Thanksgiving: Indian style

While you all were having a turkey dinner, I was... well, to be honest I was probably asleep. But Thursday afternoon we went over to one of the American couples' homes and had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal (The only difference was that we had chicken instead of turkey)--Mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, bread and even gravy (I'm pretty proud of the fact that I learned how to make gravy from scratch!). It was quite a feast!

Thanksgiving is a big holiday in my family. We all gather at my aunt and uncles house and the cousins stay in the house and have a lot of fun! We get up at about 6AM to run 5 miles usually in the snow and sleet, and then come back to get ready for the day and to prepare the meal (mostly the aunts). Then, we eat and there are all kinds of "kids table" traditions that I could describe and you probably wouldn't think were funny but we love! After clearing the tables, we rush to the couches for naptime! Over the course of 3 days we have so many traditions and memories.

I thought it would actually be harder to miss Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong, there were parts of the day when I was pretty homesick, but there isn't the snow or the intense cold here. I'm still freezing. you know, in the 55F weather. haha I've gotten so soft in the last six months. It'll be an adventure when i encounter snow again! But with no snow and no winter coats and no sweaters and boots, it doesn't feel like the end of November. This is the second Thanksgiving I've spent abroad and they're full of memories!

Like me, Annika and Elise all squeezing into the back of the car voluntarily on the ride back to the campus.

And the overall craziness that we bring to the table :) But the family were wonderful hosts to us and really made it feel like Thanksgiving. It was a good Thanksgiving.

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and

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How has my life been transformed by Christ?

How about yours?

The purpose of my life has been fulfilled.

At my going away party in June one of my friends seriously asked me what I was looking forward to most going to India, what my first most goal would be during my year-long adventure. My retort? “I want to ride an elephant.” I guess I can come home now!! Last Thursday I climbed atop an elephant which meandered around the Mysore Palace during a famous festival called Desara. It was fun. Last week we had a few days of touristy stuff! We visited the palace, which was magnificent. We went to see gardens distributed among an array of fountains. We hung out at a hospital, which definitely gave me an adrenaline rush. During the last few weeks we’ve utilized a plethora of transportation methods: crowded buses, trains, elephants, horse drawn rickshaws, an auto crammed with 12 people, boats, and we’ve crossed a rushing river. We’ve driven through countryside speckled with rocky hills, rice patties, coconut trees and cows. We’ve eaten off of banana leaves. We’ve seen temples, cathedrals, and mosques.

I’ll never be able to adequately describe the things we’ve seen, the people we’ve met, the smells that have reached our noses, the taste of freshly made dosa, the sounds of horns outside our window or waking up to a cow mooing on the street outside. Every once in awhile it hits me that I’m in India. I was sitting on the balcony yesterday journaling. I was on campus waiting to leave for Tamil Nadu. Sometimes I forget that I’m in the middle of a huge adventure. When you’re living in an adventure, that adventure becomes daily life in a way that I never expected to have happen.

I would also like to describe to you a few more things going on in India that have been important to me these past few weeks. October is a big month, with a lot of short term international teams coming in. Most of the teams we meet and hang out with and help the Indians with ‘cause they insist that we can explain certain aspects of India to them better than the Indians can. Me and Elise don’t believe them, but we help where we can. Anyways, one team in particular has blown us away. They are a team of mechanics. They aren’t actually mechanics by profession, but volunteer at their church every week fixing the cars of single parents. They are working on cars for two weeks here for the organization. I was outside before breakfast the other morning just meandering around campus. I was shocked to see them already at their work. They work all day and put their full energy into their tasks, but still have managed to have a lot of fun and build relationships with most people on campus. Elise and I have both been encouraged and challenged by their work ethic and servants’ hearts! I would also like to tell you about my favorite little boys! They are brothers and are simply adorable! Usually 11 year old boys are awkward and don’t know how to carry themselves, but this boy is poised and well spoken. He takes care of his little brother and they are very sweet to each other. And Jeffrey, the older brother explained cricket to me. I’ve had a bunch of people try to explain it to me before, but I never understood it until this kid explained it! I know kinda understand the game and its interesting!

