1/28/2015

Saraswati puja

Sunday it was Saraswati's day and we were invited to Leya's school to celebrate.
Saraswati is the Goddess of learning, if I simplify it. (Few things about Hinduism is simple).
Read more about Saraswati here.
The staff at the school had made this beautiful decoration for the puja altar.
If you don't have any ties to Asia or Hinduism/Buddhism you might react on the swastika painted on the wall, but in this culture you see it everywhere since it's an important symbol for good luck and prosperity.
Read more about the swastika here.
We gave Saraswati some bananas and oranges.
Leya with her class mates and theachers.
You can see Leya's own Saraswati puja in our house here.

1/24/2015

New furniture

Finally we've come around to update our home. Since Britt-Marie was coming the bank, (read Nicholas), had to open the wallet and spend some money.
I found this gorgeous second hand desk that was four-men-heavy to carry up the stairs and I've painted it in my favorite color lime green.
Our first wardrobe, daraj in Nepali, since we moved from Sweden five years ago.
Don't ask where we've kept our clothes, it's a mystery, but now our clothes can be tucked in just like all the other normal clothes.
I love both the design and color. Not something I can say about all ready made furniture here in Nepal.
We've been thinking about buying a fridge with a separate freezer for some time now and two days ago our old, very small fridge suddenly stopped working.
Wise from earlier experiences we should have checked the cable first, but since we hadn't seen a rat in months it didn't even cross our mind.
Yesterday a guy carried home the new fridge and I'm super happy and grateful to the rat who shewed of the cable of the old one.
We caught the hero/cute/disgusting rat last night and this morning I let it out a few streets away from our house for another house to get a not so welcome visitor.
I still don't understand why the freezer part is at the top here in Asia. In Sweden most of the freezers are at the bottom and I think that makes much more sense.

1/20/2015

Hermes of Paris

Hermes are making woven products here in Nepal and I'd love to share one of the factory's not so high tech tool.
This bright painted upside down turned part of a bike is helping the worker roll threads.

1/19/2015

Grandma is here!

Saturday morning Leya's grandma finally arrived after a long journey from Stockholm via Istanbul to Kathmandu.
She brought Swedish candy, magazines and other typical Swedish things sent by my mom, so we were even happier that she came.
Britt-Marie loves the sun, so a Nepalese winter is preferable to a Swedish one.

1/15/2015

My super brave mother-in-law

Tomorrow my mother-in-law is starting a new exciting adventure.
For five months she will stay with us here in Nepal and we are so happy for all of us and especially for Leya who now gets to have a granma in the house.
For a person like me it's not a big thing to make a decision like this, but for my dear mother-in-law it's a huge matter to take such a life changing step and I think she is so brave!
Britt-Marie you are very welcome to Nepal! See you on Saturday morning!
Here is Britt-Marie with Leya in 2010, when Leya was 3 years old and a little cutie pie.

1/13/2015

Gary's shop in Cambodia

Our friend Gary has finally opened his shop next to the beach in Cambodia.
If the rent is too high for a proper shop this is a great solution!
We really hope his Nepalese things sell well.

1/11/2015

Suresh and Jan & Teo

Suresh is so happy!
He got a visa to USA to participate at a gift fair in Los Angeles.
He applied twice and the second time he was lucky with his thick bunch of documents that shows he is most likely to return back to Nepal.
Apparently lots of Nepalese people apply for a visa and then stay illegally in USA.
About 200 people apply for a visa to USA every day and about 40 get it.
You can apply over and over again. You just have to pay about 160 USD/1300 kr every time.
I guess they earn a lot of money at the US embassy.


I've got to know the cute couple Jan and Teo who spend their time flying between Nepal, Turkey and USA.
Jan is originally from US Virgin Island and it was very interesting to hear about her upbringing there.
The three islands were originally a Danish territory, so her grand grandparents were Danish jews and she studied in Denmark, but USA bought the islands so nowadays they are US citizens.
Teo is from Turkey. He is a retired member of the parliament and is now assisting his fashion interested wife.

