where I shop...fresh fruit and veggies!

Tuesday, May 28

there are so many wonderful reasons why i love living in Nepal. one in particular is that the pace of life here is sooooo much slower. even in the capital city. kevin and i wake up together. he puts the coffee on and we both find our little quiet places to rest in the stillness with the Lord. 

friends, it's been a very healing stillness for me. 
time to reflect, to be very far away from so many of the expectations I put on myself in the US. 
time to be and grow in the areas where I'm so desperately lacking. 

one of my favorite parts of life here is shopping, it's an experience.
it ain't trader joes, that's for sure.  
Kevin and I do this together
 {well, we pretty much do everything together}  
which I love and cherish

at the end of our street is a big outdoor market with fruit and vegetable sellers. 
everyone has their own stall, and sells the exact same thing,
but it's fun to check out produce and bargain and try new fruits. 

the first day we went shopping for vegetables, one sweet nepali woman, with a twinkle in her eye called us over. after we bought our produce, she said "you can always come to me!". The next time we arrived to purchase vegetables we actually felt a bit guilty if we didn't buy from her, even though some other produce looked better. But wanting to build a relationship we dove right into her veggies! And that's the way it's been for the last 2 months, and she's pretty adorable. 

The fruit sellers are pretty hilarious. at first they tried to con us and charge us an arm and a leg, but we caught on. We decided to start using our limited nepali to speak to them, and the minute we did, they said "ok, now I give you nepali price!" haha. who knows if we are actually getting the real nepali price, but at least it's cheaper for us than it was before. 

before i moved to nepal I was juicing up a storm, and almost died of happiness when I discovered that the previous owner of our home left a juicer there!! so now there is even more reason for me to buy produce to juice! 

at the end of the market is an area where people sell homemade nepali food. 
samosa's, roti, mo mo's and other items {that i have NO idea what they are}
food sanitation here is a bit very questionable,
but Kevin hasn't died yet so that's a good sign. 

it feels good to walk home with a few huge bags of fresh goodness. 

 {our sweet veggie lady!}
 {one second before this was taken this guy was laughing, 
but in classic nepali fashion he is frowning for the picture!} 
 {yesterday i learned the difference between indian lychee and nepali lychee. nepali lychee (above) is more colorful on the outside and is a little more sour. indian lychee (below) is more muted in color on the outside and sweeter on the inside. we bought a huge bag of indian lychee and i'm enjoying it right now! yum!}
{this is our resident fruit man. he is HILARIOUS! love him}
{we got 5 mangoes for a dollar, i'm in HEAVEN!!!}
  {a man making simosa's}

{a boy making mo mo's...nepali's favorite snack food!}
{i'm just not too sure how I feel about a massive bowl of raw meat sitting out and raw hands, haha}
{lastly, a very typical sight. yes...a cow just chillin in front of an atm. or in the middle of the road. or in front of a shopping mall. it's really hilarious.} 

Have a great week friends! Will be sharing more of our exciting news in the next post...stay tuned! 
love Katie 

18 comments :

  1. wow, it definitely is different, especially because of the cow! haha. i do love an outdoor market, wish we had more in my area.

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  2. oh my! this is so neat! open air markets are just so beautiful - i wish we had more. and it's neat that you got to make a connection with your vegetable lady!

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  3. Beautiful! Makes me want to shop there :) I am the same way..the meat just sits out in the open here and it totally freaks me out! Noooooo thank you!

    I did get brave one time and bought some strawberries out of a barrel. They were just too beautiful to pass up. The lady used her bare hands to scoop them out and I ate them without washing them. HAHA! Totally against my nature!

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  4. What amazing experiences. This makes me miss Asian markets so badly!

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  5. wow that is an experience!! what an adjustment you two have made! how do you clean the produce from the market? are you two worried about getting sick?

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  6. This looks like SO much! Gosh, that would be so fun to try out all of those different foods in another culture. Your pictures are awesome! What kind of camera/lens do you use? I am about to buy a new DSLR camera, I can't wait! Congrats on finding a juicer, love those things! haha seriously though! Thanks so much for all of your prayers on finding a roommate--God is faithful and I found the perfect one the NEXT day! Have a lovely day, Katie!! <3

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  7. That is amazing! There is so many beautiful things about this post. I love that you go to your veggie lady to build a relationship with her even if she may not have the best produce... you are great girl. :)

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  8. That's exactly how the markets work in Malaysia, too. There are multiple sellers of fruits or veggies or meat--and you're expected to build a relationship with just one of them and go back to them again and again. Nine years later my family still shops at the same stalls at our market. We've been invited to and attended holiday parties and family weddings for the people who we buy from every week!

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  9. YUM!!! I got 5 mangoes for $5 today at the grocery store and thought THAT was a deal! Lol

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  10. These photos are stunning! I loved seeing all of the different produce and all of the gorgeous colors, too. I could so easily look through your photos for hours, girl--which means I REALLY need to catch up on your blog now!

    And I love lychee! I've only had it fresh once (but in other jello type treats numerous times) and I had no idea there were so many types! :)

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  11. Sometimes I wish shopping in the US was the same. I could do without the raw meat bit though. ;)

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  12. gah! I love all the colors!! What a an adventure and a treat to be forced to slow down and live life at the Nepali pace! I'm so glad you're blogging all of this, it makes me feel like I'm able to experience your adventures from my couch, hehe ;)

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  13. gah! I love all the colors!! What a an adventure and a treat to be forced to slow down and live life at the Nepali pace! I'm so glad you're blogging all of this, it makes me feel like I'm able to experience your adventures from my couch, hehe ;)

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  14. Gah! What an adventure and a treat to be able to live life at the Nepali pace! I'm so glad you're blogging because I feel like I can experience part of your adventure from my couch ;)

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  15. This is definitely one thing I miss about China. All the fresh (and cheap!) produce in open air markets. There was one just down from the apartment we lived in and I would go there all the time to pick up produce and eggs. We had a specific lady that we always bought eggs from and also one particular man who we always bought fruit from. I loved that. :)

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  16. haha katie this is so awesome!! what a unique experience! i'm sure the slower pace of life is refreshing and eye-opening :) how luck you are to have such a beautiful and cultural market at the end of your street!

    grace & love,
    kristyn

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  17. This is AWESOME!!!! Wow, so blown away by all the fresh produce!!! We definitely don't have this luxury!! & I can't believe the person before y'all left their juicer, how perfect!!!! I love all the vendors!! such sweet pictures! And the cow! Seriously? TOO COOL. It is SUCH a gift that y'all get to do everything together, and I can totally relate to the slow pace and a time of great growth!!! Nothing like it!

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  18. What a fun post! I love "sightseeing" farmers markets around the globe. We visit one every week, and our fruits and veggies really don't look that different. We have lychees and mangoes and fresh veggies year-round. It's lovely like that, living in the tropics!

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