Its hard to think that a geographical location could hold a place in your heart. But, I think it is possible, if only for the people who occupy the location. I hate to think about the fact that it has taken me over a month to get to this point, but I am beginning to finally give India a piece of my heart. The past week has been a game-changer and I am so thankful for the many things that changed many of my perspectives on India. God really is good.
Last week was part of the Puja holiday, a long and drawn out Hindu holiday. A perk of living amongst India's religious diversity is that because there are so many religions, there are seemingly countless holidays. We all know what lots of holidays mean...less days of school! So, as a result of Puja, we didn't have class Wednesday-Friday, meaning, we got to travel. Bright and early Wednesday morning, we all boarded a bus and headed towards Ooty, one of India's hill stations. It took longer than anticipated to get there, but that seems to be a motif of life in India - everyone and everything is always late, all the time. The drive, however, was great. It reminded me of home, if that is even possible considering how far away home actually is. You see, Ooty is a village in the mountains. Because of the mountains and elevation change, it was also about 30 degrees cooler there - we were happy to have our scarfs and even wished we had brought sweatshirts at times. The mountains are filled with tea plantations because Ooty thrives on the manufacturing of tea. Anyways, we spent our short time in Ooty (we were only there on Wednesday and Thursday) doing many things, none of which I would have changed a bit. When we got there, we went to a chocolate shop. Chocolate is another perk of Ooty; apparently, it is one of the only places in India where you can buy chocolate at all, and the reason you can buy it there is because the air is cool enough that it doesn't melt. In turn, we all went a little bit crazy at the store, realizing it may be our only taste of chocolate until Christmas, and considering that it was our first taste of Chocolate in over a month. It was delicious. Then, we went into the jungle to a wildlife reserve. We waited and waited and waited, unsure of what we were going to do there; as we waited, crazy little wild monkeys jumped around and swung from tree to tree. At about sunset, we boarded a rickety old bus (kind of like the one that the Wild Thornberrys drove around in, but much less homey). The bus drove us through these little jungle paths and we were able to see wild elephants by sunset. We also saw many deer, boars and bison, which would have been more cool had they been more foreign creatures. I was thrilled enough, though, by the elephants. It was so neat. After that, we headed back to the place where we stayed, a quaint little place that may be India's version of a K.O.A. Kampground, but I'm not positive. We all really wanted a campfire, and our wish was their command. We got a campfire and we were able to worship around it with sparks flitting through the air like fireflies.
The following day, we went back to the reserve and watched some of the trained elephants' feeding. Wow, they sure can eat! We left after the elephants were full and we went to visit an NGO called Freedom Firm. I think I could talk about (or, write about, I suppose) the organization for hours, but I'll cut it to the shorthand. In affiliation with International Justice Mission, the people at Freedom Firm work throughout the whole country of India trying to rescue young girls (ages 16 and under) from lives of prostitution. It was fascinating and I am so incredibly glad we got to hear about it. India really is the right place to learn about all kinds of social justice issues. After that, we went to a little place called "Willy's" and got pizza. Although the pizza was no Padrino's or Papa Murphey's, it was alright. Then, we were told that we would be going to the highest peak in all of Tamil Nadu. Being the Montanan that I am, there was no doubt in my mind that it meant we would get to go on a hike! I was ecstatic. The bus just kept on plugging away, though. As it turns out, in India, you can drive to the top of mountain peaks. Not to be a mountain snob, but it was no Castle Rock; it was really breathtaking, though, to see all of the mountains of Tamil Nadu, packed with field upon field of tea. Doddabetta Peak was our last stop, and then we began our long drive back to Coimbatore.
We finally got back to our apartments around 9 pm, completely exhausted. Jon and Kandyce, however, had made baked potato soup for us upon our return. Honestly, in that moment, I don't think anything could have tasted better.
