Day 70 - Chovar and Kirtipur, Nepal

Day 70 – Hers.

An eventful day, given how quiet life is in our little village.  Dressed in my new kulta and sulwa, with matching scarf and bangle, a tikka dot on my forehead and my hair suitably clipped up in a twist, I made quite a stir – first at breakfast (somehow I managed not to get dal bhat down my front; I’m making progress...)-and then as we arrived at the school.  ‘You look gorgeous, Ma’am,’ said several of the girls. ‘You are looking very nice, Miss’ said some of the boys.  It was all quite sweet.  The outfit is beautiful – and comfortable to wear.  I don’t think I’ll get away with it England, though, except maybe for fancy dress....

My lessons went well.  Class 10 made their videos convincing volunteers to come to Nepal.  Class 9 put on their play and then debated whether ‘love’ marriages or arranged marriages were more likely to lead to happiness.

Rob finished his work for the day at lunchtime (He patched the holes in the roof over a second classroom.), so we set off together on the half hour walk to the shops at Kirtipur.  I needed to buy the ingredients for French toast (We are cooking breakfast for the family tomorrow.) and Rob needed ‘white cement’ – which seems really to be plaster - for the next stage of his little project.  Have you ever tried to describe cinnamon using mime?  It was interesting – I did manage, but it is sold here as the actual bark, so later I had a lesson from Camalla in using a mortar and pestle to reduce the bark to powder....

Rob purchased 25 kilos of plaster which the shop owner split into two plastic carrier bags.  We discussed getting a taxi back as Chobar is pretty much around and up a large hill from Kirtipur – but Rob decided he would rather spend the taxi fare in Hira’s coffee shop and carried the 25 kilos manfully with only two short rest stops....  We had a cold drink and a coffee at Hira’s and returned home with our purchases.

By the time we had unpacked everything, Steve arrived home with ‘coffee girl’ – he had taken her out for coffee (Their second ‘date’) and brought her home at Camalla’s insistence to meet the family.  We all sat on the balcony as is usual for the late afternoon – the baby running around hitting people, neighbours popping in and out, everyone chatting in a mixture of languages, laughing a lot and drinking tea. 

Sanju rang and invited Rob, Steve and me to his house for dinner.  He lives on the opposite side of the square – so a bit later, we walked through the temple to his home for yet more multilingual chat, laughter, tea, television (oooh – THAT was a novelty – and great until the electricity went off at 7:30) and, eventually, an enormous plate of dal bhat.  We sat on mats on the floor, as we had at home before the arrival of the dining room set and ate by candlelight.  Cilla, another of the Quest staff who lives across from Sanju, joined us after dinner and we again chatted and showed off our party tricks by candlelight until the festival band arrived in the square – marking the end of the day.