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The rest of the trip.... sorry i forgot to copy it from myspace but here ya go (its in reverse order, so read the last entry on here first (sorry))
Going Home...
So today... a year ago I came home from India... I thought that I should take the time to finish up my trip and conclude on this part of my blogs... thanks for taking a journey to the past with me!
1-12-05
today we went to Agra... where 20 thousand men worked for 22 years on the Taj Mahal. Arga is the only place in the world where they do work like they do with marble. we went to the Hoyleman Central Methodist CHurch which was founded in 1888 by one of the first US missionaries to India. The congregation was over two thousand people. The school that was near it was started in 1823 by Sarah Holdlen another UM person from the US. there are 2100 students that attend. Sarah's birthday was that day and the girls samg to her... the second verse to happy birthday iS HAVE A LONG LIFE TO YOU ETC... there was a poster in the third standard class that said "God bless you with his love that makes everyday a joy to live" we can learn a lot of children... We went to Chem, Physics, C+++, english, music and math classes. From there we drove to the Taj MAhal passing the yet another military (this time airforce) base. The Taj Mahal was built in memory of his wife by Shah Jahan who died in prison. The process of another building across the river to mirror the Tah Mahal was started but never completed due to the death of the emporer. It was built between 1631 and 1653, the stone was all free and all four sides are the same... We saw copies of the tombs of the King and Queen but the real things were below. it took 64 little stones to make one flower on the wall and there were thousands of flowers. We weren't to wear shoes inside because it is made of marble. The King was put in prison by his son and from his cell couldn't see the Taj Mahal and never got to see it completeled. Some even more cool things about the Taj Mahal is when you back away from it the globe on the top seems to blow up like a baloon. The towers are slanted outward so that if they were to fall they wouldn't fall on the Taj MAhal. The base is made of Trqua wood which gets hard with water so if there was a flood it wouldn't break down. Acctually the colors of the Taj MAhal are deteriorating and all sides are alittle different due to where the sun is. Because of the pollution they will not let you drive your car anywhere within 1km of the Taj Mahal. We took a battery powered bus to get to the park.
1-13-05 we went to the US Embassy. The Kennedy building was designed by the same arcitect as the Embassy. We met with the 1st secretary of cultural affairs (Mrs. Diallo) and the second secretary Hannah exchange officer for cultural affairs. Because we went after the tsunami there were officers sent to help american's get pass ports and ways home because they lost everything. There are 150 employees at the Embassy and 600 people including family members. They all live in a community and the children go to a special school. The peace core has not been in India since the 1970's because Mrs. Gaundi was opposed to it. After all of this we had our de-briefing and learned about going home... it's a lot harder than leaving.... in honor of my family group I just have to say "so we sing oreos... we miss the oreos... oreos... we want some oreos.." and the flight home continued... it was a long one to say the least, I met my parents at the airport and slept the entire way home.
We Came...
We Loved...
We LEFT...
I miss you India!
