Wow. One week left until I go.
I’m so excited to share all my stories and experiences with you guys in person, and to show you all I have for you and see you and get you as excited as I am about India!Today was a really good day. We went to pathshala in the morning after quite some time off because of medical camps going on and sickness of the teachers and translators. I finally got to get started on the sponsorship program with these younger kids, and I’m excited to get them all entered into the system and finally get some of these brochures printed off! It’s gonna be awesome to hold them in my hand, knowing my effort for the last month could change some of their lives. Wow. I hope with all my heart that it will!
After pathshala was the PMI meeting, and the photoshoot for the new brochure picture of the PMI staff. i love these people. they're the heart and soul of my last two months here. and how cute are they?? :)
after that we had an outing to Kamla Nagar (the nearby market area) for lunch. After almost all the Master’s team girls got henna, we ate Chole Bhature again, like when we went with Kelly and Jenny a couple of weeks ago. Man, that stuff is delicious. We also all got legit mango shakes, which for some reason always hits that spot for me. You know how sometimes you’re craving something, and even though you eat and eat you don’t quite feel satisfied? Well, these mango shakes have something in them that, after I’m done, makes me want to sit back with my hands on my belly and my face to the sky; just full, fat and happy, not in need of anything else. I may go back again tomorrow to take tiffany and Erica, and to show them the new KURTA stand I found!! It’s no bargaining, which I like, and they have a row of kurtas for 100 rupees, a row for 150, and a row for 200. (ps. That’s sUPER cHEAP.) wooo! I may grab another one when I go back with them, because I saw a few that could be really cute even as American shirts – I’m bringin this stuff into style, I’m telling you! I love it! now, I know I’ve been saying that about overalls for years now; though I may still be the only one wearing them, I ROCK that hicktown comfort. I guess that may just have to be how it is with Indian modesty. Yayyuh, bring on the eclectic style, cuz I got it all.
Anyway, after all that lunch nonsense, I went to heather’s to upload the pictures for her to get printed and played with prakash and worked some on CSP.
All of that was really great in and of itself, but the best part of the day was the end. Some of the short termers and I had decided to go to Sandeep’s home and meet his family! Tonight he took Andrew and me out there. Right as we left, it started sprinkling. A cover of clouds rolled in and a refreshing breeze blew through Delhi as we traveled by auto to get to his place. It seems a little more rural, though it’s not that far away from where we’ve been working. They have domestic cows everywhere there, for their milk or their labor. Sandeep took us through the four (or was it five?) story house which his family both lives in and rents out to people, all the way to the rooftop add-on room he calls his very own. I know the view was in some ways plain, but it seemed nothing less than breathtaking to me as I stood gawking over the Indian scenery laid out before me. To one side, the highway with the traffic lights beyond a marshy field, to the other, a whole region of a community of people who love each other, and love to stare at white people and maybe even make a stop on the roof where they’re to be found. Yeah. We had visitors. We watched the hazy sun set through the dense clouds as we sat cross-legged on Sandeep’s bare cot and chatted contentedly with his family and some close friends, and simply enjoyed ourselves immensely. Since they own cows and buffalo, Sandeep’s mother (who was much younger than I expected her to be!) was milking the cows when we got there. Guys… I got brave, and I did it – I milked a cow in India!
Anyway, after all that lunch nonsense, I went to heather’s to upload the pictures for her to get printed and played with prakash and worked some on CSP.
All of that was really great in and of itself, but the best part of the day was the end. Some of the short termers and I had decided to go to Sandeep’s home and meet his family! Tonight he took Andrew and me out there. Right as we left, it started sprinkling. A cover of clouds rolled in and a refreshing breeze blew through Delhi as we traveled by auto to get to his place. It seems a little more rural, though it’s not that far away from where we’ve been working. They have domestic cows everywhere there, for their milk or their labor. Sandeep took us through the four (or was it five?) story house which his family both lives in and rents out to people, all the way to the rooftop add-on room he calls his very own. I know the view was in some ways plain, but it seemed nothing less than breathtaking to me as I stood gawking over the Indian scenery laid out before me. To one side, the highway with the traffic lights beyond a marshy field, to the other, a whole region of a community of people who love each other, and love to stare at white people and maybe even make a stop on the roof where they’re to be found. Yeah. We had visitors. We watched the hazy sun set through the dense clouds as we sat cross-legged on Sandeep’s bare cot and chatted contentedly with his family and some close friends, and simply enjoyed ourselves immensely. Since they own cows and buffalo, Sandeep’s mother (who was much younger than I expected her to be!) was milking the cows when we got there. Guys… I got brave, and I did it – I milked a cow in India!
