Today I learned a bit more about the culture and religious beliefs of the Nepalese. Rajesh, my program leader, spoke to us about his Hindu thoughts and beliefs and it resonated with me and what I believe as well. He started off by saying that although he is Hindu, he does not feel very religious, but spirtual. He practices prayer and worship twice daily and even has a temple in his house, as a matter of fact he and his family are ringing bells and singing at the moment. He said this because he feels that all religions are right in their own ways. No one religion is right and it is somewaht ignorant to nelive that only Hindu is right or only Judaism is right. All religions teach basic respect and love for others and they all believe in a higher power that dominates us, called GOD. He describes GOD as an acronym meaning Generator, Operator and Destroyer. He believes that all religions point to this GOD and there is truth in all religion, therefore he is only Hindu because he was born into it. This points to the fact that all religions have one thing in common and it should not matter if someone is Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, or Hindu. I think this is very true, each religion teaches that doing good is good for you and doing bad is not good. He didn’t go too much further into this subject but I am currently reading a few books that I purchased here in Nepal about this topic and many other deeper topics.
Today we also had a scavenger hunt at a local market and we were supposed to buy small amounts of various spices and vegetables. We had trouble doing so since the locals would only sell to us if we bought wholesale and gave up after it got too stressful.
On the way home we did something that would be very illegal back in America. We rode on top of a bus since the inside of the bus was full. It was only a short 5 minute ride and we never went faster than 20 mph, it was quite an experience and we all got home safely so no worries.
I will also use this blog post to share pictures of some of the meals I have had so far. Mo Mos are chicken dumplings and are very tasty. There is another picture of a couscous-type dish that was very tasty as well. Another one of the pictures is of a banana and oats breakfast which was very delicious. The other picture below is called Dal Bhat which is a staple in Nepal. Most people here eat Dal Bhat every day for brunch and even for dinner, but the house I am staying in changes the meals up every day for our Western taste buds.