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Wednesday, January 11, 2006
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Those Eyes
I remember the door like it was the door to my house. Cement with green chipping paint that was layered with green under-neither. Heavy, almost to the point where I couldn’t open it, as if for an air tight container. What will be on the other side of this door, I wondered pulling it with all my might. "Women (points right), Men (points left)" said the sister. Following the only instructions given we went right. Only to see two grown men carrying a dead body covered with a white sheet. "Time to turn him over," I hear someone say, as if it was nothing to see someone dead. Turning to my friends we just stared at what we had embarked on. Entering the door frame into the wash room we watch the others. I start to wrap the clothes around a chair and ring them out. Proceeding until a basket was full. Then following another lady up onto the roof to lay them out to dry. Soon after my hands turned wrinkly and started to hurt, thinking I couldn’t do that all day I wanted interaction I get up to leave, the girls agree. Going out that room into the next and to my left a closet with unfolded clothes. Not knowing what to do next we folded the dry laundry and placed it neatly in the closet. Directly behind us was a women spitting up and doctors all around her. Still in shock from the sights and sounds around us I didn’t think I could handle it much longer. I just say to the girls, "If that lady dies right in front of me I am leaving." A nod of there heads shows they agree but are unable to speak. Walking further into the room we stumble upon fifty ladies, laying in their beds staring at us as if they want our help. What to do what to do I thought. Then I asked another volunteer what we should do and she said simply "just sit with them". Are you kidding me? Just sit with them? Oh no, not me, no way! But having no choice I followed suit and went and sat with the ladies. Not being able to communicate I just sat there wishing I knew what to do. The first lady didn’t have the top of her head, she had brain surgery and her head wasn’t healed yet. My job, to hold her hands back so that she didn’t touch her head. Restrain this lady I don’t know, are you kidding me how do I do that? But I did and when a sister came over it was my time to leave. Lady number two: All she wanted was for a message and for her nails to be painted. Hump, a sigh of relief, something easy. I needed a breather after the last hour. Lady 3: Well she wanted her hair done... up nice and pretty they just took showers. That’s easy... I thought I can do hair I am a teenage girl. Not that easy. She was pregnant and doing her hair, that was fine but then she started to hypervenalate. I tried to calm her down, got her water and a rag. It didn’t work... it got worse. I called for a nurse. They gave her some medicine to calm her down. Apparently she was giving her baby up for adoption to someone in America and in my she saw a future mother of her child. And it broke her heart. She was happy that the child would be better off then living on the streets, yet giving up a child can’t be easy. I guess I reminded her of that. Ding, Ding, Ding. Tea time. Again... its not that I don’t like tea, acctually I love it. But, not when I have to drink it all the time... I was sick of it but this time tea time was a good break. Forty-Five minutes of silence, not one word said, all of us boys and girls sat not knowing how to begin to explain what they have experiences thus far. Ding, Ding, Ding. Time to go back down. Break’s over. Lady 4: I rubbed her back and held her, she began to fall asleep so I laid her down as I though that I should do. She sat up abruptly like something was wrong, kissed my hand, and went back to sleep like nothing even happened. Dear God please help me get through this. On to the little girl, she looked so uncomfortable, and then I realized her leg was broken and in a cast. So I positioned her to where it should be comfortable and just sat there looking into her eyes. I rubbed her back, played in her hair, and tried to calm her eyes filled with fear so that she could sleep. It came time to go and I didn’t want to leave. I was still terrified but it felt right. She wouldn’t let go of me, now what? I got up, she held my hands. I sat back down, stood up again, she wouldn’t let go. This time I knew I just couldn’t do it on my own... So I sat back down and said a prayer and she knew that it was okay. Dear God, Protect her, let her know that it’s okay. You love her, people will care for her. Let her know she’s ever alone and to keep hold on. Amen. I opened my eyes, she opened hers looked one last time into mine and let go. It’s okay. She’s okay. Wasn’t that prayer for her? To know that she would be protected? I now have a guardian angel that watches over me. She may still be alive or she may have died but she is with me making sure that I am okay. Where was I? Calcutta, India. Mother Teresa’s home for the Destitute and the Dying.
