Valentine’s day is a relatively new holiday in Nepal and specifically new to the students at St. Devi’s Academy. My day started with one of our little girls giving me a hair clip as a Valentine’s Day gift. Needless to say, I was moved by her generosity! As an effort to celebrate the day, we gave pocket money to every student so they would go to the Canteen on the campus to buy a little edible treat. That was a rare opportunity and the children had a great time buying something on their own. After classes ended for the day we passed out oranges and chocolate to the children. Little Prashma, a new child at Devi’s, reveled in the honor of handing out the juicy fruit. Later as I was walking around the campus, I recognized the delicious fragrance of orange everywhere. The oranges were devoured in minutes!

Meanwhile, David, Devi and Suzy celebrated by driving to the new cable car that was very recently installed outside of Kathmandu. It was wonderful to get outside the noisy city and see the gorgeous Himalayans. A beautiful, brand new, coffee shop was located just below the entrance to the cable car. We treated ourselves to blueberry smoothies and chocolate muffins. All of us, young and old alike, had a lovely day.