11/2007 - Nepal - Just like dada Elijah chows down when spaghetti is served..
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Change is in the air. Ajah bholi (nowadays) it has gotten quite chilly. Ryan wears his knit hat around the house, getting out of bed takes a little more umph than it used to, and people all around are suffering from colds and sore throats.
Those changes are minor compared to the huge change we face of moving an entire school between now and January. We have a lot of help, but it is a daunting when we think too much about it. So we don't. We don't think too much about it. We plan, but we don't obsess. We schedule, but we don't panic. Isn't life better that way?
We were getting worried that our passports would never get stamped but they did. We thought that the new school site could be on the other side of the city, but it's not. We thought our support could not cover our expenses, but it has. Gosh, things really seem to work out. Thanks God.
11/2007 - Nepal - Up at the Y base for the silver jubilee Alicia is allowed to "walk by herself".
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Speaking of support, we'd like to let you know how your giving typically gets spent. In November we've paid out about $500 for visas, our rent runs about $300 a month, and groceries hit around $250-300 a month (anything in a box is very expensive and we like to share). Our electricity runs about $60 a month. Milk is $7.50 a week. Hiring a Didi to allow Chandra to work costs us about $100 a month. Travel is down to about $15/month. Skype gets about $5-10/month. We do eat out sometimes, 2 - 4 times a month, that's usually $8-15 for the family. Did we mention that for many things prices are higher for us than they are for locals? We pay about $70/month for language lessons. Water runs $15 a delivery. It used to come twice a month, but lately it has been less. We eat lunch at school during the week. That is $2 every day we work, which is about $50 a month. Our Euroguard (water purifier) cost us $80 to get serviced. Gas refills just cost us $20. These are just rough figures. There are other minor expenses and other major ones that don't show up monthly.
11/2007 - JaahDo chha but keeps smiling.
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Thank you so much for making it possible for us to stay here. Amazingly, the support comes as we need it. It can be a little stressful, but just like that list of things that God has taken care of so far, the fact is He will take care of the other things that come too.
Chandra has been singing! Amazingly there is actually a choir here... it's called the KTM choral. She loves to sing and has been really enjoying the choral.
Today we got up at about 6:30. Usually to the sound of the pigeons that refuse to leave no matter how mean Ryan is to them. Soon after comes the ringing of bells to wake up the gods. Our neighbor actually has an electronic bell that rings constantly for about a minute straight. It sounds just like a telephone except no pauses. It's the latest in Hindu pudja (worship) technology! The dogs get barking pretty early too. So sleeping any later really isn't an option. Our very sweet Hindu grounds lady (her husband and her live here) also likes to sing around this time. It is quite nice except when Chandra thinks it's Ryan singing just as the kids are woken by it.
11/2007 - Another picture at the Y base. The founder of Y Nepal and her mother are there behind Chandra.
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This morning was dheri JaahDo chha (very cold) and it didn't help that Ryan has a cold. So we layer on clothes and rush around trying to get ready to get to school by 7:45. Today Ryan had class right away, he starts with a 20 minute homeroom time where he handles administrative details for his students. His homeroom class is the biggest in the school. Grade 9, 17 students. Then the 11th graders came to class to continue their individual computing project of making their own iTunes using MS Access. Today every student got their "play" button working and even instigated the PE teacher to come in and insist that they stop singing as it was causing him physical pain.
After grade 11, it's grade 12. Grade 12 has been developing a game as a class. It's called "Haloluia" and really has so many random characters it is pretty funny. There's Barnie, and Spongebob, Miss Piggy, Master Chief (from Halo), Eddie the Aardvaark, Jokey Smurf, and Strawberry Shortcake. It has proven to be very popular around campus.
Then there's a break between this and Ryan's next class. In the meantime Chandra is running back and forth from the reception office printing documents and corresponding with parents.
11/2007 - Nepali church near Tibet. This is explained in the email update.
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After break it is class 6. They are getting into programming already. They've written some programs, used some advanced features of Excel, and even learned to count in bits. Bell rings. Lunch time.
Ryan takes a break and chats with colleagues until... fire drill! Grab the book, go line up, take roll for his class.... back to class everyone. After that Chandra heads home to get the house together.
School ends with a lineup of everyone, then Ryan rushes home. He teaches guitar to a seventh grade student named Lily. She has gotten quite proficient in a very short time. Lily's mom works with Chandra in the reception office. Just before Lily leaves Surendra arrives with his family. He teaches Ryan saranghi. The lesson always ends with some conversation. It's great Nepali practice and we get to share about Jesus and church. We sure hope some leads come up for Surendra's brother-in-law who needs a job.
Chandra heads to choir practice. There are more than 100 people in the choir. What a neat community we have here. Didi stayed the night, Ryan caught up on work, Alicia had a peaceful evening but poor Elijah has caught some diarrhea and was hurting. Chandra is back and he's finally asleep now, poor guy. Finally! That obnoxious dog has finally stopped barking. It's 10:00 PM and time for bed. Goodnight! BTW, Nepali apples with a hint of iodine are yummy.
A song we recorded on our laptop here in Nepal: Use Me.
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