Kopila

This is Kopila, one of our suppliers of Tibetan style handmade jewelry.
She started her career with two empty hands and now she is a successful business woman.
I'm always very impressed by people like her!

Here are some examples of the beautiful things she sells:

Best friends

Leya and Eva are truly best friends!
They've been together now for the last two weeks and they love each others company, if not every minute, every other minute.
Watching the old classic The fox and the hound (Micke och Molle)...

... and walking to KL Tower, a shopping mall, to play at the children's playground.

Today Eva will go home for a few days since Leya has to go to school for the coming week, but after that we will hopefully go to Pokhara for a few days vacation over the festival Diwali and the girls will be together again.

Weather change

The monsun season is over for this year, so for the next couple of months I have to listen to soothing rain sound on the phone.
Autumn is here with sunny days and chilly nights. Very pleasant!
With the weather change comes the flu and both Nicholas and I have had fever the last couple of days.
Leya and Eva, who has been to Eva's dad's home village for the last couple of days, came home yesterday and they are both healthy and full of energy.

Dashain celebrations

Yesterday and today are the main days of the longest, most important festival in Nepal.
Yesterday was the big animal killing day, which I'm definately against. Apparently our landlord killed a goat downstairs, but thankfully we stayed in all day so we didn't know anything about it.
Today Nicholas and I went to Hyatt for the lunch buffet. Yummy!

In the evening we got the traditional tikka and the very important grass behind the ear, at our landlord's huge party.
All women were dressed in their nicest red saris and the men were playing cards.

Baby gecko

Yesterday when I was lying in bed, watching TV on the computer, I felt something crawl on my arm.
To my big surprise it was a baby gecko and I screamed so loud that I probably woke up the whole house.
I think geckos are cute, but I don't like them on my body.
Nicholas only replied that a gecko is nothing. A few weeks ago he had a huge cockroach running up his leg. I agree. That is much worse!

The face of a fighter

When we came home from town the other day we found Angel like this.
She has probably been fighting with the neighbor's dog again. They truly hate each other!
We need a dog whisperer to solve this problem.

Dashain shopping

Today I had a few errands to run in the local market and it was nerve vrecking, to say the least.
It's like Swedish Christmas shopping times 100 with much more people in much more narrow streets.
In a few days the streets will be empty though. Locals say that about 80 % of the population in Kathmandu will leave the valley to go to their home villages.

Mom Sweetie, Tara and the baby

The other day I ran in to Mom Sweetie, Tara and Tara's baby, who is soon 2 years old.
She is so shy that she even refuses to look at me.
Nani, means baby girl, is so cute and I guess I look really scary to her.

Last day in school

Today Leya celebrated Dashain in school with song and dance.
No program for the parents, I'm sad to say, but we've seen her practise the dance for the last week, so we are fine.
Leya had her Swedish colored lengha choli and here we are waiting for her school van, that was late this morning.

Now she will have holiday for 2,5 weeks and on Saturday she is going with Eva's family to Eva's dad's home village, somewhere in Gorkha.
They were there last year too and it rained and rained, so we hope for better weather this year.

Rain, rain, rain

A couple of days ago Nicholas said the monsun was over. Haha! Boy, was he wrong!
The night after it rained so heavy, and someone forgot to close the terrass door two stairs up from our flat, that it was a flood in our hallway.
No worries, the marble floors are great that way.
We just sweeped it donwstairs to our neighbors and then out the door.
Since then it has been raining a lot, but I'm sure they've learnt to close the door upstairs.
Apparently the monsun season is delayed two weeks, so it's possible it will be yet another rainy Dashain festival.

I'm back!

After a long time I'm back!
We had a great month in Sweden and I will, soon I hope, publish the many photos we took.
The, so called, holiday was really busy with a lot of meetings with family, friends and customers all across the country.
So when we finally returned back to Nepal I was pretty exhausted and then we had a lot of work waiting for us.
Well, now I'm back in, both physical and emotional, blog mode.
Today I'd like to share a miracle that arrived the same night we returned back to Nepal.
Suresh, my Nepalese little brother went with us to Sweden, as you all know, and his wife was very pregnant and the delivery date was set to the 10:th of September.
It was a bit risky for him to go, but this was the best chance for him to travel to Europe since it's very difficult for a Nepalese citizen to get the visa.
The same day we returned to Nepal they had a doctors appointment and everything looked fine, but a few hours later the water broke and they had to do an emergency c section and out came this beautiful little boy. Thank God, Suresh came home in time!
Welcome to the world, my little nephew!

Kathrine and Manish

The last few months I've got a new dear friend in Kathrine, a Swedish woman married to Manish, an Indian.
We are emailing each other every other day, writing about our lives and dreams. Just like the old times penpals.
I'm really looking forward to meet them both in Stockholm, where they currently live.
Here you can see the beautiful video Kathrine made to Manish to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.
They are so beautiful!