I hope this post finds you well and you enjoyed hearing a bit about the things I’ve been up to lately!

more on my travels!

I’ve been in Bangalore and Tamil Nadu for the last two weeks nearly. It’s been an adventure to say the least! I’m getting stretched and pushed in so many different directions. I’d like to give you one example: We were on our way to a house meeting last Friday. As we were climbing into the vehicle, the brother taking us commented: “Ok, so one of you will be teaching and the other will be singing a song.” We looked at him slightly confused. ”Just kidding!” he laughed. ‘One of you will be teaching, the other will be sharing a testimony.” Still assuming he was joking with us we start laughing. Well, he was serious. So I taught with 20 minutes notice. Its actually kinda cool. It’s always a challenge to keep us on our toes. You have to always be learning and spending time in God’s word because so many times you’ll be called to share what you’re learning—so it’s usually a good idea to be learning stuff from his word. And if you zone out during a prayer meeting, guaranteed you’ll be asked to pray outloud for the requests you just zoned out for. I Peter 3:15 has been made real to us in these last few weeks.



I had the privilege of doing some health and hygiene public health presentations since I’ve been here. I really love public health. Some of it has been common sense stuff, and other stuff has been stuff I’ve researched. I actually got to give a presentation to a group of 75 pastors. It was really strange talking to grown men about how germs are spread and boiling water and nutrition and AIDS. I definitely got nervous beforehand, but once I was up there, I really enjoyed it! There are things here that I would NEVER have had the nerve to try at home, but by being given a gentle push into these situations, I’m learning more about myself and my strengths and having confidence enough to at least try. Well, Elise and I did a swing dance in front of 100+ people. Yeah, I’ve been swing dancing like 2 or 3 times and am not good. Plus the fact that we are in India, so girls don’t dance with guys. This means that Elise had to lead. She is better at swing dancing than me, but—well we’re both girls and neither of us know how to lead. Anyways, it was the only “American” dance that we know. So we put together a swing dance. It was helpful that there were no Americans there, so no one knew what it was supposed to look like. We’ve had so many opportunities in the last two weeks. I mean, I’m just so thankful that we’re getting such a diverse experience in India. I am grateful for the opportunities that I’ve been blessed with here. We’re seen as ‘children’ so they don’t expect us to be great at everything, but still give us the opportunities to try things we’ve never done before. Its led to a lot of growth!

I would like to also share with you some of the amazing things we’ve seen in our travels. Last week we traveled to Tamil Nadu for a few days. We had the opportunity of hanging out with some amazing brothers and sisters who had spent a month in intensive outreach. We had the opportunity to hear reports of what God is doing in this country and spend time building relationships and hanging out with these girls! One of the places we got to see was in the mountains. Well, it was in a valley between mountains where rivers meet in waterfalls. We had a picnic day here. It was beyond gorgeous! I keep thinking that there is nothing that will be more beautiful in the world. Then we would turn the corner and God would reveal another facet of his majestic creation. Its days like these when I wonder at how blessed I am to be in this place.

I would like to share one more thought with you before I finish this update. I was getting ready to speak on Sunday and was growing nervous. Here we were, two twenty year old American girls getting ready to speak His word in front of a group of people who live out God’s commands daily and are passionately in love with him. Not to mention about 6-7 pastors were in the crowd. Anyways, I was sitting there feeling very small and wondering what on earth I had to say, when I turned to Jeremiah 1.

Jeremiah 1:6-7 says: “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child. But the Lord Said to me, ‘Do not say “I am only a child.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.’ “

Thank you for your prayers—Elise and I are experiencing so many new things and traveling. Please pray for this organization as it is a busy month everywhere and there is a lot that needs done.


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Your sister in Him,
Susan

I’m ‘out of station’ for this month as they call it here. I’m in S. India. Its funny, I lived in Andhra Pradesh for three months and thought I was in S. India. Turns out that the people in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu welcome us to South India like we weren’t in South India before. I’m pretty sure after composedly being shown to our room on a campus that is basically just a tropical paradise, into a room that is so clean and new and just lovely—pretty much me and Elise jumped up and down for a long time. Wait, that was just me.

