Toilets.....

In Nepal the traditional toilet is not like ours back home--now I know why they call ours "thrones".

This is what people are used to here...a squatty potty.

You stand over top of the opening and put your feet on the ridged foot pads so you don't slip and fall!

I still have not had to use one of these, but it's not because European toilets are more common, it's because I don't drink much when I'm out and about. If you put dehydration and using these toilets on a scale...you can see which one would win out.

Although I have found a trick. If you can drink 2 liters of water 2 hours before you leave you can use your own facilities before leaving, and not need any water for quite some time---hopefully till you return home.

The most noticeable thing about these toilets is the smell. You can literally smell them from a mile a way and you can use your nose to find them if you find yourself needing to use it.

Usually restaurants that cater to foreigners will have a normal looking toilet...but they don't always have toilet paper--actually mostly they don't.

But they do have this...

Yes, I'm still not quite sure how you would use this without looking like a wet dog after, but you do what you have to do I suppose!

So usually when you pack your bag before leaving somewhere you always BYOTP!

If a place does have it's own TP for you to use, always make sure it is near the toilet. A lot of times it's way over by the door, and that kind of defeats the purpose!

Yes, getting used to a new culture can be challenging at times, but so far nothing we can't handle with a little foresight!

Monsoon Season

So we are in the middle of monsoon season. We are told this is a drier monsoon than normal. As far as what repercussions that will have on the rest of the year, I am not totally sure. I'll make another blogpost about this later.

So in Monsoon we all have rain gear--boots, rain jackets, and umbrellas. The kids love it. Actually I love it too--the rain really cools things off. 

If it pours it usually rains for an hour or so. If it is a light rain it will rain probably all day. 

If it is not a thunderstorm we let the kids go out and play in the rain with their rain gear, which usually doesn't help much because they come inside later soak and wet. But they have fun.

I don't think it was raining in this picture of Abby and Jason. Here people use umbrellas when it is hot and sunny, and Abby likes to do that as well.

Not all roads here are paved and nice. In fact most of them aren't. These are pictures taken from a vehicle as we drove down the road. 

Yes, we just drive straight through. I've only seen vehicles get stuck occasionally, which is very surprising.

The rain causes the dirt to wash away leaving the foundation of the road --just rocks--and it makes it very bumpy. 

These next few pictures were taken as we drove out of the city with our friends and to their new church plant--Berea Baptist Church!

We are very glad they have 4-wheel drive.

I took a lot more pictures of this trip, but because the roads were so bumpy and muddy, most pictures came out too blurry!

These were taken on a trip to our local Post Office.

We had to drive on the opposite side of the road to avoid some of these, had it been a busier day we would have driven straight through!

There is one road that leads to our house that we avoid if at all possible right now because it so messed up with the rain and bumpiness--it's downright painful...lol. And just because it's messed up doesn't mean the taxi drivers drive much slower. So hurdling over these bumps is not too fun.

All in all I think Monsoon has been one of my favorite seasons because of how nice the weather is temperature wise! I just love rain!

6 months here in Nepal

I can't believe it's been over 6 weeks since I last made a post. I haven't necessarily run out of ideas, I've just been busy with other things and keep putting this on the back burner! If you do have some ideas for a blogpost or questions please share them, I'm sure it will help me out!

We both have lost some weight since being here! Can you tell? We haven't been doing anything specific other than eating fresh foods, rice and lentils for lunch almost every day, and walking everywhere, Luke likes to go bike riding in the mountains.

Paul likes to act like his dad.

Some friends of ours here have just rented out this building to start a new church! Luke is helping them get it ready for their inaugural service in September.

Here are some more before and after photos.

Luke and Justin Levine.

Check out Justin's new website

www.faithfortibet.wordpress.com