Livin' the Rural Life

A month of language classes every day...sounds tedious, right? Let's just say our three and a half weeks outside the city were anything but tedious and monotonous! 

        First of all, it was wintertime, which meant the concrete buildings without heat felt like a refrigerator! We stayed bundled up in our house and frequently went to roof to warm up in the sunlight. I even took my grandmother's idea and slept with a sock full of rice that I'd heated up in the microwave every night!

From the roof, we saw so many crazy things: we watched people build a building standing on bamboo scaffolding; pigs and dogs wandered around constantly barking and squealing at each other; shepherds herded goats and water buffalo through the neighborhood; slum kids scrounged around for recyclable trash. 

One morning I heard a flute-type instrument playing and looked outside and saw it was a traveling snake charmer! Music from weddings played all through the night. Our night guard snored all through the night, and the mosquitos dive-bombed buzzing in our ears all through the night. It was war with these mosquitos. We found a bug zapper racket and would go on a mosquito hunt through the house a couple times a day.

However, our greatest battle was with Stuart Big the rat. He came in under the kitchen sink and got into their cabinets chewing through their containers. He was so loud! And big! Finally we decided we had to try to get rid of him. Apparently we weren’t thinking ahead because if we got him out of the cabinets we still had no clue what to do with him. None of us could bring ourselves to getting rid of it without poison or a trap. So it turned out once he came out of the cabinet, we were in the open with it, all five of us screaming and scrambling around the kitchen. Julie was the bravest of us all and stayed at broom’s length trying to eliminate anything it could hide behind. Stuart Big did not like his at all. He started squeaking out of fear, then went into defensive mode and got aggressive with the broom, then started hissing and growling!!! I never knew a rat could make such a sound! But over the course of a couple weeks, the battle finally ended when Julie saw the rat leave the same hole he came in and we flushed him out with water and covered the whole with enough rocks to fill a backpack.

      The adventure of living in this country continued outside of the house as well. Two other single girls with the company took us to a park where we got to ride a camel! Ironically, nationals were staring more at us than the exotic animal with which we were enamored. Apparently families coming into the city from the villages for weddings come to the park a lot, so they for sure have never seen foreigners before. We were going crazy about taking our pictures with the camels, but they were literally lined up to take pictures with the white girls! One lady handed me her baby and took a picture! 

       On another occasion, we were studying in a coffee shop and looked outside to see an elephant in the middle of the road! We quickly paid our bill and ran to a rickshaw and asked him to follow the elephant because we wanted a picture. The guy riding the elephant wanted a few rupees, but he would not let me give it to him. Instead he pointed to the elephant’s trunk, so i reached down and the elephant took the bill out of my hand and handed it up to the guy on his back! It literally made our day. 

      A few other coworkers lived in a city that was a three hour taxi ride from us, so we spent a night with them. The drive through the farmland was beautiful. The fields were so green, the atmosphere was thick, and the women working in the fields had on beautifully colored sariis that only intensified with the green backdrop. Yes, there will be paintings to follow. This was really a small town (only two million people), and the landscape was wonderful. We went to a lake that boasted Asia’s longest twin zipline. I definitely could not pass that up, so we hiked across the levi, up a hillside and zipped a half a kilometer across the corner of the lake and back to the park. Being up above a lake with nothing but air around me was a feeling of space and solitude I never thought I’d experience in this country. 

      To say the least, we had a great month. We also learned a little language too. The good thing is we get to go back later this summer for a language intensive and see our new friends again! 

Here's the elephant we chased down! It was probably painted up for a wedding

I'm one step closer to actually living up to the name of this blog. I WILL ride and elephant

Place near the market where the royalty used to hang out and have concerts

Camels!!! The four of us rode on the second one

Part of the market we explored during our day of hands on language practice

Justine and I with our amazing tutor!