We spent the morning (well, its 3pm but we just finished lunch, so there are long mornings here) working out our program for this month. We’re going to get to spend time in such a variety of different places and doing a bunch of different things. Basically, we got to devotions this morning and ended up being the speakers. And I didn’t hate it! Maybe I’ll be used to the whole public speaking thing by the time I’m done with my time in India. I’m going to get to do a pretty good variety of public health teaching on health and hygiene and nutrition. We sat down with leadership and they brought a lot to the table, and we shared with them what we would like to be involved in. It was actually a very encouraging experience.

I like the very relational nature of this culture. There is a chance it may drive me crazy by the end of this month, but going into it with flexibility is helpful when doing anything in this culture. In the past several weeks, I actually had some responsibility and stuff to ‘get done.’ At first I was so frustrated and tired ‘cause it would take hours to get two jsimple tasks done. By the end though, I knew to give myself a couple hours, so I was totally content to sit and talk with people while I was waiting.

One of these days my task oriented nature will be overcome  It is much diminished from three months back without a doubt!

Bangalore is quite different than Hyderabad. I’ve seen such a small portion—really just drove through the city, so I’m sure four weeks from now I’ll know even more ways that it is different from home. I saw much more modern, western, cleaner architecture. I could imagine much more that I was in an American city as we drove by a sign for Texas Instruments.

The most important thing you NEED to know about is that India won the Cricket World Cup. If you were unsure, all you’d have to do is to be in India last night and the fireworks and boys running around screaming would remove any doubt! As we drove through the city the most amusing thing I saw while I was there was a techy store with TV’s and stuff like that. It was a nice store, totally empty except the clerk, the storefront evident because of the glass windows. Outside this store probably 30-40 men were huddled, all gazing intently at the screens inside. It was hysterical. India is a happy country today!

North

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This link will take you to more pictures!

I’m sitting in a hotel in Dehli. It is a bit surreal to be typing on my dear old mac again. I hardly recognize my lovely computer as the keys click familiarly beneath my fingers. For those of you who didn’t know, my computer crashed the end of last month and I just got it back ☺

BUT… the greatest thing is that I’m with my dad this week! He came out with a chapel team and I surprise him today. He thought I was meeting them up in Bihar tomorrow, and had his back to me when I walked into the hotel lobby this morning. I don’t think he quite knew how to respond!

Dehli is much different than Hyderabad. For the first, it is cleaner and more orderly. Cars actually drive in the lanes some to most of the time! It was shocking. The roads are well kept up and clean. And I even saw people using blinkers today. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I love my city, but it is so cool to see different parts of India—the same India, but recognize the great diversity. I am aware I am just seeing the surfacy differences since I’m in Dehli under 24 hours. But just to recognize it at that level speaks something of the differences. I feel as if I were in a big city back in the US. Some areas of the city are once that I’m used to from Hyderabad, but other cities send me into a confustion of what country I am in. First impression: I like Dehli! I was expecting a city more congested and more dusty and overpopulated. But I was definitely pleasantly surprised with the aspect of India that I see here!


Six days later:

I had just a lovely time this last week. I met up with a team from the Chapel to help with some women's empowerment conferences. I am quite in love with the north! The chapel women were so enthusiastic and energetic. It was an encouragement to see them just jump right into the conference and invest full force into their teaching and into loving the women. And the Indian women in charge of WE were just lovely. I enjoyed building friendships with them and am excited to see them more in the coming months. I did also get to see my father, which was just an added bonus :) I'm thankful that he got to see India and be a part of the work being done here! It was funny watching the team go through culture stress/shock. Its a lot more obvious when it isn't you going through it!



