Baby Shower

This was not a baby shower for us, but Beth was very involved in organizing and planning this one for our new friend Dechen. For most of the men involved, this was the first baby shower that they'd attended. Some of them were more ready than others for the games.

One of the highlights of the day was the unveiling of the quilt that a group of women made for Dechen. It was not quite finished, but you can see Beth's square second from the top on the far right side.

As with any party, most people wanted to spend time with the guest of honor. Dechen was happily passed around while we all celebrated her new life.

It was a great chance to think ahead to our own big changes coming up in the next few months.

Dave and Beth

CAREing in Middle School

As the advisors of the CARE (Community Service And Restoration of the Environment) program in the middle school, it is our job to get kids interested in this important part of their curriculum. Ever student needs to take part in at least one CARE activity per semester and this weekend, we had a morning of making useful stuff out of re-used materials. We had students making journals out of old paper:

Some were making cloth bags out of old t-shirts:

Some were making friendship bracelets out of old string and beads out of old paper:

And some were making hanging candle-holders out of old spaghetti jars:

It was a very successful morning and we're even thinking of selling some of these items at an upcoming middle school event. If we do happen to make any money, we'll donate it to some worthy community service causes.

Dave and Beth

Post?

Anyone that used to read our blog (mostly immediate family members) has probably long-since given up after more than two months of silence. Now that things have settle down (slightly) we thought we'd try to get the blog up-to-date before moving back to Chicago and being swamped by new responsibilities. As usual when this happens, we'll date things according to the time when they actually happened. Enjoy.

Dave and Beth

Happy Losar!

For those that may not be aware, not only was yesterday Valentine's Day, but it was also Losar. This is the lunar New Year as celebrated in Tibet and is the biggest holiday of the year for our Tibetan students. Beth and several other teachers decided to wear their traditional Tibetan chubas to celebrate the occasion.

Ordinarily, these dresses are worn without an apron by women who aren't married. There was one other married woman besides Beth in the picture above, but she must have forgotten to put her apron on.

Dave was able to get in on the Tibetan dress action yesterday, too. One of our students brought a new shirt back from Nepal that actually fit Dave. We looked very sharp in our new Tibetan digs.

Unfortunately, this will probably be the last time that Beth wears her chuba in India. Her clothes are starting to get a bit tighter lately, and it won't be long before the baby makes it impossible to squeeze on.

Dave and Beth

Langurs on the Terrace

One nice thing about relaxing for the last couple weeks has been the ability to see all the great things around us. We were sitting at home and heard something big on the roof. When we went to check it out, we saw a big family of langurs (these are the nicer of our two monkey species) having a party on our terrace.

We had a great time watching them play around on the patio furniture and anything they could swing around on.

After all the relaxing of the last couple of weeks, it will be difficult to jump back into the swing of school and the new semester.

Dave and Beth

Bear Hill

In our quest to take it easy during the month of January, we decided to take a leisurely walk up to Bear Hill.

Like most of the hills around here, it gave us some great views of the snow-capped Himalayas in the distance. We also got to see some little critters running around here and there.

The best part of the walk, though, was the abundant supply of pine cones.

The only supply of heat in our house is our wood stove. Pine cones are a great way to get the fire going. Hopefully, this supply will last us until the end of the winter and we'll be able to stay warm.

Dave and Beth

Snow Day

Living in the Himalayas, one would think that we'd get snow fairly regularly. Last year we only had one day of snow. Our first snow this year was about the same--more of a light dusting.

The flowers were still able to peak out in spite of the cold covering.

Beth tried to relive some of her childhood memories of catching snow on her tongue.

The snow didn't last very long, but it was a nice surprise while it was here.

Dave and Beth