October Newsletter

October - The Call, Commitment, Wedding, Moonlighting
In my past monthly newsletters, I have focused on letting you know what I do with Friends of Internationals such as teaching guitar, delivering furniture, helping students get drivers licenses and social security cards, and being a friend who is available to talk. This newsletter, however, is going to be a bit more personal.
(151KB PDF)

Nepali Desain Festival 2007

One of the highlights of my year for the past three years has been the Nepali festival of Desain. According to Wikipedia it is a mix of "Hindu Tantrik and animistic harvest festival traditions," but the best way to describe it is as the Nepali equivalent to our Christmas.

Desain is a 15 day festival that peaks on the 10th day (kind of like our Christmas day). It is a time for families to gather and relatives to come visit. It is a day of singing, presents, and food.

As you can imagine, being away from home for the holidays can be sad and depressing. Every year the local Nepali community (nearly one hundred strong and ninety percent students) sponsors a Desain celebration at the local Indian restaurant. The tickets say the event starts at 9:30. Past experience has taught me not to show up before 11pm. The program really didn't start before 11:30pm this Saturday.

The local event attracts many of the local Nepalis. It is a great time to catch up with many of my friends who I have lost contact with or who I don't see very often because of their work/school schedule.

Here are some pictures.

Srijan and Me

Pavan, Sabina, and their child.

the program

Sagar and me

Mridul and me

Roshan and me

Lack of Posts

OK, I admit it. It has been entirely too long since I've posted a blog. Part of the reason has been a lack of computer. My trusty HP notebook, which had served me since I graduated college, finally died after extensive round of surgeries and soldering related to the computer's power source. Last week, however, God provided through the company that I do some work for Assurance Tech a loaner laptop that I can keep until I'm able to get a new one. So I'm back and with pictures! I will be ebaying the parts of the HP soon: