Groundbreaking

The kids started trickling back to campus Sunday afternoon, and it is good to have them back! Campus doesn’t feel as empty now. It was cute seeing them come back, some of their suit cases were bigger then they were.

First thing Monday morning we all participated in the ground breaking ceremony for the new girls hostel. I’m glad I was able to be here for the start of it but I’m a little sad that I won’t be here to see it finished.  The ground breaking ceremony was short and sweet, which was good because it was an extra hot day. I still managed to get a sun burn though. I was out there for a whole 10-15 minutes so I probably should have expected it right? Oh my light light skin. I love hate it. I have most my life and I figure it will probably continue that way until the end of my days.

Dr. Susan had invited President Eddison and his family to be our special guests for the ground breaking ceremony. They brought their two sons. After the formalities I had gone back to the elephant house when I got a phone call telling me I was suppose to come back because President Eddison wanted to talk to me. My first initial thought was “Oh crap, he is going to give me a calling.” I know I probably shouldn't say that, and to be honest I wasn’t worried about receiving a calling as much as I was the logistics of what it would entail. A fair amount of church is in Tamil, it takes anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours one way to get there every Sunday, sometimes I don’t have the luxury of staying all three hours because of situations with volunteers, grocery shopping, etc. I know that if I were to receive a calling then somehow it would all work out--BUT—looks like I am off the hook because he tried to talk to me about something but I didn’t understand what he was saying and kept looking to Ms. Gracy for help but she said we need to talk to Dr. Susan and then he just dropped it and we all just kept hanging out so whatever. I guess if it is important that it will resurface again. 

Pondy Fail

Ponicherry is a blast--and we don't get to go there very often because it is a special weekend trip. Last time we went was in August so we have been very patiently waiting to go again. Needless to say we have been more then a little excited for this rest day because it was our much awaited Pondicherry Trip. We drove the two hours it take to get there, paid the entrance fee to the Pondy Government, had the van drop us off in our usual spot- in front of the Gandhi Statue-and set out for Bakers Street, the french bakery that reminds me of Kneaders. We noticed that a lot of the shops were closed, but didn't think to much of it until we got to Bakers Street and discovered that it was closed as well. "Closed" that is. The owners were still letting a few people in, but he was not having it for our group of six. The survival mode part of me almost ducked under the door and said peace out to the rest of the group because I could feel that I needed food stat, but I was good, held out a little longer, and luckily we were able to find a least one little restaurant that was open. He probably shouldn't of been open either but it was tucked in and away from the street/was pretty much out a view so he risked it/didn't care. Either was, we were SO glad that he was open. 

Apparently, the whole town was on strike until 4:00 pm (the time we have to leave) to show their loyalty for the beloved chief minister (they say mistress-probably because she is a woman, but I have a hard time calling her the chief mistress and keeping a straight face) that was thrown in jail last week. On the one hand, at least it wasn't rioting, but it was so frustrating though because literally NOTHING was open. We found the one restaurant and one store--we call it the Indiana Jones Store because the decor and items sold make you feel like you are waiting in line for the Indian Jones ride-but we couldn't find another thing open. We caught a few rickshaws to check around but it was pointless because everything was closed or would open for certain people but not for a group of foreigners. It probably wouldn't have been very safe to sneak into stores anyways though because we learned (after we had turned around to go home) that people can get in big trouble if they are found being un-loyal, which in this case meant being open for business. I don't know what would of happened, but I'm convinced it is best that we didn't find out through experiencing those consequences. It would have been annoying anywhere but to have it happen in Pondy, when we were so excited and don't get to come very often. So basically we drove two hours, got a bite to eat, wandered around aimlessly for a bit and then drove the two hours home. Hopefully we can talk Dr. Susan to letting us into going back sooner then later since this trip went down the drain but who knows. 

So here are some pics from the Indiana Jones like store, and a far away picture of the decorated Gandhi Statue--since it was his birthday a few days ago. Happy belated birthday Gandhi!

And that more or less sums up our rest day. Fail.

Real Beef/Fake Beef

Behold the Beauty of this burger! It tasted so excellent, even if the meat was a little more pink then I would have preferred. I have to admit my defeat though, I wasn't able to eat it all. That could of had something to do with the two appetizers I ate before, or it could be that I need to ease into this much meat after having next to none over the last 5 months or so. I definitely haven't had meat like this since being in India though. I was one happy American. Happy indeed. 

