Geraldine's profileGeraldine's SpacePhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
|
Geraldine's SpaceNovember 24 After a long time...Well, life is moving along quickly... can't believe it's almost December. Also can't believe it's been so long since i've written on my blog.
School is great. The students are a bundle of fun. I had them each write a Thanksgiving card to someone they are thankful for. They were excited to think about the past year and all the good stuff that has happened... and happy to hear about the first Thanksgiving, at least as I remember learning it as a kid. They spend the last period making cards... which is always a nice way to end the day. I told them I was thankful for all of them.
We went of for dinner for Thanksgiving. No turkey available, but we had some good indian food. It was a calm evening, but still in the spirit of thankfulness.
I'm getting excited about Christmas now. Especially after celebrating Dashain with the family and then Tihar, when everyone puts lights in the windows and lights firecrackers and stuff. We're looking forward to putting up our little tree in the apartment. I'm sure it'll be a nice holiday season. We've pulled out the heater, to keep us warm! and fortunately we got hot water recently... it's so much nicer.
We're heading over to a friend's house tonight. So, gotta get ready! May 17 WeddingWell, it's been a month since we tied the knot! I know I havent written anything yet! Sorry about that. It was an awesome day (and week leading up to it). Here's some of the details.
The Bachelorette Party was a lot of fun. It started at the hotel... where I was given lots of "girlie stuff" and some perfume for the wedding day. (Nice touch Tara). We went out to dinner in a big group... then the boys took off one way and we girls headed off on our own. Where better to go... than the Irish Pub! It was lots of fun. The girls did have a list of some things to do... and I completed them all. We made up fake names... and messed them up throughout the night. After the Irish Pub we headed to Buddha Bar for a last drink. Cheers to singlehood... here I come married life!
Before we could get married... we had to get "engaged" the Limbu way. So Limbu Sir brought a pig's leg and some whiskey and offered it to Dad and Mom... explaining why he should accept Kiran as my husband. Of course Dad agreed right away. You'd think he'd fight a little more for me!!! I guess with three girls... he was quick to marry one of us off! I'm just kidding. We were happy Limbu Sir said such nice things about Kiran and that Mom and Dad accepted him right away.
The morning of the wedding was busy... seemed no matter what time I got up, I wouldnt have had enough time to get ready. Mom helped me with my dress and veil. Am helped with my hair and headpiece. Kate worked on my make-up and Tara fixed up the flowers (which were not done correctly by the flower shop). Dad stopped in to practice putting back my veil. Luckily for me (not so lucky for Kiran) his tuxedo pants were MIA, so we had an extra 45 minutes to get ready. All at once six pairs of black pants showed up at his house. It's good to have friends. he made it to the church and we followed closely behind. Everyone looked pretty and handsome :-)
The ceremony was small but nice. It was all friends and family. Lots of people participating. Kiran was super nervous... but we made it through together. The homily was really nice. And short! High Five, Fr. Pius. The music was great. (We had to have two takes on the last song!) We signed the book in the church itself so everyone got to see. We took some pictures at the church and then were welcomed with bubbles to the mini-reception.
I got changed into a sari and we headed down to Kiran's house. His family was there and all the ladies from the village were outside singing. The house looked great. They gave us tikka outside and we had to pay to get into the house. That's the tradition. The girls block the doorway until they're paid to let you in. Inside we exchanged blessings with is family members. Kiran gave me sindoor (the red tikka that goes in your hairline) and his family gave me jewelry. Then we had "formal" introductions with his family members. It was really nice.
Then we headed back to the hotel for the main reception. I changed AGAIN into another sari and we headed up to the reception area. It was great to have so many people come greet us and congratulate us... Even though most people were on Kiran's side... I knew almost all of them already. We stayed in our "married seats" for the first few hours... then finally the dancing started.
Kiran and I danced to "Unchained Melodies." Dad and I had a beautiful waltz to a sweet Irish song. Good choice, Dad. Kiran and his mom danced to a Nepali song. Everyone had a good time. AM and Limbu Sir gave speeches. The cake was not what I we had ordered (this is Nepal!) but it tasted good and everyone enjoyed it. Of course we did have a few "Happy Birthday"s thrown in... they see cake, they think birthday. We all laughed.
