Kuta Shopping

Yesterday July 14th we had a girls shopping day!

Bethany, I and 9 of our students went shopping for traditional Nepali outfits "Kuta" is how its pronouced although I don't believe the Nepali word translates to English. The outfit consists of three pieces, a long tunic, pants and a scarf.

We began at the fabric shop. They served us all milk tea (another Nepali tradition, a tasty one at that). Then we began to wade through the stacks and piles of fabric to make our Kutas. Some were hand embroidered, some and glitter and sparkles, some had big designs, some small... wow what a selection. Especially when you go in not knowing what you want. (yes, that was me) We had a blast helping eachother pick colors that looked best on us. After about 3 hours, we all had fabric in hand and were off to the tailors. We brought our fabric, picked our neckline, sleeve length and tunic length. Then they measured us. We will be able to pick up our custom tailored outfits when we come back to Kathmandu for debriefing. Mine was less than $25. Others were even less expensive. One of the girls even bought a Sari to wear to prom.