Update from Kathmandu Part 1

It has been only 6 days since I have been in Nepal and I have already lost count of the days and the date, I guess this is what holiday means in a real sense. The last few days have been busy trying to prepare for my nephew’s pasni which is next week.

Look at him so cute with my sunnies 🙂

For women, preparation means buying clothes and accessories to wear at the party. From the second day I landed in Kathmandu that is all I have been doing.

On day 2, I went shopping with my MIL and hubby to buy sari and kurta to wear here. I have to admit, it is really expensive to buy anything these days. If something is nice, it is priced so high that I have to think twice before buying it. We went to many shops and spent almost half the day before I was finally able to buy few Saris to wear for party. Here are some of the saris I loved. Let me know if you liked them too. 🙂

Visiting my grandparents in law

One evening, I went to visit my grandparents in law with my MIL, FIL and hubby. My hubby is lucky to have both of his grandparents still around. It is always nice to meet older people. Grand dad is 94 years old and grand mum is 89.

After talking with them for a while, we came to the topic of babies; one of AS’s cousins just gave birth to a baby girl recently and she is the fourth baby girl in the family. So his grandparents also want us to have a baby as soon as possible and a boy too at that.

I have to admit, his grand dad is really active and alert for his age with sharp hearing and active mind. His grand mom can’t hear clearly but she is also active and alert.

We will be meeting them more often while we are here.

Meeting my Grandma

I have only one grand parent remaining and she is my mum’s mother. I really wish I could see her more often and talk to her on the phone but she is 80 years old so it is hard to keep in touch with her when I am in Australia. Every time I visit her, she showers me with love. I went to visit her with my hubby , my mum and my SIL. Here is a picture of us with my grandma and my mom.

It is so nice to see grandma so proud of me. She always praises me that I did well in life and she is so happy to see our success.

I feel so sad to be so far away from all my family. She always cherishes our visits and is so happy to see us every time.

My parental grandma has passed already and I really miss her.

Meeting my little niece

One of my cousin sisters just had a baby girl so I went to visit her. The baby is only 1.5 months old and she is so cute.

The time after having a baby is so different in Nepal compared to Australia. My SIL went through very different routine after she had my nephew but my cousin is going through very different routine.

She has to eat rice with ghee, chaku (molasses ) four times a day so she has put on at least 20 kgs. Also they have someone coming to give oil massage to her and the baby in sun everyday so both have become very dark. New moms are also not allowed to anywhere outside for at least three months after having a baby so my cousin is going to miss my nephew’s pasni too. Whereas in Australia I have seen new moms coming shopping with babys as small as a few days old.

The custom in Nepal is so different from that in the west.

My routine in Nepal

I am at my new home (AS’s home) right now so I kind of have a routine. Every morning I wake up around 6:30 (my MIL wake up around that time so) and freshen up. Then I go to the kitchen where MIL will be either doing her morning exercise or getting ready to cook breakfast for everyone. I bow to her in greeting and then I help her in the kitchen until breakfast is ready and have breakfast.

In Nepal, a buhari (DIL) should bow to her MIL or FIL every morning as a sign of respect so every morning when I see my MIL of FIL for the first time I bow to them and get their blessings.

Then it will be time to cook dal bhaat tarkari (lunch) so I cut the meat/ vegetables when the help goes to school otherwise just stay in the kitchen and help MIL. My MIL cooks most of the things but I help her. She is teaching me lots of techniques and I am glad to learn them. I will share a few recipes when I can.

Today I baked chocolate cupcakes for the family and I am glad everyone liked it. It came out a bit different than in Sydney due to load shedding as the power went off towards the end of the baking time. I need to check the timetable for the power cuts before planning any meals. I can’t use the microwave or the oven when there is no electricity.

Normally during the afternoons, we go to visit someone or go shopping and be back home by 6pm as it gets dark by that time. So far things are going good.

Next week is my nephew’s pasni so I hope to have lots of fun.

Will keep you posted.

Also nothing happened 0n 21.12.2012 as predicated so have a great Christmas everyone.