Nepal #1

Our first day in Nepal turned out to be filled with many new friends.  It didn't appear that the local village saw many white children before so we were quite the celebrities.  It helped that we were next door to the local soccer field, so we were easily spotted by the youth.  The longer we stayed the more brave they became.  It was such fun meeting everyone.

A lot of the Nepali people had a little training in English.  The children that went to public school were pretty weak in English but the private school children were very well spoken.

We joined the local soccer game, and the children had a great time laughing at our inability to play soccer.  Of course they had all been playing since they could walk and could run and kick effortlessly without any shoes at all.  We even had a chance to show them some fun "American" games that they had never seen before.

There were many makeshift vehicles that traversed the road.  This one that is essentially a rototiller with a trailer attached to it, was one of our favorites.  It was a quite a work horse and we saw them everywhere.

Two of the beautiful girls in the neighborhood

Goats and the constant honking of horns, frequented the street.

The neighbor boy, Avikur, was one of our most frequent 

visitors.  He was a pleasant delight to have around.

We took a tour of the local village and people had begun to start construction on the houses that fell during the earthquake of April 2015.  Here are some laborers that were digging footings for a foundation.  All of the dirt was moved out by hand woven baskets.  It looked like back breaking work and it was done by women primarily.  We rarely saw wheelbarrows.  I would imagine because they cost money and baskets were free to make from bamboo.

One of the local small temples with sheaves of wheat stacked in front of it.  It was the season to harvest wheat and we saw many people harvesting wheat by hand.

Here is an example of a house after the earthquake.  These half destroyed and completely unsafe buildings were everywhere.  Many were still being used to some degree.   

We saw many people that had created shelters out of materials donated after the earthquake.  This particular house (kitchen above and one room below) was made from sandbags, and once the sandbags were set in place concrete was set on top of it to hold it in place.  It was an ingenious idea. and quite cozy for this individual.  The entire structure was maybe 20 feet by 15 feet.

Kari decided to take a picture of their raw sewage that the composted to be used for fertilizer later.

A red smear at the top of the forehead means that they have been to pray at the local shrine that morning.  A red dot or tikka, in between the eyebrows means married, as does the read beaded necklace.  Tessa quickly befriended another girl.  I guessed by their similar toothy smiles that they were the same age.  It's great to be 8.  The grandmother (above) and granddaughter, (below) belong to the same fairly wealthy family.  Before the earthquake they had a large brick home.  Now, over a year later, they live in temporary bamboo, tin, and brick structures and use what is left of the house as a barn for their animals.  They were all smiles though, and kind enough to share some grapes and apples with our kids.

The people of the local village Lanagol were very kind to us.  Most of them are related.  The village consists of roughly 40 families and luckily there was only one fatality in the earthquake.

Everyone in the village works for their own benefit.  This lady was not related to anyone in the family and did not have sons or family to share in her work.  As you can see, they work as long as they are able, she is 72 years old.

Max is always good to try to engage the local people with a friendly "Namaste" and a smile.

A local family was kind enough to invite us to visit them in their house.  It was so kind.  They lived in  a one bedroom house with 4 people and ate their meals on the floor.  They were so generous with what they had.