Nepali Culture, Food, and Living......an inside look

Greetings friends and family.

It is Thursday here and we are once again waiting to go and spend time at the orphanage. Yesterday we took miss Maya to get her passport picture taken. It was our first day without a guide or being with anyone who spoke English. We will spend the next four days in similar circumstances as our liaison is also a prominent lawyer here in Nepal. He is the lead person in a conference for......something and will be facilitating there today and tomorrow. People don't do much on Saturday and Sunday here, so we are on our own for a while. We will be going to the orphanage daily to see Maya. On Monday, we will be back in touch with our liaison and on Tuesday we will go to the Ministry here to have Maya "handed over" officially. Then she will come back with us. We are anxious to interact with her in an environment that is not so diminished and controlled. The orphanage is what it is and they have taken great care of Maya so far. We are very grateful to them for the work they do. The only sad thing will be leaving the other children behind. They are all wonderful and we would take them all if we could.

Shifting gears back to Tuesday night. We were the lucky recipients of a welcome meal from the Holt organization over here. It was a little bit awkward because we were the only family over here to be welcomed, and there is only one Holt worker over here - you guessed it, who just happens to also be the same person who is our liaison. It was just the three of us.

I could not have imagined there being anyone else, but the way he and Holt made it sound, it was going to be quite the ordeal. I am sure that it was when there were four other families here plus other Holt representatives from the US. We were neither let down, nor relieved when we found out it was just going to be the three of us. One good thing is that there would be less people there to judge my picky eating habits and Staci's queasy stomach. One bad thing is that they would become a whole lot more noticeable.

He came to pick us up at the Hotel at 7:00pm. Everything looks very different at night. The dangerous traffic situation becomes amplified as vision is decreased and limited to headlights, car horns, and human silhouettes passing by in the darkness. The restaurant where we ate was exclusively Nepali cuisine and was in a large building that was over 150 years old. We learned that the mansion we were in used to be one of the Kings' palace. Our Hotel is across from "the king's palace". It turns out that different Kings stayed in different locations as they wished.

As we came up the stairs, we took off our shoes and places them in a hallway with many other shoes, though none seemed quite as big as my size 14's. Some of the older children at the orphanage seemed to take notice of the size of my shoes as I looked out the door and saw two boys struggling to lift them over their heads in some sort of boyish feat of strength. I said in a calm and teasing voice - "Hey, those are my shoes." They dropped them and ran off. Back to the restaurant though. When we entered, we went through many rooms of people dining and were greeted by many people with the traditional praying hands short bow that they use as a greeting here. It is sometimes awkward to greet someone here, especially a man, as their custom is to do the bow. They do not touch in their greetings, yet when they see that I am American, they know that we shake hands and many of them welcome the chance to get to do so. I never know what to expect, so I have both mediums of greeting ready at all times.

I realize that I am tall - in some places taller than others, but when we walked into the restaurant, something was out of proportion, even for me. Everyone was sitting on the ground! IN CHAIRS!! It was as if someone took and cut the legs off of a traditional dining chair and left the seat and seat back there. The tables were also cut down to a height of no more than 12 inches. Being seated was a show in itself as people watched me coil my body down under this tiny table and tried to stabilize myself in this chair. I thought to myself in Jesus' time, they reclined to eat meals and in Nepal, they sat in partially constructed chairs and ate at half tables. No problem! (Deep Breath) In-the-meantime, our liaison and Holt welcome team (of one) excused himself to freshen up for dinner. We were exposed like an escaped convict caught in a spotlight. Two men rushed to our table and poured liquid into tiny silver cups that looked like candle stick holders (no more than a half of an ounce) from steaming silver teapots. Their pouring motion started close to the cup and then ended high, maybe 3 and a half feet, above the cup without spilling any of it. Very impressive! The drink itself was less than impressive however! It was some kind of boiling lemony 90% proof alcohol! The smell hit us like a ton of bricks bombarding our noses! IT was awful and unavoidably potent. Ammonia fumes have NOTHING on whatever this was. Trilock came back from the restroom and noticed the lemon fire bearers had been to our table. This lead to the most amazing opportunity - a God moment.

He asked us about what we wanted to drink besides this stuff. I told him that we didn't drink alcohol. He seemed floored by this. His eyebrows raised and his voice heightened as he continued to ask, "never"? I said no, that we never drink, drank, or will drink. He hesitantly continued and asked why. I was able to tell him that drinking was not a part of the Godly lifestyle that we were trying to live. He asked what religion, what God. I said "The God". He asked if our parents drank, and I proudly told him no. He shared with us that he did not drink either, and that he had never drank, and never would drink. He said that it was rare that he EVER ran across someone like this and instantly a bond was made and a mutual respect was formed. He said that he had studied religions in his schooling. It was something that he was very interested in. He went on to talk about the good that he tried to take from all of the religions that he had studied, but there were just some that there didn't seem to be any good in, though he did not name them by name. It was a great conversation. If any of you want to know the details, just ask and I will be happy to share them with you. Needless to say when we ordered drinks, he ordered a Nepali type soft lemon drink and Staci and I both ordered SPRITE. YES good ole American Sprite! The perfect anictdote to wash down any foreboding flavor!

I was crossing my fingers as the first dishes came out. They were to serve every Nepali traditional food in several courses in sequences that they called "sets". The first dish was popcorn. A handful of popcorn on a small silver plate the size of an ash tray. I told him Americans ate this with butter and salt when they went to see movies, or sporting events like baseball. The concept alluded our host so we moved on. The second dish consisted of some potatoes. They looked like normal peeled, cut, boiled then broiled potatoes. I was excited as I took a bit. Then the cumin, curry, and ??? other native unidentifiable flavors hit me. I ate one more and looked forward to the next dish. It was some kind of bean soup. I was very worried when I thought that I heard Trilock (our host) say that it was "fish eyes" - LOOK OUT! WE JUST ENTERED SOME KIND OF INDIANA JONES MOVIE NIGHTMARE!!! Staci and I eventually decided that he was trying to say pea size, not fish eyes, as the items in the bowl were not peas or fish. They were very small and assorted beans, though the fish eyes mishap was a curve ball that added an extra caution to the rest of the meal.

The courses of the meals were accompanied by traditional Nepali dances. A group of musicians came in playing native instruments - flute, box organ (accordion like) bells, tambourine, drums, cymbals, and voices. Each dance had one male and one female dancer who were dressed in tradition to the hilt. In the two hours we were there, we saw four traditional dances. Each had different music, different beats, and different dress. It was nice to be able to sit there and soak up some of their culture. These are the things that we will be able to share with Maya someday.

We finished up the meal with main courses of rice, something they called chicken, and other assorted meats and vegetables including small pieces of fried fishes, and a spinach type concoction. The chicken was foreign and the reason is - I think that it was goose meat as I saw many dead featherless gooses hanging from shop windows on the streets! Oh well, I was able to try many of the things and Staci ate some other things. All in all, we survived the native cuisine and had a good time, even if it was just the three of us. Pastor Josh - Staci and I ask that you consider that our "lifegroup" meeting for the month!

Once we venture out into the city on foot in the next couple of days, I am sure that we will have more to write about the culture and daily lifestyle. Until then, we wish you well, and our prayers are with you!