hello loved ones!

Hi everyone!

It is so good to finally be able to sit down and spill some beans (and cook them later), about life in general...we have very limited internet access, and when we do have computer it is pre-historically slow...so if our e-mail responses are non-existent or three-lined at best you know why!

It has been about three months since we were married and left, it feels like so much longer, especially now that the pace of our trip has slowed to match "Nepali time"...or, more precisely "Nepali Farmer's time"...

We began our placement about 3 weeks ago and are staying with a most interesting couple, with an "empty nest" maybe just a pinch older than our own parents...although, we seem to be living in another century, entirely.

Where to begin? We wake in the mist of the morning, wash our faces at the pump, and have a cup of tea (now over a wood fire, the buffalo has been sold to the butcher and they were using her waste to fuel the gas)...if this family has a theme, it is "no waste"...we wash with collected rain water, feed our leftovers to the livestock, etc etc. We were instructed from day one that our host "parents" are to be called Aama and Buba (nepali for mom and dad). Buba wakes up at 4 every morning to do yoga, which we soon realized not only wakes US up but many other neighbors as well, as he makes growling tiger noises and also self-induced fits of laughter. (It IS the best medicine, after all; why not try it out every morning at 4?). But don't be deceived, Buba is not the loud one in the family. Aama has a very hoarse raspy voice which kind of initially took us aback, until we heard her screaming to neighbors and relatives in distant fields. Whenever I am looking for Carmen, she just thinks I should scream and call for him like she does.

Every morning at 10 and evening at about 6, we have our two meals a day: rice from the field and whatever veggies have been growing in the garden, along with some sort of beans or lentils. Aama is an amazing cook, Buba is not too bad, and they have been encouraging us to try our hand at "Dal Bhaat" (Rice and Lentils) as well. The only problem with this is we are sleeping 12 hours a day and still tired, and feeling generally not too great lately...we are in the city now so we are going to see if we can buy something to supplement the diet a bit and get some more iron and protein into us.

We are observing this hard-nock-life for the animals around here. Buba sold the mom cow because she does not make any more milk and the baby has not stopped crying (if you can call it "crying," it's more like grunting) for the past two days. Marcie goes out and talks to her sometimes. "Don't worry, I'm crying for my momm(ies) too!"

We are staying about a 10 second walk from the "happy home" which is a children's home where MArcie goes to wash dishes and clean up after meals and play with the kids or help out wherever needed. We will soon get to gumption up to take the kids swimming to the nearby river. Last time we went with some volunteers the kids ended up having a mud fight- it was so cute and funny to hear their squeals of laughter.

Marcie is working at a nearby health clinic, which is very interesting. Poverty causes so many problems! Lack of proper hygiene and nutrition takes a toll in so many different ways. She saw a crocodile sunbathing about 10 feet away from the edge of the clinic. One time she was going to throw an orange peel and realized there was a crock there that would have been inadvertently hit. IT is kind of surreal. Also seeing a massive (6 foot) snake curled at the base of a hay bail, just a stone's throw away. We can find things when we go walking in the villages, where people aren't so eager to visit the health post...the first day we were there we found a little boy with a huge bloody slice in his leg. It has taken 3 weeks of dressing changes but the wound is closed up now and infection free. The first time we looked at the dressing, Carmen was helping to change the dressing too. "Sterile technique" is so idealistic when there are flies landing on open flesh and there are hoards of lice-ridden children all pressing in on you...

Carmen is helping to develop a community park that will hopefully help out with tourism in that area as well. He has made some interesting friends at the same time. He spends a lot of time out in the forest (where Rhino's romp and roam after sunset). He is helping to build benches and bridges and stairways and things like this. He also found a lot of fix-up jobs he can do around the "happy home" too, and if not that Buba even has lots of reno and field work underway he can help out with.

So, even though there are some challenges to face, like they say, what does not kill you makes you stronger! We are thinking of home during this time when everyone is gearing up for Christmas, we are sending our love, and believe us, if we could transport ourselves home just for one quick day, christmas would be it. and we would be expecting pumpkin pie with whipped cream, turkey (that was somehow killed nicely) with cranberry dressing. in that order.

love X1000
Marcie and Carmen