First, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years to you all! This was my first year not with family to ring in the holidays, but thankfully I was surrounded by my new family members here in India. We had a wonderful Swiss fondue Christmas meal and stuffed our faces with Swiss cookies at night.
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| Christmas fondue. Fancy. |
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| One of our neighbors had a little get together |
Our New Years night was a failed attempt at staying awake and ended with me in bed by 10… however I stayed up for the American midnight which counts for something, right?
We also were able to attend a wedding this past week in a different city which was quite an ordeal and a bit different than I could ever have imagined. However, I have to say I enjoyed the event that was littered with gorgeous flowers, music, a plentiful feast, lots of new friends, and all the unique fashion choices people adopted.
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| Stylin' |
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There are only a few of us that remained here at the base, as others have left on holiday and will be returning in another month. We have been working on building bunk beds from scratch as the ones that are sold here are of very low quality and quite expensive for what they are. Now, why are we building these you may ask yourself (or maybe you weren't until I just put that there…)? We're believing that we'll be starting a children's home later this year and are working on the first steps to make that dream a reality. The tool selections here aren't like your normal Home Depot or Lowe's that have an endless selection of choices and friendly faces to help you out. No, instead we're greeted with blank stares of people who would rather not sell us anything and then if they agree to, will double the price on us. Normally, we could go to another store, but the thing is that there are often no other stores that carry what we need. Power tools are nearly nonexistent as well. As such, I've been reduced to learning metal work and relearning wood work on manual tools which have been breaking in the process. Praise God I'm a patient person… or at least becoming one.
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Greasy
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I will say that it is a wonderful feeling to start working early every morning on something that will (eventually) be used to house children that currently have no home. It's also remarkable how I'm able to work in long sleeves and pants in 32 degree plus temperature (or 90 degrees Fahrenheit for all you in the states) and still remain chilly at times. My how my body has adapted. I think should I be back in Kansas City at this time where the temperature has been at 10 below Fahrenheit I'd literally freeze and have to be shipped back here to thaw out.
I'm working on learning hindi and will be fluent soon (or at least within a lifetime).
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| Saturday night market is the place to be |
We have a few kids that have been coming around to learn more English, experience Jesus, and recently to learn to play guitar.
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| Strum away |
Another bit of fun news is that it looks like I'll be remaining in India for the foreseeable future and not venturing to any other countries with the prospect of setting up home there.
If any of you would like to learn the Indian head bobble (which I'm beginning to master) or would like to learn how to cook some amazing food, just let me know and I can give you a great step by step tutorial, or at least point you to google maps to find a good restaurant.
Namaste!
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| India can be stinky even when sleeping |
