Cute shock!

In Sweden tabloids love to use the term cute shock and here is a perfect example of a street dog and her two puppies.

Swedish ginger cookies

Yesterday it was the Swedish festival Lucia and Nicholas' 42:nd birthday.
Leya and Nicholas made Swedish ginger coookies, a cookie we eat the whole December and only then.
You can watch Leya in action here.

Before the oven...

Yummy!

They also made this cute gingerbread house.
I think it looks like the police station shed in Meiphi, where we lived before.
Lizzie stole the whole house and brought it to our bed and miraculously it didn't break. Maybe because they built it with real super glue. I promise no one will eat it.

Christmas market

There are a few Christmas markets in Kathmandu during December and I can really recommend the one at Hyatt.
It was big, outdoors in the garden and there were many new things we haven't seen before.
We bought these decorations in mixed colors and sizes for our Christmas tree. They are made by burn victims and a part of the money supports a hospital for burn victims.

They had made really cute gingerbread houses.

We took a break, had something to eat and just enjoyed the atmosphere.

When we came home we decorated our Christmas tree, something Leya has been longing for.

Repair

In Sweden you throw away broken electronics, unless you have a handyman in your family, and I think it's a shame. But it's what makes the world go around these days. Shopping, I mean.
Here it's easy to leave the things at a repair shop and so we did with our halogen heater and the stereo.
To buy a new heater we'd have to pay 15 USD (110 kr) and a new stereo is about 30 USD (220 kr). The repair charge was 7 USD (50 kr), so we saved some money. A sum we wouldn't even reflect on in Sweden, but here it's different.
Apparently a rat had crawled inside the stereo and shewed of some cables.

Garden of Dreams

Finally we got around to visit the tourist spot Garden of Dreams. It's a peaceful place in the middle of the town.
People go there to relax and a lot of young couples seem to go there to get to know each other, before marriage or in secret, if the love is not accepted by their families.
Read more about the garden here.

Leya loves to swing!

Buddha boy

For some reason I've completely missed the Buddha boy, but since our friend Lee has gone to the Bara (also the number 12 in Nepali) district to try to find him, I've searched for information about him.
I found this documentary, click here, and I must say that Ram Bahadur Bomjon is a fascinating boy, or man nowadays.
The documantary was filmed a few years back when there still was a civil war going on here in Nepal and it ends with a cliffhanger.
If you want to see a more recent film, click here.
You can clearly see that this man is not profeting from his unusual personality, like other gurus that have their own TV channels and fancy cars, and he is suffering a lot from the attention that he's trying to avoid by disappearing from time to time.
At first I felt he was sort of numb, but watch him when he try to talk about the animals. I couldn't help but shed a tear.
It's rare to see such a pure soul these days.
When it all started.

A more recent photo.

SACC meeting in Kathmandu

This week we have some prominent guests visiting Nepal.
It's a SACC meeting with politicians from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who are here to discuss peace and prosperity.
How are we effected by this meeting?
1. They have painted walls and put concrete on the roads in two days, when it normally takes up to a year. At least the visable walls and roads are repaired.
2. The kids are free from school. We got the information only the day before, something we would never accept in Sweden, but luckily we can plan our work around Leya's needs.
3. The traffic is a hilarious part in this drama. Every other day vehicles with even numbers are allowed to drive and every other day the ones with odd numbers on the license plate can drive. How the police can stop them is another story.
4. Yesterday I went to the shopping mall to do grocery shopping and that wasn't a smart move since there were no taxis. So I had to use my Nordic muscles and carry it all the way home.
5. There are no power breaks for 5 days which should keep our guests and the 500 journalists happy. Even though the guests are staying at Hyatt and I guess the 5 star hotel never have any power breaks.
To see the road this empty is a bit scary, but in a few minutes they came driving. You can see it in motion here.

Book club

My mom and I love to read books, so now we have started a book club.
When we've finished reading a book we discuss it over Skype.
The November book is Canada by Richard Ford.

THE birthday party

I think we all remember how exciting it was waiting for the birthday when we were kids.
Actually I still do. One of my grandmoms died young, two months before I was born and my mother use to say that we should be grateful for every year we live and the birthday is an excellent day for celebrations.
Leya was super excited about her 8:th birthday and this year we had the party at a kid's center so they could play and have fun.
The favorite kids' food here in Nepal is momo, so that was a must.

This is momo, if you haven't heard about it before.

Nepalese style birthday parties start with the cake, but we did it Swedish style with the cake after the food.

This party light was a hit.

We had also made some gifts for Leya's friends.

