hello!"
Finally I have time to finish this series of posts.

Anyway, I haven't posted recently and it's not just that we've been busy...
We've been really busy and our internet has been iffy--really iffy some days.
Ramon's been so busy that sometimes when he comes home, finally, even for a few minutes, he says, "Hi.  Who are you?"  (smile)

Look at him with this adorable patient, who by the way, was about 30 minutes old in this picture!

What a darling!  What a smile!  What a charmer already at age 30 minutes!

Here are some of the cuties I am blessed to see at school every day:

Also adorable!

Well now, let me finish this series of posts I decided to do about celebrity sightings.

Did you miss the first three parts of this series?
Click to find Part 1:  http://himalayanhappenings.blogspot.com/2016/01/celebrity-sightings-part-1.html  (Many of the celebs we've missed in Nepal...which made me think of doing this series.)
Part 2:  http://himalayanhappenings.blogspot.com/2016/02/celebrity-sightings-part-2.html
(The celebs we DID see in Paraguay!)
Part 3:  http://himalayanhappenings.blogspot.com/2016/08/celebrity-sightings-part-3-back-story.html  (The backstory--so today's Part 4 wouldn't be so long...
as well as some heroes of mine here in Nepal who work day and night with little recognition
who really should be celebrities!)

By the way, we missed another famous person recently:

Read this photo credit article http://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/visiting-princess-beatrice-of-york-visits-tilganga-eye-hospital/ to see who was here.  I'm glad she was able to come
and bring awareness to some of the issues facing patients here.
The hospital she visited is doing a great job.

OK, to continue...in Part 3, the post ended with me having quit my job in the library where I was going to school, and running to the radio station where I heard there was an opening for a
receptionist.  I ran because I didn't want to miss out on this job!
(Really, if you missed it, click above for Part 3.)

I arrived at the radio station.

(photo credit:  PrayerWorks!)

Yes, the radio station is still there and is as popular as ever!
http://www.wgts.org/

Sure enough, the reception desk was empty.

(photo credit:  ebay.com)

It was very quiet.  "Hello!" I said.  Nothing.  "Hello!" ...a little louder.

I started down the hallway calling out, "Hello!" every few steps.

Finally a voice called out, "In here."

I followed the voice and walked into an office.

"Yes?" the gentleman behind the desk asked.  "I'm a little busy here."

"Well, I heard you're looking for a receptionist.  Are you still taking applications?  I'd like to apply."

"No time for applications.  Can you type?"

"Yes."

"How would you answer the phone?"

"Good afternoon.  WGTS.  How may I help you?"

"You're hired.  Can you start tomorrow?"

YES, THERE YOU HAVE IT!  THE BEST JOB INTERVIEW EVER!!!

(photo credit:  wikipedia.com)

I started working the next day!  I answered the phone and typed!

(photo credit:  22.agency)

NO, the typewriter wasn't THAT old (smile), but the one I learned on was just about that old!!!

The one in my new office was more like this:

(photo credit:  03.ibm.com)

Yes, after learning on the first one, the "modern" electric typewriter was a dream!!!

My other duty was to time the songs on the records (yes, that's what we had then!)

(photo credit:  pixabay.com)

so the times could be put into the new and very modern (for then!) computer system!

This gave me time to study while the songs were playing.  It was great!

One day when I was sitting at my desk and working, this lady just walked into the office--

out of the blue!

(photo credit:  wikipedia.com)

YES, IT WAS ROSALYNN CARTER!!!

Oh my!  What a surprise!  

She held her hand out, shook mine, and said, "Hi!  I'm Mrs. Jimmy Carter.

I'm here to talk on the radio since I'm campaigning for my husband."

She looked at me expectantly.  Behind her were about 3-4 of her "people"

and they looked at me expectantly too.

"Our station manager isn't here right now," I managed to say.  "I'll go ask the DJ.  Please wait here just a minute."  We had a little waiting room, something like this, and they sat down.

(photo credit:  pinterest.com)

I walked quickly to the DJ booth. which looked something like this:

(photo credit:  scncz.com)

I had to wait for him to give me the signal that it was safe to talk.

"What?"  he asked.  He wasn't used to being interrupted while on air.

(If this had happened today, I could have sent him a text!)

"Mrs. Jimmy Carter is here with her crew and she wants to talk on air for her husband!"

"WHAT?  OK, I can't leave the booth.  Send the crew in."

"What about her?"

"No, don't let her back here.  I have to explain to the crew that she can't talk

on air unless we have her opponent here to talk too.  We have to give equal air time."

"What should I do with her?"

"Just talk to her!"

Oh man!

I went back to the waiting room and smiled.

"You folks can go back to the booth, but please Mrs. Carter, stay here and talk to me."

They went back and I sat down beside her.  I wished I had some snacks to offer her, but I didn't!

So for about 15-20 minutes, she and I talked!  

It was just a very nice and regular conversation!

She told me she missed her daughter while on the campaign trail,

(photo credit:  alamy.com)

and we talked about her daughter's school after I told her I was studying to be a teacher.

She told me about their home and peanut farm in Georgia.

(photo credit:  pinterest.com)

(photo credit:  abcnews.com)

I told her I had an uncle from Georgia and he and my dad would banter about the sports teams

from Atlanta and Cleveland.  I mentioned that those of us in Ohio would have to plan and time our trips to Florida to make sure we would avoid Atlanta during rush hour!

(photo credit:  curbedatlanta.com)

So it went...just a nice conversation!

I remember her stretching her legs up and down and saying something like,
"It's actually really nice to sit here and chat and relax for a bit.  We've been going and going
and I haven't had time to relax.  Thank you for keeping me company and just letting me relax!"

