Party like its... Kathmandu, Nepal!

March 26, 2010
Katching, katching... clunk, clunk! One by one the kids came home from school, medals encircling their necks, certificates consuming their hands, smiles overwhelming their faces. I might not have the most academically strong students, but I’ve got an athletic bunch! I think the grand total was 19 medals from sports day at school, and that was for only 13 kids! An impressive number, one that surprised the other teachers! So, I told the kids on the last day of school we would have a party to celebrate...

After we finished school on the last day of school, we all headed home, bound for an incredibly busy afternoon and evening! First, we went out to the river to wash clothes. Lots and lots of school clothes so that when they get back after break all their clothes will be clean and ready to go. Not to mention the mountain of clothes from Uncle and Auntie. So, we spent about 4 hours basking in the sunlight (well, for Rupa and I that would be burning in the sunlight!), enjoying the coolness of the river, soaping and rinsing over and over again! After finishing all the wash, we walked home, so the real fun could begin.

Upon returning home, I sent Arun out to buy 2.5 kg of chicken. While he was gone, I began “baking” the cakes. I could have just bought one, but I found these Pillsbury ones in the shop (the ones with the sprinkles in them creating colorful specks in the golden cake!) and the kids wanted me to “bake” for them, so I figured I’d give it a try. I found a big pot to cook them in (not our HUGE one for cooking rice for 16 kids, but one similar that’s slightly smaller!) and decided my best method would be to cook thin cakes and stack them. So, one by one I “baked” them, and they actually turned out great! The edges were golden, and the center was cooked perfectly. Two burned on the bottom and edges, but when I flipped them over, that part stuck to the pan while the rest fell nicely on to the plate, leaving just the moist, white center to be eaten! Plus, for some reason, the boys loved the black part left in the pan, so they were excited when that happened. I had found some knock-off icing spread, which I figured we’d try. The kids really liked it, so I covered the “cake” in it, saving it for after dinner!

Then, we had rice and meat and curry for dinner, which they loved. It was more meat than they were used to, so everyone got plenty to eat! After dinner, we headed into the sitting room to have the cake and some soda that I bought for the occasion. I went a little overboard and bought 2 litre bottles of Pepsi, Coke, Fanta, and Sprite, which sounds like nothing compared to how much we Americans would drink at a party, but here we use these tiny cups to serve soda at parties, about the size of those paper cups for the bathroom. So each kid got 2 refills, and we served the cake on used sheets of paper torn out of their old notebooks (nothing quite like paper plates with the quadratic equation sprawled all over them!). The kids LOVED the cake, and begged me to make it again. Unfortunately, the shop doesn’t have any more sprinkle cake, but they do have chocolate cake which I’ll make for them before I leave! That and German sweet rice :).

To finish off the evening, I game them all the games and toys my parent’s Sunday School class sent. I had divided up the gifts, and I gave the kids their treasures on one condition: any toys/games they received had to stay at home after the break! People in the US have overwhelmed us with gifts and games, and the kids have all that they could want here! And most of the games were duplicates of ones we already had at home, so I instructed the kids to take them home to their villages and teach the children there how to play them and then leave them there for those kids! The kids were more than happy to do that, as many had already done that with their Christmas gifts. I gave the two brand new, beautiful silver soccer balls to Darshan and Rajkumar, who beamed like you’ve never seen. They were so excited to take these balls home and play with their village friends who don’t have a ball to play with! And there were loads of sports jerseys and t-shirts for the boys, which they loved, and most wore to church the next day! The girls got some games and a ton of hair accessories, which have adorned their hair ever since. I was worried because all the boys were getting multiple t-shirts and big toys like footballs and soccer balls, but the girls were so excited about their hair stuff that they couldn’t stop looking at them and comparing and trading!

I think the thing that got me the most was when Manisha said, “Sister, no one’s ever thrown us a party like this! I mean, it’s just for us, and we get meat and you made us a cake and bought soda!” I mean, we’ve had a lot of parties while I’ve been here, but none have been just FOR the kids! It made me realize how far love goes. I mean, the cake wasn’t as pretty as a store bought one, but they loved it more because I made it for them! And the meat didn’t cost that much (about $10 for it all), but they only get meat once a week, so it was special. And they never get soda (unless Uncle takes a few of them out to a restaurant), so that was something completely special. And altogether it cost me about $25 for everything. Of course the gifts from the US cost a lot more, and the kids loved them more for it! I hope that I never forget how appreciative I should be, even over the “small” things in life, because there are people in the world who will never get even those small surprises!