My family...and Other Animals

Now I've been staying with them a while, things with my Nepali family
have improved a lot. There's been much more interaction with everyone
- even the younger
brother has started stringing the odd sentence together and playing cards
with us (though he still sometimes just grunts at us and plays
Christina Aguilera at full blast - teenagers never change!). The
Grandma has been to stay, and I've met one of the cousins, who is
fascinated with all my stuff and wants to play with my torch all the
time - the electricity goes out several times a day, and there have
been some big storms with the most lightening I've ever seen in my
life!

I've also had some good conversations with Jiran, the 'helper' boy.
He's only ten, but he doesn't go to school - he's the oldest of a big
family and works instead. He's so sweet - at first he was deadly
serious but since I've been (attempting!) to speak Nepali to him he's
opened up and smiles and laughs a lots more (possibly at me!).

I've really warmed to our Ama (Mum) as well. At first she was so
serious and frowny (I think probably concerned about how we were
liking it), but now we converse a bit more and she looks so happy when
we say how much we like being there, and we manage to bridge the gap
and have a bit of a laugh. It was strange at first, eating with your
hands, having people look at you when you're eating or whatever,
coming into your room and just sitting there when you want to get
changed, and looking at you and talking in a language you can't
understand - when you know they're talking about you! But it's been a
really good experience living there - I've enjoyed it lots.

Today we did our washing outside under the tap - it took ages and was
tiring! It makes you realise how lucky we are - some people here have
to walk miles and miles just to get to water at all. The family's dog
loves us, and wants to come with us when we go out - it is so sweet,
and there is the cuttest puppy living downstairs. They get so dirty in
the rain and dust, but still want to play with us all the time.

During the day, we've been heaps of other animals at the sites we've
visited, including the 'Monkey Temple', where they are cocky little
b*&@ards! I thought one was gonna jump on me and pull my hair. Others
were playing in the tika, getting covered in red powder. Kathmandu is
truly temple-tastic, and there are cows, dogs, monkeys and goats
everywhere! Some of the places are really beautiful - from the Monkey
Temple we got a cracking view right across the city. Awesome!