My homestay is fantastic. I had a great night’s sleep under a huge, fluffy
purple blanket, and little interruption from dogs or roosters. Around 8 am,
breakfast was served; I had no less than five slices of toast (complete with
butter and/or jam), a boiled egg, and a slice of packaged marble cake-ish
deliciousness. Agnes then took me to Aliza's home, where we chatted for a bit.
We then went with Aliza and her two homestay brothers to Nathan's house, where
we met up with him and Kumar (a former military officer). All of us went on a
short jaunt through the trails to a sunny clearing in the jungle, where we used
Kumar's binoculars to look at the mountains on the other side. A very famous
statue of Shiva was visible atop the peak, and Kanchenjunga was still
majestically poking out from the foothills.
After that, we went back to our respective homes and rested a bit. I was told to sit in different places, and I ended up just going with the flow, enjoying the sun outdoors. Once Agnes was ready, we gathered Aliza and Nathan (after a short demo on how to make sili roti), then headed up the path five minutes to meet Teddy. We all continued upwards until we reached a main road, where omni buses picked us up and escorted us to King Thai. Once downtown, we made our way to the park and hung out with Maddie, Sophie, Catherine, Jocelyn, and a few of the girls from the village.
We were eventually summoned to the markets, and the whole lot of Colby students and accompanying Poshyor-ians explored the stalls filled with bags, clothes, vegetables, spices, and other household items. I had picked up dried and sugared coconut strips from a street vendor--they were amazing and I've definitely kept some to snack on later (and will try my best to bring some back to the US).
The whole group made their way to the church with Mary on a lotus flower. Agnes was telling me that her family goes to church there once a week to once a month. It sounded a lot like mass at home, except it lasts from 9am-4pm. The traveling caravan once again set off towards King Thai, where we had lunch. I think I found my favorite food at King Thai: pakura. It is a fried potato patty with other veggies in it and it was soooooo good. Agnes asked Susan (mom) to make it for us tomorrow!
After lunch, we walked to MBI. They are an organization that provides students with a place to practice and perform in an orchestra. They put on a whole concert for us, concluding with excellent piano solos from one of the boys. They repeated how honored they were to have us, as we are their first American visitors, but we all felt pretty unworthy considering we had done nothing to earn the honor of their performance nor do any of us have a strong orchestral background (we seem to be constantly disappointing people in our lack of string-instrument-playing abilities). We then had a meet and greet (supplemented by black tea, biscuits, and samosas). All of us Colby students were feeling pretty exhausted from the constant and new social interactions and because many people hadn't slept well.
We took a group picture, headed back to King Thai, got a ride back to the drop off points, and walked back home. Along the way, Agnes asked me to teach her some Spanish--she picked up on it so quickly! Once home, I was offered (and couldn't deny) black tea. It is so good, it's unreal. They add black pepper to it and it is amazing. I then taught Agnes more Spanish and Siphora did my nails; I was told Halloween-orange is an excellent color for me. (On the topic of which, everyone is still complimenting me to no end. I've been told my eyebrows are pretty, my cheeks are cute, my hair is a nice color and that the whole village loves that I speak some Nepali. Some of the other students have told me I'm talked about in their homes--and that they are now expected to speak Nepali too (sorry about that). I've also been told I resemble a famous politician and that I could wear any color (multiple times). It is all so weird.)
Agnes then asked if I wanted to dance and I was down so they played Nepali music in the living room and brought in their parents, who bounded into action, enthusiastically grooving to the beat. Siphora also taught me how to dance to Hindi songs, then I taught them how to dance American-style (kind of, not really) and the family was so enchanted. We said prayers afterwards then had a scrumdiddlyumptious dinner of beef, broth, and noodles. I called it an early bedtime soon after. I can't believe I only have tonight and tomorrow night here! It is going by too fast.
I don't have any complaints here--I am so lucky that this family is letting me stay with them. I really want to give back in a meaningful way, because they've been so generous and I've done absolutely nothing to deserve their kindness. Hopefully in the future, or once back at Colby, I can figure out something. Until then, I'll be brainstorming.
After that, we went back to our respective homes and rested a bit. I was told to sit in different places, and I ended up just going with the flow, enjoying the sun outdoors. Once Agnes was ready, we gathered Aliza and Nathan (after a short demo on how to make sili roti), then headed up the path five minutes to meet Teddy. We all continued upwards until we reached a main road, where omni buses picked us up and escorted us to King Thai. Once downtown, we made our way to the park and hung out with Maddie, Sophie, Catherine, Jocelyn, and a few of the girls from the village.
We were eventually summoned to the markets, and the whole lot of Colby students and accompanying Poshyor-ians explored the stalls filled with bags, clothes, vegetables, spices, and other household items. I had picked up dried and sugared coconut strips from a street vendor--they were amazing and I've definitely kept some to snack on later (and will try my best to bring some back to the US).
The whole group made their way to the church with Mary on a lotus flower. Agnes was telling me that her family goes to church there once a week to once a month. It sounded a lot like mass at home, except it lasts from 9am-4pm. The traveling caravan once again set off towards King Thai, where we had lunch. I think I found my favorite food at King Thai: pakura. It is a fried potato patty with other veggies in it and it was soooooo good. Agnes asked Susan (mom) to make it for us tomorrow!
After lunch, we walked to MBI. They are an organization that provides students with a place to practice and perform in an orchestra. They put on a whole concert for us, concluding with excellent piano solos from one of the boys. They repeated how honored they were to have us, as we are their first American visitors, but we all felt pretty unworthy considering we had done nothing to earn the honor of their performance nor do any of us have a strong orchestral background (we seem to be constantly disappointing people in our lack of string-instrument-playing abilities). We then had a meet and greet (supplemented by black tea, biscuits, and samosas). All of us Colby students were feeling pretty exhausted from the constant and new social interactions and because many people hadn't slept well.
We took a group picture, headed back to King Thai, got a ride back to the drop off points, and walked back home. Along the way, Agnes asked me to teach her some Spanish--she picked up on it so quickly! Once home, I was offered (and couldn't deny) black tea. It is so good, it's unreal. They add black pepper to it and it is amazing. I then taught Agnes more Spanish and Siphora did my nails; I was told Halloween-orange is an excellent color for me. (On the topic of which, everyone is still complimenting me to no end. I've been told my eyebrows are pretty, my cheeks are cute, my hair is a nice color and that the whole village loves that I speak some Nepali. Some of the other students have told me I'm talked about in their homes--and that they are now expected to speak Nepali too (sorry about that). I've also been told I resemble a famous politician and that I could wear any color (multiple times). It is all so weird.)
Agnes then asked if I wanted to dance and I was down so they played Nepali music in the living room and brought in their parents, who bounded into action, enthusiastically grooving to the beat. Siphora also taught me how to dance to Hindi songs, then I taught them how to dance American-style (kind of, not really) and the family was so enchanted. We said prayers afterwards then had a scrumdiddlyumptious dinner of beef, broth, and noodles. I called it an early bedtime soon after. I can't believe I only have tonight and tomorrow night here! It is going by too fast.
I don't have any complaints here--I am so lucky that this family is letting me stay with them. I really want to give back in a meaningful way, because they've been so generous and I've done absolutely nothing to deserve their kindness. Hopefully in the future, or once back at Colby, I can figure out something. Until then, I'll be brainstorming.
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