This morning we got up and after a leisurely (and of course late) breakfast, we packed up our overnight packs and hiked 1.5-2 hours to the village of Thuluswara. This is a village on the Lamjung Trek Experience and we were going to stay with families in the village to evaluate their homes for trekkers to come through and... of course... another Nepali greeting. They were all so excited to have us there. And you could see the genuine love in their eyes. It was truly a purple cow day.
As we finally made it to the village, we walked through the school at the top of the hill first and all the school kids greeted us with garlands, prayer shawl, and a tikka of rice.
The school kids followed us down the hill to where all the other villagers were waiting for us. On the way down we were accompanied by the song "Resham Firiri", our theme song for the rest of the week.
As we finally made it to the village, we walked through the school at the top of the hill first and all the school kids greeted us with garlands, prayer shawl, and a tikka of rice.
The school kids followed us down the hill to where all the other villagers were waiting for us. On the way down we were accompanied by the song "Resham Firiri", our theme song for the rest of the week. We got down to where the villagers were waiting for us and we were greeted again with MORE garlands, prayer shawls, some kind of yellow thread necklace, tikkas (red this time) and blessings with water.
A shot of some of the school kids and villagers there for the ceremony/cultural experience. 
One of the performances for us.
Some of the old ladies in the village. I love the character in their faces. AND, I love the nose rings.
A shot of some of the school kids and villagers there for the ceremony/cultural experience. One of the performances for us. Some of the old ladies in the village. I love the character in their faces. AND, I love the nose rings.
Bishnu greeting the crowd of SHe and villagers.
They gave us a snack of boiled eggs in these cool bowls that they made out of leaves and small bamboo picks.
After the festivities, we all divided up to go to eat dinner with the families we were staying with. Claire and I stayed with the Dura family and they had two daughters and two sons. We only caught a glimpse of one son and I think the other was in school in Kathmandu. 
Because I was still accent challenged, I had them write down all their names. Their youngest daughter could write the best English and probably speak too but was really shy. The dad spoke some English too, more than I could speak in Nepali, but I realized that they spoke a different dialect than the little Nepali I had learned. The dad could speak but couldn't write English because they have a different script for Nepali so he had his daughter write down their names.
We got to help cook dinner, which apparently was not common with the other SHe-ites in the other homes. Here I'm stirring water buffalo milk over the fire freshly milked from the water buffalo standing right behind me. Water buffalo milk is DELICIOUS.
They gave us a snack of boiled eggs in these cool bowls that they made out of leaves and small bamboo picks. After the festivities, we all divided up to go to eat dinner with the families we were staying with. Claire and I stayed with the Dura family and they had two daughters and two sons. We only caught a glimpse of one son and I think the other was in school in Kathmandu. Because I was still accent challenged, I had them write down all their names. Their youngest daughter could write the best English and probably speak too but was really shy. The dad spoke some English too, more than I could speak in Nepali, but I realized that they spoke a different dialect than the little Nepali I had learned. The dad could speak but couldn't write English because they have a different script for Nepali so he had his daughter write down their names.We got to help cook dinner, which apparently was not common with the other SHe-ites in the other homes. Here I'm stirring water buffalo milk over the fire freshly milked from the water buffalo standing right behind me. Water buffalo milk is DELICIOUS. And, the two water buffalo
Preparing dinner in the kitchen. She was grinding the spices with the stone. After we were done cooking, they sat and watched Claire and I eat dinner - which had way too much food, but we felt compelled to eat. It was fun though to sit in their kitchen with no table or chairs and sit on mats and eat dinner.
And finally time to go to bed. They provided us with bedding but we had also packed in our own bags so we used the quilts as the mattress since the bed was just wood planks. What you can't tell is I'm in two sleeping bags with the liner on the outside because it has a zipper and my sleeping bag is actually smaller than the sleeping bag liner. So, there was a little bag role reversal going on. Thanks, Druitts, for letting me use the liner. Total life saver.
Preparing dinner in the kitchen. She was grinding the spices with the stone. After we were done cooking, they sat and watched Claire and I eat dinner - which had way too much food, but we felt compelled to eat. It was fun though to sit in their kitchen with no table or chairs and sit on mats and eat dinner. And finally time to go to bed. They provided us with bedding but we had also packed in our own bags so we used the quilts as the mattress since the bed was just wood planks. What you can't tell is I'm in two sleeping bags with the liner on the outside because it has a zipper and my sleeping bag is actually smaller than the sleeping bag liner. So, there was a little bag role reversal going on. Thanks, Druitts, for letting me use the liner. Total life saver.
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