Happiness is. . .

(I'm definitely adjusted to Nepali time now, because now I can't fall asleep until my usual midnight or so. Last night at about the same time I jotted down this list of moments that have made me sublimely happy since I've come here. They all are about my host family. Just a reminder, Manisha is the 15-year old daughter, Anisha is the 11-year old daughter and Anish is the 8-year old monkey terror.)

-lying on my back with the kids on the roof watching the satellites and shooting stars in the rare but special cloudless sky
-laughing so hard I'm crying with Manisha when Anish pretends to be drunk with "white beer," as he calls it---it is only water; also when Anish puts on these ridiculous floral print rain boots that the family inherited from another volunteer (they are very un-Nepali and that is what makes them so funny)
-taking pictures of "baabu"---the one year old cousin that is learning to walk around in his squeaky shoes
-kung-fu fighting and ticking Anish; this morning I tickled him to the ground and he peed his pants! ha ha!
-Anisha and Manisha doing my hair
-Anisha "I like it very very very very very very much."
-singing "Om Shanti Om" songs or Akon's "Smack That" with the girls at the top of our lungs; even funnier that Anisha is always WAY off pitch.
-singing "dun dun dun dun dun dun DISCO" with Anish
-playing clapping games with Anisha (I'm so uncoordinated; the occasional dance lesson can be, but is not always, fun too)
-watching "Tom and Jerry" with Anish
-power outtages for hours at a time and hanging out in the shop with the kids
-falling asleep on the veranda, snuggled up in a blanket with all 3 kids (also during a power outtage)
-eating the best rice in the world on the silver plates that everyone in this country seems to use
-hearing the Jannatt (Bollywood movie) theme and break out into song at any time or any place (this is actually with any of the volunteers too, not just the family)
-the father asking me if I have "taken rice" no less than 10 times a day
-how the mother and I always seem to communicate even though we don't speak the same language; sometimes she'll tell Manisha to ask me something and I can just answer her right away even though I promise you I don't speak Nepali
-wearing my Groucho Marx glasses/nose/moustache and seeing their reactions
-sharing coconut lotion with the girls (Anisha says, "Everyone always wants to hang out with some one who smells good, and when they smell me, everyone will want to be my friend!")