Sweden here we come!

Today Suresh finally got his visa, so now we have booked the ticket for our holiday in Sweden.
I quick explanation about Suresh. He is one of our best friends here in Nepal and my little brother.
His big dream is to go to Europe and when we said we planned to go to Sweden he asked if he could come.
Of course he could, but the embassy made it difficult with all the documents, personal interview and suprise visit at his work place. But today it was worth all the hassle and he is so happy to come with us.
We are leaving for some heavy shopping in Delhi next Friday and the Monday after we are flying to Sweden via Moscow.
We will be back in Nepal the 27:th of August full of energy from the soothing Swedish nature and our moms' cooking.

Wasstuna Yoga

You are most welcome to visit one of our customers in Rimbo, Stockholm and her newly opened yoga studio.
You find more info and photos here.
She has bought these beautiful door handles from us.

Give blood

Today I ran in to the Red Cross' temporary tent on Asan square and I didn't hesitate for a second to give blood.
I use to give blood in Sweden, but when I started to travel to India I wasn't allowed to give anymore.
In this tent it was easy and quick and I sure will do it again in three months.
They are there every Wednesday and Thursday, if you are in town, willing to help.

Leya and Mansi

We've lived here for one year now and finally Leya has found a friend in the neighborhood.
Here are the new best friends Leya and Mansi.

Ayurveda

I've had headaches for 20 years and I've eaten more medicine than anyone should do.
Three weeks ago the pharmacy declared that it was shortage of my migrain medicine and I panicked. When I get the migrain attachs there is nothing that helps except this medicine.
For days at a time I stayed in bed and if you have headaches you know you're on the verge of insanity when there is nothing you can do to stop it.
By chance, or fate according to me, I happened to wander a street I've never been on before and there was this ayurveda shop.
Just a small, small shop with lots and lots of buckets and plastic bags of mysterious roots and herbs.
In the middle sat a young man and I followed my senses and sat down with him.
It turned out he was an ayurvedic "medicine man" (my words) and the knowledge has transfered down from father to son for generations.
This is Madhu. A 27 year old man with a wish for travelling, but he is stuck in his shop since he has to support his whole family.

Uptil now I've only come across shops selling readymade ayurveda medicine, but Madhu is the real deal.
I told him about the problems with my health and he said he could help me.
At that point I had nothing to loose so I told him to work his magic.
He put together about 20 different herbs and roots with strange names, most of them picked in remote places in the Himalayas.

Then his worker crushed and mixed it all in a big mortar and it was hard work for him.

This is the final powder that I mix with honey, about one teaspoon, morning and evening.

He also gave me a paste that comes from a black stone that is exposed by water, maybe from a waterfall, I can't find any information about it, and I eat a pinch of it every morning.
It's horrible, sticky and tastes like tar.

I hoped this would help, but I had no idea it would help so fast and permanent.
After five days of the daily intake I woke up and felt everything was different. No headache or heavy head since then!
It's a true miracle and I really want to share this with you.
Read more about ayurveda here.
This is ancient medicine based only on natural ingredients and Madhu makes the medicine to each individual's needs.
If you are interested in trying this, please let me know.
Maybe you are like me. You have tried the pharmaceutical options available, but it only ease your symphtoms for a while. Maybe you don't have anything to loose either.
You can eat ayurvedic medicine even if you don't have a medical condition. Just to keep your immune system intact and keep your body and mind in shape.
I can definately recommend Madhu's magic!

Rato Machhendranath festival in Patan

Last year we went to see the Rato Machhendranath chariots when it was standing on the square in Patan, but since a relative of Alina had died, and the tradition says the whole family is not allowed to celebrate anything for one year, we never saw them pull the chariots down the street.
This year we got the chance and since Alina's house is located next to the street where they pulled the chariots we had the perfect view for this intense, crowded event.
Read more about the festival here.

See more photos here.
Here you can see videos:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi is the famous democracy fighter in Myanmar, (former Burma,) who has been in house arrest for 15 years and has won the Swedish Nobel Peace prize.
Read more about this remarkable woman here.
She is in Nepal right now, for a program arranged by B P Thought Academy, named after the Nepalese political legend B P Koirala.

Yesterday we decided to go to Hyatt today and have brunch and I couldn't believe my eyes when we practically ran in to this heroine.
I was completely star struck, but I managed to click one photo.
I sure will remember this special day!
Aung San Suu Kyi is the women in the white and pink dress.