"Of course," I said.  "Anytime!"

Before we knew it, her crew came out with the DJ, who had put a tape on, and he told her
that he wasn't allowed to let her talk unless he could give equal time to her opponent.
She said she understood and got up to leave.  She wished us all the best and then
thanked me again for such a nice visit!  She never talked about her husband
or his campaign.  Today we would have taken selfies, but back then we just waved goodbye!

As they walked down the path, the DJ said to me, "You got her autograph didn't you?"
"Uh, no."  OOPS!  I hadn't even thought about it!  Rats!
"You're crazy you know," he said.  "She's probably going to be our next First Lady."

He was right!

(photo credit:  en.wikipedia.com)

So that's how the best job interview EVER lead to a celebrity sighting--and meeting!

If you want to read more about her, click here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalynn_Carter

Have a nice day, take care, and God bless.

Thanks to all those who are praying for us!

Celebrity Sightings! Part 3--The Back Story

Celebrity Sightings!  Part 3--The Back Story

Greetings!

I decided to do this series about celebrity sightings when I kept hearing about celebrities coming to Nepal and I thought, "Well, by the law of averages, we should have seen at least one!"

So far, we haven't!

 Well, Part 1 was about those celebrities we missed (and of course, are continuing to miss!)!
Part 2 was about celebrities we did actually see while in S. America.

However, before I actually write about when I met a famous person, yes, I did,
I'll just put up a few pictures of people around here I see who SHOULD be celebrities!

Man, these girls are my heroes!

So are these!  There they are, all day, every day,

What about these "shop" keepers?

How about this family, living like this since the earthquake?

We see people here everyday who should be celebrities.

Their braveness is inspiring.  Thanks to all who are praying for these heroes in Nepal,

struggling day by day to make a living and never giving up!

OK, well, now on to my story of when I met a celebrity.

I was a freshman in college (for my Nepali friends, it wasn't 11th or 12th grade;

it was what you call university) at Columbia Union College in Maryland, which is now named 

Washington Adventist University, where I was studying for my

Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education.

(photo credit:  wahhonorsprogram.org)

On a funny side note, I found out about the name change when it changed on

my Facebook page!

By the way, it was called Washington Missionary College when my parents went there,

and it is actually where they met!

(photo credit: flickr.com)

It was a great place to go to school--all of the tourist attractions 

of Washington, D.C. were there at our fingertips!

If you haven't been there yet, check out these websites to see what's there:

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/washington-dc

https://washington.org/

Now because I had worked in my high school's library for three years, working my way up to cataloging and accessioning books, I was a shoo-in for and easily obtained a job at Weis Library on the college's campus before I even arrived.  

Of course, as someone who's a bookworm, it was and always is, 

heavenly to be surrounded by books!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/the-best-places-to-be-if-you-love-books?utm_term=.ml4DDzAqPW#.sk9KKRqGlA

That link is in this past post if you missed it:  http://himalayanhappenings.blogspot.com/search/label/Retirement

Anyway, so did I meet a celebrity there?  Well, keep reading!  As I said, this is the back story!

By the way, if someone had told me then that I would set up and run a library for 

an elementary school in Nepal one day, I'd have told them they were crazy!

It would have been only a dream!  However, it's a reality--and one that I love!!!

Here are the darling first graders learning how to carefully read and take care of books,

including how to turn the pages, along with wonderful older students as my translators.

OK, so school started and so did my job at the library.

I checked out books,

(photo credit:  guides.library.cornell.edu)

and shelved books (putting them back on the shelves after they were returned).

(photo credit:  victoriaeasterwilson.com) 

By the way, I have taught the children here how to put their returned books 

back properly on the shelves.  It's great!  It makes them feel special!

Other times I was assigned to "Reading the Shelves,"

which was checking to make sure each book was in the proper place 

and putting it back in its proper place if it wasn't there.

(photo credit:  eduscapes.com)

Of course, my favorite assignment was when I was able to help organize the section 

of the library for the elementary education majors, of which I was one!

(photo credit:  frenchtownboro.com)

It was a large library, like most university libraries, and we all had to move around with the different assignments just about every week to make it fair.  Reading shelves every day for

months on end could make you feel like you were going crazy!

(photo credit:  en.wikipedia.org)

Well, one day when the new assignments were posted for the next week I saw

what I presumed was a mistake and I went to the head librarian's office.

Me:  "Excuse me Miss So & So, there's a mistake on this schedule."

Her:  "What do you mean?"

Me:  "I'm scheduled to work on Sunday on this schedule."

Her:  "Yes."

Me:  "That's a mistake."

Her:  "No, it's not."

Me:  "But my dad told me I don't have to work on Sundays."

(Yes, I was that spoiled!)

Her:  "My dear, your dad is not in charge here.  I am.  Everyone must take turns working on Sunday.  That's all there is to it.  Now, if you'll excuse me,  I have to get back to work."

Me:  "That's it?"

Her:  "Yes."

Me:  "Well, then I quit!"

Yes, I did quit!

I rushed out of her office.  I rushed to my room.  My roommate was there.

Roommate:  "What's the matter?  You look frazzled."

Me:  "I just quit my job.  My dad is going to kill me!"

Roommate:  "Well, I just heard there was an opening at the radio station

for a receptionist.  If you hurry, you can get there before they close."

I was out the door before she barely finished and ran to the radio station.

(photo credit:  portervilleadventist.org)

Here's their website:  http://wgts.org/

OK, now I think you're getting the idea--yes, I got the job and yes, I met a famous person 

while working there at the radio station!  

To find out what happened, stay tuned for Part 4--The Story!

Have a nice day, take care, God bless, and thanks again for prayers!!!