Dearest India;
how I hate you but I love you.
The hate begins with the horns. Oh horns how you make my ear drums burst everyday all day. After being out in town for about 15 minutes my ears are left ringing for the next hour. The horns end late in the night and are faithful to return everyday at sunrise, around 5:00am.
Next is the heat… The humidity is almost worse than the 90-100 degree heat. I go to bed sweating and wake up sweating. By 7:30am I am booted out of my tent because the sun is shining directly into my tent and I am starting to sweat. By 10:00am my Punjabi is damp from sweat…. Gross I know. Welcome to the World Race. It gets even worse. My hair is drenched all day, but not because I just showered but because of sweat. Plus side of the heat; I am forced to drink a lot of water and surprisingly I am more motivated to work out since I am already sweating so what’s a bit more?!!
Finally the hate list ends with the smell. The roads are paved yet there is a layer of water buffalo poop over most of the roads. On top of that there is no such thing as a trash can. The streets are considered trash cans. Depending where you are at, if the water buffalo poop did not get flattened by autos, the poop is picked up by hand and pulled on the side of the street. Days that are overcast are the worst smelling of days… overcast days mean trash burning days. The air is already full of pollution that leaves a layer of film on your face. Yet on trash burning days the smog is at the highest of highs and the layer of dirt that comes off your face is disgusting. As if that isn’t bad enough the smell is awful, yet I think our kitchen smells worse than anything I have ever smelled.
Oh and India I am not the biggest fan that the power goes out often almost every day and sometimes days on end. Thankfully every evening the power comes back on and we can go to bed with the fan blowing at the fullest speed! Oh and I hate lice
Thankfully the hate list is short and love list is longer.
I love the tuk-tuk rides! I love seeing how many people we can fit in a 4 person tuk-tuk… as of right now the record is nine of us; seven in the back and two in between the driver. I love seeing where they take us. We tell them one place and sometimes we end up at a different place. Or they take us to show their friends the Americans. Sometimes they say they know where we want to go but really they don’t and we pull over a few times so the driver can ask for directions. I love seeing the grace of God every time we drive in one of the tuk-tuks. We weave in and out of cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and people walking, slam on breaks every few minutes which is coupled with the horn, drive on the wrong side of the road, and dodge water buffalos and cows that walk or sometimes stop to poop or lay to rest in the middle of the road. The first week I would have a mini heart attack every time we rode, now I ride and from time to time my eyes get big and a few words come out…wishing there was an oh shit handle to grab onto. Grace I tell you, grace.
I love being able to walk to the houses where we do ministry. I love to be able to walk in the mornings to get chai for 10 cents. You can pay 30 rupee roughly, 50 cents, and get half a nalgeen of chai. I love to walk in the evenings to get food. There are a couple places on our street that I have come to love, like the dragon cart that has noodles with eggs and cabbage, or a place called RK to get pratha, an indian bread! I think I love the walks because I can see more.
I love seeing all the colors. The bright yellow autos everywhere, the buildings or the streets that are decorated with colorful lights, or the steps of businesses or houses that have drawings done with white, yellow, orange, and red. My favorite is the clothing of the women. Their outfits are so full of color. They wear sarees or Punjabis and I have never seen a dull outfit. I have never seen just one solid color but multiple colors with crazy awesome patterns on both the pants and tops of the Punjabi.
I love Punjabis. Essentially the bottoms are like pajama pants or scrubs but not as stiff. You can get either cotton or silk. I think overall I like the silk Punjabis better. The silk are lighter, they flow and move with your body when you are doing 1,000 different things a day; downfall is that the silk pants stick to you when you sweat. I love going to baba G’s and looking at all the materials for the Punjabi’s and sarees, as well as the beads and ribbons in different shops. I bought two extra Punjabi material, one for my quilt (for those of ya’ll that don’t know I am getting fabric from each country and making a quilt), and one to either make a table runner and pillows or the center strip of a duvet cover and pillows.
I love the foster moms and volunteers that I have met here. They are all so young but so inspiring. They have left home for 3 months to a year to become single moms to children with disabilities. There are two girls who are a foster mom to seven children. They have no space of their own… they share their beds and all they have with the kids. There are a few girls who do this on their own to 9 plus kids. They all give their time and give their love day in and day out to these children, they stand up for their kids, and then they still welcome us, answer questions, and show us around the city of Ongole.
I love the boys that I get to work with everyday!! I am working with two boys, Evan and Max on potty training. I get so excited at each mile marker and still celebrate their efforts even when they have an accident. I have to get the Iaya’s (caretakers) on board with this because as soon as I leave they put them back in huggies. One of my favorite days with the boys was taking them on the roof with a bucket of water and chasing them around with a cup full of water to throw on them… this is their equivalent to a pool or sprinklers. And for about an hour a week I work on a little boy named Theo on walking. Not sure if he will be able to walk without help but that help could be a cane or leg braces.
I love the Iayas at wisdom home!! They love these boys and they fight for them. They want the best for them and help them get there. A blog post to come about the Iaya’s.
And lastly I love my new team!! I love being surrounded my these beautiful women that always encourage… that are real and vulnerable. I love that everyone is willing to serve one another and are mindful and considerate of each other. I love that we strive to be more Christ-like and claim each other’s worth and beauty. I love that we take time to listen to one another, whether it be a stupid or funny story or something near and dear to our hearts. I love that when you cry over something silly they don’t make fun of you and you don’t feel stupid, or if you are crying because you saw injustice or are missing home they comfort you and are the body of Christ. I also love that we can have fun together!
PS—- the Iaya’s got on board with potty training and were putting the boys in underwear in the mornings and after naps! By the time we left they were potty trained during the days!!!!
