The Lake House

As I mentioned in the last post, Sam and I recently took a trip to Pokhara with Ambika and the girls. When we initially started planning the trip, looking up hotels and guests houses to stay at, it seemed too expensive. After all, there would be 10 of us, so we would need several rooms for several nights which adds up to a lot of money very quickly, and that doesn't even take into account food, any activities and getting to and from Pokhara.

Then just as we had pretty much decided we weren't going to be able to go, Sam found a place called The Lake House on Facebook. It had just recently opened and wasn't advertised on any of the travel sites, so we called to find out more about it. We ended up getting a whole house with 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a huge deck that overlooks Phewa Lake for less than any other place we had found.

Even more exciting, when we arrived in Pokhara, we discovered that to get to The Lake House, we had to cross Phewa Lake in canoes, which was especially fun for the girls. It also separated us from the all of the activity and noise of the main Phewa Lakeside tourist area. In fact, the rides in the canoes were so peaceful and relaxing that Sam and Ambika both fell asleep during our first 25 minute canoe ride across the lake!

View from The Lake House

From the moment we arrived at The Lake House we were greeted by Tikaram, his wife Sabina and their son Rajit. They had beautiful flowers for each of the girls, Ambika and I, and then offered us all cold refreshing lemon water to drink and asked if we were hungry. We had stopped to eat just before the canoe rides, so Sabina made us some popcorn as an evening snack while we watched the sunset over the lake.

After living in Kathmandu with the constant sounds of dogs barking, motorcycles, cars, bus horns and merchants walking the neighborhood streets calling out the various items they are selling, hearing only the beautiful sounds of nature is about as perfect as it gets.

The next day we were all still exhausted from the 6 hour drive from Kathmandu to Pokhara, so we just layed around during the morning and planned to go across the lake later in the day, but a storm rolled in, so we decided a trip across the lake was probably not the best idea and just enjoyed a day at The Lake House.

Wendy, Ambika, Sabina and Rajit

The girls had fun going down by the waterside and looking for fish, as well as playing games with Wendy Auntie (who tired out quickly!), Rajit and two other little girls, Sabina and Salina, from one of the neighboring houses who stopped by. We also got to know Tikaram and his wife Sabina better. They are a wonderful couple and made us feel very at home and like we were all one big family.

Tikaram, Sam and Rajit

We especially had fun bonding over food. Sam made pancakes the first morning and Tikaram wanted to learn how to make them. That evening Tikaram and Sabina made some delicious traditional Nepali food: dal bhat (lentils and rice), curried potatoes, and chicken along with slices of fresh cucumbers and carrots, followed by apple slices and grapes for dessert. Tikaram pulled out the grill a few times too, and according to Sam, its some of the best BBQ in Nepal!

Nepali New Year's Eve at the Lake House

We didn't realize it when we planned the trip, but the night before Ambika and the girls took the bus back to Kathmandu was Nepali New Year's Eve, so we actually got to celebrate altogether sitting out on the deck, overlooking the moonlit lake, eating BBQ and popcorn... and there were even a few fireworks across the lake! Happy Nepali New Year!

Leaving Kathmandu

After less than a year in Kathmandu, it looks as though we will be leaving within the next month! Just as when we were planning our move to Kathmandu, I am both excited about what lies ahead while at the same time my heart is breaking at all we will be leaving behind.

Pollution in Kathmandu

As many of you are aware, Sam has had severe health issues during our time in Kathmandu. His allergies and asthma do not go well with the high levels of pollution and dust that are "trapped" in Kathmandu Valley by the surrounding mountains. We have prayed that God would heal him, he has tried various medications, essential oils, vitamins, working out, eating healthy and anything else we could think of to stay in Kathmandu, but it seems God has other plans. As this became obvious, we had to ask a very common question here in Nepal, "Ke garne?" (pronounced "kay garnay") which means "What to do?"

At the end of January, we decided to visit Pokhara (another city in Nepal with less pollution) to see if that would make a difference, and it actually did. In fact, as we were on our way to Pokhara, Sam realized that we had accidentally left ALL of his medications (for allergies, as well as his asthma inhaler, vitamins, etc.) on our living room table- making the trip a true test!

Sam allergy free, headache free and happy!

In Kathmandu Sam gets severe headaches pretty almost every day, usually multiple times a day, even when he takes medicine, but the entire time we were in Pokhara, he was headache free. What was even more convincing for me was that in Kathmandu Sam usually wakes up with red, itchy eyes, but in Pokhara his eyes were clear without any eyedrops. Also, Sam has had problems with snoring and sleep apnea, but while we were in Pokhara, the snoring and sleep apnea were gone.

Could this be our new home in Pokhara?

During that same trip, Sam and I decided to walk around the neighborhood where we were staying. Suddenly, we both saw a house down the road and at the exact same time said, "That's our house!" We laughed and wondered, "Was this a sign from God? Was that really 'our house'?" As we got closer we realized the house was occupied, there was no "To Let" or "For Sale" sign posted and no one was even home to even ask about the house. Still, Sam took some pictures of the house, and when we got back to Kathmandu, I added it to my prayer journal to remind me to pray daily for God's will.