Now, let me remind you of the power cuts. Remember how I said that the power goes out for a couple hours each day? Well, due to political unrest (according to "The Hindu," our local newspaper), the power was out all day on Friday, from dawn until dusk. Literally, all day. Thankfully, we left again on Friday. This time, however, we didn't leave Coimbatore, rather, we departed for 3-day long "home-stays." Essentially, two of us ISP-ers were paired up and then randomly assigned a family to stay with. Don't worry, the families were all selected from All Souls Church, the place where we have been worshipping here in Coimbatore. We found out our pairs and then our assignments. Amanda and I were told we would be staying with the Chief of Police. After waiting for quite some time for he and his wife to pick us up, we found out that he had been called into work for duty and we wouldn't be able to stay with him. Originally, we were incredibly disappointed, but it turned out being an enormous blessing in disguise. Because the change was so last-minute, Sheila, a professor at BACAS, offered for us to stay with her sister. Just like that, we were off for our home-stay. Sheila's brother, Rajesh, actually picked us up and brought us to the house. When we arrived, we found out that because Sheila is not married and Rajesh is not married, they live in the house with Grace, their sister, who is married and has two children. We found out that the house they live in had been in the family since 1920. When we arrived, we were greeted by Grace, Sheila's sister. We were served tea and our bed was made for us. We also got to meet our little siblings, Susan and Samson. Then, we got to hang out with the family. Grace told us about their lives and Samson made us "juice," which means tang here. As we were getting acquainted, Grace told us about her husband and we were shown her wedding album.
Its a sobering moment when you realize that an opinion that you have held for your whole life is wrong and based solely on ignorance. Grace explained to us that her marriage had been arranged. I had never even thought of arranged marriages as anything but wrong and doomed to fail. But, I was proved very wrong. Learning this lesson has changed my perspective and challenged many of my other beliefs. Basically, we probed and asked as many questions as we could think of trying to see why arranged marriages wouldn't work; but, we were not given any answers supporting our hypothesis. It was during that discussion that Grace said something that I don't think I will ever forget. I bluntly asked, "Do you really think that arranged marriages work?" She said to me, "Absolutely. If God is at the center of anything, it will work." I was blown away. She could really honestly tell me that, even though her and her husband's marriage had been arranged, God had paired them together and they were very much in love, even after 20 plus years. If God is at the center, it will work.
The only thing that could have made that night better, happened. Grace asked us if we would like to go with her on Saturday night to an arranged Christian marriage wedding engagement. Obviously, we were ecstatic, especially after having heard her story (She told us that before her and her husband were engaged, they had only met once. She prayed and fasted for three days until she knew that God wanted her to marry this man that she didn't even know).
Let me jump ahead to the next day and the engagement party. It was beautiful. Sheila came with us too and the first thing she said when we walked in was, "They are both very nervous," talking about the bride and groom-to-be. They were seated next to each other on a couch, each holding a Bible. The service was composed of prayer, reading of Scripture, and mini sermons given by 4 different pastors. The bride-to-be looked gorgeous, wearing a very ornate sari and lots of jewelry. Midway through the service, two really neat traditions took place. The bride-to-be is given a new Sari to change into, gifted to her by the groom-to-be and his family. The groom-to-be is given a doti (man-skirt) and jacket, gifted to him by the bride-to-be and her family. They leave, change, and return wearing their new clothes. When they return, they switch Bibles. Both of these things, I think, hold significant value and beauty. Of course, when the ceremony was over, there was a feast filled with rice and many other rice products. But, there was cake and ice cream also, so that made up for the obscene amounts of rice and chutney (gravy).
