Day Seven

Indians hold the utmost respect for, and kinship towards, their families. This closeness plays out particularly in language. For instance, in Bengali they refer to their Uncles with different terms depending on whether they are related to their mother or father.

These close familial bonds branch into other relationships as well. They (and me too now!) refer to respected, non-family elders as Uncle and Auntie. As a friendly term, they refer to friends and acquaintances as Brother and Sister. To give an example, when riding in a taxi we called our driver "da da" (pronounced daw-daw) which means Brother. I love the closeness these terms foster in all interactions. 

Day Six

In my estimation, roughly 93% of life in Kolkata happens on the sidewalk. No joke. People are everywhere (about 20 men for every 1 woman).

To help you understand why I say this, here are some "Scenes from the Sidewalk":

-- Four adolescent boys with rolled-up pants and soapy backs bathe at a water faucet on the sidewalk's edge. --

-- One caramel-colored and two black goats, connected to a tree by a thin rope about their necks, lounge at the corner of an intersection bustling with cars and rickshaws. --

-- Towers of tires, piles of car bumpers, rear-view mirrors, and random machinery create a four-foot aisle way stretching the length of an entire block. --

-- We hold our breath past a three-stalled public urinal which faces the road like a storefront. -- 

Day Five

Today was the second day of a three day young adult/youth conference we're attending at a local church. As we sing worship songs along with 400 similar-aged Indians, my heart overflows with gratitude-- this experience is beyond my imagination.

We are attending a Leadership workshop as a part of the conference. In our classroom, the tangibility of each Indian's rich belief lingers in the air and throughout their stories. They pray for seemingly impossible things (in my own mind) and see God provide in astonishing ways. One woman prayed for God to provide a specific amount for her yearly incentive (a one-time bonus) at work. When she actually received the bonus, it was less than she asked God for. Knowing that God is faithful to provide for what we ask, she went to her boss and discussed it with him. It turns out that the original amount she received was inaccurate. When she received the new amount, it was EXACTLY the amount she asked God for. (WOW.)

I was floored by the depth of her belief. So, I challenge you, as these Indians have challenged me, to consider what you may have deemed impossible and to ask God to provide it, remembering that He can and He will. 

Day Four

Shopping! So, I'm not the biggest fan of shopping in the U.S. but, despite the continual perspiration on my forehead, our Indian shopping experience was quite enjoyable. If you like what you see and it looks like it will fit, you buy it. Trying it on is not necessary. If it ends up being too big, we take it to the tailor (one of my shirts is currently at the tailor and the cost will be less than $1). The clothes here are beautiful and, comparatively speaking, rather inexpensive. It costs $3 for an ornate, long shirt (looks more like a dress). 

We are buying new clothes because of how significant female modesty is here. Here are some of the underlying rules (which differ in severity depending on where you are): 

1. Loose hair = loose girl (so, we wear our hair up when walking around outside) 

2. Chest and hips/bottoms should be covered. Many women wear the long shirts to cover their bottoms and scarfs to cover their chests. 

3. Do not make any lingering eye contact with men. Because eye contact is commonplace in the U.S., I find this difficult, but here it can be misconstrued as an invitation, so we attempt to avoid it.  

Day Three

We flew from Delhi to Kolkata this morning. It was one of the best flight experiences I've ever had. And, interestingly, the flight attendant spoke to everyone on the plane in English when distributing drinks....

Holy cow! During our ride from the airport, a cow sprinted across the highway in front of our land rover taxi. Never in my life have I seen a cow move that fast. Our driver slammed on the breaks as we all gasped and covered our mouths. After we missed the cow by a hair, our driver slapped his sweaty palm on his leg in relief. Today would not be a good day for him if he hit that cow.

First impressions of Kolkata: lively, friendly, very warm, with lots of colors and people lining the streets. I'm looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks here. 

Day Two

I'm unclear about when this day started but I know we landed in Delhi, India at 8:45 p.m. (24 hours after we left New Jersey = 14 hour plan ride + 10 hours lost). We stayed the night at a friend's apartment in Delhi with a beautiful terrace and rooftop view. Thoughts from today: (1) A lot more people speak English here then I anticipated, (2) I feel drenched with tiredness.

Day One

I was so thankful to start the official beginning of this adventure with Jamie and Liz (shout out to the newlyweds!) today as we all went to the airport together. Unfortunately their flight was delayed the previous day, but it was a blessing to spend time with them before I flew from Nashville to New Jersey and they set off for London. (I hope you two are having fun!)

If you ever want to go semi-postal in an airport, plan to mail some letters during your layover in New Jersey (or at any airport for that matter). Turns out that for security reasons mail drops were removed from all airports in the US. After about five conversations with different personnel, my hope began to dwindle and my efforts felt futile. But, after stepping outside and looking for someone who could possibly mail my letters, my new friend Sarah-Kate graciously offered. Thank you!

At 8:45 p.m. we boarded our 14 hour flight to Delhi, India from Newark, NJ. As we traveled into the future, I have no idea when his day ended, it sank into the abyss of man-made time... 

Day Zero

Greetings. In light of pending pre-India preparations, you'd chuckle if you knew how much time I invested choosing the background, fonts, and colors for this blog. But, as the bullet points on my to-do list raced for first priority around the Indy 500 of my brain, of course working on the design template for my blog won. I asked myself-- Self, should you square away your Malaria medication or peruse every available font for your blog? The fonts were chosen. Hands down. Welcome to my world. :) 

Side note-- I chose this font because it's the most similar to my handwriting-- you can just pretend I'm writing you each a personal note on your computer screen.  

Second side note-- this one is for my parents-- I am taking the Malaria medication, I just acquired it after tweaking the blog details. :)