Treating ourselves to a nice non-veg dinner :)

Our new best friends! We met them in the airport and they invited us over twice while we were there

Christmas Reflections

I am reminded again and again that Christmas is not our holiday. It does not belong to Americans. It's a huge part of our culture every year, but when it comes down to the essentials, we uncover the reason people all over the world celebrate. Living in a country dominated by other religions makes for a drastically different Christmas experience. Many people here celebrate it, but only as a season to give gifts, have a holiday and wish for blessings of prosperity. My heart yearns for them to know the Father's gift of eternal blessing through his Son.

This is the first Christmas I've spent away from home. Thanks to skype and the power of prayers I can still feel somewhat connected to my favorite Christmas traditions. Every year I love going with my family to cut down and decorate our tree; I love the cold weather, fireplaces, movie nights and all the treats my mom and I make; I always look forward to our game night Christmas party with the Geurins, gift exchanges with friends, our Christmas Eve service, and of course all the Christmas Day activities.

Take away every way I've celebrated Christmas in the past, and now I ask myself, "Can I still rejoice?" The better question is how can I not rejoice even more because our Father unchanging, faithful and reliable. The angels came with a message of good tidings and great joy. The reason we should rejoice is because a Savior has been born who is the promised Prince of Peace. I don't care what culture you're in but THAT is reason to celebrate!

Somehow being away from home and all the familiar Christmas traditions brings me back to the first Christmas when all the had was the birth of Jesus. The beautiful thing is that even when the culture and traditions are different, all believers are still rejoicing the birth of their Savior. I look at all the good things we do at home to honor this time of year and I look at the ways the national believers celebrate. It confirms to me the importance of coming together as the body of Christ to worship him, no matter the customs.

I am so thankful for the fellowship I've been attending and for the community of our coworkers in the city. There are Christmas programs and carol services at our fellowship, and our company personnel can't have enough Christmas parties, movie get togethers or cookie exchanges. It's as if God took me out of a comfortable, God-honoring place, took me back to the basics, then blessed me by refilling Christmastime with new traditions and people with whom to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Merry Christmas!!!

Just a few pictures

This is Shiloh, Justine, Michele, me and Caroline when we were shooting fireworks at Diwali.

We found a Mexican restaurant buried somewhere in the city. There were a lot of ex-pats eating there, but when we walked out to see this man and these two bulls staring us down, we quickly remembered where we were.

This is the area where we do most of our work. The women and kids are friendly and so kind to welcome us into their homes or to sit with them in their shops, and not to mention extremely patient in listening to our attempt at Hindi!

This is the downtown part of the city that has several old buildings, some good markets, and the majority of the city's art community.

The Gateway was built to welcome King George and Queen Elizabeth several hundred years ago as they arrived by ship into the bay of the country.

Lights, Fireworks, and Festivals

I arrived in SA just in time for holiday season! The streets are decorated with lights and lanterns, and everyone is out buying new things for Diwali (this Festival of Lights was the week of Nov 13 this year), such as jewelry, furniture, and new clothes. Every family makes sweets and welcomes guests into their homes. Everyone is in a good mood during the season. It's a great time to learn about the stories behind the festival, and also to be able to share a few of our own! In the neighborhood we visit several times a week, everyone was out on their porches making rangoli designs. I will post a picture later, but it's a design made with colored sand or powder that they use to decorate their doorsteps. It stains too as I learned the hard way! I'm thinking about making a Christmas design with it...we'll see.
The only thing about Diwali that some people don't like is the fireworks. I'm talkin' war zone level fireworks. All week kids shoot off firecrackers. Technically they aren't allowed to shoot them off while people are working, so this means it starts early in the morning and picks up after dinner until late. Perfect timing, right? They have the pretty colorful fountain fireworks that stay on the ground, but really they like the ones that make loud noises the most. Not even colors, just big booms! And living in a concrete jungle amplifies and echoes everything. Seriously there was no use trying to watch TV or sleep at any decent hour. But what can you do? Just embrace it. We even joined in the fun on one of the festival days. We went to some friends' apartment – even had CHEESE DIP – and shot of some fireworks. Some is an understatement. We had a few backpacks full of fireworks, and I mean heavy duty ones. We took them down to the parking lot and park in their complex and shot them off along with every other family that lived there. We had about a 15 yard radius to ourselves before you would run into the next group of adults, kids, or teenagers firing off their own cannons and bottle rockets. Talk about being aware of your surroundings! But it was a blast, and we only started two fires (one was on purpose)! It was not quite aligned with the American safety standards we're used to, but it was a blast. Pictures and videos to come!