So that was real beef--no doubt about it. But after eating this we were wandering around the mall and I found ranch dressing mix and wait for it--TACO mix. I felt like I was walking in hamburger heaven. Then I looked closer at my taco mix--and there was a catch-it was soy taco mix. No real freeze dried beef (even though the picture looked like it) just real soy taco "meat". Ill own the fact that I was a little disappointed, however the thought of having tacos--even if they are fake tacos--won out in the end. But here is the most surprising part--the fake taco filling actually tasted like real taco filling. I was skeptical, even when the smell of it cooking was dead on, but still, I wouldn't let my guard down. But honestly, had I not known I don't think I ever would have guessed that the taco meat wasn't real taco meat. My excitement over the taco meat find was a little outrageous--and my friends let me know that it wasn't right to be that excited over a soy product, but I saw them licking their lips over my tacos. The said they didn't want any, probably because they didn't believe me that it tasted so good, but that just fine because it left more for me. Tacos. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

Snap Happy

I really enjoy taking pictures. I always have. And when you like to take pictures you sometimes get a lot of pictures that don't really "go" with anything or fit anywhere specific, but I just like them. That's all. And lets be honest, 99% of us go straight to the pictures rather than the words anyway. So.........rather then keep writing words, here are some pics I have taken through out my living in India. They aren't necessarily anything special, just things that make me smile. It will give you a pretty good feel of the beautifully simple ambiance I am constantly surrounded by.

Oh and here are other pics that I didn't take but I love anyway. Picture swapping is a beautiful thing. Thanks friends!

Hand Shake

Clinic was at Chettipunniyum today and I was on washing duty. It has been a while since I've done washing so I was more then a little excited to hear that was my assignment. We have been doing a lot of work in this colony. Besides the medical clinics we have been building latrines here as well. It has gnawed out a special little place in my heart. Berlyn was able to get some nice shots of us/me working. She got a lot of other nice shots too, but I always appreciate when someone captures something for you that you can't. Its like you get the best of both worlds. You get to have the experience and make the memories but can also visually see it too. What a pal. She is great.

On a previous visit to this colony, I had the coolest little experience that I wrote down but haven't shared until now. I was hoping to get a picture with Maria to go with the story, but I have no idea when that is actually going to happen so no more waiting for that. I know the picture isn't necessarily super important, I just love being able to "show" parts of my life as I know it for now. But oh well. Use your imagination for this one:

One of the ladies that lives in Chettipunniyum is named Maria. The first time I did construction she was there and very excitedly thrust her arm out to greet me and shake my hand. The ironic thing is, she has no hand—she lost it due to her leprosy. But she didn’t care! She was smiling, happy, and offered the same polite gesture she would have had she still had her hand. I smiled and shook her arm and she just beamed. I don’t know how to explain what happened during that handshake but it almost felt electric. I know it sounds crazy but it really stirred something in me and I immediately had the thought “That was literally the BEST handshake I’ve ever had". No lies or exaggeration, it was powerful. I never thought a handshake could be the root of such a powerful experience, let alone a handshake offered by someone with no hand.    

I didn't take this picture, it is a photo that belongs to Rising Star, but I love it! And even though this lady isn't exactly smiling as in the experience I just told, this photo makes me happy because of the feelings it stirs within me. I've seen this scene many times before, and more often then not the person will turn towards you, their eyes light up and the smile spreads across their face as they raise their hands together and give a slight bow while saying "Vannikkam!" (which is the local greeting). 

Quiet Time

Believe it or not, this week has been eventfully low key. Let me explain.

The kids were doing testing all week long, so we haven’t been able to interact with them as much as we usually do this week. AND-they left for fall break right after testing was finished so it has been a little quiet. I ended up having to work through the last playtime we had with them before the break started and I was legitimately bummed about that. It is amazing to me how much I miss them—even when we are on the same campus. I’m going to have to work on that.

On Monday we went to Bethel Nagar colony—which is one of our larger ones. I was in charge of taking some video for an upcoming project, so I wasn’t able to man any of the actual stations, but on my down time I got to observe Navumani—who is the nurse that does all the debridement and bandaging of the ulcers. It was awesome! Of course, first and foremost, it is sad to see the infections/sores some of these people are fighting, however, I found joy in the dead tissue and bad parts of the skin that Navumani was removing because it means that the treatments are working and progress is being made! For the most part, people can’t feel it, which is one of the blessings/curses of having leprosy, however every once in a while people would wince—which obviously was hard to see as well. Navumani rocks her job! You can tell she loves it and loves being able to help her patients with this step of the process-which is perhaps the one of the most crucial steps in the process 

For whatever reason, watching her go to town on wound after wound after wound made me think of the repentance/healing process we all go through in this life. It is so sad to see the ulcers and infections people have in their lives and/or on their hearts, and especially painful to see these things in ourselves. But, like Navumani, God rocks at his job, and eagerly wants to clean out the blah and the gunk in order to help us heal.  I know that sounds incredibly cheesy but being around so much sickness and healing has caused me to draw all sorts of parallels between these unique experiences and how I can apply them to my life.

