A World of Close Calls

It's Monday. We've been in Bangalore for a full week now and it feels like it's been about 4 months. Time certainly goes by slow as molasses here. Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes our homesickness takes over and we start counting down days til we get to go home.

Saturday we were supposed to go to the Mother Teresa home but it got postponed until Sunday so we got to sleep in and then the three of us headed to Commercial Street where all the best shopping is in Bangalore. We haggled for a couple hours, well Lauren haggled. The pollution and heat took over for me and I had no energy to barter and I didn't feel like being cheated so I didn't buy anything. That's what the Indian merchants do to us Americans. Their initial price is twice as much as the product is actually worth, so we have to barter it down to the proper price, but sometimes I just don't have the patience or the energy to haggle. We have two more shopping days before our trip is over and this time we will have Sharola and Chinky with us to help tell us what proper prices are for things.

Saturday after shopping we tried to go to this big open park in the city and we walked quite a ways to get to it, only to find that it was only open in the mornings and evenings and we got there just after 2 in the afternoon. We were devastated. Tired, cranky, and coping with massive headaches due to the intense pollution. I'm quite certain that vehicles don't have to pass smog checks anywhere in this country so the smog is almost unbearable. I never thought anywhere could be wors than the good ol' Inland Empire but here in Bangalore you can slice the smog with a knife, it's so thick.

Saturday after we finally made it home from shopping, we napped. We do a lot of that here. Napping. It's good for the soul. And for some reason we get tired after four hours of activity, no matter what we are doing. Maybe it's the food. Maybe it's the heat. Or maybe our fast paced American lifestyle just needs a good rest. After we woke up from naps, the whole YoungLife team came over for a potluck. Oh it was sooo good. And SOOO spicy. Everyone was laughing at me because I got super red and my nose was running and I had to keep taking deep breaths to relieve the pain. I really don't understand why people enjoy inflicting such pain upon themselves. It physically hurts me, but yet I eat, not only for sustenance but because it's rude to abstain.

After the potluck we all had a massive game of Nertz. I taught them all how to play and they are obsessed. Every night they beg to play. I love it.

Sunday we woke up to go to church with Sharola but she fell ill...just a little cold, so we ended up going to church with Sharola's parents, Sam and Beulah. They are so precious and I love them so much I want to take them home with me. We went to the Bangalore International Christian Church and it was pheneomenal. They have all seven continents aside from Antarctica represented there. The diversity was so incredible to see and Lauren and Taylor and I have been sitting in Romans 15:5-6 and being able to experience the miracle of so many nations uniting as the body of Christ was truly magical.

After church we had leftover potluck spicy food and then we prepared for the senior k club younglife club. So Fun!! It's been so amazing seeing all the different clubs here and how they are run and what's effective here vs. how we run club in America. Taylor, Lauren, and I were in charge of the mixer again. Then we played Nertz after club again of course.

Today was our fourth day of teaching. Five more days to go. We've resorted to counting down because our first standard children, the first graders, are out of control. They take so much out of us but we continue to endure and lean on the Lord for patience. The second and third standards are angels and have a true desire to learn. It's just the really small ones that we are struggling with.

And now for some fun stories...so the day before yesterday, Saturday it was, us three Americans ran out of clean underwear. We decided to take some dirty clothes to the laundry and we packed up some bags. We headed to what we thought was going to be a laundromat of sorts. Instead, we end up at the dry cleaners. The man that works there proceeds to empty out our bags on the counter. Keep in mind this business is on a main road in Bangalore. So here we are, three Americans, with our dirty underwear on display for all to see. We were mortified. And Chinky starts laughing at us because apparently her and Sharola wash all their own undergarments by hand. We were obviously unaware and it was comical to watch the man counting our dirty underwear and flicking them into a pile to be steamed pressed and starched. Guessing he doesn't get to do that very often. :)

Another funny story...this happened awhile ago. When Shekhar picked us up from the airport in Delhi a week and a half ago he had the most amazing mix cd playing. A song came on and we've been joking about it ever since. Elton John's Tiny Dancer was the song. Please keep in mind that Shekhar is this macho guy with a fast car and has default facebook pictures of him flexing. And then he listens to Tiny Dancer...but it's not the original version, oh no, it's like the rave trance techno version. So epic. So epic that we asked him to burn it on a cd for us along with some other amazing Indian hip hop. His reply to our request was "I'll give you the sweet and salted mix. Don't worry."