Now, let me backtrack. Our host family had an awesome dynamic, being that we got to experience a joint family firsthand. Our "little brother and sister" treated us like family, teasing us and eating our snacks. Samson, our "brother," taught us how to play Cricket and Carom and Susan painted for us. Sheila fed us copious amounts of food. I literally thought I was going to explode. So much rice and so much chapatti (these fried pancakes that they fed us because they could tell we liked it much more than rice). We were also fed dosa for breakfast, another fried pancake-y thing. You are supposed to put potato chutney on it. I didn't love the chutney but I was forcing it down. Sheila saw right through my act and proceeded to dump a huge pile of sugar on my dosa. She told me that I might like that better because it is what they feed children. Of course. Even in India I prefer the simple kid's food to the fancy adult dish. But, boy, was it good. We also went to church with Rajesh on Sunday morning, as well as out shopping for earrings and to the parlor with Sheila. We were really treated like family for three days, and it was so great to feel that dynamic. Leaving Sunday night was surprisingly difficult. I feel as though in the three days that I lived with Sheila, Grace, Rajesh, Samson and Susan, I learned more about India and its beautiful people than I ever could in a classroom. God's light shone so brightly through them and I can only hope that one day I can have a light that bright.
I am so thankful for last week and the weekend. Like I said before, I wouldn't change it for the world. Last night, I was sort of on cloud nine. Today, we had class at 9 and pretty much all day. We only had a lunch break, but other than that, we went straight through until 6. We also had presentations comparing Christianity and other world religions (I compared Christianity and Sikhism). Every day at school, I'm pushed to the point of what, I think, is breaking point. But, after speaking with Kirk and Hannah (the ISP director and his wife) last week, I was struck by something that they said. They told me that, "Everything is preparation for something." Even though school in India is a huge challenge, its preparing me for something else that I may do in the future. So, I feel as though I have a new perspective. I can make it through the challenges because every single day, I am reminded of God's goodness and His grace. Even throughout the daily struggles, He is faithful. My struggles were put to shame today by the huge smile put on my face when I got not only a big and wonderful care package filled with loving, supporting, reassuring notes and delicious snacks from my family, but also an encouraging card from my Dad. The evening was complete with a huge thunder and lightning storm, with falling rain making it feel like Seattle and lightning streaking across the sky making it feel like Bozeman. I'll say it again. God is so good.
Last week was part of the Puja holiday, a long and drawn out Hindu holiday. A perk of living amongst India's religious diversity is that because there are so many religions, there are seemingly countless holidays. We all know what lots of holidays mean...less days of school! So, as a result of Puja, we didn't have class Wednesday-Friday, meaning, we got to travel. Bright and early Wednesday morning, we all boarded a bus and headed towards Ooty, one of India's hill stations. It took longer than anticipated to get there, but that seems to be a motif of life in India - everyone and everything is always late, all the time. The drive, however, was great. It reminded me of home, if that is even possible considering how far away home actually is. You see, Ooty is a village in the mountains. Because of the mountains and elevation change, it was also about 30 degrees cooler there - we were happy to have our scarfs and even wished we had brought sweatshirts at times. The mountains are filled with tea plantations because Ooty thrives on the manufacturing of tea. Anyways, we spent our short time in Ooty (we were only there on Wednesday and Thursday) doing many things, none of which I would have changed a bit. When we got there, we went to a chocolate shop. Chocolate is another perk of Ooty; apparently, it is one of the only places in India where you can buy chocolate at all, and the reason you can buy it there is because the air is cool enough that it doesn't melt. In turn, we all went a little bit crazy at the store, realizing it may be our only taste of chocolate until Christmas, and considering that it was our first taste of Chocolate in over a month. It was delicious. Then, we went into the jungle to a wildlife reserve. We waited and waited and waited, unsure of what we were going to do there; as we waited, crazy little wild monkeys jumped around and swung from tree to tree. At about sunset, we boarded a rickety old bus (kind of like the one that the Wild Thornberrys drove around in, but much less homey). The bus drove us through these little jungle paths and we were able to see wild elephants by sunset. We also saw many deer, boars and bison, which would have been more cool had they been more foreign creatures. I was thrilled enough, though, by the elephants. It was so neat. After that, we headed back to the place where we stayed, a quaint little place that may be India's version of a K.O.A. Kampground, but I'm not positive. We all really wanted a campfire, and our wish was their command. We got a campfire and we were able to worship around it with sparks flitting through the air like fireflies.
