Category Archives: Personal

Nappy Cake

As I have written before there are many kids around us right now. Recently a friend of mine had a baby girl and it added to a long list of kids my friends and family have.

Anyway, we are invited to the nwaran of this baby and I did not know what to get her. Finally I decided to do a nappy cake and with the help of AS I was able to do this.

It took a few attempts and I took the help of YouTube video but it was very easy and I am glad with the end result.

nappy cake for girl

To make sure the nappy cake stands tall, we used a cardboard roll in the middle. I also used blankets and baby dress I had bought in the middle of the bottom layer so I used fewer nappies to make the circle.

nappy cake

As it is a girl, I decorated it with a pink ribbon and a flower made out of the ribbon.

I didn’t documents each step as I wasn’t sure about how it would end up but I will be doing this again next time if anyone of my friends or family will has a baby as it is super easy and looks really nice.

Please share you tips and tricks for my next attempt 🙂

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Happy Weekend

I am loving the weather in Sydney for the last few days, it’s been over 25oC and just amazing to be out and about.

On Friday after work, I was Skyping with my parents when AS returned home from work. I was on Skype for another 30 minutes before I finished talking with my parents. As soon as I was done, I wanted to go to the kitchen to make tea for us but as I was about to do so, I saw AS coming with a tray with tea and cakes. When he put the tray down, I was even happier to see a red rose on the tray. It was a nice surprise and I was touched. As I always believe little things definitely helps a lot and it definitely helped to lift my mood, and that is how I started the beautiful weekend.

spoiled

On Saturday, I wanted to go for my morning run but as I was coughing the whole night I decided against it and instead watched Downtown Abbey until AS woke up. When he did, he asked me to rest and cooked me a nice warm breakfast in bed. He is really looking after me so well that I feel so spoiled. We stayed home most of the day enjoying each other’s company, talking and planning our life.

Later in the afternoon after lunch, he ran me a bubble bath so I could relax. Since my sickness, I am feeling tired and my body feels weak so it was a good way to unwind and relaxed my body and my mind too. We went for a walk in the evening just to enjoy the fresh air.

On Sunday, we woke up early and went to IKEA for breakfast and quick shopping before coming home to change and attend our friend’s birthday party. She served us an amazing hotpot for lunch and it was a perfect weather to enjoy the food and company.

hotpot (3) hotpot hotpot (1) hotpot (2)

They also had lemon and orange in their garden so I picked some for the first time in my life. It was so much fun.

lemon tree

Hope all of you had a great weekend too and happy Monday everyone.

Take care ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Sick season

I feel like I’ve been away for a long time but I know it’s been just a week. I was sick with bronchitis and in bed and had no energy to write. I came back to work on Monday after a week and I am feeling great.

I think I haven’t been very sick for a while now (touch wood), I think the last one was the one after my visit from USA (my scare thinking it as swine flu) but this time it was really bad. It started with flu and cough last weekend and it kept on getting worse with fever and aches and pains.

I have to admit I become really needy when I am sick. I want someone to be around me all the time and poor AS had his hands full looking after me. He was making sure I was resting and at the same time giving me medicine and food.

The first few days, I didn’t go to the doctor but took cold and flu medication and hoped things would go away but after 3 days in bed I finally I decided to go to the doctor. He gave me the news that I have bronchitis and I needed antibiotics. It was a bit of relief because now I knew I could be better in a few days. However, it was not as easy as I thought.

I had a hard time sleeping at nights as my body temperature went up at times and then I was all sweaty next. My body was really weak with regular coughing. After going through this for a few days, I couldn’t help but cry. Poor AS had no idea what to do, as he was tired and sleep deprived as well looking after of me.

I cried because I was sick of being sick, I cried because I wanted to be normal soon as the headache and pain was too much. I wanted to have a good night’s sleep and wake up fresh. Now if I think about it, it feels so silly but at that time I was not thinking straight.

AS would hold me in his arms and tell me that he was there for me always and I will be fine soon. He was trying to make me smile with jokes. Eventually he was successful in calming me down. I am so glad he was with me most of the time. He took a few days off work as well to make sure I was not left alone.

Being so far away from family, you wish that you had them around you when you are sick and down. I was missing my mum a lot during the whole time I was in bed sick. But I am so grateful that AS was there for me. I couldn’t imagine being sick and alone, no one to look after me and no one to talk to.