Gary

Our customer and friend Gary has come to check out Nepalese clothes for his shop.
His homebase is New York, but he lives in Cambodia, the new Thailand for expats, for tourists who wants to live the luxury life next to the beach and for backpackers who wants to live and eat cheap.
Today he went to Nagarkot, a small village in the mountains not too far from Kathmandu.

Here you can read more about Cambodia. I must confess I didn't know much about it before I met Gavin.
The beach in Cambodia looks heavenly!

Kevin

We are working with the American Kevin, who has a project where Nepalese women are making t-shirts to earn their own money.
Read more about his fine work here.

New road

Finally they are putting asphalt on the road outside our house. It's been so dusty in dry weather.

Puja in our house

We've had a puja, a religious ceremony in our house.
The landlord honored his dead father with a 24/7 loud puja, when they sang the same melody over and over again day and night.
They borrowed one of our rooms for the Brahmin priests and of course they used our toilet too.
After 32 hours we were almost insane from hearing the music and since the priests didn't know how to flush the toilet we decided to escape to a hotel.
They had transformed the drive way to a temple.

In this hole, they made for this occasion, there was a fire burning the whole week.

Here you can see and hear 2 minutes. We could take 1920 minutes before we moved.
And this is our toilet after it's been used by priests for a week. Not very nice.

New glasses

Leya needed new glasses and I must say it's not very expensive here.
Only 20 USD/150 kr to make this pretty face even prettier.

Kitty company

When I had lunch in town this little cute cat joined me for some chicken.

Before I knew it she had jumped up next to me to be closer to the food.

She took a power nap and when she realized the food was finished she trotted of to the next animal lover.

Bank account

When you open a bank account in Sweden you only have to show your id card. The banks are practically begging you to open an account in their bank.
Here it's a different story.
All the forms were in Nepali, I had to write down my father's and mother's name and passport numbers, I had write down all Nicholas indormation and even my dead grand father's name, lucky I didn't need his passport numer too, I had to write down all the contact information to our landlord, draw a map to our house and sign four times in the same page so they can compare my signs when I'm withdrawing money.
Of course this is very strange to me, but I had two heroes with me. Suresh did all the paper work and talked to the bank staff and Suresh' friend came along to recommend me as a current account holder in the bank.
Since I know all the hassle with the visa applications I didn't think I would get the account without some additional fuss, but the day after Suresh could go to the bank and pick up my check book.
In about 45 days I will get an ATM card, but before then I have to use the checks.
I remember when my parents used checks when I grew up. It feels like ages ago and getting the check book in my hand was a major flashback.
I'm so happy to have my own bank account in Nepal!
I could never have done it without these guys!

Super arm

This is an instant post directly from the bed. It's 12.31 am and everyone is sleeping.
This is my favorite time of the day when I can listen to 80's music in my head phones and surf around the web for inspiration.
The reason why I'm writing today of all days, right now, is because Nicholas just said something hilarious in his sleep.
He speaks at this time almost every night, but he usually mumbles so I can't understand a single word of what he is saying.
Tonight was a different story. He said it in Swedish, but I will translate it for you:

8 hours super arm.
You get it ever day.
8 hours super arm.
You get it from this god.
Don't you get it?
It's time to charge the arm.

The reason why I heard him through the nostalgic tunes was because he was shaking his arm frenetically while talking.
I love my husband so much! 13 years together and he can still make me laugh. Especially when he's asleep.

Happy Buddha Purnima!

Yesterday we enjoyed the kids at Leya's school's first parents day.
Leya said a few lines, she sang, played keyboard and danced.
She loved being on stage, so hopefully it wasn't the last time.
Click here to see more photos.
They were so cute!

Leya's new dress

Tomorrow it's parents day at school so Leya got a new dress and shoes.
She wanted an orange dress, but marron is also one of Buddha's "colors".
The kids are going to preform a tribute to Buddha's birthday.
We are very excited to see her first school show.
She has some lines she will say to us parents and the children will sing and dance.

Guess the plant ...

The summer has arrived in full speed. Better late than never, as some may say.
For me it's just too hot. 30 degrees more or less, but I shouldn't complain.
In Sweden I know people are longing for the summer with only 12-15 degrees today.
Can you guess what plant this is?
We've had it for a few months and when I bought it it had big red, beautiful flowers.
For awhile I almost gave up since it looked so bare and boring, but now it's starting to come alive again.

Yes, it's a Poinsettia, also known as Christmas star.
So, now you know you don't have to throw them out after Christmas.

Happy birthday Buddha!

Today it's Buddha's birthday and it's celebrated with a national holiday here in Nepal.
In Tibetan Buddhism Buddha is sometimes painted in a dark blue color, the same blue as the stone lapis lazuli.
Since the Tibetan Buddhism is a big part of Nepal you can find a lot of the blue Buddha, also known as Medicine Buddha since the lapis has a history of healing, here.