So side note. Apparently deodorant isn't a very big deal around here. People don't wear it. Ever. So last night at club us three Americans almost lost our cookies out the window when all the kids started jumping around and running and sweating and smelling heinous. But hey, we love them, stench and all...which brings me to my next story. It's hot. And I sweat a lot. Yes, I use deodorant and that prevents any odor, but it does not prevent the massive pit stains that I acquire on a daily basis. Today we had staff prayer where all the teachers from the YuvaLok school get together and pray and worship and grow together. Lauren, Taylor, and I were supposed to be in charge of the devotional for the meeting and apparently I was a bit nervous. When I came out of the meeting I was pitted out major. Story of my life. And they're always feeding us hot tea, which just perpetuates the issue. What can I say, I'm cursed with pit probs.

Every morning, without fail, we are woken up by this tiny bird that makes the loudest most annoying noise outside our window. It sounds sort of like a dog whining in a very high pitch. Yesterday the jerk woke me up at 7am. Lauren and I want to invest in an air soft gun to kill the sucker but since we are currently in a developing country I don't think those exist...so instead we are in search of a slingshot.

And as far as the title of this blog is concerned, India's roads are a world of close calls. I can't tell you how in awe I am of the drivers here and how they can get so incredibly close to other vehicles without touching...not even a little love tap. Well, I have been in one rickshaw accident so far, but nothing too major. It's wild. I've taken plenty of video footage to show you all when I get home. Also..horns are out of control here. Indians are horn happy. They honk unnecessarily and incessantly. So many times I've just wanted to scream...because the horns aren't your typical horns. They're extremely loud and high pitched. Harmful to my delicate eardrums. Ok that's enough ranting. I mean, I love horns. :)

Ok, That's all for now my sweet darlings. Thank you so much for reading and for keeping us in your prayers. Lauren and I are constantly talking about how we sometimes feel immortal here because we have so many people praying for us. So thank you again. From the bottom of my homesick little heart.

P is for Patience.

We have been teaching for three days now and everyday is different in terms of which children decide to behave.

Wednesday was our first day teaching at the YuvaLok school. Instead of 4th and 5th grade, Lauren and I are actually teaching 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. When we arrived wednesday morning at 1:30 we were given a list of names of our "batches" of children. At first Lauren and I were going to separate and each teach about 7 kids for 40 minute time incremements for each grade. We later learned that that doesn't work.

Wednesday Lauren had 5 second graders while I had 7. My second graders names are Soniga, Tomilan, Surya, John, Ranjitha, Gayathri, and Ruben. They know very very little English so the first day we just went over the alphabet. I had them write it and then say it aloud. I also wrote down simple words for them to copy so they could practice writing their letters. After 40 mintues of 2nd graders, we got our batch of 1st graders. I had 8 1st graders while Lauren had 7. My 1st graders names are Muthu, Sarah, Shabaz, Karthika, Savitha, Supriya, Deepa, and Vignesh. They are wild. They know even less English than the 2nd graders and so they don't understand us when we reprimand them. They laugh at us when we get mad at them for climbing all over the desk and chair. Our classroom is a very small computer room with one big teachers desk and a chair. They insist on climbing all over that all the time. And then they like to jump off. Lauren and I are really learning what it means to have true patience. After our 40 minutes with the 1st graders, which has become 30 minutes the past 2 days because of their misbehavior, we get our 3rd graders. Lauren and I have been keeping our 3rd graders together because there are only 7 of them total. I only know three of their names. There is Prateep, Amitha, and Anitha and then the other names are really hard to pronounce and I don't know them by heart yet. The 3rd graders are really fun and I'm so glad that we get to end our days with them. They listen and respect us and the difference between the knowledge of the 3rd graders vs. the 2nd graders is astounding. They love to learn and they truly desire to be correct in everything they write. They also love to dance and teach us songs.

