12/31/2011

Happy New Year!

Long time go! But now I'm starting to write again.

We wish you a Happy New Year with photos from the daily walk with Angel in our neighborhood in Delhi.
We have found two adult dogs and a bunch of puppies that Angel loves to play with.

11/21/2011

11/20/2011

Three days of birthday celebrations

Check out my album at Facebook here.

11/17/2011

Hospital

From the travelers guide Lonely Planet:
Bir Hospital (4221119) Government hospital where terminally ill Nepalis come to die; not recommended.
Good to know!

Soap bubbles

Soap bubbles on the roof top on Leya's 5:th birthday.

11/07/2011

Meditation cave

I hope no one is in there, since it's locked from the outside.

Sleeping beauty ...

11/05/2011

Lamp shades

Here in Nepal they have such a beautiful paper lamp shades that you can't find in Delhi.

Waste

The waste workers here in Nepal have a heavy and difficult work.

10/26/2011

Happy Diwali!

Happy Diwali dear friends all over the world!
Here in Nepal we celebrate the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi.
She stands for wealth, prosperity (both material and spiritual), light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm.
We are doing Puja in Tara's shop. Puja is a ritual when you worship the Goddess, give some money and eat sweets.

10/25/2011

Money attack

We wish!
It was a monkey attack and someone wrote this on a pillar at one of our favorite restaurants, Metro.
Hilarious!

Monkey attack

Monkey attack! 1-0 to Leya!
The monkey had no chance snatching her new bag.Then she borrowed a slingshot and tried to get even, but it was more dangerous for us than the monkeys.

10/24/2011

Pashupatinath temple

We are visiting the temple and river where the Nepalese people are cremating their loved ones.
For us this is very different since, at least in Sweden, death is not a natural part of life.
We seldom talk about death and because of that the sorrow is even worse.
Most people don't even believe in a life after this and because of that the death is very definitive.
When someone dies we have a ceremony in church and then the body is either cremated in a special house with no one present or buried in the graveyard.Leya and I are watching how family and friends are saying their good byes and the temple people are preparing the old woman.At this temple they are not cremating pregnant women or children below the age of five.
Everything is handled very dignifying and even we find the cremation like a part of life.

10/10/2011

Leya Pari Maiya

Just a nice pic of Leya Pari Maiya, that means cutie pie in Nepali.

Pastery

Nepal is truly the heaven of pastery.
Not good for the body, but for the soul!

10/07/2011

David Steele

Leya and our new friend, the Bollywood super star David Steele, brother to Remington Steele.
Bollywood here we come!

10/06/2011

Ritual slaughter

Yesterday it was a huge holiday here and they had some kind of religious slaughter of bulls and goats on a square.
We didn't go because it sounded so awful and that was a wise decision.
Today we met a friend who was there and witnessed it and he's still in shock.
It was like old time hangings when you brought your children, laughing and taking photos.
Awful!

10/05/2011

Information about Nepal

If you are interested in learning more about Nepal please read here.

10/04/2011

Universe

Today it feels much better. I suppose universe has a purpose with our visit here in Nepal.
Leya loves her new green felted hair and red Nepalese shoes.

10/03/2011

Two months

Today we went to the Indian Embassy again and I humiliated myself to some cold hearted Indians.
There is a rule that you have to stay out of India for two months when you extend your Visa, but I thought that we could talk to someone sensible enough that understands that we are providing Indians work and that we are determent to live in India permanent.
If we had been a liability to the society I would have understood their attitude, but we are doing what ever we can to be a part of the community.

Today we are completely devastated and I'm so worried about our dog Angel that has to spend two months in a shelter.

Please if someone of you reading this has any idea of how we can solve this situation, please email me at nero@ilmaofsweden.se.

10/01/2011

Our arrival to Nepal

The plane was a bit late due to bad weather in Kathmandu, but we arrived safely and managed to go to the Indian embassy 1 minute before they closed for the weekend.

The man behind the counter said we have to stay out of India for two months. I know the rules are like that, but we have to go back as soon as possible.
Managed to get an appointment on Monday at 11 am.

We stayed at one hotel last night, but shifted to another that was half the price and at least twice nicer.

9/29/2011

Nepal

In a few hours we are going to Katmandu in Nepal to extend our Visa.
Cross your fingers that everything is going smoothly!

9/27/2011

Biker

There is an old three wheeler in the house shared hallway.
She cycles round, round laughing.

