Meeting Sweetie

Today we got to meet “Sweetie”.  It went very well.  She is precious!  She was a bit hesitant at first.  Raj, our rep, talked to her a minute and had her give us the Namaste (sooo cute!)  Then Raj took her for a minute and handed her over to me.  I had a small lollipop that she stuck in her mouth right away.  She was shivering at first, maybe from fear, maybe from being cold.  It was chilly inside.  I brought the “blankie” that Aunt La La sent out and wrapped her up in it.  She then snuggled right into me.  She was not so sure about Mike.  Of course, he is fair-skinned, blue-eyed with a beard and at 6”2’ towers over all Nepali men.  For a while she wouldn’t even look at him.  We went into a play room with two Danish families who are adopting little boys.  We blew some bubbles, looked at a book, and played with some balloons.  Sweetie eventually would hit her balloons with Mike’s balloons.  I was happy that only after a few minutes I could get a smile out of her.  None of the pictures we got of her ever showed her smiling, so this was nice.   We actually caught a smile on film.  She is a beautiful, tiny little thing.  She has big brown eyes and sweet full lips.  Her hair is very black and she has a cowlick in the front and in the back. She has this little gesture that she does with her head.  When you talk to her she will quickly bob it to the side.  I think it is kind of a Nepali gesture- our rep does it as well.  I think it is like a shoulder shrug.   I can’t wait to post a picture of her.  It was such a nice, sweet time with her.  We will, of course, be going back tomorrow.  We visit her for 5 days and have our appointment to adopt her Monday, the 21^st.

OK, now some observations about Kathmandu…  Mike and I walked around a bit before going to the children’s home.  We went looking for a store to buy a few things.  You really take your life into your hands when you attempt to cross the street.  The driving here is crazy.  I can barely describe it.  Cars just drive closely alongside the other, sneaking and weaving in and out of the traffic.  They literally come within inches of each other.  Then you add in the motorcycles.  They are everywhere.  And they just sneak up along-side the cars and buses weaving through the traffic.  Mike said the Nepalese must possess a sense when they are driving, just knowing where the other drivers are.  There is a constant “beep-beep” and the fumes are quite bad.  Does anyone remember from Disney World, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride?  It is a bit like that.  On the way to and from the children’s home we saw many dogs, some random cows, and a monkey.  When we got to the children’s home and turned off the main road, the road turned into a stone road.  It was just like big rocks on a path.  I couldn’t believe our driver even attempted it, but we made it.  On the way back though, Mike and Raj had to jump out of the car to push it back onto the road.  It was a blast!

We are staying at the Hotel Tibet.  We have a nice size room that is very clean.  The staff is friendly and attentive.  Outside or our room there is a beautiful terrace with some comfy Adirondack chairs and tables.  You get a nice view of the city.  There are beautiful flowers outside the front of the hotel.  After coming back from the children’s home we took a big nap (we are a little bit jet-lagged) then later went down for dinner.  I had vegetable momos and Mike had Buff phlate.  The momos are little steamed dumplings stuffed with veggies.  Mike’s were fried dumplings stuffed with buffalo meat.  It was very good.  The only problem is the sketchy internet service.  We were able to Skype with Mom, Dad and the boys this morning but tonight I cannot get service.  So, I am composing this post in word and will copy it onto the blog whenever I can get internet service.

It was a great first day in Kathmandu!