The language barrier is always hard, but there was enough interaction, visual aids, examples that kept the women attentive despite linguistic difficulties. I must say that I was encouraged to see how easily the women on the Chapel team interacted with the Indian women. The comment in the feedback session that made the greatest impression on me was that she felt love in that place more than she had felt it in her whole life. I sometimes think I’m so used to the love of Christ that I often forget the power of his love and the power that a community in Christ really does have. It was such a good reawakening for me to the blessings of having a community. I just pray that God will remind these women that they aren’t alone. That they will be encouraged to remember that they arfe a part of a larger community in Christ. I Peter 2:9-10 has been made so real to me this weekend.



I was really nervous to give my talk. I was slightly paranoid that I would be oversimplifying things and they would feel insulted. Once I was talking though, I really enjoyed it. Even though I have a B.S. I still need reminded of these things. I still need to be reminded that being good stewards of God’s blessings includes my health. Nonetheless, I was still blown away when the women talked about how much they learned from the health topics. I thought everything was so basic, but realizing how much they learned in those two sessions made me realize how much awareness still needs to be there. It has challenged me and definitely is making me think about different ways I can spend the next 7 months.

And Ode to Laundry and other little joys of life

A day in the life of Susan: Well, to be honest, lately it has been a day every two weeks in the life of Susan. At home I pretty much hated doing laundry. I mean, it was so much work to haul my basket full of laundry down to my car and drive to my parents house (‘cause there was no way I was gonna spend 5 bucks to do two loads of laundry), and then put it into two piles, load the first pile in and hang out for an hour. Then move it to the dryer and add the second load. Wait some more, visit with my parents, then fold the clothes and add the second load to the dryer and hang out with my family some more. I mean seriously, such a monotonous task, right? haha oh if only!

When the team came here from home last month, one of the women innocently asked me what the bucket in the bathroom was for. Me and the interns chuckled ‘cause really, it is used for EVERYTHING. That bucket is a necessary household item here. Let me describe how I do laundry in India. Like I mentioned, I sometimes just forget to do it for 2 weeks, until I am absolutely out of clean clothes and the not-clean clothes are beyond wearable. So… You fill the bucket up with water, add a load of laundry to it with some detergent. Swoosh it around and get all your clothes clean (or as clean as a 20 year old with a short attention span gets anything clean by hand). Rinse each item. Wring each item out. Take it up on the roof to hang it to dry. Wait for it to dry. Take it all down and supposedly iron said clothes.

As much as I sometimes find it a hassle—cause as I mentioned, I tend to forget about it until I have no wearable clothes left—I take much more joy out of my clean clothes. When you have to work for it, it’s actually more valued. I know this is such a basic concept and it’s kinda sad that this foundational life principle is hitting home most for me through doing my laundry. But I also enjoy doing laundry now. Although it is time consuming, it is so wonderful to have some physical labor! Its hard work! I’m quite in awe of the women who wash sheets and saris (I haven’t become brave enough to try those yet) because even washing the small items is quite vigorous, let alone 3 meters of material! Another reason I love doing laundry is having an excuse to walk around on the roof at night. Architecture in India is wonderful if simply for the roofs. To be above the busyness of the city, or the busyness of campus is so peaceful during the day, and at night to be a bit closer to the stars. I go up just to hang up laundry and end up stopping and being in awe of the one who made such beautiful, peaceful nights. Roofs are also quite wonderful for oatmeal breakfast picnics with friends :)

Eating. Who ever would have realized that eating with your hands is harder than eating with a fork? We’ve been told numerous times that we’re like little children when we eat. After years of being scolded to not play with your food and to not eat with your hands, I’m having to relearn it! It just makes sense! I might still be messy, but it is now easier for me to eat Indian food with my hands than with a fork. I’ll often just pick up a fork out of habit just to abandon it 5 minutes into the meal out of frustration!

Another random wonderful thing about India is that the cars play songs when they are backing up. And every car has its own little song. Not quite the annoying beeping huge trucks play when they back up at home!