It was a great day and Leya was very happy, but tired at the end of the day.
We finished her birthday cuddled up in bed talking about the day she was born. Sweet memories!

Pre-birthday party

Eight years ago, this evening, we went to hospital to give birth to our lovely Leya and today we had a pre-party at Hyatt with Eva, her best friend and sister.

Lee and Zaya

Yesterday we met the sweet couple Lee, from Singapore and Zaya, from Mongolia.
We got in contact via a mutual Indian friend and a few days ago they arrived in Kathmandu.
They are on a Buddhist pilgrime journey and today they left for Lumbini, where Buddha was born.
We took them to Boudhanath, one of the world heritage Buddhist sites.

Shopping in Thamel is a must when you come to Nepal.

Farmer's market

Yesterday was Leya's free day, so we decided to go to a farmer's market we've heard about, but first we stopped by this bunch of puppies.
One of the female dogs in our neighborhood had 8 puppies. 8 puppies!
I wonder what will happen to them. Right now they are staying inside a local restaurant.

This farmer's market is specialized on expats living in Nepal and we've wanted to go here for some time.
Since it's located close to Thamel, where we do most of our work, we don't feel like going there on Saturdays, but I'm glad we finally did.

Brunch: a sandwich, Belgian waffles and lemonade.

We ran in to this happy Swedish couple, who are teaching here for a few months.
They were selling Swedish candy and chocolate balls to support sport and music projects, so of course we wanted to help.

Strange, but fun, to see Swedish signs.

We bought a mug and some fridge magnets to support a dog shelter, run by a couple of sweet British ladies and multigrain bread, fresh and creamy goat cheese and a Brie cheese made by an actual French guy. Yummy!

A working day in Kathmandu

I guess it's difficult to understand how we work, so I've made a photo diary of a typical working day.
You can see the album here.
This day started with a walking breakfast ...

Hammarby football

Nicholas is truly passionate about one thing in life and that is his Swedish football team Hammarby and thanks to internet he can watch the games here in Nepal.
Yesterday they played the most important game this season and they won with 5-0 and moved up to the top series Allsvenskan.
You can see some amazing photos here from the celebrations in Stockholm last night.
I know Nicholas wanted to be there with his brother and friends, but I guess he will be alright flying around on his pink cloud of happiness here in Nepal.

Sweden

I've finally come around to make the photo album of our trip to Sweden.
You are welcome to see it here.
I've put a lot of effort in placing the photos in order, but Facebook seems to have scrambled them. I hope they will solve the problem, otherwise it's difficult for you to get an idea of what we did and when.

Vacation

A vacation in the mountains is a great treat for both body and mind.
This time we stayed at the Hotel at the end of the Universe.

We had this cute little cottage all to ourselves.

The first evening we were hit by a hail rain and the girls had never seen anything like it.

The next morning the sun was shining from a clear blue sky and we had a pleasant time in the little garden. You can see that they dry the hotel laundry on the hedge.

Wednesday it was the dogs' day, so they had a special ceremony.

Even Lizzie, who of course came with us on this trip, got a tikka and a flower necklace, but we had to remove the necklace since the bees were chasing her.

A nice walk to the tiny village center and we were accompanied by this breathtaking view.

At the top of the universe they have built a Shiva temple.

Super cute girls!

Today we came back to Kathmandu for some hands on celebrations with our Nepalese family, Mom Sweetie and the rest of the gang.

Himalayan aphrodisiac

A friend sent me this article about the yarsagumba, that is more expensive than gold. Crazy!
Read the article here.
I wonder how they came up with the idea to start eating it in the first place, about 5000 years ago.
This is the most expensive, Grade A, yarsagumba. Strange little caterpillar-fungus thing.
I have contacts if someone is interested.

Nagarkot

Tomorrow we are taking the girls for a few days vacation up in the mountains.
We use to go to Pokhara for Diwali, but since Leya has had the flu we had to postpone the trip for a few days and Nagarkot is just two hours away from our home.
Nagarkot is located high up in the mountains and we long for the silence of the nature and the fresh air.
I don't know why, but I love snowy mountains. In a distance, I must add.

Cute dogs at Boudha

Yesterday Leya and I went to Boudhanath to shop some malas and Tibetan and Bhutanese incenses.
When we had a fika, it's a Swedish word for taking a break and have a drink and eat something light, like a pastery, our dog friends came and wanted some of our delicious brownies.
As you can see Leya is really popular.
First one dog, who we have named Tiger.

Then two dogs. Busifer (means naughty guy) joined him.

Then three dogs. The light nougat one who we have named Naan (as in naan bread).

Finally Busifer demanded full attention.