While we might not have been right about "our house", one thing became crystal clear as we arrived back in Kathmandu and Sam's health issues all returned within the first few hours we were back. It was time for me to admit that we needed to move from Kathmandu. On the bright side, Pokhara is a great place. It's smaller than Kathmandu and easier to get around (from the layout of the city, as well as public transportation and less traffic). Sam and I agreed we could both see ourselves living there, but we were still on tourist visas, and decided there was no point in even looking for a flat in Pokhara until we had our business visas in hand and were more certain we would be allowed to stay in Nepal for more than 5 months.

The next few months our main priority was getting our visas, and thanks to God, our amazing lawyer and some wonderful people at the Ministry of Industry, as well as at the Immigration Office, we received our business visas just in time... the day our tourist visas expired! As a friend of mine likes to say, "God has missed many opportunities to be early, but He is never late!" That was certainly true in this instance!

Now we could truly consider moving to Pokhara, and decided to take another trip there to look for a place to live. Since Ambika's girls were finished with their exams and had two weeks off before the new school year started, we decided it would be a perfect time for all of us to take a trip there. We would spend the first few days having fun with Ambika and the girls. Then they would take the bus back to Kathmandu while Sam and I stayed behind an extra few days to look for a place to live.

We had told Ambika about the house we had seen on our first trip to Pokhara and one day when we were near that neighborhood, we decided it would be fun to go by to see if the owner was home and was wanting to rent the house. Yes, I know how crazy that sounds, but after seeing some of the crazy things God has done in the past few years, I've realized that crazy does not mean impossible.

When we arrived at the house, we could tell it was still occupied, but there was still no "To Let" or "For Sale" sign, the gate to the house was padlocked and there was no sign of anyone home even after we knocked on the gate.

Okay, so just because crazy does not mean impossible, it's not always a sign that God's at work either, and a two bideshi's (foreigners), a Nepali woman and 7 kids knocking on a strangers gate calling out, "Hello, is anyone home?" tends to attract a bit of attention from neighbors! God only knows what they must have been thinking! So Sam and Ambika went over to talk with one of the neighbors and managed to get the phone number of the lady who owns the house... and the craziness continued!

That evening Ambika called the woman, told her a little of our story and asked if she was interested in renting or selling her house. Needless to say, the woman said she and her family were not planning on renting or selling the house, but she would talk with them and let us know in a day or two. I wasn't sure what to think. Were we insane? After all, we had only seen the outside of the house. Who knows what the inside was like, if it would fit our needs or even be in our price range. But there was also the possibility that God had led us to the house and that it would be perfect and all work out.

Meanwhile, Ambika and the girls went back to Kathmandu while Sam and I stayed in Pokhara and planned a day of looking for a place to live, since we still weren't sure if the house was "our house" and we had to get back to Kathmandu in a few days.

Hit and run damage

Just as we arrived in the neighborhood where we planned to look, a motorcycle that was weaving all over the road ran into our vehicle! Sam pulled over to the side of the road, but the man had driven off! It was the Nepali New Year's Day, and the accident happened right in front of a police sub-station with several police standing outside who witnessed the whole thing, so we assume the guy who hit us was probably drunk and that's why he left the scene.

Luckily, several witnesses, including some police officers, saw everything, got a partial license plate number of the guy who hit us, helped us file a police report and told us to get an estimate for the repairs to our vehicle in case they caught the guy. Along with damage to the side of our vehicle, there was also some damage to the rim of our tire that needed to be repaired right away so that it didn't ruin our tire. By the time we did all of that, we were exhausted and needed to get back to the guest house... so much for our day of looking for a place to live!

On the bright side, Ambika had spoken to the woman who owned the house again. She had talked with her family who were open to the idea of renting the house and agreed that we could come look at the house sometime. The only problem was that we were leaving to come back to Kathmandu the next morning, so we needed to see the house that evening, but the lady wasn't available to show us the house that evening, so we agreed to meet her at 9am the following morning before heading back to Kathmandu.

We showed up at 9am, but no one was there. We called Ambika to see if she had heard from the woman, but she had not, and Ambika couldn't fnd the women's phone number to call her! Luckily, one of the neighbors came out and was able to call the woman. She was eating breakfast and said she would be at the house in about 30 minutes, so we walked around the neighborhood and waited for her.

Sam, Wendy and their soon-to-be new landlord

Finally the woman showed up and showed us the house. It is beautiful and perfect for us. Lots of windows for natural lighting, a view of the mountains, a big new water tank, so we'll have plenty of water, it's at the end of a small road, so there won't be lots of traffic and we agreed on a reasonable rent. Plus she wants to leave most of the furniture there since she doesn't have a place to store it, which helps us out since it is bigger than our current flat and we would rather not spend more money on furniture.

We will most likely move into "our house" in the next few weeks, God willing. Happy Easter from Nepal!