I ended the last blog with saying I didn’t really like India. That’s true. But India also had lots of good moments!
- Rooftops were amazing (I could spend so much time looking down on the world from a rooftop perch).
- It’s all about the ‘shelfies’! It was very common to have someone come up to us ‘foreigners’ and say ‘madam, can we take shelfie?’ So you smile for a photo that you’ll never see but might end up on their Facebook. Another example was when we were eating at a cute cafe and three young ladies came in for lunch. They must have spent literally 15/20 min taking selfies before they finally ate their lunch.
- Living the Christian life in India might look different than some more western countries. Following Jesus might be a life or death decision; it could mean persecution from the family; it could mean no husband in a very ‘marriage-oriented’ culture; going to church services at night; being unable to attend a Beauty for Ashes event in a ‘safe’ neighborhood because the husband’s family lives just across the street.
- I got used to describing myself as a tourist first. Then saying that I met all of my team members on an ‘online group’ and we all decided to do some traveling together and volunteer in different countries. If the conversation made it that far, we might start talking about religion. But we always got around the question of ‘why come to THIS city?!?’ by saying ‘we’re visiting friends!’
- I learned to ‘head bobble’ just as much as the locals and be just as evasive as they were in answering questions.
- The highlight of the whole month must have been the Beauty for Ashes sessions we had for the ladies. We saw 6 people become our sisters in Christ! PTL!
- I felt like a zoo exhibit sometimes. Staring at a foreigner as they do literally anything seemed to be the norm. So I stopped wondering what I was doing that was culturally unacceptable, and realizing they’re just watching the show!
- Eating with your hands is fun, not always easy, but still fun to learn how to do properly.
- There was a corner store close to the house we lived in. I’m sure the owner will miss us because we were there almost every single day to buy something to cook for lunch. On the lower level, there was a man who sold chai! Yes, we visited him quite a few times as well!
- I loved wearing the kurtas. I didn’t get a chance to wear a sari ever, but they looked lovely!
- We were very blessed with our housing this month! I don’t want to ever forget the ‘little’ things we got to have: WiFi (in the house!); couches!; a washer!!!; a mattress to sleep on; not dying of heat; a nice kitchen to make some yummy meals.
Yes, India was a hard month, but I grew a lot and I’ll never forget my time there.
Thank You, Lord, for allowing me to experience this beautiful country!
