A Sherpa Wedding (Not Mine!)

Yesterday I attended the wedding of a friend of Passang’s.  This is the fourth wedding that I've attended since I got married to Passang, so I figured it’s about time I shared one with you all!  Passang was tied up with business in our town so this time I went without him.

I traveled with relatives and church members in this jeep – 14 people in total.  They speak little to no English so it was a great chance to try out my Nepali!

The wedding was about a 3 hour drive from our house with a 15 min walk downhill at the end.

Here’s the beginning of the path down to the wedding.

Walking down to the wedding

 

The view.  Not a day goes by that I’m not amazed and grateful that I live in such a beautiful place!

Arriving to the wedding

 

Part of our group at the entrance to the wedding 

Christian weddings in this area typically consist of the church ceremony and reception in the bride’s hometown followed by the reception in the groom’s hometown.  We were invited to the groom’s reception, so there was just a small ceremony at the beginning followed by the all-day reception party. 

Here are pictures from the short ceremony.

The couple with their representatives and the pastor.

After watching the ceremony, we sat down to have some tea and snacks.

Here are some church members in the tea hall greeting each other with the typical Christian greeting, “Jaimashi.”

Here’s me and my cousin Pem Lhamu sitting down for tea.

We then went over to greet the couple.  I gave each of them a scarf and then posed for pictures.  They will continue to greet people all day long as more come.

The greeting area

Then it was time for us to go eat!  There was a delicious spread of dhal (lentils), vegetables, pork, chicken, beef, and a variety of pickled vegetables. So delicious!

Here’s part of our group.

Me with Passang’s uncle.

After hanging out for a little bit it was time for us to go.

Back up the hill…

(Even the locals get tired!)

...into the clouds.

Fenugreek Sprouts

A few days ago my sister-in-law bought some seeds at the market.  Little did I know that she didn't plan on planting them, she planned on sprouting and eating them.  Before a few months ago, I had never seen anyone making their own sprouts, but this past Easter my aunt in the US proudly showed me the seeds she was sprouting and told me about all of the health benefits of eating sprouts.  She has had many health problems and says that simply eating sprouts has help so much!  I was so excited to see that they do the same thing here!

My sister-in-law used fenugreek (called methi here) seeds for her sprouts (my aunt really likes lentil sprouts).  She first soaked the seeds in some water for several hours until they plumped up and became soft.  Then she spread them out on a tray and put them into a dark cupboard.

My sister-in-law spreading out the soaked seeds

After several days, we had sprouts!  It's that easy!  

We cooked our sprouts as we do many of our vegetables - curried with onion, tomato, plenty of ginger, turmeric, and a green chile pepper.  They were so good!  I also tried them uncooked, and they were really good like that too.  I'm really looking forward to eating more of these.

Our cooked fenugreek sprouts

Going to Delhi

Last week I had to travel to Delhi to get a piece of paper notarized by the US embassy.  We didn't have enough time to book train tickets (they are booked up for a month or so), so I had to go alone by plane. This brought several concerns to my and Passang’s minds – how do I find a good place to stay and how do I get around Delhi by myself not knowing the language or taxi system?  But we couldn't afford two plane tickets, so I had to go by myself.

One of the wonderful things about the culture here is how eager and willing people are to help each other – especially when it’s a family member.  It turns out that one of Passang’s cousins (actually the cousin of our sister-in-law), Anna, has a sister-in-law who works in Delhi.  Anna’s sister-in-law, Sarala, was so excited to help, but she was worried that the room she could get me would not be up to my American standards.  Passang assured her that I would be ok; I could live in whatever accommodations she could get for me (we hoped!).   Sarala actually works in a guest house in Delhi that is run by the Sikkim government.  She was able to get me an inexpensive room in her guest house and told me that I should be able to get a taxi from the airport to her guest house where she would be waiting for me.  It was such a huge relief to know I had accommodations and someone waiting for me when I arrived!

The temperature when I arrived in Delhi was 41°C – about 106°F!  Sarala was waiting for me at the guest house. It was so nice!  Way better than I was expecting!  My room was very nice and even had AC!!! 

 This is the guest house that I stayed in - Sewa Bhawan

Here is my room

Sarala arranged a taxi to take me to the US embassy.  Getting my “No Objection Letter” notarized was super quick and easy, especially since I got to go in the US Citizen Line.  There were hundreds of other people waiting outside and in the non-US citizen line, and I got to pass them all up!

This piece of paper is the reason I had to go to Delhi

After getting my letter notarized, I still had a day and a half to explore the city.  There are tuktuks all over the place, so it’s actually really easy to get from place to place.  You just have to make sure that they don’t cheat you on the taxi fare!

Here I am riding in a tuktuk!

Across the street from the US Embassy is another Sikkim Guest house called the New Sikkim House.

It's REALLY nice :)

They were selling these red pandas dressed up in traditional dresses.

Here's the Sherpa and Lepcha.

Then I went shopping in this nice shopping center.

And I had a snack at McDonald's!

Tastes just like McDonalds in the US!  The McFlurry was SO nice :)

The next day I went to see the Indira Gandhi Memorial

Indira Gandhi was prime minister in India for 15 years.  

She was assassinated one day as she was leaving her house.  

The memorial is in the house that she was living in when she was killed.

This is the sari she was wearing when she was killed

Her study was filled from floor to ceiling with books

These are pictures of her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi, who was born in Italy but moved to India when she married Indira Gandhi's son.  It's kind of cool to see that another relationship between an Indian and foreigner is so important to the history of India.  

Sonia Gandhi has served an important role in Indian politics for many years.

This is the path that Indira Gandhi was walking when she was assassinated.  

It's now covered in crystal and glass.

I also visited the India Gate which was built in 1931 to commemorate the 90,000 Indian soldiers who were killed in World War I.

All in all it was a really great trip, but I am SO happy to be back home in Sikkim with Passang and our family.

Our Town and Family

I wanted to take some time to introduce you all to where Passang and I live and the family we live with.

The town we live in is called Anden, but you won't find that on any maps.  However, you will find the nearby town of Sombaria.  We live in the state of Sikkim in India.

http://goo.gl/maps/1BL7k

Anden is in the foothills of the Himalaya mountains, so everything around us is on BIG hills.

Here's a view of the hills from Anden.

Here is the house where we live.  Our house is the one at the bottom of the picture.  The group of houses just above ours is where Passang's mom and sister live with their families, and his brother's house is the small one at the very top.

Here's a closer view of our house

Here are all the people who live in our house

Left to right is Passang's father (his name is Pur Dorjee, we call him Papa. SF (Sherpa Fact): Papa is Sherpa for father), Passang's brother Dawa (we call him Daju. SF: Daju is Nepali for older brother), Passang, me, our niece Snowly, and our sister-in-law Tshering Doma (I call her Didi.  SF: Didi is Nepali for older sister).

As you can tell, a lot of our family lives either with us or really close to us.  This is really different from American culture, but it's really common around here.  It's taking me a little bit of time to get used to this kind of living situation, but so far I'm liking it.  It definitely makes it easier to get to know everyone when they're all right there.  And there is always someone around to talk with (or, for me, attempt to talk with) or have a cup of tea with.  It has been great to have Passang's sister-in-laws and sister around to show me how things are done!  I don't know what I would do without them!  I'm so thankful for my new family!