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Calcutta
1-9-05
today we went to church and it was a little crazy... there were four books placed in front of us and we weren’t told which one to use therefore we were really confused. Plus there was no bulletin so we didn’t know what was next to prepare ourselves. "Though we are many we are one body because we all share, we all share in one cup" At church we had communion and they give you a wafer to eat and bring over a cup and we all drank out of the same cup. After church I talked to the minister and Aregho and he was telling me that the kids in his Sunday school class received the gifts from operation Christmas child, that’s really cool because I put together boxes before I left and its amazing to hear of someone that got a box. Then we went to the Victorian Memorial in honor of Queen Victoria. There were a lot of paintings inside one that I particularly liked was Najibabad, Rohilkand, with the Himalayas behind by William Daniel. We had lunch at a very nice restaurant I had sweet and sour chicken, rice, prawngs, and ice cream. In the India culture they spell Calcutta, Kolkata which means the "colonization did not forstor unity in diversity." (Random quote of day: What do they do in a Bible Society?- Me Societies the Bible- Sarah) We went to Mother Teresa’s Home at 5:30 pm and every nurse was outside along the balconies singing to Mary and praying. Then they rang a bell and went back to their work. Quotes: "The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace" -Mother Teresa "I’m a little pencil in God’s hand. He does the writing. He does the thinking. He does the movement. I have only to be the pencil" Mother Teresa. "Suffering is not a punishment. God does not punish. Suffering is a gift- though, like any gift it depends on how we receive it. And that is why we need a pure heart. To see the hand of God. To feel the hand of God. To recognize the gift of God in our suffering." -Mother Teresa. "We will never know how much a simple smile can do. To children and to the poor to all those who suffer and are lonely five them always a happy smile." Mother Teresa. What many people don’t know is that although Mother Teresa is dead her work still continues. She didn’t do this alone there are homes all over the world and the work is still being done by other people. She set a good beginning and God works through all the people here. (My reflection.) Mother Teresa’s grave stone says: "Love one another as I have loved you" John 15:12 Mother Teresa M.C. 26.8.1910-5.3.1997 Our dearly beloved Mother foundress of missionaries of charity. Check it out www.motherteresacause.info or www.ikne.com The next couple of days our leaders were Mathis Ross and Roger Gaikwad. There are 87,176,000 people in the state of west Bangal. The next morning at 6am we went to the Mission of Charity Mother Teresa’s House. To get there because it was still dark we had to step over people sleeping on the street. We got there, took off our shoes and walked into the chapel to have worship. We went back to where we were staying ran upstairs changed ran down ate some pepper and salt butter bread sandwich. From there my group went to Mother Teresa’s Home for the Destitute and Dying.... that will be the next blog.... After we went to a Hindu temple after and then went shopping. Roger went with Sarah, Rich, and I and we got really good deals. Then it began to rain. 1/11 was our flying day our plane was delayed 2 hrs. I called mama and dad and got to talk to them and I was showing someone pictures and everyone wanted to see them it made me a little homesick. But then it hit, this is the last city we were going to! This time we stayed in an absolutely gorgeous hotel. We have bell boys and don’t have to do anything. We were so spoiled. We went to a school and the youth came from broken families. We learned about the differences between black (Indian’s) and white (British, American) temples. We went to a youth rally. The kids all put lays on us and taught them songs and they danced for us! The girls defiantly came up and pulled us up to dance "the Indian way" it was so fun. Some of them wrote in my book... My name is..... you are so sweet didi meaning... sister and extremely respectful. More later....
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Sunday, January 08, 2006
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Mangalore
6 am we leave to Mangalore... We went to a (idk how to spell this) tomil collony called Bailkuppa and learned that in the Hindu religion in the enemy needs shelter you give it. It is the richest community and loans money to other communities. there were 3,000 lamas there. There is an education system from 5 year through college inside the community. Everything was free the food, education, mecical help, and clothing. College is a 7 year program no matter what and religion is the main thing studied. There were three statues The goddesses was 58 ft Buddah was 60 feet. The funny thing about Buddah is that he didn't want to be worshiped and always pointed to someone else. in the Coorg Culture for a man to marry a women he must cut down a bananna tree. Something interesting we saw was that Oranges and Coffee planys were on the same plantations because the oranges need sunlight and the coffee doesn't therefore they help eachother. THis was the day that we rode on the elephant. Our first night in Mangalore we had a procession into the theological center and celebrated our arival. It was interesting and a little odd to have such a big fuss made over us. This was the night that we met our host families. The next day when we woke up we went to a car museum and say a car that guandi rode in that was cool.We were taught that the Indian culture believe that "A Guest Should Be Treated Like A God" We went to a Jane temple and say manuscripts hundreds of years old written on palm leaves. At one of the temples someone is put on a scale and then put an equal amount of a gift to give to the temple. That night we went to the Host families. Vanessa was 20 and Joyce was the mother. We had fried rice, cucumbers and tomatoes, grapes, bananas, oranges, checken, lamb, pasta, icecream, and tuna for dinner and for breakfast we had toast, eggs, french toast, fruit and tea. That afternoon was now the 6th of january and we went to a school for the mentally handicap called Sawhandha CEnter. We played with them, colored with them, had them sit on our laps, it was a lot of fun! The next day was beach day! A day to relax! we had Rt TEc ClFurtado Christopher LAserous come and talk to us about he history of the church and india. On the 8th we were on a plane again... we went from MAngalore to Bombay to Calcutta. That is all i am writing for now... Calcutta well you will have to wait for a time when i am not packing for school and can concentrate more on how to put you into words.
