chai, cricket, and rain from heaven.

yesterday, i learned many things.

first of all, i learned how to make chai (YAY!) i went today to the market to pick up some of the tea for myself so i can continue making it everysingledayofmylife, since i LOVE IT, but alas, he was out. i plan on buying like 24 cartons, so if you want one for a gift just call dibs and i'll come to your place and teach you how to make it... hopefully it works the same way in american pots :)

yesterday after chai was the sports day for the PMI volunteers. how wonderful... we had a great time! the planned tournaments (it seems Indians are quite competitive) were cricket and ping-pong. I figured i'd go out and learn a little cricket... why not? i can handle the heat, and my incoordination (what? my mac corrected my word, but i thought it was uncoordination. crazay.) will give everyone a good laugh. iiii was pretty much right. i can't catch a little yellow tennis ball, i can't bat to save my life, and i throw like a very little girl. For those of you who don't know, cricket is very similar to baseball; only about 800 times more complicated. the short version of the rules is that the batter defends the wickets, and the pitcher tries to hit the wickets. if you bat and your ball gets caught in the air you're out, or if the pitcher hits the wickets with the ball you're out. otherwise, you keep batting and running the two bases until Jesus comes. ::cricket matches can go for days. literally:: also, if you hit the ball past the big tree in the middle of the park you get 6 runs. (this may or may not have been a house rule. ha.) sooo, they had me bowl (pitch) like second out of EVERYONE. it's a little different than just throwing the ball, you have to bounce it once before it gets to the batter, and you HAVE to aim for the wickets, otherwise, all the indians think you don't understand and continue to direct you in how to throw (OH, you mean i'm throwing at that guy with the BAT?!?! NOWWW i get it. see, i was aiming over there to the right on purpose because i thought i was supposed to throw it into the bush. thank you, my ways are mended.) I was pretty intimidated when they put me up to bowl, because i don't like being bad at things, but i've learned to laugh at myself so i went along with it. They actually were pretty impressed, i got a couple of guys out. my team was slapping me on the back and saying how auwwe-sum i was doing (for a girl, anyway.) haha. that was pretty rewarding. i DID blow my cover as an all-star when i batted once and lost the entire game for us, though. HA.

Julie Terrall: still the opposite of athletic.
after all the games and festivities (ping-pong didn't go too badly for me... i lost to a Canadian, but we were neck and neck the whole time! haha) we put on a three and half hour slapstick comedy movie... in Hindi. now, let me just get out in the open that i don't usually like this type of comedy in America to begin with. Anchorman, Dodgeball, Nacho Libre, Zoolander, etc.... all fun to quote, but i just don't find it funny or enjoyable to sit through. Add a language barrier to a movie like that and make it twice as long, and that's how you get this movie called "The Three Idiots". woooo-hoo! i was just about to try and nod off to save myself the long explanations of what was going on from a well-meant Indian when i noticed a commotion - people were streaming up the basement steps of the PMI resource center and peeping out the door, chattering amongst themselves. i waited a moment, then got up myself, as much to get away from the movie as to see what was the matter.

i found out when i got up the stairs... it was raining.

every Indian who had noticed was out in the muddy streets. children were running. women were standing and smiling, faces raised to the heavens. men were dancing in the streets. All were drinking in the cleansing droplets, more than happy to feel the cool, moist touch on their skin.

it has not rained in Delhi since September.

Even in the wet season, i'm told that Delhi receives very little precipitation. every rainfall is a gift, a blessing, a momentary hiatus from the oppressive heat.

how beautiful to see these people in their simplicity; to see the true and unashamed thirst of the land and of the inhabitants.

And what an appropriate metaphor. These people need truth like they need water. they thirst for love divine. the few that find it revel in its extravagance; but there is so little compared to the great dry and dusty need. How i would love to come back to quench this land of thirst.

how i do long to be rain.