First Impressions

I have been keeping a log of our adventures. The next 4 or 5 posts are things I have written since we left Dubai and arrived in Kathmandu...

Once we got on the plane, Heavah looked at me and said, ‘Mom, how many days are we going to be on the plane?’ She was ready to settle in and make a home for herself right there and then. When I told her it was only going to be 4 hours, she was pretty happy. ‘Oh! That’s not long at all!’





We arrived in Kathmandu in the evening and it felt like a throw back in time. Old brick airport, cumbersome and useless forms to fill out, and one escalator for the entire airport. It was truly a different place and ‘Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.’ It reminded me a lot of my trip to India so the shock wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been had I not made that trip a year before.


Our arrival in Kathmandu

The house Axel got us was fun to explore. The kids ran around each floor talking about what room would be theirs. Heavah was delighted to see that ‘Santa has a very nice chimney to come down for Christmas’. Indeed he does. The house has character and it will suit our family just fine for now.


Our sweet fireplace. (Don't worry, once our stuff arrives, the curtains are the first to go)


Our front door

We have a fantastic view of the entire Kathmandu, including Everest on a clear day. It will be a perfect place for me to do yoga in the morning. It is also so cool to see the city at night.



Today has been a range of emotions. Anything from, ’What a cool country!’ to ‘What the hell am I thinking???’ We took a walk around the grounds and there will be plenty of space for the kids to ride their bikes and have their own garden. We have orchids, pomegranate trees, mango trees, and amaryllis amongst many other plants and flowers growing randomly in our yard. Xavier was happy to see there were plenty of bugs and Heavah was happy to see there were plenty of flowers to pick. Truly, it is a little Garden of Eden (Nepali style).



Axel and the girls on one of our patios

We explored the city by going to the ‘supermarket’ this morning. I was happy to see that despite the fact that I buy my butter and milk off the shelf (not in a refrigerator) that we have more of an assortment of cereals than we did in Dubai. So even though I am grossed out by the fact that I am drinking unrefrigerated milk, I am at least eating my ‘Blueberry Morning’ cereal.


Heavah picking out our bananas from the 'biggest' grocery store in Nepal

The next trek was the zoo. On our way to the zoo three boys (not much older than Heavah) were working their day job of selling cotton candy. We didn’t have the exact change for all three items we purchased. It caused quite a commotion. They all fought over who was going to get the split of the 60 cents we gave them. A good wake up call to my kids.




Xavier playing in the zoo playground. The slide was made of marble.



The city, although it is dense with people, is basically a village. Not many paved roads and no order. I think I saw one street light after going around the entire city, and cows just finds a home right in the middle of the street and no one complains. Fine, just drive around him. It made me so thankful that we have a driver. It is also nice to have Axel in the back of the van to help out with the kids. The people are very nice and very beautiful. I am in awe at their beauty. Most have very fine features and the fact that they are so nice really enhances that beauty.

It is strange to have people living on our grounds. We have Haleni but we have also inherited a new gardener and we will soon have a few others join our crew. Although we have a second home for the staff, it is a little odd to have such an open door policy to our home. But it is also nice to have extra eyes on the kids. I guess it is just something I will have to get used to.

Our 'staff house' In this picture, it is under construction. It is almost complete.

We ended the night with a bath. Hum, how to describe???? First, try stopping a 20 month old baby from drinking the bath water. Then, try not to get grossed out at the fact that our ‘filtered’ water is actually the colour of Nestle’s chocolate milk. It also made it interesting when I tried to wash my whites by hand this evening. I guess if I can bring myself to buy the tacky clothing they have here, I must buy them dark. No fresh, spring colours for us.



We are excited, we are anxious, and we are challenged. I have a feeling this will be an incredible, yet interesting 3 years...Here’s to our new adventure!