We Came We Loved.... We Left | | | | |
| Mysore
This was over two days, the 2nd and the 3rd. A lot of driving the first day...
On our way we stopped at a church (got there in the middle of it), when we got there everyone stood up to give us their seats it was so crowded. It was their harvest Sunday so there was an auction. We bought some fresh fruit which we ate later and fresh coconut. One of the men there cut off the top of the coconut and we drank the milk.... not the best thing I have ever drank. Then we just played with the kids, they were so beautiful, they sat on our laps and played in our hair it was cute. Being called Anti the entire time which is what they call girls. Then we went to Tippu Saltan’s burrial site, he was the ruler before independence. We from there went to Brindapan Garden, which is the first hydroelectricity in the city of Karnatica. When we got to Mysore we were State Guests and excorted everywhere. We went to Holdsworth Hospital which was founded by Loundan Missionaries. They take people that other hospitals wont, such as HIV people. The hospital wont charge people that can’t afford it. There was a mental and fetal affects of adult research center that was started in 1993. We went into the dialasis unit which was completely different than home. We noticed the symbol UP meaning take extra care. From there we went to the Palace. It was AMAZING! We say the chairs where they sat, the clothes they wore etc. We were VIP guest of the state of the Maharaj Prince who lives in the palace. We say the 300 swords that were used by the 25 kings. We got to go into rooms that the public couldn’t and we say a room of animals that were stuffed from the 1940's. everything for snakes, to dogs, to tigers and elephants. Some of the paintings in the palace were painted such that no matter where you stood it looked as if the painting was looking at you. Check if out...www.mysorepalace.org. We went to a Sari shop, and to the Philomenn Church which is a Christian church where a Hindu mahajah laid the stone: tells you something about India doesn’t it?!?! My journal gets a little bit random at this point and isn’t dated but, we had large group at night and talked about our journey to Mangalore in the morning. | | |
| Words can not do justice to life, experience is necessary: from a sign in Bangalore...
We brought in the new year with worship, after a short nap we woke up and went to the slums. This was one of the most amazing days on the trip. Lakshman Rau Nagar Methodist Church is where we worshiped that morning. We were greeted with big smiles and "happy new year" being said over and over. The service was in Tomil but it didn’t really matter all that much, God was there. While worshiping we all kind of looked at each other and said happy new years again because it was new years in the states. There were 15,000 extended families in Lr Nagar, the slum we were visiting. The children looked so beautiful with flowers in their hair and Sunday clothes on. We saw some of the jobs that are done, making of things and selling of more things. Most women do domestic jobs and men do that trading. Some people make dresses and sell them for a dollar a piece, some carry luggage and get $2.50 a day. There isn’t a lot of housing in India which explains why all of the people in the slums weren’t extremely poor. To get into the slums you have to know someone that lives there and you pay a small amount. Once you buy the place where you live you have it until you die. From the slum we went to Nanooj and Nina’s house (Suda’s niece), the extended family was there and they were so welcoming to us! I ended up not feeling well this day, it was typical for someone to not feel well, so I sat outside for a while. We has a Lasi for the first time it was an amazing yogurt drink and we had Sonpapdi which was a cotton candy tasting treat. This day we worked on our mission statement and came up with:
Based on love and inspired by faith we bare out hearts to India as Christian pilgrims. We immerse ourselves in the culture of the country to gain an understanding of the similarities and differences in Christian living by breaking down barriers of ignorance we build bridges of peace. Having been moved by God’s love, we go into the world to affirm this foundation of community for all of God’s Children.
