Dashain

After a never ending and very bumpy bustrip we reached our destination almost four weeks ago! We were received by a teacher and a lot of kids and other curious people - it was very nice and everybody was happy, smiling :) They gave us flowers and tika's and then walked for half an hour to get to Kantipur - the village that is now our new home :)
We stayed the first nine days at Manoj' house where he lives with his wife, three kids and parents. On both sides of his house, his brothers live - it stays in the family, everyone is nearby! We lived in a small room with absolutely no privacy which was hard to get used to in the beginning, but you learn not to start when some unknown women pops in her head and asks "kani?" (= means eat). We enjoyed the time with Manoj - it was the Dashain Festival (the biggest in Nepal) and so nobody went to school and we spent the days having fun with the kids and helping out a little, cutting grass in the fields, bathing everyday in the nearby river and watching the dragonflies fill up the evening air - wonderful. Every morning during the festival days we sacrificed an animal to the gods which turns out to be a rather macaber way of starting the day, but it was very fun to watch anyway, they are clearly professionals! In the evening we sat in the yard on ricemats, ate dhaal baat (which I have come to enjoy after all), drank ricebeer, watched the beautiful full moon and danced and sang. We had some magic days :)