And the head bobble. You never really know if the person is saying “yes,” “no,” “I hear you,” “you’re crazy,” or “I have no idea what this crazy fast-talking American is saying to me, I wish she would just stop babbling.” And when I ask a yes or no question and get the response of ‘no problem’ or ‘its ok.’ After 2+ months, I also don’t know what that means. The more I am here and the better I’m getting at communicating (I have acquired the ability to actually talk slower and to annunciate more! For those of you at home, you should realize that this is a giant improvement for me), the more I’m wondering how and if anyone actually understood me in the beginning.

Other things that make me happy:
Tiger ‘biscuits” (really, they are similar to shortbread cookies)
weekly (or bi-weekly) dinner dates with Elise

Internet is working

Being called ‘teacher’ by every child under the age of 15

I have two tailor friends who are going to help me have clothes that actually fit me!
getting chatty emails from people back home
one of the girls on campus who makes the most amazing crow sound (long story)
and...

Parasite Pals (… a children’s toy much like Polly Pocket) with characters such as ‘Holly Hostess,’ ‘Dig Dig the Head Louse,’ ‘Blinky the Eylash Mite,’ Zzeezz the bed bug’ and my personal favorite ‘Tickles the Tapework.’—I think I seriously laughed for 15 minutes when I first saw it)

The caption reads: “Here is the girl with small friends of life present for always. Some irritation she finds with them, but much fun and love is to be shared.”

Trust me there are a whole lot of more serious things that make me love India and make me joyful. But for lightheartedness’ sake I’m going to leave it at that!

Happy Independence Day!

August 15, 2007:

Several weeks ago I saw these kids as a sea of faces, but as I’ve spent the last three weeks helping out a bit in the school, names are beginning to match with faces. More than that though, their faces are beginning to match with homes, with families, with stories. Once a week medical camps go out of the various slum areas nearby. Although I go to these places in the mornings more regularly to help, these camps take place in the afternoon when the school children are home. We get to talk with them, meet their families, see their homes. Without fail, the next day we will be greeted by these students dressed smartly in their school uniforms, actively engages in their chance for a future. Grasping the hope handed to them through school. Coming from a society where as I child I would be glad to be sick because I could avoid going to school, I am blown away by their devotion and enthusiasm for their studies. Speaking as a girl who pretty much has sold my life away to my education, I’m realizing how much I have taken it for granted. At the medical camp yesterday, Elise and I talked to a group of Muslim girls from the wealthy family whose home abutted the slum area we were spending time in. I could tell each girl was quite intelligent—particularly Nazine. She was outgoing, spoke English extraordinarily well, and was composed and self-assured. I had been learning that here wealth leads to education, as it does most of the time in the states. Nazine calmly informed us that her and her female cousins would be finished with school after the tenth grade. She commented rather indignantly that although the girls studied and worked much harder at their schoolwork than the boys, they would not be allowed by their families to go further than the 10th grade in their education. What does one say to this? All I could do is to encourage them to continue studying and learning on their own. It shook me up, but really reminded me all that an education stands for--no matter what part of the world one is in.

So today was India’s independence day. It has been such an amazing day thusfar! This morning was a program at the school. The students were dressed so smartly and sang and dance with such pride. They were dressed beautifully and radiated joy and pride in their country. The speeches told of their thankfulness and hope for continued progress in India as it presses on in its journey of freedom. It was powerful and really just so cute! The kids did a wonderful job and had worked so hard and performed so energetically! I loved it :)

The rest of Independence Day was just fun! There was a youth gathering--just a bunch of teenagers hanging out, playing games and watching a movie. It was refreshing! Its very cool to me that India has a sense of national pride that appears to be fast fading in the life of the average American.

Life in India is already looking much different. I feel more this week that India is home. I’m beginning to get a feel for the different areas of work here and am getting my feet in many of them. I’m very bad at conveying the emotions that I’ve been feeling here. Most of the time in the clinic the patients have a cold or gastritis. But other times I feel fairly heart-wrenched. This little girl (the smallest one) came into the clinic about 3 weeks ago.





