November

As you've probably noticed, I haven't blogged in a while. For those who check my blog I apologize, but I am going to try to make up for that right now. So here is what has been going on this month and here are the pictures I've promised several people. This will probably the longest post ever. :)

The second week in November we were blessed with another volunteer group from Mississippi. Its always fun to be around people from home!



Then the day after they left, I went to Nepal with my friend Lindsey.



We went to babysit some kids for some friends of ours.



We also got to hang out with some friends and play board games (I love games!)



Then of course, we got to do some sightseeing. Nepal is beautiful! It was so nice to be in open air! Here is Kathmandu Valley. As you can see, its still South Asia and still pretty crowded. It was still refreshing though.



Here is the large Buddhist Temple that overlooks the city.





These are the prayer wheels people spin to send their prayers upwards.



These are prayer flags. Each one of them also represents prayers.



It is also known as the monkey temple. (Have I ever mentioned how I don't like monkeys :))





Here are some good friends that hosted us for a weekend.



We took a mountain flight to Mt. Everest. It was incredible! Mt. Everest is the one in the center on the left.







As soon as I returned from Nepal, we headed to a training outside of our city.





The training went well and finished just before lunch on Thanksgiving. Alicia and I jumped on the metro (This is monumental, because usually the metro serves no purpose for us, but that day it did) and made it back to the city just in time for the American Thanksgiving - complete with tons of food (we had 15 whole chickens instead of turkey),flag football, and recorded NFL from this past fall. The only thing missing was the after-thanksgiving sales.







There were quite a few people there, evidenced by the massive amounts of shoes.



Alicia and I are trying to follow as many of our holiday traditions as possible. So Thanksgiving weekend, it was time to decorate for Christmas. Indians think this is so weird because don't decorate or celebrate anything until a few days before. I love Christmas and all that goes along with it, so I had a blast. However, I was forced to do something I always said I wouldn't. I had to buy a fake tree. I am a strong believer in getting a real Christmas tree... no exceptions. Things here are a little different here. There isn't exactly Christmas tree farms around here to go get a real one. I was shocked that they even sold the fake ones. For this one year, I will have a fake tree, but never again :) It turned out nice though. Our apartment feels like Christmas, which makes me smile :)





So that wraps up the month of November. Welcome December! Welcome Christmas! Live this Christmas season to the fullest!