Playing Catch-Up

So it's been a while since I posted...whoops! Here is a brief take on some of our recent activities:

Since moving into our flat, we have cooked our first of many meals, paid the first of many bills, and made a home for ourselves in this enormous city. During a time of so much transition it's nice to have a place that can feel like home. I brought tons of pictures from home that I've taped up on the walls, which are all white so it was nice to fill them a little bit. This week I hung up the wooden cutout of Arkansas that people signed at my commissioning service. Aaand I finally made time to draw a little bit, so I taped a couple drawings to the wall too. 

It's crazy to call such a foreign place home, but it is! Every now and then my roommates and I talk about how we have those moments when it just hits us that we live here. When people ask us if we're here visiting, it's so strange to say "no we live here"! There are so many surreal moments of realizing where the Lord has brought us and why. I feel so blessed to be here. 

I will admit, there are tons of new things to get used to, so many adjustments to make, but it's exciting and all we can do is have a good attitude and sense of humor about it. For instance, I've never had to use a train as a means of transportation before. Metros and buses, yes, but trains in this city are at a whole new level. I've never been Black Friday shopping before, but my brave friend Hannah tells me it's chaos. So imagine the stampede of people literally pushing themselves into Best Buy or Target, and then imagine the same mass of people coming out the same doors! Somehow in a period of about 30 seconds, hundreds of people push themselves off the trains while hundreds more fight to get on. It's quite the experience to observe, and quite the dangerous one to participate in! Sometimes I can't help but laugh at the situation while I'm trying to board the train, especially when my roommate is behind me  yelling like a coach to motivate me to push my way through. When we finally get on, it's funny to see all the people who are also laughing at the silly Americans trying to use the train. But they are very helpful. It would take years or hours of studying the maps to know which stops are next, but somehow all the nationals know. It's like the Brazilians: when they all get the shot in their arm as a baby, they must also get a chip inserted, because everyone knows the exact route and schedule of every bus in Florianópolis. It's like there are so many unsaid things that are common knowledge to the nationals. Thank goodness they are helpful to the poor foreigners! The ladies on the women's car always make sure we get off at the right stop. So as long as I can keep relying on their friendliness, that's one less thing to stress over learning!

Here's an interesting thing I just watched. As I'm typing, late night !ndian TV is on. Of course the shows are full of drama, but this one just ended with an actor reassuring good morals and basically saying the things happening in the show are exactly opposite of what they want to exemplify. Like a reverse object lesson. Interesting take. 

Anyways, this country is full of surprises. There are so many good things about this culture, particularly how friendly, open and hospitable they are to us. All the women we have met on our home visits are so sweet and more than willing to patiently help us as we struggle through language. They are so gracious to open up their culture to us too. Their culture is rich for sure!

This month we have several fun Christmas things planned. I've never been away from home at Christmas, but God keeps showing me that the same way God in flesh intervened in human history two thousand years ago, he still intervenes for his people today, blessing us with his presence and provision every day. There truly is reason to celebrate. 

Obviously, keeping up with this blog does not come naturally to me, so bear with me. I have some pictures I want to add, and also my newsletter from the last month. Technology has not been good to me, and I think when I sent out the newsletter for November it either came back to me or didn't open fully. That will have to wait because now I have to get some brain power sleep for language class tomorrow. I miss you all, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

New Sights, Sounds, Smells and Tastes

If I were trying to describe life in the mega cities of this country, I would tell you to take every idea of normalcy, every personal boundary and throw it out the window. You just never know what you might see. We've seen cows, goats and pigs roaming around–not to mention the thousands of street dogs. You would see all kinds of people, dressed in ways that are so foreign to us but that is now becoming the new normal. As for personal space, just hop on a metro to see if they have any concept of it. One time we were getting on and saw a guard literally shoving people into the metro car. If you make it in, there's no point to even hold on because you have nowhere to fall! Then the next task is making your way through the people to get off in about a ten second window that the doors are open. Everything is such an adventure here, it's great. I say all these things not grudgingly, but with a sense of humor. Being able to laugh and keeping a light-hearted attitude I have learned is crucial to being able to adapt to life here. Life runs so differently, but there is always much to be appreciated and much to learn from the culture.

