A little more from Katie & Bijaya’s trip home to Nepal.
By Katie Gurung
Nepali style fried noodles and beer.
One of Bijaya’s nephews
Visiting Bijaya’s sister’s village
We left Bijaya’s village and walked back down to his aunt’s house. We’ll just say, the steepness of the walk did not make for a very fun afternoon, haha. At his aunt’s house we took tea and then hoped on a ridiculously crowded bus (as always it seems) and had to change buses to get to his other aunt’s house in Sundar Bazar- where we used to live. That night his grandma (actually, his great aunt), welcomed us by again tying the yellow string around our necks. It was nice to be back in Sundar Bazar, for us it feels comfortable here.
Early tomorrow morning (5am) we are leaving to go to Bijaya’s middle sister’s village. We already met her at their parents house, but now we have to go for our nephews Hair Cutting Ceremony. This takes place once in a Nepali boys life, sort of a coming of age kind of ceremony, but it can be done at many different ages. His nephew is now 8 or 9, so it’s good timing since we are here. This had to all be planned before we even got to Nepal because they had to consult with a lama (a religious leader) about which day and what time was best to perform the ceremony. So tomorrow’s the day- between 8am and 10am. I have only been to one Hair Cutting Ceremony before, but it was for a Brahmin, therefore it will be a little bit different since Bijaya’s family is of Gurung ethnicity. On the way home tomorrow we are going to stop at his Mama’s house (maternal uncle’s) and then we will come back to Sundar Bazar.
Most days it has been really hot during the day, and a nice temperature at night; in the village it is always a little cooler since it is so high up there’s almost always a wonderful breeze! Right now in most of the fields everyone is growing corn, and after harvesting they will again plant rice.