1/09/2015

Eva

There are people working miracles every day and Swedish Eva is one of them.
She and her staff are running two orphanages, she has collected money to educate eight underprivileged women to become nurses with midwife competense and they are working with a small Christian perish that hands out food to 70 street children twice a week.
It takes a lot of heart and hard work to keep this running and Eva is a determent woman who works full time in Sweden, going back and forth to Nepal to keep an eye on things.
Eva's immediate goal is to find a Christian perish that is willing to adopt the small perish here in Nepal for long term support.
If you are a part of a perish or know of a perish that would be interested, please let me know.
You are also welcome to donate money to the organisation that is a Swedish association very well looked after. You can be certain that every cent will be spent in the right place.
The girls, they have focused on girls since they are most likely to be victims of trafficking, were so sweet and polite.
They really loved Lizzie!

1/06/2015

Puppy

The day before Christmas we gave our home to a gorgeous, yellow colored puppy who lived in our street.
She was not a part of a group and had nowhere to go when it was cold. It simply broke my heart!
Mom Sweetie came by one day and she said she could take her.
Yesterday we went to the vet for her injections.
Then we took a taxi to our old house.
Fingers crossed this adoption works out!

1/01/2015

Happy Holidays!

The last week I've been extra grateful for the love we have for each other. When times are tough it takes a strong family not to break down.
No worries! There have been neither an earthquake, well there was a tiny one a few days ago, or a flood rushing through our house.
Let me list the issues and tell the long story short.
It all began on Christmas Eve, the day that is our main day for celebrations, according to Swedish traditions:

1. The gas for the stove finished at lunch time. Luckily Nicholas had made all the food the day before, so we didn't feel panic until the gas store put us on a waiting list since it was gas shortage for about 10 days.
Who did I call, like I always do when everything feels hopeless?
Right. I called my little brother Suresh who saves us at any time of the day.
He actually had an extra tank at home and Christmas Day he came over, but of course it didn't work, so he went for a gas guy that noticed that there was gas that had become runny in the pipe.
He fixed it and left, but when we tried it didn't work.
We called the landlord and half the family came strolling down the stairs with a screwdriver and started to attack the tank, so Nicholas had to stop them, since he feared for his life.
We tried to get the gas guy to come to our house for another four days and it was always: "I will come in half an hour." It was a looong half an hour and it hasn't finished yet.
Monday I heard a man walking around fixing stoves. They walk around the streets making metallic noises with their tools, so it's easy to hear them.
As usual he, we have hired this Indian guy before, cheated us pretty good by changing things that I don't think he had to change. And he brought the parts from our stove with him, so I guess he will brush them, spray them with gold paint and sell them to someone else.
But, when you are desperate you are willing to pay the price.
Five days without the possibility to even boil some water makes a high maintenance Swede crazy.

2. We had super long power breaks during Christmas. 10 hours straight, so even the battery gave up.
It's rather tiresome during the winter with the long power breaks. It's dark, cold and boring!

3. Finally my computer crashed Christmas Eve. I didn't worry that much since I thought a computer guy could save all my important work information and photos and we have my old computer, so I could at least check my email.
Apparently I should have worried because after two days at the computer doctor's intensive care unit everything was gone.
The guy, who I will never let my computer near again, formated the hard drive without asking us. "You didn't pick up the phone", was his reply when I went in to shock after realizing how much this guy's careless actions would affect my life.
When you get a death sentence you want to double check with another doctor. The same goes for a computer.

So I've lost all photos from 2014, but I managed to save some that was published on Facebook and here at the blog.
As usual I have made a diary video for 2014 with Leya and her friends that you can watch here.
At least we are healthy, except sinus infection and flu symptoms, and we have each other! Thank God!
We wish you all a great 2015!