I had been very busy that day running in and out taking care of some patients, but Dr. Anna stopped me and told me to go and listen to the girls heart beat. The girl had a congenital heart defect—she was born with a hole in her heart. This prevents her from developing properly. She is two years old and can’t walk and is no where near where she should be developmentally. During the medical camp at the pipe village (her home) I was blown away at how small and frail she looks. She needs surgery so badly, but with her family’s situation there is no way that they can afford it. Her name is Neha. Please pray that money will come in to meet this girl’s needs. Kanchan also lives at the pipe village. She is in the ninth grade and is so intelligent! I was talking with her today (she speaks nearly impeccable English) about her family. She lives with her family (mom, dad, and 3 siblings) in the summer in a neighboring state and has spent every year minus that time with her grandparents in this village. It was eye-opening to talk to this girl. She has such faith and hope and such a strong foundation. She wants to be a doctor and I have no doubts that this dream will be attained. It’s strange to describe how uplifting it is to be there in the pipe village. These are families who are brought in to work in a pipe factory. They make their homes out of the discarded pipes.




I watched two of my friends work there every day for the last 6 weeks and to go into the same village with their same kids and to see the impact that they have left on their lives is beyond encouraging. It reminded me that sometimes the littlest things make an impact on those around us. The smallest sentence we utter can influence one person even a little. Me and Dr. Anna have gotten to know each other much better in the last few weeks and I’ve become more confident in expressing my own opinions and views on certain issues. Last year God taught me a lot about grace and convicted me on the subject in incredible ways. I had shared that with her a couple of weeks back and honestly thought she wasn’t listening to me. Turns out that telling my story encouraged her to show grace to someone close to her. It surprised me, really, but made me realize a bit more fully what my role is here.

I went on an airport run this morning. I had spent the night with a friend 20 mins from campus and I just LOVE taking rickshaws at 8 in the morning by myself (sarcasm). And there was an airport pickup so they just picked us up on the way and then took everyone back to campus afterwards. It was the first time I had been spent time in the airport since I’ve arrived here. It was just weird. I was forcing myself to recall all the overwhelmed, confused, naïve feelings and emotions I had when I still have no idea what to expect. It was strange, but it made me realize how confident and adjusted I’ve become in the last two months! I mean, given most of the time I am still really clueless, but I’m OK with being clueless (and for those who know me well, you know I usually like to know what on earth is going on and don’t like to be confused). But here, there’s very little that isn’t confusing so if every time I let it get me overwhelmed, I’d be fairly immobilized.

Random facts of India: When cars backup, instead of a beeping sound, they play little songs—its like a ringtone for cars!

Indian men have small bladders. I have gotten very good at looking straight ahead or determinedly at the road in front of me. But when you are riding side-saddle on a scooter, there are things that are just hard not to see as much as you desire not to!

Some major roads don’t actually have street names and business cards even put landmarks for directions instead of just an address.

So we may not be the wisest girls in India...

So you see the top of that water tower-- in the middle of the picture, over the palm trees? Yeah at 4:30 AM THAT is where I was! We might have been afraid of getting in trouble, so we wanted to climb it when no one was around. We somehow came to the conclusion that 4:30 AM was a good idea :) We all had been wanting to climb it since pretty much our first day. And seeing as today is Andrea and Ashley's last day here, we just HAD to climb it. Yeah... it was a bit taller than we thought. And a bit scarier climb than we thought. haha. But we are safe and alive! It was cool to be so high up at night--India felt so peaceful. And we just sat and prayed. It was worth it. And it was an adventure!

Ok, well I'm gonna run and spend the next couple of hours with dear friends who are leaving tonight!

change of seasons

6 weeks are up, meaning most of the other international interns are heading back. Amy and Megan left last night, which was very sad for me. And my other friends leave either today or tomorrow night. Very soon it will be me, Elise and Uwe. It's hard to describe my emotions right now. I'm sad to see people leave, but at the same time I'm excited to begin the next portion of my stay here. Things will be different. Oh so different. I'm already getting involved in some different things and pursuing different opportunities in the slum areas and in the schools. And I'm also a bit frustrated at stuff I'm missing back home. Its been an emotionally charged summer for all of us in different ways I believe. I feel like someone at some point needs to teach us how to process. I missed that lesson in school and I feel like I'm frequently just a mess 'cause I don't know what to do with the different lessons I'm learning.

