Najman Dai's Village

Axel arrived with the rest of the children without incident. The kids were so excited to be back in Nepal. Heavah verbally listed all the reasons why Nepal is much better than Qatar. I couldn't agree with her more, but instead I listed to her why Qatar isn't so bad. 'You know it has a few things that Nepal doesn't like hot water and continual electricity.' Heavah didn't seem to care. That's my girl.

The kids couldn't wait to see Sarita. There were a lot of smiling faces when we all finally reunited.

Axel wasted no time and met up with his staff and agents at his old office. I think it really did his heart good to see that he made a positive impact and his staff truly missed him. He was silent for a while after he left and then said to me, 'I know how you feel about missing this place. I understand completely now.' We then both wallowed in our sadness together.

We were invited to our day guard's home in the village. He wanted to feed us and meet his family. It is surprising to me that we didn't do this sooner. It was such a beautiful place and not too far from the city. The kids felt like they were back into their old lives. Rice paddies and mountains--everything the Middle East is not. Ahem...

I have a thing for babies with eyeliner. I can't get enough of them! So stink'n cute.

Sedona felt that she needed to stroke every dog in sight-with fur with no fur; with rabies with no rabies. She's an equal opportunity petter.

Axel was jazzed to see that one of his old chicken coops was put to good use. Najman still had several of our chickens. The kids loved finding the grandchildren from our first brood of hens. Nepali chickens (and chickens owned by the Bromleys) are survivors.

For some strange reason, Xavier was mesmerize by this buffalo. The old lady was happy to let Xavier come close, as long as he was going to work for it. She handed him some hay and insisted that he clean the buff. The others liked the buff, but not that much.

The goats were also a favorite. It made me really miss Randy and all his naughtiness. Even if he always head butted the kids and drank his own pee.

The meal was lovely. It is a little hard when you can see where the food is prepared. I have learned that when you get a little squeamish you just close your eyes and open wide. I figure my immune system will only become stronger. We all must have had guts of steel because everyone was perfectly full and fine afterwards. Phew, dodged that one.

I was most impressed with my 8 year old, Heavah, during this trip. She was remarkably polite and understood exactly how to deal with all the Nepali customs and formalities. She was also very keen on making sure I was aware of how the other children were not abiding by those rules, "Mom, Xavier did not say dhanyabaad when she gave him the food, nor did he say

namaste properly when he was addressed. You must correct this! He is being very rude!"

Heavah was so at home in Nepal and shared her sorrow with me about how she did not speak Nepali fluently. She continually left the family to find new friends and new places to go: "Mom, Qatar is boring. Nepal is an adventure.' I loved to see the fire in her eyes.

Najman was so kind to have us visit. He was Gotam Dai's best friend. (That tends to happen when you are the only Maoists on our compound.) They bonded and I think he wanted to enjoy our company like Gotham dai does when he visits us in Qatar. I am so thankful that the relationships we built while we were in Nepal are strong and appear to be everlasting. The country is pretty great, but the people are even better!