Visitors

Yesterday we got Swedish visitors, Alex, Frida and Kicki.
Nicholas made a pasta dinner and I had bought different pasteries from Wengers for dessert.

School

Yesterday I tried to admit Leya to a public school here in Dwarka Mor, but after the 31:st of July you need permission from the government to admit your kid to school.
I went to the other side of Delhi to meet with the government people of education, but since we are here on tourist Visa they couldn't give us the required papers unless we got OK from External affairs.
Called External affairs on several different numbers, but they couldn't help us.
If we had admitted Leya before the 31:st of July they would admit her without any problems, but now we are stuck in the system.

9/25/2011

Wooden horse

Anyone interested in buying a hand made, shabby chic wooden horse?

9/24/2011

The new flat

Finally we arrived to our new flat in Dwarka Mor and everything was of course a mess.We invested in a second hand red, cool fridge.And an electric stove with oven. A must for a Swede. Hopefully Nicholas will make a lot of cinnamon buns.
Because the stove is standing on marble it is electrifying if we don't wear shoes or stand on a cloth.

Leya and Kalia

Leya and Gabi's baby Kalia, our last evening in the flat in Pahar Ganj.

9/23/2011

Newspaper

When we went to the Anna Hazare meeting Leya ended up in the newspaper.
Cool!

9/19/2011

Kalia

Gabi rescued this little baby Kalia from Friendicoes animal center a few weeks ago.
He is so tiny, but Gabi is his mom now and when he is not eating she is making him a smorgasbord.
But she never invites us to these feasts.
I mean. Smorgasbord is Swedish, yar.

9/14/2011

Christmas

Soon it's Christmas!

Hood shawl

Love this hood shawl. Both practical and nicely designed.

9/13/2011

Visa

In the beginning of October the Visa expires again. This time we are going to Katmandu in Nepal. Exciting!
But they only extend it for three months, so we have to go Sweden over Christmas.
I hope we can afford it.

9/09/2011

Water colours

Leya is doing water colour painting and she loves it!To mummy!

Wood block prints

Today we went to the old man's wood block warehouse.
You can buy wood blocks on Gabi's website here.

9/08/2011

Beads

Gabi was like a kid in the candy store in the bead shop at Turkman gate.

Dog leashes

One of the animal shops at Connaugh Place are selling my recycled dog leashes.
I hope the customers like them.

9/07/2011

New flat

In two weeks we have to leave our flat, so we have decided to move to Dwarka Mor, about 35 minutes with the metro from where we live now.
We really liked this flat, but it needs some painting.Here we have a possibility to make a outdoor space. Something we have missed.

9/06/2011

Photo shoot

Yesterday Leya had a photo shoot all day long.
The kids were so great!
The label and the clothes are a secret until the end of October.

9/04/2011

Photot shoot

Tomorrow Leya are going to shoot winter jackets for a kids catalog.

9/03/2011

Swedish newspaper

A Swedish newspaper are going to write about our life in India compared to Sweden, so we sent them this photo of our family.

Rodeo

Went to the Mexican buffet restaurant Rodeo at A block at Connaugh Place and we just loved, loved it!

9/01/2011

Anna Hazare

The other day Leya and I went to the area where Anna Hazare was hunger striking against the corruption in India.
Anna is a simple man without family prepared to die for the cause, 74 years old and has worked as a social worker.
Leya and I dressed upp in the colours of India, green, orange and white and we got a lot of attention since we seemed to be the only foreigners there.
Hundreds of people took our photo and Leya even ended up in the newspaper.
I was interviewed by a TV channel and it felt important to be there and give him our support.
The bill is now accepted, if I'm not misinformed, but I'm skeptic.
The importance with this bill is that even the premiere minister and his entourage can face charges if they are bribed, but we just have to wait and see.

Greed is the one of the sins that is going to ruin the human life.

8/31/2011

Parvati Valley

After we closed the cafe we decided to take a vacation in the mountains and that was a very bad decision.
Rain, cold and hours and hours of power breaks.
For a few days we tried to stay at a guesthouse in the mountain village Kalga, but that was too much for us city people.
I managed to snap this photo during two minutes of sun shine.Then we stayed a few days in Kasol, since the road was closed because big rocks had fallen on the only road there.
But Leya and I did some nice shopping and ate good food so it was OK.It was actually a disaster vacation and it got even worse when Leya poured half a bottle of water in to my laptop, so it died forever.