Happy Holi Day

Oy! What a fun day in Nepal. WEll, if you are a young man. Not everyone enjoys Holi. All the stores were closed and the streets were fairly empty except for gangs of young men with their faces fiercely painted and their bodies dripping red, blue, and green dye. They wander down the middle of the streets yelling "Oy!"" and some are banging drums and dancing. They have street fights wehere they throw water balloons at rival gangs while some stand on the roofs and throw water down on them. Plastic bags and burst ballooms litter the streets.

Mark (the chicken) stayed in the room with the kids while I ventured out on my own. I was safely in a cab with our driver Indra and we took a ride around the city to see the action. AT one point we drove down the street and and on one side were Muslim men coming back from the Mosque all dressed in white and on the other screaming Holi gangs of dye colored boys. Very odd. Unforturnately my camera battery was low and I didn't get many pictures.

We went to Durber Square, the site of the old palace and the oldest section of Kathmandu. There is the center of the festivity. They erect a wooden tower in the morning and all day long people go there to worship and make offerings at the tower. It was madness there. The festivity lasts until the tower is torn down in the evening. Lest you think the festival is about hurling dirty dyed water at people it is not, it is supposed to be a sacred day of worship but it has turned into this riot in the streets. WE did not get to go to a temple to see the masked dancing that goes on much to my disappointment.

Tomorrow we go to the travel Ministry to get travel documents. WE will try to get them in one day, then on Monday we go to the US embsssy for her visa. WE are booked on a flight to leave on WEdnesday which is pushing it but thursday is booked. WE pray that we will make it.

The worst part of staying five weeks is that our Miss Sarina has gained so much weight and has become a squirmy pants. If we had left three weeks ago she would have been a dream child on the plane. Now she cannot sit down. Oh joy! Should be an interesting trip. Mark says we should just keep feeding her and she'll sit. The girl can eat. We got back from breakfast today and she ran to the cabinet yelling "cracker, cracker!" She is very cute and says hello and bye bye now.

Ben is ready to come home. Everyday he uses his cell phone with gps to call SAmmy and tell him that we are stuck and need his help. AT night he calls and wishes him a good morning as he goes to bed. IN the morning he calls Molly and Keach to tell them good night. I don't think he believes us when we say that we are going home soon but then we've been saying that for weeks. At one point we even told him that Daddy would take him home. He is happy that it is warm enough to swim now though.