our cultural weekend

I don't feel well this morning! But the good news from Nepal is cheering: the king agreed to reestablish Parliament. Emma and I attended a Nepalese New Year celebration this past weekend, hosted by "NCNC" the Nepal Center of North Carolina. The slogan on their welcome banner said "First in Flight, First in Height". My sister and my nephew went with us, and we were invited by a local family who are from Nepal. Jay is in kindergarten. He said he had a very good time. We had a delicious meal (catered by a local Indian restaurant - Nepali food is very similar) and Jay tried all the new foods eagerly, especially the gulab jamun, a super-sweet pastry in a bowl of milk and yogurt. That impressed me. I hope Emma will be as brave with new foods. After dinner there was a cultural program with songs and dances. I only saw a little of that as I had to take Emma out to feed her, and after that it was late enough that both kids were restless. Since we had walked to the place from Helen's house we needed to allow time to get back before dark and get Jay ready for bed. As we walked back Jay said, "I only made one friend." Helen responded, "But at least you made one!" and he said, "Yeah!" It was a child who climbed trees with him for a few minutes while Helen finished her meal outside on a bench and I had taken Emma inside. Jay was very interested in the Nepalese language he heard spoken all around us. I taught him two words on the walk there: Namaste, the greeting, and "naya" or something like that, which is the word for "year" and the only piece of "happy new year" that I remembered! He knew about Mount Everest as the highest mountain in the world and I told him that it's in Nepal. And I told him that the Nepalese flag is not a rectangle, but two triangles together, and he said he'd heard about those kinds of triangle flags before. I'm glad we went even though we couldn't stay very long. I'm going to find a link for you to read about the Nepalese New Year and paste it here. http://www.visitnepal.com/nepal_information/nepal_festivals.php

My friend Rachana said that in Nepal, at Emma's age (5 months) there is a big celebration for a baby's first solid food meal. They invite all their family and friends and make a special rice pudding. Everyone goes up and gives the baby a teensy taste of it. This event occurs around age 5 months for a girl and at 6 months for a boy. I asked Rachana why and she said, "I have no idea! In Nepal everything is different for girl and boy."