So today is Friday and this morning Lauren and I still kept the 2nd grade batches separate but we decided to combine our first grade classes because when we had them separate they would just run down the halls trying to find their friends anyway. We have 6 more days of teaching and we keep telling ourselves that this is the experience of a lifetime, but it's so hard to have a firm grasp on that when you have 13 five and six year olds bouncing off the walls and laughing in your face. So note that as a prayer request please. :) Sometimes the kids are adorable and polite. They do stand up as a class when we enter the room. They love waving, high fiving, and smiling at us. And they all call us Auntie which is adorable.

And on the YoungLife front, last night Lauren and I got to witness out first Indian club. We went to the Bagalur club last night and it was phenomenal. The structure was very similar to an American club. They play games and hang out with each other as they wait for more children to arrive. Then we started with two mixers. One was called Bomb in the City, which is the same as our version of 4 corners. Then we played what they call Fire on the Mountain, which is where when the music stops the leader calls out a number and you have to get in a group of that many people. Then there were some songs, a raffle, an up front game (who could eat the most bananas in a minute), and a talk. My favorite part was at the end when the whole group welcomes the newcomers with clapping and smiles.

I met a young girl named Mary at the Bagalur club who is 11 and she's the most adorable thing ever. She wanted to hold my hand and just be near me the entire time we were there. And she made sure to know that I was coming back next Thursday. After club last night I got to ride on the back of Sharola's moto. Without a helmet. It was exhilarating. There are so many things that happen here that would never ever happen in a million years in America...and these things have started to become normal for us here in India. Lauren and I were laughing today about what it's going to be like when we get back home. We won't be seeing anymore random cows wandering the streets or chickens with no buttfeathers greeting us in the morning on the way to school. There are babies riding on motorcycles with no helmets with their parents of course, but still. There won't be anymore cars driving on the wrong side of the road and rickshaw accidents. But I can't get nostalgic while I'm still here. I just wanted to you to get a taste of the chaos.

Tonight we are headed off to YuvaLok YoungLife club which is the club for the kids from the school that we are working at. Lauren, Taylor, and I are in charge of the mixer. :)

Special prayer request for Taylor. She's not feeling very well. We think she has the flu and she's going into the doctor today to find out.

Also, a random aside...when certain cars are backing up outside our window in the mornings they have special tunes that play instead of just plain beeping. One of the tunes we hear often is the one from Titanic...my heart will go on. Epic.

I also taught all the leaders how to play Nertz and they are obsessed. They play every night.

And last night we were in charge of making dinner. We made pancakes with bananas and peanut butter but the leaders didn't really care for them because they were too sweet with the syrup. They prefer spicy. Not sweet. Note to self.

Pray for patience in our teaching and for persistence in our seeking of the Lord as we start to become homesick.

Thanks for reading dear friend!!

Basking in Bangalore

So we didn't get to watch our Bollywood flick yesterday because they wouldn't let us in with our bags. But I wasn't too heartbroken because the theater we were at didn't have any English subtitles for the movies so we would have been watching it in hindi...and of course we don't understand hindi :)

Last night we left the fabulous and oh so glamorously sweaty life in Delhi and flew down to Southern India to Bangalore. We easily mistook Bangalore for heaven when we arrived because it was like night and day from Delhi. There was a cool breeze and cold rain and the airport was immaculately polished, complete opposite of where we had been in Delhi. We didn't know if anyone would be at the airport though to pick us up because we had facebooked Sharola to tell her when we were coming in but she had not responded. But alas, Sharola was there to pick us up! We were elated because not only were we no longer sweating, but we had a ride and a new friend.

Sharola took us to the Bangalore YoungLife house where we will be staying for the next 15 days. She gave us the lowdown on what we are going to be doing with our time here and then we arrived at the house, showered, and crashed out. We all have our own bed in one room of the younglife house. Luxurious. Forgive the cliche, but we slept like babies last night...

...only to be woken up at 7am by the crowing of the local rooster.

The three of us laid around until about 9ish and then we got up and had some toast for breakfast. At 10:30 we headed out to meet Sharola's dad. Sharola and her sister Chinky live together at the YoungLife house and Chinky took us to the YuvaLok office where her dad works.

