the decidedly unreligious Holy festival, making t-shirts, handicrafts galore, deepening relationships, loving where i am

I just made two posts at once- one written 6 days ago, but without the internet to post it, and one written now. Read the earlier one first if you haven't already!

Funnily enough, I just don't "bathe" that much in Nepal. There are several reasons for this: the absence of hot water, the constant presence of a stuffy nose (which makes me ignorant of possible smelliness), and the general lack of any nudity, which somehow also translates into a lack of bathing-awareness. While i generally only go through the whole bathing process twice a week, the weekend was an extreme exception, in fact I think i was thoroughly soaked in water a good deal of yesterday. This is because the Nepali festival, Holy, is basically a huge water fight, utilizing balloons, plastic bags, buckets, plastic bottles, and even eggs or chili sauce in Kathmandu. The only problem with Holy is that the kids start warming up for it two weeks before the full-moon, the day on which the water-war truly begins. Instead, the week before Holy, and especially the last three days, walking through the village of Sankhu is to take your life (or at least your clean, dry clothes) into your own hands. Kristel and I did brave a brief voyage down the mountain on Saturday, but were given a tip by Sabu, one of the girls, to wear raincoats, a suggestion that was both ingenious and quite useful.
Yesterday, however, was nothing short of glorious. Imagine the neighborhood water fights you had in elementary school and then expand the age group from 5-25, and then expand the number of kids to 50, and then add a nice sunny day and lots of shrieking. To signal your participation you paint your face with color, something Danny, Kristel and I did Avatar-style in our room before venturing out to face the onslaught.
After I finally got dry (and very very clean) I worked on two projects that I have been learning/doing with some of the older girls: crocheting and making t-shirts. Now I often claim to have made a t-shirt, but I usually just mean that i spray-painted something sweet on it. In this case, we made our own patterns out of an existing t-shirt, cut the cloth, and sewed it all together by hand- pretty freakin sweet! I still have one sleeve to go, and the neck and bottom to hem, but she's shaping up pretty nicely, and the five of us are all planning on wearing our completed shirts for the first time on the same day. I'm also working on crocheting, which kabita started to teach me about a week ago. While slow at first, I'm starting to get faster and neater- i'm excited to be able to make things with my own hands! Finally getting momentum on a project has opened up my eyes to so many more, especially because learning with the girls is way more fun then just teaching them something. I guess I always worried that I needed to show them something I already knew, but advancing in shared ignorance is not only fun, but yielding really awesome results! I'm already designing other clothes/jewelry projects in my head, i just need to find the supplies in Kathmandu (the real challenge). I recently met an older Australian woman who comes to Nepal 4 months of every year and does all sorts of projects with the kids. She offered to show me her 'spots' in Kathmandu to buy supplies when I am there this week, so hopefully I'll be prepared to do/learn all sorts of new things when I return.
Doing these sorts of projects with the older girls isn't just fun, I also find myself becoming much closer to them. At first, conversations could only go so far because of language barriers and especially cultural/comfort barriers. Now we're chatting about boys, and joking about farting, all while we work on projects. It's such a nice feeling, to be part of this girl-community, one quite unlike the hanging out I often do at home, which always seems to center around going somewhere instead of making something. The closest I've come to this at home is probably cooking in the kitchen, but there is something so relaxing and intimate, but still open, about hanging out with the girls- I find myself very content.
More and more I feel like PA Nepal is my home. I do not crave western foods all the time, but am excited to see what kind of curry there is for dinner/breakfast, although they are often similar there are many different vegetables and flavors to choose from. When I first came here and my mind went wandering, it usually found it's way to the people and places from home or at college. Recently, however, I feel a shift: my mind is occupied with the relationships I am building here, the projects I am working on in Sankhu (photo or craft), and the daily chores or past-times that I'd like to do. I won't try to pretend that I don't get pangs of homesickness or loneliness, or that I sometimes am annoyed with the kids or feel cooped up in the village, but I certainly am very happy here, and learning more about myself and others all the time.