My Very Happy Birthday

Dec 16th

Dear All,

Right now, I’m writing to you from the airport in Kathmandu. Today, I’m heading back to the field where I will be staying for a few weeks. I’m so excited, but I’m also terribly nervous, as this is my first solo flight. That’s right, I’m going all the way to the field and staying there without my trusted companion Dai. Of course, everything has been arranged so that the trip will be as easy as possible and people are meeting me each step of the way. Still without Dai, it’s a totally different experience. And though I’m very nervous, the amazing day I had yesterday is carrying me through nicely. Which brings me to why I’m writing today. I wanted to thank you all for the many birthday wishes you sent my way and I wanted to tell you about the wonderful day I had.



Because I am so spoiled, my birthday really began the night before. But one of my few American friends here in Nepal invited me out as she’d noticed it was almost my birthday on Facebook (thank you Facebook). But I had no idea what a good friend I really had when I first accepted her invitation. She asked me to meet her at a Japanese restaurant near our homes and when I arrived she informed me that in addition to being a great restaurant, the place also has a wonderful traditional Japanese hot spring bath. So before I knew it, I found myself in a steaming hot bath in the middle of a bamboo garden, sipping green tea, and chatting with my friend. When we had cooked ourselves completely, we headed back inside for a warm bowl of Udon, next to a cozy fire. It was a wonderful birthday gift.

Then I went home and was fortunate enough to catch my mom, my dad, and my youngest brother at home through Skype. I always love to hear voices from home, even if it is only on the computer. After chatting for awhile, I headed off to bed, but to my surprise, bday wishes from the Nepali side started popping up on my phone just minutes after the midnight hour. By the time my alarm went off at 7 am, I already had a handful of sweet b-day texts.

Of course, birthday mornings aren’t really all that different from other mornings, so it still took me awhile to pull myself out of bed. But after awhile, I managed it and I headed over to Didi’s house. We had planned a big b-day bash with Dai’s side of the family, so we had a lot of work to do. Didi and Dai had decided we would have a strictly “American” menu, which ended up requiring a lot of shopping (The average Nepali menu just has no appreciation for cheese.)

Since I was feeling a little bummed out about officially being a year older, the motorcycle ride to the grocery store and the bakery seemed like just the thing. And to my delight, as we were driving around we passed a signboard, which made me laugh so hard I forgot all about being old. The signboard showed 5 or 6 handsome guys wearing surgical masks, and scrub shirts, but since the ad was for Jockey, all of the “doctors” pictured were in their underwear. I don’t know why it struck me as so funny but something about a poster full of half naked men in the middle of Kathmandu hit my funny bone just right.

After that shopping was a breeze, though getting it home was another story. I ended up carrying 20lbs of groceries in one hand and balancing the cake in the other as Dai navigated past the traffic, dogs, cats, cows, and children that occupy Kathmandu’s streets. I like to think I managed it with style too, but maybe that’s all in my head.

Once home, we all set to work cooking. We ended up with lasagna, salad (a rare treat because raw vegetables are often unsafe for foreigners to eat), mashed potatoes, and stuffing. I considered mentioning what an unusual “American” dinner this was, but I decided to run with it. After all, it was all yummy.

At about 6 o’clock, we finished cooking. A minute later, the power went out due to load shedding. For those of you who haven’t heard about load shedding, load shedding means that for 45 hours a week (this has since increased, we now have 18 hours without power a day) homes in Kathmandu lose power in order to conserve energy. There isn’t enough power to go around, so we all lose power, different parts of the country at different times, in order to share the burden. But the load shedding schedule is published in the newspaper, so we had planned on a candle-lit birthday. Dai had asked everyone to bring a flashlight with them and by the time all the guests had arrived, the apartment was pretty well lit.

All in all, we had 21 of us packed in to our little front room, and there was barely enough food, let alone cake (which was chocolate and just like home!) And to my surprise, though Dai had told all our guests this was a no gift event, there were quite a few really sweet gifts. Didi and Dai said it’s because everyone in our family loves me so much. I don’t know if that’s the case, but I do know I sure love all of them. It had been a bit tricky in the morning, being away from home and all, but sitting there in the dark with everyone, listening to my older brothers and my brother in law telling stories and watching the faces of my family as they laughed along made me so happy. By the time everyone gathered around to sing me happy birthday I was glowing.

But I’d be lying if I said the presents weren’t fun too! :) I got two that I really loved. The first was a small cell phone case, which I adore because my 9 year old niece brought it for me. The other, my favorite, was from my dear friend. He brought me the field notebook I’m writing in now. And while I hope to fill this notebook with more fieldnotes than blog posts, I was just so thrilled with it I had to write in it right away. And since I’m technically in the field, I better get to writing up the days notes on the next page. I love you all and whether you knew it or not, we were together on my special day yesterday!