And we came up with our motto which sums that up in 6 words:
"We came, We loved, We left."
We later that night had our commissioning service and went to bed for the last time in Bangalore.... tomorrow our trip to Mysore. | | |
| I thought that I would do what Kendyl did and reflect of the year 2005 by month:
January: I was in India until the 15th but I wont elaborate because I will over the next 15 days. When I came home I got really sick.... American food with combination of exhaustion and medicine will do that to you. Then my presentations for India started and are still continuing.
February: Well my grandfather passed away and his viewing was over Breanna’s 4th birthday so we had a "party" in Pittsburgh. Pretty much the hardest week of my year. I don’t even remember anything else about that month accept we were hard core practicing for Musical.
March: Musical was.... fun... My birthday, *thinks of what I did for my birthday* Wow I honestly can’t remember. I know that I had a presentation to give that day but I don’t think I did anything. My birthday was right after musical so I am pretty sure I did nothing. Then Kendyl came and we went out for my birthday. And I wore a crown I honestly think that’s all I did. Anyways KENDYL CAME! Over Easter and we had to search for an Easter Basket with us.... haha... fun times with trying to use a blender... going out to eat... and just spending time with KENDYL!
April: I worked a lot because I was only working like 20 hrs a week during musical. I had concerts, CCYM, a youth rally and went to Acquire The Fire (ATF)
May: Time for things to start to change... lets see we had our last concert, last band banquet, last CCYM, last Mission Central Meeting, Becca’s and Steven’s birthdays and started to say goodbye to some people.
June: Between conference, graduation, work, family, friends and parties lets say I was never home...
July: I got my scholarship, worked, was in the papers and on tv and went to Colorado! Kendyl and I had a blast, I met a lot of people, Started "dating" (as much as you can date someone thousands of miles away) Kris, went home and soon after it was August.
August: I worked a lot (the entire summer working two jobs it seemed to get worse when I was about to leave) I said goodbye to A LOT of people and headed down to FL with my mama and daddy... Moved into my dorm, met my roommates and started classes.
September: I was busy with class, work, getting situated, small group, establishing a home for myself and meeting tons of amazing people. Oh, and I came home for 5 days! (A great break)
September, October and November : I was busy with class, work, getting situated, small group, establishing a home for myself and meeting tons of amazing people. Oh, and I came home for 5 days! (A great break) Pretty much just did the college thing, class, eat, sleep, went out, go to the beach, live life, have fun. That relationship ended as it was since August and started again as it was before. Getting ready for finals, went to Orlando to visit my Aunt and Uncle and see some kids from C-Luv at Disney, went to Pleasure Island, Out to Eat, great Thanksgiving dinner, relaxing times before finals. Went back to school had a week of school and then it was...
December: I had my first round of finals.... I wont say I wasn’t freaking out the entire time and I studied like crazy but it paid off when I got my grades. Anyways, went to graduation said goodbye to me new home and drove back to PA. Got home in time for our open house, hung out with people started working again. Ummmm.... met some new people and I am pretty much with them all the time but lets see... went roller skating, to movies, out to eat, to people’s house, applebee’s (no I don’t work there but Laura does) had Christmas (got a plane ticket to see Kendyl!) Walked on the beach at school played in the snow at home...
