India is everything I expected it to be and somehow everything I didn’t expect it to be. I was right that it would be congested, that it would smell awful and that everywhere we went would be filthy, but for some reason I love it here. The culture is fascinating. The women dress themselves in the most beautiful patterns, colors, and jewels. Just the other day myself and the other girls on my team went out and bought our very own sari’s. I can’t wait to show you a picture of them because they are so beautiful. A woman just down the street from us is tailoring them out of her little shop, which is probably about the size of my closet back home. It was pretty cheap. I think the total cost was about 700 Rupees (a little less than $14).
In the first week of being here I think I’ve seen about 4 weddings parading down the street. There was one time we actually got caught in the middle of it. We had women dancing all around us, trumpets and trombones sounding in our face, people shaking our hands and trying to get us to dance with them. The bridegroom was dressed in white, adorned will all kinds of jewels, riding on a white horse following the parade of people. Sometimes, when we hear the parade coming we run to the roof with the kids to watch them pass by.
That’s another thing. Everyone hangs out on the roof here. It’s where people hang their laundry, sometimes cook, or just hangout in the sun. When the kids have free time we go up there with them to play and most times that’s when we see the monkeys. Some days I see up to 10-15 of them. Just the other day there were 2 baby monkeys playing up on the roof. They were so adorable but definitely troublemakers!! At one point they got into someone’s house through the open window and were playing with each other through the blinds.
The food has been really good too. A little spicy, but after China I’m handling it pretty well. The Asha Mission Home feeds us so well not to mention we have tea and biscuit time at 5 everyday…now that’s what I’m talking about!!
The pastor and his wife, along with the other staff members and the kids serve us so well! Did you know that they are not even making us pay for lodging or for food? The world race specifically as a budget for each team, for each month to pay for things like that and yet there have been many places we’ve visited who won’t except it. One of the reoccurring things I’m seeing on the race is that people who have the least give the most. It’s definitely been inspiring and changed my perspective on servanthood. As a team, we came up with the idea of using that money to do a couple of different things for them.
1. At the end of the month we’re going to be taking the pastor and his wife out for a fancy dinner to say thank you for all they’ve done.
2. We started painting the children’s worship room. It used to be a drabby grey windowless room with only one light bulb and its now bright yellow with a beautiful mural of a sun and a rainbow along with a bible verse. (I’ll be making a video of that whole process so I’m excited to get strong enough internet to upload that! Hopefully, I’ll have some in Romania next month or maybe at the airport in Qatar during our layover.)
3. We’re throwing a Valentines Day party for the kids! They’ve never celebrated it before so we’re really excited to be able to do that for them. We just finished making bright red/pink and glittery valentine cards and tomorrow we’ll be picking up the cake we ordered. We also have a ton of candy and chocolate for them!
So despite the waking up to the smell of sewage, using a squatty potty, and taking bucket showers I’m having a really great time here. The kids make it worth it and the culture just adds to the fun. I’ve definitely missed home the most this month than ever before on the race though.. Some days it’s really hard and I catch myself daydreaming about living normally again and being with the people I love and miss so much!! It’s also hard because our appartment is very small. There’s no space to be alone (I sleep with 4 other girls in the same room) That and the fact that you can never go anywhere by yourself… it can make you a little crazy sometimes. So we decided that apart from our one day off, that we take togethe,r we would each have one other day of the week where we stay back at the condo alone all day while everyone else is at the children’s home. I just had my day and boy did I need it. Time alone on the race is like gold. I slept in (no ear plugs needed!) and spent the rest of the day chatting with Jesus, reading my Bible, listened to a sermon and journaled a bit. It’s amazing how you learn to appreciate so many of the little things on the race.
Anyways, for all you future world racers out there this is a little glimpse into India. Beware though, I've heard that the other teams have gotten really sick and don't have showers or even a toilet. I never thought I would be thankful for our squatty and warm bucket showers but I am!
I love and miss all of you!
Pictures coming soon 🙂
