(written March 26, 2008)
Well, first my apologies for you faithful few who check this magnificent blog on a daily or weekly basis. I have been in Katmandu since Sunday, March 16, and was without my laptop until Friday. I came thinking I would take care of my Nepali immigration business, only to find out that I needed Anuraj to be with me to apply for my non-tourist visa. So, I basically hung out here for a week, played with Anusha and her little 3 ½ year old cousin during the days and helped Anuraj’s sister get ready for Anuraj and his parents to arrive.
Anuraj’s parents came on Thursday, for Holi – a Hindu holiday – and Anuraj came on Friday. When Anuraj came, the nephews and I had conspired to throw water balloons at him upon his arrival. They hid around the corner with a bucket of plastic bags that we had filled with water, and I had a small bucket with water ballons hidden. When he came, I said hi and yelled, “Happy Holi,” the code word for “ATTACK!” The boys darted out throwing water balloons and I threw my own. Anusha was terrified! She was sitting on my lap and had just seen her father walk through the gate after not seeing him for a week, and here he was hollering and jumping and getting hit with water!
After that settled down, we went to go inside and Anuraj’s mom came at us with colored powder and wiped it on our faces. Besides throwing water balloons, or squirting water or dumping buckets of water on people, Holi is also for “painting” each other’s faces with colored powder. After five minutes, everyone’s faces were coated with fuscia, yellow, red and green. Poor Anusha was terrified again. This time she buried her face in my chest and neck, crying, wondering what happened to her mama and papa and everyone else who all of a sudden looked like they belonged to some native dance troup. It took her a little bit to calm down!
My thoughts on Holi: it gives adolescent boys an excuse to put on “war paint” and attack each other. The children love this holiday, and I can see why – who wouldn’t love being given permission to dump water or throw colored water balloons at your neighbor. I can’t tell you what the holiday is about – Anuraj couldn’t remember and the explanation given in the paper went on some weird tangent that I didn’t understand. So, if you want to know, check out wikipedia.
One of the cool things about last week was the intersection between Holi week and Christian Holy Week. It was actually kind of cool for me, since I wasn’t really celebrating Easter with anyone, to at least have some celebration happening that was the same word! Speaking of Easter, On Sunday morning, I went to a Catholic church. I had read an article in the paper earlier in the week about a special ceremony that had happened there and thought, “that would be a cool place to go for Easter.” Since I’ve been to a number of Catholic churches and services, I thought it would at least be somewhat familiar. I thought the English service was at 5:30 pm on Sunday, but found out at 8:30 am on Sunday that there was a combined English/Nepali service at 9:00 am. Anuraj, Anusha and I rushed to get there. It took a half hour to get to the approximate vicinity of the place, then another 10 or 15 minutes and stopping at least 3 or 4 times to ask people where it was. When we got there, we walked into a gate, past a number of “stalls” that were selling Catholic-ish art, nail polish, lotion, and prayer beads (I assumed it was for Easter, but now I’m not sure). We walked up to the entry of the sanctuary, looked in and looked at each other. Anuraj captured the moment, “it’s a Hindu/Catholic church!” Outside were about 200+ pairs of shoes stuck in shelves and lined up on the cement. Inside, everyone was sitting on rows of pillows. It seriously reminded me of a Hindu temple, except that a crucifix of Jesus was at the front. As I was preparing to walk in, the alter boys and priests came walking down the aisle towards me. Yes, folks, I missed the Easter service. I could have cried. I was so much looking forward to this service – partly because I would be celebrating Easter in Nepal for the first time, and also because I would get to experience a Nepali Easter! At least I know where that church is now (or should I say Anuraj knows where it is). Probably the neatest thing was meeting a PhD candidate from John Hopkins University who has some Mennonite friends. It is a small world after all!
Well, first my apologies for you faithful few who check this magnificent blog on a daily or weekly basis. I have been in Katmandu since Sunday, March 16, and was without my laptop until Friday. I came thinking I would take care of my Nepali immigration business, only to find out that I needed Anuraj to be with me to apply for my non-tourist visa. So, I basically hung out here for a week, played with Anusha and her little 3 ½ year old cousin during the days and helped Anuraj’s sister get ready for Anuraj and his parents to arrive.
Anuraj’s parents came on Thursday, for Holi – a Hindu holiday – and Anuraj came on Friday. When Anuraj came, the nephews and I had conspired to throw water balloons at him upon his arrival. They hid around the corner with a bucket of plastic bags that we had filled with water, and I had a small bucket with water ballons hidden. When he came, I said hi and yelled, “Happy Holi,” the code word for “ATTACK!” The boys darted out throwing water balloons and I threw my own. Anusha was terrified! She was sitting on my lap and had just seen her father walk through the gate after not seeing him for a week, and here he was hollering and jumping and getting hit with water!
After that settled down, we went to go inside and Anuraj’s mom came at us with colored powder and wiped it on our faces. Besides throwing water balloons, or squirting water or dumping buckets of water on people, Holi is also for “painting” each other’s faces with colored powder. After five minutes, everyone’s faces were coated with fuscia, yellow, red and green. Poor Anusha was terrified again. This time she buried her face in my chest and neck, crying, wondering what happened to her mama and papa and everyone else who all of a sudden looked like they belonged to some native dance troup. It took her a little bit to calm down!
My thoughts on Holi: it gives adolescent boys an excuse to put on “war paint” and attack each other. The children love this holiday, and I can see why – who wouldn’t love being given permission to dump water or throw colored water balloons at your neighbor. I can’t tell you what the holiday is about – Anuraj couldn’t remember and the explanation given in the paper went on some weird tangent that I didn’t understand. So, if you want to know, check out wikipedia.
One of the cool things about last week was the intersection between Holi week and Christian Holy Week. It was actually kind of cool for me, since I wasn’t really celebrating Easter with anyone, to at least have some celebration happening that was the same word! Speaking of Easter, On Sunday morning, I went to a Catholic church. I had read an article in the paper earlier in the week about a special ceremony that had happened there and thought, “that would be a cool place to go for Easter.” Since I’ve been to a number of Catholic churches and services, I thought it would at least be somewhat familiar. I thought the English service was at 5:30 pm on Sunday, but found out at 8:30 am on Sunday that there was a combined English/Nepali service at 9:00 am. Anuraj, Anusha and I rushed to get there. It took a half hour to get to the approximate vicinity of the place, then another 10 or 15 minutes and stopping at least 3 or 4 times to ask people where it was. When we got there, we walked into a gate, past a number of “stalls” that were selling Catholic-ish art, nail polish, lotion, and prayer beads (I assumed it was for Easter, but now I’m not sure). We walked up to the entry of the sanctuary, looked in and looked at each other. Anuraj captured the moment, “it’s a Hindu/Catholic church!” Outside were about 200+ pairs of shoes stuck in shelves and lined up on the cement. Inside, everyone was sitting on rows of pillows. It seriously reminded me of a Hindu temple, except that a crucifix of Jesus was at the front. As I was preparing to walk in, the alter boys and priests came walking down the aisle towards me. Yes, folks, I missed the Easter service. I could have cried. I was so much looking forward to this service – partly because I would be celebrating Easter in Nepal for the first time, and also because I would get to experience a Nepali Easter! At least I know where that church is now (or should I say Anuraj knows where it is). Probably the neatest thing was meeting a PhD candidate from John Hopkins University who has some Mennonite friends. It is a small world after all!
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