Popcorn For Lunch, Why Not?

Daal bath

I just realized I haven't talked that much about food in this blog, which is strange since it is almost all I can think about. This picture is of the famous daal bath that I eat twice a day (the only real meal I have). It might not look its best in this particular photo, and it isn't the most delicious looking food but it is actually really tasty. Daal bath is always rice and lentils plus a lot of spices (curry and chili are the ones I recognize) and it is always very spicy even so they manage to vary their daal bath quite a bit. Sometimes you get eggs, sometimes pumpkin seeds, if you're unlucky you'll get something that looks like spinach but taste more like dandelion or grass...

For lunch I usually have tea and cookies but yesterday I got pop corn(!). Anyone who knows me knows that I love pop corn and that I easily can eat it every single day, so why not for lunch? Pop corn here has just been picked from the maize plant and is either popped or half-popped, you know like the unpopped pop corn that always is left at the bottom of the bowl when you have it at home. The unpopped ones are much tastier here than back home though, they are not as hard so you can actually chew them. Otherwise pop corn here taste just like home but a bit maizier I would say. For my pop corn lunch I was given a bowl with pop corn in it and a spoon to eat it with. Not so strange maybe considering they eat everything with their fingers while I always eat with a spoon. I did however leave the spoon and ate with my fingers. Hoping for more pop corn-lunches!

By the way, I'm starting to figure out more and more about my host family. Yesterday I found out that the man in the family actually is married to two of the women. He had a wife before that but she passed away after giving him 4 children. His new wife after that was apparently a bad wife because she couldn't cook and she didn't given him any children, therefore he had to get married to a new wife. The father told me this with both his wives present which made me feel very bad for the rejected wife. The rejected wife is also treated really badly in the household. She gets her food last, she does the cleaning, most of the washing and laundry, she always eats on the floor and it is easy to tell that she is a bit of an outsider in the family. It is really hard to see and I don't know what else to do than to try talking to her. Even talking to her is hard when she knows just about as much English as I know Nepali (still not much...). She looks really sad and miserable which is no wonder considering that she's treated as a slave in her own house.

Project Smile with class 4 and 5

Members of project "Smile"

Yesterday I spent some time with the new volunteer, Sarah from America. She seems really nice and she will be here for three more weeks. I'm guessing that she sees me as a person who's very desperate for company, which is true even if I try to hold back. Everyone in the Japanease group are also very friendly so I try to spend as much time as possible with them (again without looking desperate of course). Their project is very appreciated by all the kids but not as much by the teachers. I was told by one of the teachers that Nepali people are not interested in Japanease songs, or fairytales, they don't need to learn their language either, they are "just not interested in Japan". Do I have to add that this is the same teacher who comes into my lesson and beats up students? However, I'm hoping to get to spend more time with the Japanease group and help with their project in any way that I can. They are also going to another school in this area so I'm hoping I can join them on that trip, but we'll see. I got a cold from the English girl in Pokhara, hoping it will pass but today I feel like just staying in bed and doing nothing at all. Not going to happen though, considering the fan is not working, homework session in half an hour and grandma's birthday is today which means the house is going to be crowded.

Birthday girl to the right

Today it is grandmother's birthday and everyone is really excited, even grandma. Sometimes she reminds me a lot of my own grandma, Martha. For instance, when it was raining like crazy the other day she comes in with a towel around her body and told me with a laugh that she had been outside showering in the rain, She twirls around to show me how showering in the rain is done. She also makes roti (bread similar to the Finnish bread rieska), she eats people's left overs and everyone in and around the family loves her, just like everyone loved my grandma. I wonder if there will be cake tonight? Probably not but maybe some really fancy potato to go with tonight's daal bath...