My Life As Nepali Wife

DAVID IS IN ILAM to inquire about the house and to look for land to build a school, or for a school that we can buy over. (We recently heard that some Christians who have a school in Ilam may want to sell.) Meanwhile, I try to keep up with my study assignments at home and also enjoy my freedom. I have just solved some problems on this blog. Recently I received feedback from a friend about links that did not work and comments that can not be posted. Good news: I have changed the setting, so EVERYONE CAN NOW POST COMMENTS. Which I really like to receive and answer. The links are working now, that was my fault because I had already published the blogs about Eternity Ministries in December and I later decided to post the blogs from the beginning of January. You learn from mistakes, the next time I create a custom link so that the date does not matter. Anyway, THE LINKS WORK NOW. There is so much work to do in the preparations for Ilam, fundraising to lay the foundation for our proj...

I made a new video! I am sure you all are curious about where our drinking water comes from and what our church looks like. I am happy to show you around!

In the villages of Nepal, spouses often do not sleep together in one bed. This is especially true for the older generations. Our parents do not sleep together, but have their own bed in separate rooms. Of course, I knew that since we first visited our family, in September 2017. Yet it only really hit me recently. For David it is obvious that spouses sleep separately, even though he himself belongs to the younger generation who is willing to share the bed with their spouse. For me, however, it is very strange from my culture when spouses sleep separately. That means, in my opinion, that something is wrong in the relationship, right? At least. So when David once fell asleep in the other room and did not want to come when it was bedtime, my emotional system became confused because I felt something was wrong. But it was nothing. When I once woke up alone in the middle of the night and discovered that David was sleeping in the other room, while he had said to come later, I was ala...

Yes I cook two or three times a day and clean my kitchen at least two times a day after eating our meals. See how I do this fast and efficient.

Watch my video to get a look into how I cook Nepali food. See here the result of the cooking process: Dal - Bhat - Tarkari

Today, while doing my make-up, I got the sponteneous idea to talk to you all a bit about my make-up and why I didn't do make-up before but do it now.

Today David came back home with a lot of plastic bags. Brrr .... Fortunately, I usually do the shopping and nowadays I make sure that I have a reusable bag with me. The plastic that I still bring home is used as a pedal bin bag. Plastic bags is not the only concern when it comes to reuse. Almost everything from the store that has a longer shelf life comes in a plastic package. If possible, I try to choose a reusable packaging. Like a glass jar in the case of honey and coffee. I enjoy that for the rest of my life. I try to reuse cardboard boxes myself by storing something else in it again or using it as craft material. What I should do with all other plastic packaging, I do not know yet. When I throw it away, I always think twice. But I have not yet found the solution. By the way, if I compare our waste with that of our landlord and the neighbours, then ours does not mean anything. Except for some plastic and paper, it is almost only fruit and vegetable waste. Yet something that I...

I love things as God has made them. Since I got married, I regularly wear a lick of make-up, but exception that, I try to live as naturally as possible. We use natural hand soap (pieces) of neem or papaya in the house. (If you were at our wedding in NL, you got some of it.) The soap for washing dishes is made of ashes and lemon. I make my toothpaste from baking powder and coconut oil with a few drops of eucalyptus oil. I use reusable sanitary napkins made of cotton and bamboo and nowadays also natural, reusable tampons: sponge from the Mediterranean sea. ( Tante Rosa ) I gained a lot of inspiration for natural life in the past when I participated in a study group at the student association, with sustainability as its theme. During my research at the time, I came across the website of Green Evelien , a Belgian woman who also believes that being more natural is better. Recipes for, for example, toothpaste can be found on her website. And now it is winter the best tip to end wit...

Today I want to share with you what a normal day for me looks like nowadays. In the winter we wake up an hour later than in the summer because the sun is out later. Today we woke up at 7 am. I then fill our glasses with hot water from our thermos to drink and we worship and pray for the day and future. After prayers I make tea and start cooking dal bhat. It took some time but I can say I am now very talented for cooking Nepali food. On our plates you will find different dishes. Not that many as in a Thakali restaurant, but more than normal people cook for their own family. If you have a lady in home who cleans and cooks for you she will probably provide you with the same. I will write more about food in another post. When the food is ready, we eat it in the kitchen. I then wash the dishes and clean the kitchen. Yesterday I did the laundry tht takes two or three days to dry so I turned every cloth upside down to dry the other side. Then starts my study time. As Christmas is just o...

Vandaag wil ik met je delen hoe een normale dag voor mij er tegenwoordig uitziet. In de winter worden we een uur later wakker dan in de zomer omdat de zon later op is. Vandaag werden we om 7 uur wakker. Ik vul dan onze kommen met heet water uit onze thermoskan om te drinken en we prijzen en bidden voor de dag en de toekomst. Na het gebed maak ik thee en begin ik met koken. Het heeft even geduurd, maar ik kan zeggen dat ik nu heel getalenteerd ben voor het koken van Nepalees eten. Op onze borden vindt u verschillende gerechten. Niet zo veel als in een Thakali-restaurant, maar meer dan normale mensen koken voor hun eigen gezin. Als je een dame in huis hebt die voor je schoonmaakt en kookt, zal ze je waarschijnlijk hetzelfde geven. Ik zal meer over eten schrijven in een andere post. Als het eten klaar is, eten we het in de keuken. Ik doe daarna de afwas en maak de keuken schoon. Gisteren heb ik de was gedaan, het duurt twee of drie dagen om te drogen, dus ik heb elk kledingstuk onders...

Yeah! Yesterday was Christmas and we rejoiced greatly and enjoyed a lot with family and friends at church. Today is a day of rest from everything of Christmas. Now you would think we would just lay down and relax (that's what we did yesterday night already), but we did a lot of work this morning. It felt like a cleaning day to me. (The only thing left is his suit in the next room waiting to be put on a hanger and into its cover, now I remember when I write this.) While I prepared something to eat (around 9 am, we enjoyed a long night of sleep), David cleaned our room (O ya, the spider web leftovers are still leftover..) and swept the dust out of the gate. I washed the dishes of many days (comparable to the dishes of one dinner, as we did not eat at home in the last few days), and cleaned the kitchen. As today is Wednesday, David went for our church's fasting and prayer meeting. As every Wednesday, I did the laundry, as I do not have to cook in the morning (except for today,...

Finally the moment was there. A small part of my kitchen working space had not been cleaned for quite a while. Now the space seemed to be free as no any leftover foods were left and kept in front of these pots. So I took them all aside and cleaned the space. And yes, then the lids and pots have to get cleaned as well! So the result: clean space, clean pots and clean lids (now drying in the reck). And I cleaned the drying reck area as well. A clean home is a happy home! (Disclaimer: do not become a cleaning freak. Other things might need priority.) --- Eindelijk was het moment daar. Een klein deel van mijn keukenwerkruimte was al een tijdje niet schoongemaakt. Nu leek de ruimte vrij te zijn omdat er geen overgebleven voedsel achterbleef dat dan in schaaltjes voor deze potten staat. Dus ik zette de potten allemaal opzij en maakte die ruimte schoon. En ja, dan moeten de deksels en potten ook worden schoongemaakt! Dus het resultaat: schone ruimte, schone potten en schone deksels (d...