Sharola and Chinky's dads name is Sam and he is the founder of the YuvaLok organization which I had mistaken for an orphanage but it is actually a school. YuvaLok actually means YoungLife but because YoungLife is "blatantly Christian: (Sharola's words), they had to come up with a more all-encompassing way of getting to the children. YuvaLok is a school for underprivileged children. They have two campuses. One is a primary school and the children have all been rescued from child labor. The other is a high school for kids, grades 6 to 10.

After meeting with Sharola's dad Sam and the director of the school, Shobha, we were whisked off to see the two campuses and meet the principal of the school. Immediately after meeting the principal we were asked what our strengths are and where we think we can help the most in the school. Taylor will be teaching 10th grad math and Lauren and I will be teaching 4th and 5th grade English....the principal said we pretty much have free reign and she wants us to sing, dance, teach poetry, and play puppets. Sounds pretty epic to me.

So we will be teaching in the mornings and having lunch with the students and then in the evenings we will be doing YoungLife stuff. There are several YoungLife clubs going on in Bangalore and they are all different. There is Junior K club, which is high school club. Then there's Senior K club which is college aged kids. Then there is Bagalur club. Bagalur is a slum near the YoungLife house where the leaders go to and hang out with the kids that live there. There is also SMILE which is Serving Mankind In Love Everyday and this consists of club kids that have grown up and are encouraged to give back to the community.

On Saturday we will be going with the SMILE members to the Sisters of Charity Mother Teresa home where we will be helping out with children that are mentally and physically disabled.

The Lord is doing big things here in India and the three of us are so incredibly blessed to get a glimpse of the majesty.

Today after meeting the principal we got to have lunch with Beulah, Sharola and Chinky's mom, as well as Sharola and Chinky. We ate dal and rice for lunch with a salad made of carrots, cucumber, and parsley. There was chapati, which is sort fo like pita bread, and we all ate with our hands...that's what they do here. :) And everything was incredibly spicy...I don't do spicy...but I'm trying.

After lunch we headed back to the YoungLife house where we just played cards for about 4 hours. I learned a couple new games: Donkey (which I don't really care for), Show, and Up and Down the River.

So I basically love India and can't wait to start teaching and playing with precious Indian children tomorrow morning. The kids are so great. We got to go to all the classrooms today and they all smile and love high fiving and shaking hands. So precious and beautiful.

That's all for now. We have internet at the place I'm staying at so I'll probably be updating this little dilly quite often so keep checking in!!

Rickshaws and rice cakes.

India has been nothing short of epic.

There are certainly times where I have questioned my sanity as to why I would subject myself to such misery, what with the incessant sweating, naked hungry babies being shoved in my face, and the complete lack of safe drinking water, but I know that God has a purpose for this petty life of mine, and experiencing the many different cultures of this world is one of them.

I arrived in Delhi two days ago and boy has it been surreal. I feel like I'm in a movie. It's chaos. Complete and total chaos. The roads make no sense. Literally. I've ridden in several rickshaws and nearly pooped my pants at all the close calls with life threatening accidents that we've had. There are lanes on the highwhays but no one abides by them. The incessant horn honking haunts me in my dreams.

I've tried many new foods since I've been here. I admit, I planned on not eating much throughout my three weeks in India because I eat like a child. I'm quite the picky eater but I made a vow that I would try anything at least once. I've had masala dosas which are spicy rice pancakes and yesterday for lunch I had tikka zaffrani which is tandoori chicken marinated in some sort of yummy sauce. Fresh lime soda has been my favorite so far...

I got the pleasure of visiting the Taj Mahal yesterday. After a three hour train ride to Agra we arrived at the gates of one of the seven man made wonders of the world. Twas majestic. It was just like in the movies...but better. The three of us got asked to be in many pictures and had many pictures taken of us against our will, which was slightly uncomfortable. I got a taste of the celebrity life yesterday and it was no fun. The more you ask them to stop, the more they proceed. Taylor equates it to if we were to see green people walking around in America. Of course you would take pictures right?

