More on Chitwan

We took a canoe ride down a river and saw crocodiles, peacocks, and other exotic birds. Summer went swimming with an elephant! Crazy, but fun.

More from Chitwan

Chitwan, Nepal (elephant riding)

Mounting an elephant with two kids is quite difficult! We went on a team retreat to Chitwan, Nepal where we rode elephants, canoes, saw rhinos and crocodiles. It was a lot of fun being with our team for the last time before we go home to the states in five weeks.

More on Izzy 1st birthday

Izzy 1st birthday

For Izzy's birthday she had two parties. One at the Lazy Gringo and the other at Pizza Hut. The one at the Lazy Gringo, she got her own cake! Sophia did not like that Izzy got chocolate on her shirt. The one at Pizza Hut, the waiters/waitresses sang a birthday song for her. It was a fun time of celebration for us especially since when Izzy came into this world a year ago, we were not for sure she would live. God blessed us and spared her life and we give Him all the glory for that.

10 year celebration

One of the few Tibetan churches in Kathmandu just celebrated 10 years. Praise the Lord. So we celebrated with them. When we attend Tibetan functions or church, we wear their attire. Not too comfy, but at least it isn't too bad looking.

Sophia's Christmas highlight

Sophia got a tricycle for Christmas!! She loves it, especially the bell.

Family Christmas Time

For Christmas morning Bo decided he wanted homeade cinnamon rolls, so Summer got up early to make them. They were so good that we decided this should be a Christmas tradition for us on Christmas morning. The girls enjoyed all their new presents. Thank you to all the family that sent gifts for us. We really enjoy that.

ESL Tibetan Christmas party

I teach three Tibetan ladies ESL every week. For Christmas I invited them to my home for a meal and to listen to the Christmas story. They speak no English so through my and Bo's attempts to share and through listening to a CD with the Christmas story they heard the message. Pray for these ladies as they hear and understand more about what I try to teach them every week.

Tibetan Christmas Party

Christmas Party: We held a Christmas party in our home for four very close Tibetan families. We wanted them to know the real reason for the season. We played Christmas Pictionary, Hot Potato with a Yak, and sang Christmas songs. Bo read from a children's book the Christmas story and asked questions afterwards. The children seemed to really understand that we celebrate the birth of Christmas for Jesus' birthday and not for Santa Claus. They asked many great questions. We had a wonderful time together and had lots of good American style food for them. Bo grilled some steaks and I made all the side dishes. The kids really enjoyed the cupcakes.

You break you buy

This was our first you break you buy purchase. Sophia picked up this little wedding figurine and plop. The lady standing there brought it to the counter and made me buy it. Luckily it was only $4.

Toilet problem

This is a story about our house helper, Dolma. In our home when she uses the bathroom, she always leaves the seat up. It always bothers me because in my culture the only people that leave the seat up are men. So I started asking my other friends if they have this problem. They said that Nepali people are not used to sitting on toilets because they only use squatty potties, which I do not have a picture of. Next time I am out, I will have to take a picture of one and post it. I will try to describe it. It is like the toilet in the picture except that it is on the ground. Basically two steps with a hole in the middle. Some have a way to flush them and others don't. For the ones that don't you just juse a bucket of water to flush. Anyway. We learned that Dolma, lifts up the seat and stands and squats on the toilet to use the bathroom. So while we were in India, we found a perfect solution to our problem. We found a toilet that have a place to put your feet, but it also has a seat shaped just the same, for those who prefer sitting.

India

We enjoyed our time in India because the city we were in had a bizarre without traffic. There is no such place in Kathmandu. In Kathmandu, even if it says no bikes (meaning motorcycles) there will still be motorcylces, cars, richshaws, bicycles, etc. So it was nice to walk and shop and eat at little coffee shops that gave balloons to your kids and just do normal things that we can not do in KTM. They even had a Dominoes Pizza, which for those of you that do not know, Nepal has no fast food chain of any kind. We ate at Dominoes three times within one week! We did tourist things like visit waterfalls and parks and the kings palace. We stayed in our friend Tashi's family's hotel. Tashi is Lhakpa's wife from the previous post. Everyday we got to see the mountain Kanchanjanga, which is the third highest mountain in the world. That was a beautiful site. Although it took all of 7 hours total from Kathmandu to Gantok, it was a fun trip.

Urinal

This is a picture of a small sign on a tree at the Indian Immigration office that said urinal. Yes the sign is pointing to the cement block with two bricks on the ground and no door!! There is not even a hole in the ground like most "sqatty potties" here.

Gantok, Sikkhim, India

We took a trip as a family to Gantok, Sikkhim, India. That is in the northeast corner of India between Nepal and Bhutan. Boy was it an exciting adventure. First we took a 45 minute plane ride to Bhadrapur, which is on the border of Nepal and India. Then we took a 30 minute taxi ride to the border. At the border, first you go into Nepal's immigration (picture that says Immigration). The next picture is Bo communicating at the border how much a taxi ride was going to cost all the way to Gantok. We are so thankful our friend Lhakpa, (the man in the blue shirt in the picture of Bo with a bunch of guys. This picture is the actual border.) came along with us because he speaks their language! Then on the India side, we have to go to India's immigration office, which at first looks like a building (picture of Bo walking holding Izzy), but once you get there, the actual office is next to it in a HUT!