This morning I remembered that I am definitely in India! As most of you know, I was quite involved in the jh at my church back home. Needless to say, I was very excited when I was made aware that they were trying to start up a youth program at my church here! I went to the 'vision' meeting this morning. What an adventure. I know I often got frustrated with meeting back home. I assure you it won't happen again :) The whole time sitting there I had no idea what the goals or purpose of the meeting was. It was everyone brainstorming and saying the same thing and in my western mind I kept having to remind myself that I'm in India and meetings aren't task oriented and linear and direct. It was my first mostly Indian meeting here so it was a good cultural reminder!

But it looks like there is a chance I'll get to lead a small group of teenage girls, which would make me SO happy considering it is my passion :) and I also found a community group/study that I can join. I'm really excited about it and the women are ones that I enjoy and it will be so beneficial for me to know while I'm here!

I'm in India??

This week has been good... After a rather rough week last week... But Monday I took care of a boy with acute abdominal pain and sat with his family and prayed with them. Yesterday in the medical camp was somewhat sobering. After playing with the kids much of the afternoon, I was called over by Dr. Anna. She explained that the patient she was talking with had had a fairly rare medical condition resulting after the delivery of her child causing deformities of her hands and feet preventing her from walking or doing almost anything. And then we prayed. There was some strange power in it--knowing nothing but that could help this woman. In speaking to her husband afterwards the boys discovered that of course he had taken a second wife! What choice did he have? I felt sobered and silenced thinking of her position in life. How can I begin to fathom that loss--loss of your physical abilities, loss of your husband in a sense, loss of your ability and respect, total dependence for everything. This encounter was followed by a 4 month old baby placed in my arms, which i love :) It was then explained to me as I held this beautiful child that the mother standing next to me was 16 years old. She had been married for 4 years already--since she was 12 years old. To have been married for 8 years by the time I am at this point in my life? I can't begin to wrap my mind around the monstrous responsibility at such a young age. Seeing a face with the story stopped me in my tracks.

Today--I gave my first injection :) Basically, I was taking care of a patient with suspected malaria--fever, loose motions, vomitting. One of the nurses is from Germany and was explaining everything to me as he went. Finally he just handed me the syringe. The day overall made me feel 'useful' and that I was being productive! My task-orientedness was definitely coming out, but it was a good day!

I actually woke up this morning: looked out the window, heard the birds, saw the palm trees and wondered to myself that such a place should be my home for the next 9 months. Its incredible to me that I could be this privileged.

freedom

There is freedom in humility. I feel like I’ve learned more this month even just about myself than I have in the last 6-7 years. I’ve always struggled with pride—that should be no secret to anyone. I made sure I was always strong, at least in appearance, at everything I put my mind to. But now, everything I placed my pride in pretty much just doesn’t exist here. I’m not in school so my grades and studying doesn’t matter at all—in the clinic there is no pride to be really placed in independent study and curiosity. Athleticwise I always pushed through walls and typically was fairly competitive. Here, women just don’t really do sports. Me and Ashley usually just merely walk (with some sprinting and skipping intermingled when no one is in sight) and people don’t admire us for our discipline but merely think we’re all the more crazy! I have no wisdom here or understanding of how things work or what should be done in any given situation. There's no place for my pride in India.

And it is freeing. Everyone expects us to be crazy and weird anyways. What really do we have to prove? I sing a lot here! I actually love to sing to myself, with my friends. Randomly to burst into offkey Disney, patriotic or praise songs gives me so much joy! I’m not a great singer, but I don’t really care! Today I started drawing. One of my good friends Ashley picked up the hobby on coming here and I was admiring her journal/sketchbook/scrapbook and decided, why not?? So I spent an hour drawing pitchers and vases and most likely will persist in this endeaver ‘cause I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I am not intrinsically artistic and have never nurtured that part of my mind! I don’t think I ever really even so much valued it as something I could ever enjoy, yet when I didn’t have to be great at it, but really could just do it ‘cause I felt like it and wanted to try something new—it was so joyous!