The poverty of this country is devastating. Last night before we got on our train ride back to Delhi a young girl, a very young girl, maybe 6 years old, approached us with a tiny baby on her hip, making hungry gestures. That was only one of many starving children that have grabbed out arms and broken our hearts. Taylor has told us time and again that we can't give money to them, no matter how bad our heart aches, because the money doesn't go to feeding them. And if we buy them food, they will sell it back to get the money. They use the money to buy glue to get high on or if the children are owned, all the money we give them goes directly to the adults and it's all just a scam. A devastating, heart-breaking scam.

I wish I had hours and hours to write about everything I've witnessed so far in my three days here in India but alas, it is time to go watch a Bollywood flick before we head to the airport for out flight to Bangalore. Sorry if this seems scattered and incomplete. I just wanted to give you a glimpse of this life.

Disgruntled.

I departed warm and cozy America at about 2:15 pm on Wednesday August 19th.

It is now 6:30 am Friday August 21st and I have yet to reach my destination of Delhi India.

I had an 11 hour flight from San Francisco to Seoul, Korea where I spent two hours meandering. The Korean airport has a museum, which of course I explored. I learned about some really great musical instruments of which I have no idea how to pronounce the name. I also visited the prayer room, which was great considering we don't find those necessary in American airports. I bought a blended mocha by default since the kind Korean woman didn't understand my bid for a blended chai. My receipt is entirely in Korean and I plan on putting it in my scrapbook. Apparently swine flu is rampant in Korea as well because everyone was wearing masks and they scanned this little thing behind my ear before they would let me loose in the airport.

After two hours of wandering I got back on another plane, this time to Singapore. The flight was about five hours long and I arrived in Singapore at 12:30 am this morning. I wandered around what is rated the best airport in the world, of which I can definitely testify to, aside from the rancid urine smell, which you get used to rather quickly.

This airport is MASSIVE! There are gardens in all the terminals ranging from sunflowers to bamboo. There are lounges fully equipped with massage and spa relaxation, of which you have to pay for of course. There's a 7-11 which won my heart. There's an entertainment deck where you can watch movies and play xbox and hey guess what, there's free internet! Only 15 minute time allotments but whatevs, can't be too picky.

So I have a 17 hour layover here in Singapore.

I wandered the airport for a couple hours and bought some peach pocca tea at 7-11 and then ended up in one of the free lounges where all the nice sleeping chairs where taken. I waited around and finally one opened up...the only reason why it opened up was because there was an incredibly obnoxious snoring man sleeping on the chair next to it. Awesome. I lay there trying to fall asleep but to no avail. I took some sleeping pills that Taylor had given me but those failed as well.

Finally, I got up and went to sleep on the other side of the lounge in a chair that was definitely not created for sleeping in. I think I got about an hour of fitful rest and then I woke up freezing. I re-located back to the sleeping chairs and founf one far enough away so that I couldn't hear the snoring but turns out the same man has ridiculousy loud flatulating issues. Every few minutes he would let a huge fart loose and I almost busted up laughing but contained myself due to the 20 other sleeping people around me.

I finally got another 2-3 hours of fitful rest when I woke up freezing again. This time I looked to my right and there was an airport provided blanket lying on the bed next to mine. So of course, I swooped it.

I fell back asleep only to be awoken by a middle aged Indian woman ripping the blanket off my shivering body. Apparently the blanket was hers and she had gone off on an adventure of sorts and had come back to retrieve it..even though it wasn't really hers, it belonged to the airport...gives whole new meaning to the term Indian giver.

So at this time it's about 6am and I can't sleep because I'm so cold. I get up to change clothes and brush my teeth, reapply a little anti-perspirant and them I'm off to scavenge for food again, in a relatively bad mood due to the angry Indian woman.

There's nothing like a dirty chicken sandwich from Burger King at 6:30 in the morning ay?

Yup, that was my breakfast. And now I'm pondering what I'm going to do with this whole day that I have in Singapore. I might try the botanic gardens and maybe try to get downtown. This is my first real experience traveling alone...like alone alone. I have no one here with me to tell me which bus/train/taxi to get into or where to go when I find one. I'm a little nervous but I'm sure I'll make it out ok.

Wish me luck.

P.S. I found the most amazing Transformers watch here at the Singapore Airport 7-11. Pretty much the highlight of my trip so far.