Last Sunday we traveled from Kathmandu to Hetauda, where I will be living for the remainder of my time Nepal. Upon arriving at the safe home I was greeted with a warm welcome. The Safe Home family was eagerly awaiting on the steps with a prayer scarf in hand. Quickly I met the house parents, administrative team, and Dipa, the co-founder of WPC Nepal. I was overtaken by their joy and energy. After introductions and chiya (tea), a few of the older girls took me to our apartment to get settled.

When we walked up to this home pictured below, I thought they had to be teasing me, this place is a mansion! The homes in Hetauda are constructed so elaborately on the outside, built three to four floors strong with cement and wrought iron windows. They typically have columns, vegetable gardens, a puja for prayer, and roof top decks with chickens and goats running freely out front. Each one is so unique. Different from Kathmandu, there is room to garden and enjoy the outdoors. Inside the “apartment” contains the bare necessities – twin beds with thin mattresses, modest kitchen, a few bedrooms, and a tiled squat toilet.

After unpacking and wiping the sweat off my back, I made my way back over to the house to greet the children who had arrived home from school. Within minutes of returning I was helping with homework (i.e. re-teaching myself long division and mathematic story problem solving). Thank goodness Mr. Clark used to make me stay late in 4th grade to practice such topics! The younger children surprised me with their ability to speak English. I was peppered with all kinds of questions – “Where are you from?” Seattle. “Do you like speaking?” Sometimes. “Do you love Nepal?” Oh yea.

The first couple days I have spent up the laptops, providing basic training on new technology that I was able to provide with your generous donations. A big thank you to all of those who monetarily supported us! After sharing my love for One Note and box.com, I handed over the reins to Pratikala and Ram to start using their new systems.

The children have the week off of school, so today we took a break to take the kids to walk through the Hindu Teej festival, celebrating women, and to play in the park. At the festival, all the Hindi women dress in fancy red and green sari’s and fast and dance to bless their husbands or future husbands. Every women was immaculately dressed with their hair pinned and makeup painted on their faces and glitter brushed down their backs. The streets were filled with such vibrant colors. The WPC kids, dressed in the street clothes, stood out as foreigners, almost as much as I did being the only white person I’ve seen for days.

Despite the fast, we were able to find a vendor selling ice cream providing the perfect afternoon treat on a hot jungle-esque day. When offered ice cream from the vendor 11-year-old Yug Maya quickly replied in perfect English “If you can give me for free I will gladly help you eat, otherwise I have no money for you.” She’s so witty.

One afternoon I bonded with the older girls and boys through hand stands and kart wheels. There are a couple of acrobats at home! A few have since been able to master a head stand and we plan to tackle side crow next.

One thing that I have grown to appreciate the past few days is the spontaneity that is allowed with a relatively unplanned schedule. Every day since I have been here an exciting event has occurred out of the blue – something that would cause havoc to ones schedule in the states. On Monday we were told that we had to participate in a Children’s Day rally the next morning. Wednesday we had a surprise visit from Ram, the Chief District Officer of Makwanpur District (similar to our mayor). Tomorrow we shall see what happens…