I like being a girl

I sit in distracted thought at the moment. Trying to find direction to my random processing. A part of my brain is working today that I don’t think has been active in a little while.

I have this friend. Our time usually is spent hiking through the woods along the river talking about God and life. She’s my ‘philosophical’ friend. I’m always inspired and challenged when I hear from her (or when I’m in the states, after our hikes). I’m reminded how big the world is. How much vision matters. How amazing it can be to dwell on God. I start thinking more abstractly after we talk (or I read her blog ☺ ). And she reminds me to live my life big. And to dream big and to invest myself in big visions.

Lately I’ve been thinking about value. Sunday was “Women’s Day” here at church. It was a very cultural experience in a way I didn’t quite expect. It was approached through womanhood as a married woman. I never realized how different even the definition of a woman could change in culture. At home, we are taught about womanhood and femininity as a single. We’re taught to invest our gifts as a woman and use the attributes God gave us no matter where we are in life. We may even be chastised for wasting our gifts by our community (in a good way) if we are wasting our gifts as ‘life-giver’ and ‘helper-completer’ (to use the terms of the five aspects study). While the west usually takes feminism way to far, I’m thankful that my culture assigns me value as an individual, with or without a wedding ring. I really like being a girl. I like the gifts that I have, the qualities God's given me, and the glory of his purpose. I've never considered that I have less worth as an individual. Never even crossed my mind. It upsets me that other women face this battle. Its something I've seen a lot here, but it really struck me on Sunday.

In other news, Annika and I booked our ‘holiday’ trip to Kerala. SO excited for this. It’ll be a short trip, but it’s gonna be beautiful. 5 days to dwell on God’s marvelous creation.

March

I know its been awhile since I’ve written, so I would like to fill you in on what life has been like this past month! After finishing auditing the masters classes in January, we (meaning me and my friend Annika) started working on some community health teaching for girls in their 20’s that are here for their Bachelors program. It was fun and they became really enthusiastic as we handed out chocolate for answering questions on our nutrition talk (I hope you see the irony). I then spent the next few weeks working on topical summaries of health issues that can be translated into different languages and used for community health education throughout the country. Currently, me and Annika are conducting basic health physicals and getting health histories for the Bachelors students on campus. There are 200+ students so we’re keeping pretty busy in the evenings ☺

Mid-march I leave to join a medical trip coming out from the US for about two weeks, and then Annika and I are planning to do some sightseeing in Kerala (southernmost India) which I’ve heard is one of the most beautiful places in all of India. We’re both really excited about these plans and are greatly anticipating the time of travel. But this means that my time in India is drawing to a close. Its strange to think that I have only a few weeks left living here, and I’m having trouble picturing life without some of the friends that I’ve made here! But at the same time, I’m very excited about the next stage in my life. A lot of mixed emotions.


Last week four more international girls came in for their 6 week internship. They’re sweet girls and are definitely still adjusting to India. Please keep then in your prayers as they process both their work and their free-time and also cope with culture stress and homesickness. You can pray for me as I wrap up my work in Hyderabad this next few weeks and seek closure in my time here. I also have a lot of preparations for coming home that I need to finish before I begin traveling. You can also be praying for safety as we travel from mid-march through mid-April.

This weekend we went to a place that I hadn’t been to yet. It’s called Little Rajasthan. Rajasthan is a state in North India with distinct culture—food, dress, dance etc. This is a place I haven’t been, but I’ve heard a lot about it. Anyways, Little Rajasthan is a cultural center nearby where I live where they present and expose people to Rajasthani culture. We made the trek there—and by trek I mean that we didn’t know where we were going and ended up walking WAY farther than we would’ve had to if we had gotten off at the correct bus stop. But it was worth it— We got to experience a lot that night. The food was unique to what we usually have, the dress of those there was different, the dancing was different. The reason I’m writing this, is that I know how easy it is to lump “India” together. But every state in India has a unique culture. It has its own special characteristics, languages, food, clothing, value systems, and composition. I’ve been here a year (nearly ☺) and I’ve hardly begun to grasp the diversity of this country.

I’m also sending a picture of my favorite place in Hyderabad. Golconda Fort. Its 1000+ years old and is spectacular. Plus it has a magnificent view of the city and the surrounding countryside!