The following day, we went back to the reserve and watched some of the trained elephants' feeding. Wow, they sure can eat! We left after the elephants were full and we went to visit an NGO called Freedom Firm. I think I could talk about (or, write about, I suppose) the organization for hours, but I'll cut it to the shorthand. In affiliation with International Justice Mission, the people at Freedom Firm work throughout the whole country of India trying to rescue young girls (ages 16 and under) from lives of prostitution. It was fascinating and I am so incredibly glad we got to hear about it. India really is the right place to learn about all kinds of social justice issues. After that, we went to a little place called "Willy's" and got pizza. Although the pizza was no Padrino's or Papa Murphey's, it was alright. Then, we were told that we would be going to the highest peak in all of Tamil Nadu. Being the Montanan that I am, there was no doubt in my mind that it meant we would get to go on a hike! I was ecstatic. The bus just kept on plugging away, though. As it turns out, in India, you can drive to the top of mountain peaks. Not to be a mountain snob, but it was no Castle Rock; it was really breathtaking, though, to see all of the mountains of Tamil Nadu, packed with field upon field of tea. Doddabetta Peak was our last stop, and then we began our long drive back to Coimbatore.
We finally got back to our apartments around 9 pm, completely exhausted. Jon and Kandyce, however, had made baked potato soup for us upon our return. Honestly, in that moment, I don't think anything could have tasted better.
Now, let me remind you of the power cuts. Remember how I said that the power goes out for a couple hours each day? Well, due to political unrest (according to "The Hindu," our local newspaper), the power was out all day on Friday, from dawn until dusk. Literally, all day. Thankfully, we left again on Friday. This time, however, we didn't leave Coimbatore, rather, we departed for 3-day long "home-stays." Essentially, two of us ISP-ers were paired up and then randomly assigned a family to stay with. Don't worry, the families were all selected from All Souls Church, the place where we have been worshipping here in Coimbatore. We found out our pairs and then our assignments. Amanda and I were told we would be staying with the Chief of Police. After waiting for quite some time for he and his wife to pick us up, we found out that he had been called into work for duty and we wouldn't be able to stay with him. Originally, we were incredibly disappointed, but it turned out being an enormous blessing in disguise. Because the change was so last-minute, Sheila, a professor at BACAS, offered for us to stay with her sister. Just like that, we were off for our home-stay. Sheila's brother, Rajesh, actually picked us up and brought us to the house. When we arrived, we found out that because Sheila is not married and Rajesh is not married, they live in the house with Grace, their sister, who is married and has two children. We found out that the house they live in had been in the family since 1920. When we arrived, we were greeted by Grace, Sheila's sister. We were served tea and our bed was made for us. We also got to meet our little siblings, Susan and Samson. Then, we got to hang out with the family. Grace told us about their lives and Samson made us "juice," which means tang here. As we were getting acquainted, Grace told us about her husband and we were shown her wedding album.
Its a sobering moment when you realize that an opinion that you have held for your whole life is wrong and based solely on ignorance. Grace explained to us that her marriage had been arranged. I had never even thought of arranged marriages as anything but wrong and doomed to fail. But, I was proved very wrong. Learning this lesson has changed my perspective and challenged many of my other beliefs. Basically, we probed and asked as many questions as we could think of trying to see why arranged marriages wouldn't work; but, we were not given any answers supporting our hypothesis. It was during that discussion that Grace said something that I don't think I will ever forget. I bluntly asked, "Do you really think that arranged marriages work?" She said to me, "Absolutely. If God is at the center of anything, it will work." I was blown away. She could really honestly tell me that, even though her and her husband's marriage had been arranged, God had paired them together and they were very much in love, even after 20 plus years. If God is at the center, it will work.
