I had been confused by the number of siblings she seemed to have, and certainly there were lots of kids around the house. One of the older sisters explained to me that this was a home for orphans – which explains the 16 kids living there! It seemed like a very nice place, with all of the kids being put through school, and well looked after. We watched some Harry Potter on TV (in English) then sat out on the balcony in the sun to chat. Chatting consisted of me trying to say things in Nepali, with much help from a couple of the older kids who spoke English reasonably well. We also sang some choruses together, from the Nepali-English book I was given in class. It was fun.
When I finally said it was time for me to go, the three oldest (teenage) girls asked if they could come see where I lived. So I brought them back with me, and we hung out together with Roz at our place. We showed them our house, pictures of our families, and fed them cookies, then wondered what to do next. I asked them if they knew any card games (thinking that would be a good non-language-intensive thing to do). They didn't, but instead taught us some more active games (a duck-duck-goose-like game) and some songs with actions and dancing. It was fun to join in, until they then demanded that Roz and I show them a dance of ours. We managed a bit of a waltz around the room, then resorted to songs that we knew with actions, to side track them from making us dance more! All together, there was much giggling, and it was really fun.
Eventually we had to suggest that it was time for them to leave – we don't know if we were horribly rude according to Nepali culture, or if it was ok. The students have been out of school because of strikes the last few days, and they suggested that if there were still strikes tomorrow (Sunday) that we could hang out together again. Both of us were a little stressed to have made such enthusiastic friends – it's lovely, but we're not sure how it will evolve, and how to be friends in the Nepali culture. We want to spend time with them, but probably not as much time as they would like, and we don't want that to be a problem. Some of it is just the Nepali relaxed attitude to time and activities rubbing up against our more western sense of needing to have control over our schedule. I'm sure it'll work out fine, and I do look forward to continuing to get to know them as I can speak more Nepali.
We also were invited today to a wedding on Monday! Our language teacher Basu is getting married here in Pokhara. Apparently 2 days notice is a lot for invitations to Nepali weddings. I guess it needs to be somewhat flexible, since his wedding has been delayed at the last minute twice since we arrived, due to a birth in her family, and a death in his. There are very specific rules about how long required for mourning/celebration, before the wedding can happen. (Friday he mentioned that there was another older relative in his family that he hoped didn't die before Monday.) It'll be a Hindu wedding, which should be really interesting, and it gives me an opportunity to wear the fancy kurta I had made. I'll definitely take lots of pictures!
2 comments:
I sure hope no one dies so you can go to the wedding! Your post made me nostalgic for kids endlessly playing in my living room... and then I remembered how tiring that gets :) I hope you find the right balance!
Ah, it was so sweet to hear about you befriending the kids! And really special that they are from the orphanage - what an opportunity! But also I can understand your trepidation - however, given their situation, any time you can give them I am sure will be quite welcome.
Befriending young girls reminds me of how Jerome and I are now treated, since we now have Cayley with us - girls of all ages flock to see the little baby! It can be quite amusing (and a good way to pass the time, waiting at the doctor's and such).
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