AS turned into a great chef for the whole time as well and cooked me awesome chicken soup, jaulo (the mixture of lentils and rice cooked in a pressure cooker and mainly served to sick people) for the first few days. When I was bit better he also made me Kale chips which were a great alternative for snacks. Also he prepared kale and chickpeas salad with roast chicken as well as delicious fried rice.

kale chips Kale Salad

I feel ashamed to admit that even though AS was doing his best making great food I was carving for junk food so a few days we had takeaway for dinner.

After this experience, I fully understand when they say, “Health is wealth”. Fingers crossed, I will never be sick again. Being back at work feels so go and I am happy I am getting better, not 100% yet but will get there soon.

Looks like it’s not only me who was sick; for the last few weeks, most of my friends have been sick. My poor little nephew has been sick for a while and now at work a few of my colleagues are off sick as well. So I am calling this season – sick season.

As I keep on saying every time, I hate winter and I now have one more reason to do so. I can’t wait for the next 3 more months to be over so I can relax and enjoy the outdoors again. Till then keep warm and be safe.

Take care ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

When are you thinking of moving to Nepal again permanently?

In one of my post, one of the fellow blogger, asked me the question “When are you thinking of moving to Nepal again permanently? “Many people have asked me this question before and I too have asked myself the same question repeatedly.

If the question was “Are you thinking of moving to Nepal again permanently?” my answers will be definitely YES but I am not sure when.

Initially, I wanted to go there before I turned 40 because I was thinking I will have my life sorted out by then and will have good income to go and live in Nepal with my family. When I used to answer like that lots of people around me told me that things would change in the future and it seems they might have been right because now I am not sure when I will be going and I am sure having a baby and owning a house definitely makes a big difference.

Still, I want to retire there but it is not going to be anytime soon.

I left Nepal initially for study, but it has been more than a decade and in that time I have learned a lot, seen a lot and have done extensive traveling. I have seen many places, tasted different food, met different people and seen different life-styles. However, I remain proud of my roots and I visit Nepal as often as I can. I doubt that that would ever change.

Every time I plan a trip to Nepal, I feel happy thinking of the traditional food, friends to meet, movies to watch and travel.

The first time I visited Nepal my friends were busy and so I really did not get much time to spend with them. Of course, they had their life in Nepal and they couldn’t just drop everything for me just because I was on holiday. I got sick with diarrhoea and vomiting. Three months in Nepal went by so quickly just going to relatives’ homes and a bit of travel.

Since them every time I have been there, the situation was similar or worse because most of my friends were married by then and some even had kids which meant they had lots of responsibilities in their day-to-day life to make time to meet me or entertainment me.

Then I got married and things changed completely because now I had two families to spend time with so I had even less free time for other stuffs like catching up with friends. Every time I visit Nepal, the reality of living in Nepal forever seems harder and harder as things are completely different from what I imagine in my head.

Now we have a mortgage as well which means we are not going anywhere until it is all paid off. So I am sure I will not be moving back to Nepal in my 40s for sure but I am still hoping to retire there. When that will really happen, only time will tell but I definitely want to.

I still have a dream of building our own all Nepali style house with carved wooden doors and windows. I still want a garden with Dhunge Dhara (stone water tap) and lovely view. I still want to wake up to the sound of temple bells . I still want to live in a place where I am not asked “Where are you from?” every day. I still want our kids to know our culture and traditions and be proud of it.

Hope this dream will come true one day.

Please share your story about your decisions of making another country your permanent home. What caused your decision and How did your decision affect you?

Take care ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

I am a student again

After debating with myself for a while, I enrolled for a course. It has been ages since I finished university so I was a bit hesitant, as I knew it is a big responsibility to start studying again but I am so glad I did. I know now I need to adjust to my new routine and the demands of coursework but I should be OK.

I enrolled for Project Management as a part time student and I think it will help me in my current job as well as further my career in the future. This week was my first class and it was amazing to be in a classroom again for a whole day, learning new thing and talking about assignments. We had a workshop for a few hours and it was so surreal to be in a group of people I just met and to do a project plan and talk about different aspects. We already got our first assignment and it is due in a few weeks :).

The teacher we have seems very interesting and very dedicated so it should be a great learning experience. I am sure I will have some story in the coming months as the course runs for a year. Till then wish me luck. I am going back to my first assignment now. 🙂

Take care everyone ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO