"america is silly"

Saturday morning one section of our unconventional family departed for a day trip to the national park. Wearing their finest attire, Secil (5), Samjana (6), Radika (7), Ishwor (8), and Buddhi (10), carried their ever-present grins and curiosity through every nook and cranny of the day. The following are just a few of the many highlights:

1. The straight-billed Harry Potter hat Secil wore...if only he knew that this teenage wizard was in fact the world's most famous orphan--an appropriate hero.

2. Buddhi's naturalist eyes during the safari as he pointed out the hidden wildlife even before our guide spotted them.

3. The fact that each child took more of a variety of transportation than ever before: local bus, rickshaw, elephant, truck and taxi.

4. Watching Buddhi stick his head out of the taxi's backseat window as he felt the wind through his hair.

5. Secil: "Abba, abba, abba." (a Nepali word we don't know)
Me, sarcastically: "Oh, are you referring to the Swedish pop band, Secil?"
Secil, confidently: "Yesth." (this is his typical lisped response)

6. Hankerchiefs make snot/bratface Samjana more than tolerable...in fact, lovable.

7. We found a secret, rotten playground just before the safari, so naturally we soared on swings and squeaked down slides.

8. While giving the children a tour of our hotel that we had stayed at, Ishwor looked at the ropes that were bordering their gardens and responded, "Look, wrestling!!!" He then proceeded to climb between the ropes into the 'ring' like his favorite WWE (no more WWF) performers...we pray they take to reading soon.

9. We got more than one interested stare seeing that 2 white women were holding hands with 5 Nepali children all day.

10. Overweight Slovak men wearing speedos climbed elephants in water to background working Nepali women washing clothes. Secil pointed to these men and back to us, "Same, same." We tried to explain that all white people aren't the same...but they were too overwhelmed...and we don't know their language.

11. On the road leading up to the park the children kept screaming "Hati, hati!" at every picture of an elephant, but when they saw their first one strut in front of our restaurant while eating breakfast, they remained wide-eyed and jaw-dropped.

Our day consisted of dal bhat fine dining with fork and spoon,


Radika & Budi

First time using a napkin for Secil

watching elephants bathe, playing on ground, staring as more elephants pounded their selves downtown, the actual safari where the children saw monkeys, a rhino, deer, and numerous birds, and sweets like cake and pie.

The kids were kinda small for the elephant boxseat

And who could forget the taxi ride back which the children almost liked more than the elephant safari!

Radika, our hazeled eyed 8 year old, was nothing but giggles and beauty the entire day.

In fact, the first week we arrived when all the childrens' names ran together, I referred to her as Bright Eyes. They're stunning, and as an advocate for short hair, this girl was made to wear it. She is one of the 3 girls who rotate everyday for position next to Britta's hand on the way to school....they recently developed a schedule which has quieted the fighting (: But on this day, her small teeth and tan skin soaked in not only more sun but the majesty of wildlife and jungles and the awkwardness of riding an elephant. She along with the other children were so delightful all day long. At the end of the day Britta and I found ourselves wishing we could have spent such intentional time with every single kid like we did with these five.

We came back home to hugs and kisses, and our kiddos were able to brag about the whole day. Since they were the only ones who hadn't been yet, it was if they were chiming in on the long string of elephant tales (pun included).

The next day I was taken to the Emergency Room in an ambulance. Let me explain. All day Sunday I was having incredible upperabdomenal pain (mixture of severe heartburn and a thousand punches to the gut). I am one who has much experience in the gastrointestinal area, and had never experienced such pain. Naturally we were a little nervous, so when it got nothing but worse later on that night Britta called Laxmi and said that we needed to go to the doctor just to get some medication, she immediately came with an ambulance to pick me up at the orphan home. Think of this ambulance as a little less flamboyant than Scooby and the gang's Mystery Machine. The ER proved to be a couple doctors and friends smiling and laughing repeating "Kursani, kursani," (chili) which did nothing but make me furious. Britta defended my body by saying that we have eaten chili twice a day for 6 weeks. They were a little impressed and asked if I had taken any meds that day. After confessing of 4 IBprofins, their eyes got wide and worry turned to an immediate shot. Only when we returned to our room did we read that that's not what you're supposed to take if you have any kind of stomach pain. A little embarrassing. But a couple days and only a little pain later, and I survived yet another hospital visit in the month of February. That makes 3 in the past 4 years...this month is just asking for trouble. I didn't have Jocelyn this time, but Britta was there every step of the way..you would have been proud, Joce.

Our departure is approaching ever-nearer, and the kids have off caught wind. Sima screamed in horror, Soniya has written me 2 notes in the past 2 days that say "I love you, Bicca, my sitara (sister)," and as everyone was going to bed the other night, Kumari (housemom) and Ramesh (oldest boy) were trying to convince us not to got back to America. We tried to explain that we had to go see our families to which Kumari responded, "No go. Orphan home children, you(r) Nepali family," and Ramesh added, "America is silly." (It is the one word he has not understood even though we have tried to explain it for the past 6 weeks).

And so after rhinos and elephants, taxis that make a young boy's hair bend with the wind, and mystery machines as ambulances, I know only two things for sure: love oozes from the pores of our Nepali family and America is, indeed, silly.