Goom-nay

The city of Kathmandu where we live is full of people and culture and often seems like a HUGE city but the actual city itself is only about 8 miles across (with about 2 million+ people in it). Every once in a while I get a real desire to get out of the city life and see something different and be able to smell fresher air and see open land. I had a day like this yesterday so I asked Ryan if we could just load up in the car and drive out of town. There is a word for this in Nepali...it is "goom nay" which basically means going here and there with no specific plans. We had a great time doing this. An American friend of ours came with us and we just started driving. We are actually in the middle of a 10 day Hindu festival called 'Dashain' (we mainly work and interact with Tibetan Buddhist people who live in Nepal so I am still learning about all of the different Hindu festivals). On one of the main days of Dashain the Hindu people offer animal sacrifices (usually a goat) to the gods for atonement for their sins. Needless to say we saw SO many goats (and other animals) around. We drove for about 45 minutes and we came to the end of the drivable road. We were turning around in this little village when the people came up to our car and started saying, "Namaste" to us and then one of the leaders of the village asked us to stay and have a cup of tea with them. Nepali people are generally really hospitable, warm, friendly people. We told him that we would love a cup of tea and so we got out of the car and spent some time hanging out and talking with the people. It was good language practice because none of the people spoke English. At one point a guy drove up on a motorcycle who is a teacher at the local school and he offered to translate for us but we decided to just keep practicing without translation. It went really well and thankfully my friends Nepali is better than mine. Of course everyone loved Keane and Gracie and kids came from all over to see them and play with them. The "vice president" of the village bought Keane and Gracie and ice cream cone and of course they LOVED that. The village was also constructing a swing made from tall bamboo stalks (they make these swings every year at festival time) and we were amazed by it....men were climbing up it in bare feet to construct it. Before we left we were able to give the VP a Bible in his own language. He seemed very happy to receive it and welcomed us back at any time...he even wanted us to stay for dinner but we had to get back to put Keane and Gracie to bed. All in all, it was a wonderful day full of some very scenic sights, a lot of animals (which Keane and Gracie loved to look at, especially the monkeys (which they don't sacrifice but just seem to be everywhere!)) kind and friendly people and some fresh air!

These are the 'tika' powders. Hindu people give 'tika' or receive 'tika' as a blessing from different family members and spiritual leaders throughout the year. The tika powder is placed in the middle of the forehead. During this festival the elders of the family give 'tika' to the younger family members.