They said I was pretty good at it, I mean I got the milk out and all. So after pull-and-squeeze-ing the milk out of the buffalo cow, it was immediately made into fresh chai. How simply delightful is that?! we sat and watched the sun set on the village with the neighbor women putting out laundry nearby and children flying kites all throughout the region.
we had a categorically Indian good time, and didn’t leave for probably 3 hours, at which point Sandeep took both of us home on his motorcycle. At once. Sandeep first at the helm, Andrew holding onto him, and me bringing up the rear, clutching Andrew’s backpack and the bar on the back of the motorcycle. Ok seriously. Why do I love motorcycles so much? There’s something about the wind in your hair and having nothing between you and the open road that gets me. Maybe that’s just me being twenty years old, but if it is, I love being twenty.
We finished off the evening with an episode of modern family saved on Andrew’s computer… which is quality television, if I do say so. I always giggle, it’s feel-good tv for me (that and the bachelor, which I cannot wait to watch! Kelly saved the whole season for me!! Yeah America, bring on the Dr. Pepper, Tex-mex, sour gummy worms, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and reality tv.) Anyway, after finishing a short episode and making chai for prabin, now I’m feeling nice and tired right at midnight.
I can’t think of a way my day could have gone better.
I want to end with the lyrics to a song that have become new to me here… just one of the many things that I’ve been learning in such a profound way on this trip.
Before the flood of the morning light
Before the earth has felt Your heat
Before I stand up to my feet
Before I begin to feel this weak
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
I'm begging You, to help me see
You're all I want, You're what I need
Oh, satisfy me Lord
When the day is closing in
Like the stars in the night I am falling
Into the pull of the earth and it's affection
In me, oh lord, can you create
A pure heart cuz I'm afraid
That I just might run back to the things I hate
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
I'm begging You, to help me see
You're all I want, You're what I need
Oh, satisfy me Lord
You're beautiful, so beautiful
You're more than all this world can give.
You're beautiful, more beautiful
Your love is all I need to live"
We finished off the evening with an episode of modern family saved on Andrew’s computer… which is quality television, if I do say so. I always giggle, it’s feel-good tv for me (that and the bachelor, which I cannot wait to watch! Kelly saved the whole season for me!! Yeah America, bring on the Dr. Pepper, Tex-mex, sour gummy worms, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and reality tv.) Anyway, after finishing a short episode and making chai for prabin, now I’m feeling nice and tired right at midnight.
I can’t think of a way my day could have gone better.
I want to end with the lyrics to a song that have become new to me here… just one of the many things that I’ve been learning in such a profound way on this trip.
"Before the sun has touched the sky
Colors bursting from Your eyesBefore the flood of the morning light
Before the earth has felt Your heat
Before I stand up to my feet
Before I begin to feel this weak
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
I'm begging You, to help me see
You're all I want, You're what I need
Oh, satisfy me Lord
When the day is closing in
Like the stars in the night I am falling
Into the pull of the earth and it's affection
In me, oh lord, can you create
A pure heart cuz I'm afraid
That I just might run back to the things I hate
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
Satisfy me Lord, oh oh
I'm begging You, to help me see
You're all I want, You're what I need
Oh, satisfy me Lord
You're beautiful, so beautiful
You're more than all this world can give.
You're beautiful, more beautiful
Your love is all I need to live"
Father, don't let me run back to the things i hate.
love from delhi,
~satisfied (in the Savior and the mango shakes He created.)
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