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| Amit and Gurash |
These are some pictures from the day of Amit's Engagement Party. It was Monday December 12th, 2011. Like all of our out of town trips, this one started at about 5 am over long bumpy roads. After about 4 1/2 hours we arrived in Chitwan. Not sure of the name of the town. Chitwan is the name of the State.
Pictured left to right: Navraj, Pastor Bijay, John (Amit's brother), and Silas
(The smiles on our faces are from the sheer joy of no longer being crowded in a Land Rover with about 11 other people.)
Prajowl and Pramita
This is the house of the bride to be's brother. This is where the engagement took place.
Forgive for not knowing all of the names. The little girls in Nepal really like frilly dresses.
This is one of Amit's sisters, Anita. He has another sister, Sunita, but she
isn't one for long road trips so she stayed home.
Left to Right: Pastor Bijay, Silas, Pastor Tika, Amit, Me, Prajowl, and Pramita
See! More frilly dresses!
Here's where they are cooking our lunch. I don't know about the other houses here, but the one where we met didn't have an indoor kitchen, as you will see later. Notice the coating of mud on the outside of the pot? That is to make it easier to clean off the black from the fire. Pretty smart.
More kitchen scenes. The meal was fairly routine: chicken curry, vegetable, lentils, pickle, and rice. It was tasty, but wasn't really all that hungry because I had that feeling you get sometimes from traveling. Plus, as you will see, we get another full meal about hour from this one.
This whole village was made up almost entirely of mud and brick houses with grass roofs.
It was like stepping back in time. Way back in time!
This house here is a fine example. This picture isn't just some aspect ratio thing.
That house is really that small! Check out these other pictures below.
This is the house where the engagement took place.
This is the Bride-to-Be's mother
So, me and Prajowl got kind of bored waiting for the party to start, and
we decided to take a walk and check out the rest of the village.
The first thing we saw were ducks!
Beautiful scenery!
Cool village trails!
And then...
A Jungle!!
Well, of course, we had to check that out!
This guy was our self-appointed jungle tour guide
He kept showing us improvements they had made and a nursery where they were growing
more trees to replenish the forest. (I suspect he thought we were with the government,
we just went with it)
We saw a cool frog and some tadpoles!
Some local flora...
On the way out of the jungle, the guy showed us where they had put up a volleyball net, again.
I don't know if he thought we were with the government and might be impressed with that improvement
or if he just wanted to play. I took a picture just to make him happy. It seemed to work.
Ok, so back to the engagement.
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| Amit and his brother John |
It was very crowded in the little house.
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| Gurash looking contemplative |
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| Pastor Bijay and Uncle Silas :) |
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| It was full up inside and we had a crowd outside trying to get a view of the ceremonies through the window. It was a beautiful day, I don't know why they didn't just have it outside. |
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| That's Mom and Dad in the doorway. |
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| This Gurash's pastor standing with her. He officiated the engagement ceremony. |
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| The engagement is a lot more serious event in Nepal. They exchanged vows in the witness of friends and family. Here the pastor is laying on hands and praying for them.
This is a video of Amit and Gurash's engagement vows. I
don't know exactly what was said. Maybe one of my Nepali
friends would be so kind as to leave a comment with a transcript
of what is being said.
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| I know this picture is not the best clarity wise, but I loved the way it looked. The looks on their faces and their pose makes it seem like they're getting engaged in 1811 instead of 2011. |
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| Believable? Right? |
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| Here is the kitchen. Pretty cool, huh? |
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| The happy future Mr. and Mrs. Amit Thapa Can't wait to see them in a year. Amit is a sweet, dear brother and Gurash seemed to have the same disposition. They should be a great team together. |
After the engagement, we stopped by Gopal's house
a few miles down the road. Gopal was one of my students
this semester. It was my great joy to get to know him, and
it was a privilege to have the opportunity to come and
visit him and his family and the small fellowship that he leads
there in Chitwan.
Here is a short video of some of the singing. This is
a good example of one of the popular Nepali hymns.
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| This is a little cook pit (I don't know what else to call it) that Gopal's wife Soba has just recently built. It is made of clay and straw. The three bumps come up to hold the karai (wok) steady. You build a fire to cook underneath. Pretty cool. I want to try to make one to use here. Mayber later. |
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| Me and Pramita on Gopal's roof |
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| Gopal had a bee hive that the bees built under his cabinet in the kitchen on the roof. Pretty cool. The bees were buzzing everywhere, but they didn't sting us. |
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| See, the bee just sat there. |
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| Like me, Gopal has an eleven year old son named Daniel. |
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| We met together on the roof with Gopal and his family and fellowship and ate a great meal and sang and prayed together and then I gave a small word. Would have loved to hang out longer, but we had to get back on the road for the long drive home. About 4 1/2 hours over really bad bumpy roads. |
