We made it to India for the start of Month 11! On Halloween we flew from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India. We raced through customs and to our gate, with mixed excitement of seeing the golden arches for the first time in four months but disappointment we didn't have time to eat any, barely catching our flight to Hyderabad, India. After a long day of traveling we arrived around 10 p.m., ready to head to whatever it was we were staying and crash. To our surprise we instead boarded a bus and traveled for eight more hours to Ongole. You'd think after 10 months of traveling I'd be able to sleep anytime, anywhere. Not so much. We served a spicy Indian breakfast then jumped right in to orientation.
We will be working with India Christian Ministries. Here's the website: www.indiachristianministries.org. It sounds like an amazing ministry that is growing exponentially here in Andhra Pradesh. They have planted 3,640 churches here, with a goal of increasing the number to 7,000. My team is working with Covenant Children's homes, which are church-based foster homes. We will be staying in villages with four different girls' homes and one boys' home. Our contacts are an incredible couple from California. They've even been to Emporia before!
This month should be interesting because India's culture is far different than anything we've experienced so far on the Race, and definitely as far from America as you can probably get. As women we must always have our ankles covered. This means I'll be wearing my one long skirt everyday this month I suppose. We are not supposed to look men in the eye, and smiling equals flirting. In this culture men and women are always kept seperate. They have arranged marriages here so it does more harm than good if men and women are allowed to interact.
We will use squatty potties here, which we are used to by now, but in India they don't use toilet paper. They wipe with their left hands and eat with their right hands. We will BYOTP and forks. You are not allowed to wear shoes in any homes or church. I never knew this before the Race but being barefoot on dirty floors is one of my biggest pet peeves.
I'm sure this month will be filled with lots of funny stories of cultural differences. I won't have Internet for the next eight days or so while we're in the village, so I just wanted to get something quick up today to let you know that I am safe. Be sure to check out the website for more info on ICM and CCH!
At the end of last month I was able to go up into the mountains for a few days to go bungee jumping and canyoning. Two of my favorite days on the World Race! Check out the video to see the 500+ foot bridge I jumped off!