And here I am December 31st 2005 reflecting on yet another year that went by so fast, and the changes that came with it. To say the least it’s been a learning experience and everything happens for a reason and everything has taught me something. Great year overall couldn’t have asked for me. 2006 you better be a good year, lol! | | |
| Good Morning... on the day of the 30th we arrived in Bangalore, got our luggage and headed for the bus. From there we traveled to the Bangalore Theological Center for "nap time", arriving at 5am left little time to sleep before we would start our journey in daylight. After our first nights sleep with our roommate beside us we woke up and ate breakfast then we started our lessons. We talked about what to leave at home and that it was time to say goodbye America and hello India. A lot harder than you may think at times. We better defined some key words for our trip such as Shalom: not the absence of war but the awareness of the presence of God. We then went on to learn the history of Bishop Suda and all the work that he has done. Our key saying although not upheld by the culture of India was learned right away: "to be early is to be on time to be on time is to be late and to be late is not to be" We learned about the "dots of the heads" and that it can be either religious or cultural. Bright small circles mean that a women is engaged and larger circles are for when they get married. Other than that the women wear them for fashion, it is a sticker, and they have the bindi match every outfit. We learned about the Kariyamani which are the black beads that are in a chain that are given to a women on her wedding day from her husband. As part of cultural tradition when the husband dies the wife takes off the beads. Contrary to belief in America, we were told that a man holding hands with a man is a sign of friendship, nothing more. The Indian culture doesn’t allow a man to hold hands with a woman. Also in India eating is a sacred event and a lie shall never be told while eating. And we were only to eat with our right hand. Being given coconut milk is the highest honor and if offered we were to drink it even if we didn’t like it. Namastay: the divinity in me meets the divinity in you (general greeting). Dhanyakad: Thank You in Bangalore, Kolkata, and Delhi. Upakara: Thank You in Mysore and Mangalore. This day we also went to government buildings. Vibhaaria Soudha which is where the assembly of state meets and Karnataka which is the upper and lower house. David Simeon is the chair person of the upper house and we were his guests for the day. We learned a lot about the government of India.. It is 1/3 the size of the US and has 3X as many people in it. There was a sign on the building saying that "Government work was God’s Work". I am not going to go into detail about all the pictures I sketched in my journal but the architecture was amazing. We say our first picture of Gandhi with garland around it and it was a sign of respect which we saw more of later. Simeon was an extraordinary man and he was very open about Christ when he was the only Christian leader and his other leaders are around. Simeon is equivalent to Condalisa Rice. Then we went to the bishops house. Bishop Sampath Kumar and his wife Dorothy. We went to the Baldwin School and learned about their history it is a school for the handicap. The U.M.C. owned it. The Bishops house was amazing and had 13 guest bed rooms! Still the 30th we headed over to a church. The pastor being Arun Andrews and we hung out with the teenagers there. It was a lot of fun and we got to talk to the first Indian people our age and actually talk not just listen and ask questions. I was nervous I will admit but we were walking up the beautiful stairs and heard "Here I am to Worship" playing my nerves calmed down a lot. Then we had family group time and bed time. The first packed day of many.
December 31st: Today we woke up and heard the history of the UTC where we were staying. Missionaries came to UTC and were taught the language of where they would be preaching. If they didn’t learn it well enough in one year to preach a sermon they were sent home. Bangalore is the second largest city in the world that is not near water. We learned that the way to wash clothes in India was by soaking them and beating them along the rocks. The British have had a large impact on the cities and lives of people in India. We learned that when Bangalore of McDonald’s it was like "making them worthy" and instead of a Big Mac they have Macanandia Burgers. They have no pork, beef, or mayonnaise. Most of the people that you call for computer help are in Bangalore. The people that work at these places are sent through a very long process to Americanize themselves to better serve you. I have random quotes written down from places like A small helping is a drop in the ocean but a small drop is the start of rain and better than a dry land. This day we were also taught how to juggle (I’m not very good) We went to the Precious Children’s Home which is a home for children whose parents are prisoners or crime victims. Many of the children go off to college and come back to visit. They all call the main workers mom and dad. The children had a list of chores that needed to be done throughout the day and a set schedule. From there we went to the Home of Hope which is a place where a man named Auto Raja pulls people off the street that are dying and takes them home to care for them. | | |
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