There were about thirty people in training together in the first city, including singles and young families. I was overwhelmed by the great support network we have here. We had different people come in and speak to us about different aspects of living here and being among the people. We also learned and experienced a lot about culture and all the worldviews we will be encountering. I wish I could say more about this, but just know that we have seen crazy things. Things I thought only happened in the OT and NT. But it happens now, in very big ways.

All that aside, this is a beautiful, colorful country with so many faces. The people are so kind. One day two colleagues and I were walking through a neighborhood to experience some more culture, and a woman walking the same way as us wearing a beautiful sari said hello. It only took a few seconds for us to use all the Hindi we knew and for her to use all the English she knew. But her face was so sweet, and my friend wanted to keep talking, so we tried to ask her if we could practice a story we had learned in Hindi that I had in henna on my hand. Of course we didn't know how to say practice or story, so everyone was confused. She got out her phone and called someone, then practically took us by the arm and wanted us to follow her.
I wish I had videoed the path we took with her. The only words I heard were English and school, so we followed her through little four foot wide alleyways, weaving alongside buildings and through people until we arrived at a small doorway which was her house. She invited us in and immediately made somewhere for us to sit. Her teenage son, who had learned English in school was there to translate. It's crazy how when a story needs to be shared, the language barrier always gets taken care of. So she offered us coffee, chai or water, and we accepted. Hospitality is a huge thing here, and we were taught that even if we weren't hungry or thirsty or if we weren't sure where the food or water was coming from, that to preserve the relationship we had to take it. Five people lived in this one bedroom house, and I was so excited that this was our first experience in a national's home. She gave us water and said it was filtered for us. We drank it, as well as the superb chai she offered. Eventually, we got back to the henna. She loved the design, and I told her it had a story to go with it and that since we are learning Hindi that I would like to practice saying a short version of the story. It was the story of the Son calming the storm on the boat with his followers. Literally it was four sentences long, but because her son was there I could elaborate a little in English. Although we moved on pretty quickly after the story was told, it was an incredible experience being in their home, talking to her kids and letting them teach us about their country. It was a blessing to us and to them to receive their hospitality. They were so kind, and by the time we left, she had fed us lunch too!
I left encouraged with a deeper insight that our work here is all about relationships and learning about the people. And let me tell you they have so much to teach us!!

This week we are in our city, still looking for an apartment, but we are starting our language study with a national. If only I could fly Sheryn over here to keep helping me I'd be set!! There is so much to tell about this wonderful, crazy, sensory overload country, but this is all for now. It's lunch time here :)

Day One.

We made it!! All is well, everyone but two other girls at the same training got their visas and arrived here yesterday. The logistics team here in the city has been great, welcoming, and extremely helpful in our training. We are learning about culture and a little language. Yesterday (Oct 4) after lunch we went in groups to go shopping! We will be traveling to another city tomorrow and needed some local clothing. I have two words for the experience: SO COLORFUL! It was crazy seeing how many people were out an about...I guess that's what happens when millions of people are crammed in a city. 

Last night we celebrated one of the guy's birthdays and ate at a kabob place. I am liking the food, but it's still a little spicy to eat a lot of, so when we went to bakery for some cake afterwards I was all over some bread! The fellowship has been awesome, everyone is so great and it's crazy being here with Christin too!

It has only been a day and half, but I feel like we have seen so much already. Even the airport was a good preview of the kinds of things I will see that will become my new normal. It's pretty surreal. I don't have pictures yet, but I will share some soon.