My orange was green

So much to report and I have only been here three days!!! Well let’s start with the important stuff shall we? I ate at McDonald’s in Dehra Duhn (pronounce Dune). No Big Macs here, however, just chicken and vegi burgers. I stuck with chicken, if you must know. The fries are the same thought! Yummy! My flight was very uneventful and I got a good amount of sleep. I met Jana and Joni at the airport and we spent the night in Delhi, were it was 98F at 9:00 at night and at 6:00 the next morning. We took a 6 hr. train ride from Delhi north to Dehra Duhn mostly through the plains where they grow a lot of wheat. This country is so populated there was hardly 5min without seeing people or buildings, even though it is considered the country. In Dehra Duhn we caught a taxi to Mussoori, about an hour away. I thought about taking a video of the drive but it would make most of you sick! The entire ride is tiny windy mountain roads and is driven at breakneck speed. I am surprised anyone is alive to drive around here, especially in Delhi. No one drives between the lines and it is perfectly ok to drive the wrong way on a road, oh and there are no seatbelts. So between cars, buses, trucks (the beds filled with people), motorcycles, random cows and ox drawn cart things get pretty crazy! But nevertheless the drive to Mussoori was gorgeous. Actually Mussoori is gorgeous. All the buildings sit perched on the edges of cliffs and have the most amazing views. Getting to them can be a bit treacherous but it is well worth it.
Yesterday (Thursday) we attend an Indian Christian wedding at Kellogg church where Jana and Joni (actually the whole Pioneer International team goes there). The wedding was supposed to start at 11am but it started an hour late. This is typical here, things are never expected to be “on time” so everyone asks if you are running on “Indian time”. It was an interesting experience. The bride wore white and a veil. The vows were are the same as they are in the states. So even though it was done in Hindi I could understand what was going on! All the women dress up in their best saris or salwars so the colors are simply amazing. Afterwards everyone is invited to a lunch feast. They hire a band and the band leads the parade of people down to the place where the meal is. When I agreed to go to the lunch I admit I didn’t realize what was all involved. Remember in kindergarten “no cuts, no buts, no coconuts”? Yeah, apparently they didn’t learn that here. It was chaos with all the pushing and shoving! Jana ended up getting my plate because I couldn’t keep up! J It was my first taste of Indian food here and I have to say it was not bad. It wasn’t as spicy as I thought it would be and I got to eat it all with my hands! (all those times, mom, you tried to get me to hold my fork right, went out the window...) The only silverware here in India is spoons and those are only for picking up the scraps, usually. Oh and tables are not customary in India, they usually eat on the floor but at the wedding everyone was standing because there were not enough chairs. The wedding was a good time for me to meet the rest of the PI team and I really enjoy spending time with them. They try and hold their conversations in English for my benefit but sometimes they forget and it ends up being a mix of Hindi and English. Oh well I guess it’s a way for me to learn Hindi!
Today I got another cultural experience. Jana, Joni, and myself went to a team members house, Susie, (who actually grew up in Wheaton, IL…crazy) to help prepare lunch for some women from the village of Khtapahni (sp?). This is something different because usually it’s the team members visiting the villages this is the first time the villagers came to a team members house. After they arrived an hour late we sang songs and told the story of Jonah then ate lunch of dahl and some other dish with rice that I don’t know the name of. We then played three games and had a blast, if they were shy at first they really open up after that (I must admit so did I). Then we had chai and desserts. (Chai tea is a staple drink around here and is always served to guests. It is not uncommon to be invited over for chai.) Most of the day was spoken in Hindi because even though the kids knew a bit of English the women did not. So needless to say I didn’t say much but I am learning to pick up on what is going on pretty well and the team members usually translate the gist of what is going on. Guess its time for me to learn Hindi! I was, however, invited to one of the villagers houses whenever I wanted! None of the visitors were Christian so we pray that something that was said or done might strike a chord with their hearts. Late this afternoon we went down (when I say down I literally mean down the hill (in IL or IN we call them mountains!) to the hospital to meet Dr. Samuel the head doctor. I will start shadowing there Monday morning. I have no idea what this means but the staff seems very nice and speaks English really well which will make things a bit easier. I was surprised at how much English everyone speaks here in India. The newspapers are all in English, signs are both in Hindi and English. Everyone at least knows Hello and How are you. English is actually the second official language in India after Hindi. Here in Mussoori there is a Hindi language school (started a hundred years ago for missionaries) so there are quite a few westerners and other Asians around.
Wow! I feel like I have overloaded you sorry about that. There are probably a million and one things I could say but I will stop for now. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers they mean so much. Those coupled with the loving hearts of the people here, especially Jana and Joni, made for an easy transition and lots of fun! Two requests 1)Pray for the area here. They are in a drought and are having record breaking temps. in the 90’s, which for a mountain town this is hot. The dry brush is causing a lot of wildfires. Pray for rain and the health of the villagers as water is at times hard to come by. 2) Pray that I can open up more to the locals. It is harder than I thought. Thanks so much. Love to you all.
P.S. If you have any questions regarding India or anything I am doing let me know and I will try to get an answer!
P.P.S. Just the peel was green, the fruit was orange and juicy. Also I don’t only eat Indian food, for dinner here at home we have spaghetti, crapes, and fahitjahs! Lol Oh, and don’t worry I don’t drink the tap water Jana and Joni have a big filter for drinking water.