We brought Halloween to Nepal and the Kopila kids trick or treated for the first time!

We spend all day preparing costumes and haunting our rooms. Jeff painted everyone’s faces and Maggie worked on getting the treats together. After hours of prep we were all ready to go.

The kids broke up into groups of 6 or 7 and went from room to room including; Jeff, Maggie, Uncle Ed, Grandfather, and mine, to trick or treat. Not only did they receive candy from each room, but they got a little scare as well….. Uncle Ed dressed up like a scary man with a hook in hand !! I was even scared to go to his room.

Overall it was a huge success and the kids loved it. Check out our costumes and let me know what you think. I would say best Halloween party I have ever been too!

Day at the river….

We spend the most amazing day yesterday playing in the sun at the river. You wouldn’t even believe how beautiful this river was. I will show you pictures, but I’m sure it won’t fully grasp the beauty. The water was freezing, but we all swam for hours anyways. Maggie, Ed, Steve, Tope and I went across the draw bridge with a couple others. It was a little scary. You wonder… Who built this and is it going to stay up? Along the way we came along a spider…one of many in this place, check it out and say for yourself if you think it’s a killer spider. I would say yes!

Back on the other side of the bridge is a small village total of 4 huts. We stopped in and the villagers were very friendly. Just think…. In order for them to get to the store they have to walk for hours!! They don’t have cars or anything. And above all they live among the thousands of yellow and black spiders. Ugh!

To complete the day the uncles cooked up what I like to call spicy top roman. Not my favorite meal, but cheap and easy to carry to the beach! As the sun went down we headed out and said good bye to another amazing day;)

Dipawali continued…….

Tiki ceremony. This is where sisters give their brothers a blessing. Listen to the story ……

on this video from Maggie and the girls:

Bricks and the magic they make with them

This has been a multi-day story that Julia and I have both gathered pieces of.  It started with a tractor load of sand and cement, then came “a ton of bricks” as Julia says.  Watch and learn what can become of them.

Maybe not really a ton, but a lot of bricks

Everyone gets into the act.  Check our NamRaj (a.k.a. Babu – Nepali for Baby)

Stay tuned to see how this little project all turned out.

Uncle Ed signing off for now.

Dewali (Festival of the lights)

Happy Dewali! Yesterday was the beginning of the festival of the lights. This festival is one of the biggest festivals of the year in Nepal. Last night we had group after group come to our house to offer a blessing by singing and dancing. (I’m trying to learn to dance like a Nepali, but let me tell you it’s a whole different rhythm.) In exchange for the blessing we give them rice, fruit and money. The kids later gather all the money to have a picnic. All of the houses in Surkhet light up with lights and candles it is so beautiful. I will keep you all posted as the festivities go on…..

Downtown Surkhet

Uncle Ed here.  Many have asked, “What is Surkhet like?”  Here is a short video taken at one of the main intersections downtown.  Maggie has said that most of what you will see here didn’t exist when she first came here 5+ years ago, the city has grown that much.  There is no mall or supermarket, everything is sold in small shops, side-by-side, and you need to know what you are looking for and shop around.  A recent trip to get tools and materials for a project required visiting 6-8 different shops.  Everyone is friendly and happy to see you.  Most of the shopkeepers know Tope and Maggie and they, and many of the children in town, love to practice their English on visitors.

There is much more to the city and both Julia and I will try to provide glimpses as we visit. Namaste!

Fun times at Kopila Valley Children’s Home

Happy Birthday

I experienced my first Kopila Valley Birthday party Friday night! I will try to give you an idea of how much fun it was…..

First we all eat dinner like usual and then after dinner Maggie and the kids decorated the “dinning room”. We had made two cakes earlier that day one chocolate and one vanilla so we put the cakes out with candles and got everything decorated and ready for later in the evening.

After decorating we headed up stairs for sat song which the two birthday boys, Madan and Birendra led. It was fun, lots of dancing! After sat song we all ran down stairs to the dinning room decorated to the nine with balloons and cake. The kids were so excited! They loved it. We sang Happy Birthday in English and immediately after the kids popped all the balloons. Maggie made sure the boys had their wishes before they blew out the candles. Overall it was a huge success and I think the boys had a blast.

Maggie says “you don’t even need to send out invitations and already 40 kids arrive at the party” !! So much fun!

Kopila Valley School

Kopila Valley School is pretty amazing. Although school is out for holiday we still eat lunch there everyday. The staff at the school is amazing and let me tell you shhhh…. Lunch is the best meal of the day… It’s sort of an unspoken thing around here. If your going to skip a meal it won’t be lunch! Haha

The school has been under a massive cleaning and revamping process for the past week. Jeff had all the older kids and all the staff spend two days over at the school with him cleaning out classrooms and getting things organized. Jeff happened to find a vacuum, which is something they don’t normally use in Nepal, and the staff were afraid to use it because they had never seen such a thing. Jeff said the kids were trying to ride the vacuum! So funny if you can only imagine.

We also had a couple painters come in and paint the kindergarten and first grade classrooms. (Oh side note they say “1 class” instead of “1st grade”) Ed has been busy trying to figure out how to get solar lighting in the classrooms, but turns out we are going to be getting some clear plastic panels for roofing which is great! Ed can tell you more about that in a later blog.

The school is really getting put together and we are all so excited for school to start and see what kind of progress we can make this next year! Jeff is truly awesome and I’m positive he is going to have the school in top shape and ready for excellence.

A Sunset for Margaret

Not many people you know would drive all the way across Florida to see both the sunset and sunrise the same day.  Margaret did that once with a car load of Cousins, just because she loves to watch the sunset.  This short Kopila Kids Vid is for her, but you can all enjoy it.  One of my favorite quotations that comes to mind when I see something as moving as this sunset comes from Thomas Jefferson who supposedly stood on what is now Jefferson’s Rock in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and said “The view from this rock is worth the journey across the Atlantic.”  Well TJ, you should join us in Nepal for a Kopila Valley Sunset!