The Bazaar (as promised)

Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

I thought I would start us out with some encouragement from the Scriptures today. :) As it is, people back home are just waking up on Monday morning and I am just going to bed on Monday night! But I did promise some pictures from the bazaar yesterday- so you shall have them!
The bazaar is about a 1o minute walk from here. Very pleasant, gorgeous views of the valley. When you walk over by the hospital is when you get the views of the Himalayas, for those of you who wanted to know. You can't see them unless you go further up the hillside, and if the day is a clear one. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. The bazaar. There are 3 roads in Tansen. The high road, the middle road, and (you guessed it) the lower road. I happen to live off the middle road so if I just take my path up to the middle road and follow it you run right into the bazaar. You have to squeeze through a small tunnel right before you get there. *See picture below* Through the tunnel, you come out onto Steep Street. Why? Because its hecka steep! If you fell, you would probably fall all the way to the bottom. Last time I was there I saw a boy skipping down the road and was like 'Whoa- what a brave kid! I hope that he is really truly skipping and not trying to slow down because unless he runs into something to stop himself, he's going to be skipping for a LONG time!' *See picture of Steep Street above right* Off of Steep Street is Straight Street. This is where my favorite shop is. :) The man who runs it speaks English pretty well and has a fantastic selection for Nepal of chocolate and juice (my 2 weaknesses)! It is called 'The Himalayan Coffee Shop'. I haven't actually bought any coffee there because I brought some from home, but the name reminds me of Starbucks in the States so it is a comfort thing for me. Don't get me wrong, I love stopping at little hole-in-the-wall places... oh wait, everything here is pretty much a hole-in-the-wall! But I also love buying from small vendors along the path for milk and eggs. Here's a picture of the shop.
It still astounds me that a town of this size can be built so high up on a hill. It's so steep, if you fell you would fall for awhile. I laughed when I first started corresponding with people in Nepal because everyone advised me to get evacuation insurance 'in case I fell down a mountain'. I was like, 'yeah right, fall down a mountain-haha funny'. So I got the evacuation insurance and now that I am here, it totally makes sense. I could in fact, fall down a mountain. Other things that still make me chuckle is the fact that the Hindu's have to wake up their gods and put them to sleep at night with a bell. Hinduism is the most common religion here in Nepal. So, every morning you hear bells go off and every evening you hear them again. Personally, I could never trust in a god who I had to put to sleep and wake up again. What if you needed them in the night? Hmm.... And yesterday, Mr. Beine had to shoo off some Nepali women who were picking flowers from his yard for the gods. He said, "Please don't do that" and they said, "It's okay, it's okay" to which he said, "No, it's not okay". They reassured him that it was 'for the gods' but he still shooed them off anyway. Hehe- its kinda funny when you think about it. And today, the boys and I did Valentine's Day Crafts this afternoon to music on my laptop, when I heard another kind of music. I looked out the window with the boys and a Nepali man was serenading me with music and some sort of instrument. I don't know if he was looking for money.... but it definitely was amusing. I think Kimberly might have filmed him sitting in front of my house, singing away. :) It wouldn't surprise me if he wanted money, we get at least 3 visits a week by beggars. Since we are 'bedeshi's' (Westerners) we are seen as being rich. Sadly, I am not- but I don't know how to tell them that because I don't speak Nepali. We normally send them off with food and a smile.
Well, I am rambling again. I did tell you a little bit about the bazaar and there are some pictures, so hopefully you aren't too disappointed in me.
I hope that this week is a joyous one for you!
Blessings-
Alexa