Potty training over a squatty potty check!
XX
Dearest India; how I hate you but I love you.
The hate begins with the horns. Oh horns how you make my ear drums burst everyday all day. After being out in town for about 15 minutes my ears are left ringing for the next hour. The horns end late in the night and are faithful to return everyday at sunrise, around 5:00am.
Next is the heat… The humidity is almost worse than the 90-100 degree heat. I go to bed sweating and wake up sweating. By 7:30am I am booted out of my tent because the sun is shining directly into my tent and I am starting to sweat. By 10:00am my Punjabi is damp from sweat…. Gross I know. Welcome to the World Race. It gets even worse. My hair is drenched all day, but not because I just showered but because of sweat. Plus side of the heat; I am forced to drink a lot of water and surprisingly I am more motivated to work out since I am already sweating so what’s a bit more?!!
Finally the hate list ends with the smell. The roads are paved yet there is a layer of water buffalo poop over most of the roads. On top of that there is no such thing as a trash can. The streets are considered trash cans. Depending where you are at, if the water buffalo poop did not get flattened by autos, the poop is picked up by hand and pulled on the side of the street. Days that are overcast are the worst smelling of days… overcast days mean trash burning days. The air is already full of pollution that leaves a layer of film on your face. Yet on trash burning days the smog is at the highest of highs and the layer of dirt that comes off your face is disgusting. As if that isn’t bad enough the smell is awful, yet I think our kitchen smells worse than anything I have ever smelled.
Oh and India I am not the biggest fan that the power goes out often almost every day and sometimes days on end. Thankfully every evening the power comes back on and we can go to bed with the fan blowing at the fullest speed! Oh and I hate lice
Thankfully the hate list is short and love list is longer.
I love the tuk-tuk rides! I love seeing how many people we can fit in a 4 person tuk-tuk… as of right now the record is nine of us; seven in the back and two in between the driver. I love seeing where they take us. We tell them one place and sometimes we end up at a different place. Or they take us to show their friends the Americans. Sometimes they say they know where we want to go but really they don’t and we pull over a few times so the driver can ask for directions. I love seeing the grace of God every time we drive in one of the tuk-tuks. We weave in and out of cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and people walking, slam on breaks every few minutes which is coupled with the horn, drive on the wrong side of the road, and dodge water buffalos and cows that walk or sometimes stop to poop or lay to rest in the middle of the road. The first week I would have a mini heart attack every time we rode, now I ride and from time to time my eyes get big and a few words come out…wishing there was an oh shit handle to grab onto. Grace I tell you, grace.
I love being able to walk to the houses where we do ministry. I love to be able to walk in the mornings to get chai for 10 cents. You can pay 30 rupee roughly, 50 cents, and get half a nalgeen of chai. I love to walk in the evenings to get food. There are a couple places on our street that I have come to love, like the dragon cart that has noodles with eggs and cabbage, or a place called RK to get pratha, an indian bread! I think I love the walks because I can see more.
I love seeing all the colors. The bright yellow autos everywhere, the buildings or the streets that are decorated with colorful lights, or the steps of businesses or houses that have drawings done with white, yellow, orange, and red. My favorite is the clothing of the women. Their outfits are so full of color. They wear sarees or Punjabis and I have never seen a dull outfit. I have never seen just one solid color but multiple colors with crazy awesome patterns on both the pants and tops of the Punjabi.
I love Punjabis. Essentially the bottoms are like pajama pants or scrubs but not as stiff. You can get either cotton or silk. I think overall I like the silk Punjabis better. The silk are lighter, they flow and move with your body when you are doing 1,000 different things a day; downfall is that the silk pants stick to you when you sweat. I love going to baba G’s and looking at all the materials for the Punjabi’s and sarees, as well as the beads and ribbons in different shops. I bought two extra Punjabi material, one for my quilt (for those of ya’ll that don’t know I am getting fabric from each country and making a quilt), and one to either make a table runner and pillows or the center strip of a duvet cover and pillows.
I love the foster moms and volunteers that I have met here. They are all so young but so inspiring. They have left home for 3 months to a year to become single moms to children with disabilities. There are two girls who are a foster mom to seven children. They have no space of their own… they share their beds and all they have with the kids. There are a few girls who do this on their own to 9 plus kids. They all give their time and give their love day in and day out to these children, they stand up for their kids, and then they still welcome us, answer questions, and show us around the city of Ongole.
I love the boys that I get to work with everyday!! I am working with two boys, Evan and Max on potty training. I get so excited at each mile marker and still celebrate their efforts even when they have an accident. I have to get the Iaya’s (caretakers) on board with this because as soon as I leave they put them back in huggies. One of my favorite days with the boys was taking them on the roof with a bucket of water and chasing them around with a cup full of water to throw on them… this is their equivalent to a pool or sprinklers. And for about an hour a week I work on a little boy named Theo on walking. Not sure if he will be able to walk without help but that help could be a cane or leg braces.
I love the Iayas at wisdom home!! They love these boys and they fight for them. They want the best for them and help them get there. A blog post to come about the Iaya’s.
And lastly I love my new team!! I love being surrounded my these beautiful women that always encourage… that are real and vulnerable. I love that everyone is willing to serve one another and are mindful and considerate of each other. I love that we strive to be more Christ-like and claim each other’s worth and beauty. I love that we take time to listen to one another, whether it be a stupid or funny story or something near and dear to our hearts. I love that when you cry over something silly they don’t make fun of you and you don’t feel stupid, or if you are crying because you saw injustice or are missing home they comfort you and are the body of Christ. I also love that we can have fun together!
PS—- the Iaya’s got on board with potty training and were putting the boys in underwear. By the time we left they were potty trained during the days!!!!