The only thing that could have made that night better, happened. Grace asked us if we would like to go with her on Saturday night to an arranged Christian marriage wedding engagement. Obviously, we were ecstatic, especially after having heard her story (She told us that before her and her husband were engaged, they had only met once. She prayed and fasted for three days until she knew that God wanted her to marry this man that she didn't even know).
Let me jump ahead to the next day and the engagement party. It was beautiful. Sheila came with us too and the first thing she said when we walked in was, "They are both very nervous," talking about the bride and groom-to-be. They were seated next to each other on a couch, each holding a Bible. The service was composed of prayer, reading of Scripture, and mini sermons given by 4 different pastors. The bride-to-be looked gorgeous, wearing a very ornate sari and lots of jewelry. Midway through the service, two really neat traditions took place. The bride-to-be is given a new Sari to change into, gifted to her by the groom-to-be and his family. The groom-to-be is given a doti (man-skirt) and jacket, gifted to him by the bride-to-be and her family. They leave, change, and return wearing their new clothes. When they return, they switch Bibles. Both of these things, I think, hold significant value and beauty. Of course, when the ceremony was over, there was a feast filled with rice and many other rice products. But, there was cake and ice cream also, so that made up for the obscene amounts of rice and chutney (gravy).
Now, let me backtrack. Our host family had an awesome dynamic, being that we got to experience a joint family firsthand. Our "little brother and sister" treated us like family, teasing us and eating our snacks. Samson, our "brother," taught us how to play Cricket and Carom and Susan painted for us. Sheila fed us copious amounts of food. I literally thought I was going to explode. So much rice and so much chapatti (these fried pancakes that they fed us because they could tell we liked it much more than rice). We were also fed dosa for breakfast, another fried pancake-y thing. You are supposed to put potato chutney on it. I didn't love the chutney but I was forcing it down. Sheila saw right through my act and proceeded to dump a huge pile of sugar on my dosa. She told me that I might like that better because it is what they feed children. Of course. Even in India I prefer the simple kid's food to the fancy adult dish. But, boy, was it good. We also went to church with Rajesh on Sunday morning, as well as out shopping for earrings and to the parlor with Sheila. We were really treated like family for three days, and it was so great to feel that dynamic. Leaving Sunday night was surprisingly difficult. I feel as though in the three days that I lived with Sheila, Grace, Rajesh, Samson and Susan, I learned more about India and its beautiful people than I ever could in a classroom. God's light shone so brightly through them and I can only hope that one day I can have a light that bright.
I am so thankful for last week and the weekend. Like I said before, I wouldn't change it for the world. Last night, I was sort of on cloud nine. Today, we had class at 9 and pretty much all day. We only had a lunch break, but other than that, we went straight through until 6. We also had presentations comparing Christianity and other world religions (I compared Christianity and Sikhism). Every day at school, I'm pushed to the point of what, I think, is breaking point. But, after speaking with Kirk and Hannah (the ISP director and his wife) last week, I was struck by something that they said. They told me that, "Everything is preparation for something." Even though school in India is a huge challenge, its preparing me for something else that I may do in the future. So, I feel as though I have a new perspective. I can make it through the challenges because every single day, I am reminded of God's goodness and His grace. Even throughout the daily struggles, He is faithful. My struggles were put to shame today by the huge smile put on my face when I got not only a big and wonderful care package filled with loving, supporting, reassuring notes and delicious snacks from my family, but also an encouraging card from my Dad. The evening was complete with a huge thunder and lightning storm, with falling rain making it feel like Seattle and lightning streaking across the sky making it feel like Bozeman. I'll say it again. God is so good.
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| Elephants are huge creatures. |
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| Breathtaking landscape of Doddabetta, Ooty. |
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| First outfit. Pre-Bible switch. |
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| Mid-Bible switch. Post clothes change. Outfit number two. |
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