After the colony we did some patient home visits and went stopped by the preschool Rising Star Outreach helps fund. The little boy screaming in the front row pretty much explains how it went. Some were happy to see us-but some/most were utterly terrified of us.

We welcomed another volunteer this week, Berlyn from China/Alpine/St. George/Canada. She always has us laughing, until she randomly falls asleep-which has been happening a lot this week. And she breaths like Darth Vader, but it’s cool because she knows it and we all talk about it.  Ciera and I started doing henna on ourselves because we have a lot of henna and figured it would be fun to learn. I attempted this design on my foot. It's a lot harder then it looks but it is coming along. Ciera is already pro though. I guess she and her friends did henna on each other at home. She is talented like that. 

On Saturday we went on a bike ride to the junction. Katie and I accidently lost Ciera and Berlyn but eventually we realized that the people on bikes behind us were Indian, not Caucasian. Seriously, it is hard to tell sometimes. Haaahahaha. As the bicycle caught up with us, they told us that our friends were back by the school (not our Rising Star school) and that there was an accident. We both started freaking out a little, until I got them to tell us what kind of accident, to which they put their hands below their mouth and mimicked puking. Thank all that is holy that puking qualifies as an accident here. That's good to know. We made it back to them, and called a motorcycle from campus to come get Ciera, who was being such a good sport about sitting on the side of the hot road-sick-in the middle of no where India and having local teenage boys come over and ask her to take a picture with them.

Once Ceira was safely on her way back to the medical clinis, Katie, Berlyn and I continued on to the junction so we could get her some sprite and crackers for her stomach. But just because this is India and we were having this kind of a day, a huge rainstorm came causing us to be held hostage in the junction for quiet a bit. It wasn’t necessarily bad we just chilled with the locals, watched the tailor sew me some sari tops, watched the storm, etc., it was just one of those times where we were like, “of course a huge rainstorm would pop up out of no where today”.

Ends up the rainstorm was the last of our worries, as we found out shortly after getting to campus that political riots had started around the entire state of Tamil Nadu. Apparently the chief justice (I believe that is what she is called, either way she is more or less the governor for Tamil Nadu) made some mistakes a few years ago—as in 18 years ago—and the Indian Justice System just finished up the court hearing for the incident. She was found guilty of corruption and was dismissed from her post, and it turns out that her people didn’t like that very much. It was interesting to hear some of the different perspectives on it. From what I gather, the people understand she made a mistake. However, they feel that she has admitted to the wrong doing, has proved her change of heart, dedication to her state and office for 18 years now. In their eyes the mistake is history, so punishing her for something that happened so long ago, and for what many people see as something she has already made right and has “repented” of, ignited 18 years of frustration with the Indian Justice System/loyalty to their beloved chief justice.

Because of the riots, we were not able to travel to church—or stop at Hard Rock Café and get an American Hamburger (yes the word Hamburger deserves to be capitalized here).  So for church this week, we had to get a little creative. We ended up doing a few different things. First, we watched some of the General Women’s Meeting—which I need to finish because I got called in to help Dr. Susan with something—but I have loved what I saw so far. There seemed to be a lot of talk about the temple, and I have to admit-I’m really missing the temple in my life. The closest one is Hong Kong, and something tells me (mainly my bank account tells me) that I won’t be making that trip while I’m here. In the afternoon we spent a little time with the remaining littles. There were a few kids left on campus, children that were not going home until Monday morning—who we gathered together and attempted to watch Veggie Tales Bible Stories with. Rebecca made them popcorn, I didn’t make it through the whole thing because I needed my Sunday nap-but it was cute while I lasted. The “cutest”(inserts Benji’s use of the word cute here) part was when the campus goats (P.S. we found out Carl is actually a girl and has a girl name, but I can’t remember it so I think I am still always going to call “him” Carl) wandered into the elephant house because they were so lonely with campus being so quiet. They followed us across campus to get the kids for the movie, then followed us all the way back, they lingered around the school when we wouldn’t let them in to watch the movie, etc. It was precious.

The other highlight of my week was that I was able to talk to a lot of people from home. It is always nice to feel connected and catch up. My friends rock. I have been blessed with good friends in my life. It is hard to be away from them when big things are happening, such as pregnancies, births, first house buying, etc. however I take solace in the fact that even if I am on the other side of the world, we can still pick up right where we left off through email or text message or facetime or facebook. I was possibly going to meet up with one of them, since they happen to be in this part of the world as well, but then the terrorist threat level changed to high for the area we would have met up in so that got shut down real quick. Stupid. Freaking. Terrorists.