I'm attempting to discover the boundary of building walls around the heart and letting myselves learn from mistakes and hurts. But its somewhere in the middle, while previously I think I believed it to lie very far to the former. Its ok to expose ourselves to potential hurt, ‘cause without that vulnerability there cannot be much vitality to life. Isn’t it better to live life fully and work though the pains and hurts that it brings with it—to grow and mature and draw near to God through hurts and disappointments—than to just live steadfastly in low expectations, constantly talking ourselves out of what we truly desire? If we really believe that God is molding our desires, that shouldn’t we let ourselves desire?

I feel like a month ago I would never recognize the above paragraphs as something I would ever think to write! God is working so much in my heart and mind and I can see how much I’ve grown and matured in one months’ time. I can hardly imagine where he will guide me in the next 9! I know that these might seem random and disjointed from lessons I'm 'supposed' to be learning overseas, but I guess God's just surprising me in the very strange ways he's challenging me to step out of my comfort zone and wrestle with issues of the heart.


I went to the zoo with the kids from the pipe village--two of my friends work there regularly and asked me to help 'chaperone' the field trip. The pic above is my favorite little girl Depali.

So maybe blogging will be easier??

Observations on life: Indias beautiful. The driving hardly phases me anymore, I’m less concerned about time and shopping stresses me out less! I just bought a gorgeous Sari ☺ It makes me happy! I am wrestling a lot about theology vs. culture and where to draw the line of what’s important and what’s just culture. I’m feeling a bit in a rut here… like I’m really just at a standstill and not sure how to process and work through some thinking and coping and am just not feeling too effective… But I have definitely started to process and work through things that bother and frustrate me. It is good to actually come to grips with the culture. I’m also building relationships with many of the Indian girls. They love to laugh and really are willing to be your friend if you’re willing to sit with them at meals and smile a lot! Most of all though, I’ve really come to love the other interns. Someone mentioned to me that last summer they made some of their best friends in the 6 weeks they were on their trip. I didn’t believe her… until now ☺ I love these girls so much! We have the randomest, most deep and thought provoking, conversation. I’m not gonna lie, we’re a lot of fun too! And we’re so incredibly awkward. I think I’d be lost without them processing through India and Indian culture, and the poverty and the religious and gender implications with me! Plus we have oatmeal for breakfast on the roof with mangos (better than any mango you’ve ever eaten in the states) on special occasions. We have adventures to the one coffee shop we know of in the whole cities and have adventures with plenty of Rickshaws. I’m blown away with how quickly I’ve come to love these girls (picture up top is of me and four of the other interns--(left to right: me, Andrea, Ashley, Amy, Megan)! And the guys are good to us and take care of us. They make our shower work and make us rotti (kinda like tortillas only better) and nuttella at random hours of the night and we have parties.

One particular change of note is my overcoming of my personal space! Same gender physical contact is the norm here and its expected that good friends walk down the street holding hands. Me and two of my dear friends here walked like a ½ mile holding hands! You should be so proud of me!

And the clinic is good! I’m focusing mostly on relationships at the moment and observing how things are done. Sometimes I’m really frustrated, but overall its good! i love the doctors I get to work with and am loving just being an encouragement to the women that come into the clinic.

Currently there are probably around 100 students here on campus all my ageish (a bit older). Many of them will be here through my entire time, so its good to get to know them! The girls just love to laugh and give us such a great chance. They have a sense of community among themselves that is so welcoming and loving and open to all who are willing to initiate that friendship! I'm excited to continue to get to know them over the next year!

Yeah, I’ve decided to use this blog, ‘cause then people can chose to read my updates rather than emails where they magically appear in your inbox all the time ☺ Don’t worry, I’m still gonna send an email every once in a while, but I’ll probably update here a bit more frequently.


I'm a bit homesick, but God is faithful and I'm loving India about 100x more than I was a month ago :)