It was a long day... as I suppose wedding days are... but it was a good one. Kiran and I went to bed and we let the others party on... February 24 PlanningWell, life just keeps moving along. The wedding plans are in full motion. We’re getting things set slowly but surely. Everyone that we meet here says, “Oh, there’s still lots of time.” I guess that’s because some people get engaged and married in two or three days… we’ve got lots of time. I met the girl about my dress. I’m excited to see the designs she’s going to draw and then choose materials. I got my red sari already and dropped it at the tailor to get my blouse and petticoat. Kiran talked to the guys at the suit store about tuxedos, but he has to go back with some pictures for them. We have to choose the menu, though the hotel is booked for the party. The cake just needs to be ordered 2-3 days before. They will be able to make a three level cake J We do need to still make the invitations. We have the words written out on a paper, we just need to check with the printer about paper and fonts… we’ll do that on Monday. I was excited for Dad, AM and Tommy to arrive… but I just found out Kate and Tara are coming too!!! Is this great, or what? You guys are so good to me. Before the wedding, we have to finish up the school year. We had the math fair on Friday. The students did really well. I think they had fun and learned something too. I hope so. One boy asked his mom to find a 10 percent discount on the product she chose, but she didn’t know how! I was like, “well, you figure it out and explain it to her!” He was like, “Sorry, Mom. You don’t get a congratulations card!” Final exams start on March 20th so we have less than a month. It’ll be over before we know it.
January 16 Indian AdventureI just got back from a 10 day trip to West Bengal, India. It was a lot of fun. A good mix of adventure and relaxation. We left of the third and took a taxi (a friend of ours owns it) to the boarder. We drove all the way to Pashupatinagar, just to find out that only Nepalis and Indians can cross the boarder there… it was some treaty made in the 1950s to prevent the British from getting into Nepal… Anyway, we had to go back down the hills to a different boarder point, Kakarvitta. From there I checked out of Nepal. We took a rikshaw (a bike with a seat on back) across the Mechi river, which in this season looks like a stream in a river bed, to India. There I went through immigration and we took a taxi to Siliguri. There we got a local bus to Kurseong. Kurseong is the town where Kiran went to college. It’s a cute little town on top of a hill, half way between Siliguri and Darjeeling. It’s also the town where his Mom grew up and where his Dad and uncles went to school. He showed me where he used to hang out with his friends and where his mom and dad used to walk when they were “dating”, though they don’t really do that here. I met some of his mom’s sisters and his cousins. I saw his campus and met the man whose house he lived in while he was studying. There is a beautiful grotto at the top of the hill. It was a peaceful and pretty place. Then we headed to Darjeeing… about one and half hours on a jeep. It was a sunny day and a nice ride through the hills. We had quite a hike from where the jeep left us to our hotel, but it ended up being better in the end, because we were close to the main square. After relaxing a bit, a hot shower and some lunch, we took walk around. It wasn’t a very clear day, but you could see the mountains in the distance. The roads around the main square are closed to vehicles, so there were many people walking and some kids on pony rides. We stayed three days in Darjeeling. We saw North Point and St. Paul’s the main colleges there. We went to the zoo and saw a light and water show in the main square. We at beef momos (dumplings), which we can’t get in Nepal. We also visited Kiran’s Mom’s sister and her son. She smiles and laughs just like Kiran’s mom. After three nights, we decided to head off to Kiran’s father’s village. I don’t remember the name of it. Maybe Maladi. It’s near the Malootar Tea Estate, where many of the villagers work. We got into a jeep to Kurseong and took a small van up through rocky roads to as far as we could, and walked from there. It was really something to go to the village. His uncle and aunt live there, and two cousins. Kiran had stayed in the village for about 10 months when he was younger, so everyone knew him and they love him very much. He showed me the football ground (they play 6 on 6 because it’s small) and I met many of his friends. His best friend is Manoj, whose family is super cute. I had a great time. It was quiet and relaxing. The kids took me for a walk one morning through the tea gardens. It was a good time. We were going to stay two nights but ended up staying 4. Everyone was disappointed when we left. We got a jeep to Siliguri and a taxi to the boarder. Checked out of India and that same taxi took us back to Nepal. And what a welcoming we got… Bandh! That means a strike. There was a three day transportation strike planned. Figures. So we stayed in Kakarvitta. The next afternoon, there was a lift in the strike and we left for home. We had a good trip, but I cant tell you how excited we were to get back to our apartment… little did we know, we’d be on the bus for 25 hours! The bus we took stopped about 25 minutes out of Kakarvitta to pick up 25 students and a few of their teachers… it took about an hour for them to load up their stuff. Then, we stopped for gas, and they all wanted to get off the bus… the driver stopped at his home, to pick up clothes, and they all wanted to get off the bus. We got stopped along the way, because there was a strike zone for a few kilometers, so the police were escorting buses and trucks… we waited an hours for there to be 15 vehicles in the escort… we stopped for dinner, we stopped for breakfast, and two of the students wandered away… so we had to wait while their teachers wandered around Hetauda looking for them… It should have been 5 hours from Hetauda, but it was a local bus, so it stopped constantly to pick up and drop off passengers… anyway… eventually we got back in to Kathmandu. We were so happy to get into a cab. As Kiran was telling the driver about our long trip… the car died… it’s funny now… but we couldn’t believe it! We took a different taxi and finally got home… Travelling is fun… but we’re glad to stay put for a while. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Send a private message
Subscribe to RSS feed
Tell a friend
Add to My MSN
Add to your network
Sign up for alerts
|
|
