Four Weeks Left

I'm still here, happily baking away in the heat! My beginner class has ended, which is a bit sad, but we've started a new class that's upper-intermediate, and that's a lot of fun!
I'm teaching a bit less now and helping more with looking-after my friends' one-year-old. It's great to be able to help them out and spend time with possibly the cutest toddler ever! I'm trying hard to get him to say "Katie", but he always opts for another word, like "apple" or "boat"...

I'm also able to help out with a new project! Putting together some new material for our school which includes getting to take pictures all around the city. I think that if nothing else happened on this trip, that would be plenty for me! I was really excited to help out!
So Tuesday I headed out to a fair right outside our school (these last few weeks there's been a fair in celebration of the Hindu god Hanuman. I'm not sure what exactly they're celebrating, but it makes for good pictures!) and wandered around taking pictures. Most people were happy to smile and pose, and I got some really good candids as well! I'm off again next week to do it again at a local market. I'm very very excited!

In other news, the date for departure draws nearer. Only four weeks left! I'm both really sad and really happy to head home! I can't WAIT to see all the lovely people back home and eat a cheeseburger, but I'm very sad to leave the wonderful people here. It's a problem! I can't believe how fast this time has gone. On one hand- some days I feel like I've always lived in India, and on the other, it feels like I've only been here a few weeks.
I have NO idea what I'll be doing once I get home. My mind is having a hard time coping with the idea of launching straight back into school and work after all of this, but I still have some time to think about it. At the moment I don't feel a strong calling  to do anything in particular, but I'm waiting on the Lord! And God has it all completely under control. I have no idea where I'll end up, or who it will be with, but I'm learning that as long as my aim is to please and glorify Him, then He'll guide and  direct me. Since I've been on this trip, I've experienced Him in a totally new way. I depend on Him for every. single. thing. From the big things like funding and safety to the little things like whether or not a rickshaw comes along in the 120 degree heat. He's amazing!

Sorry for the lack of pictures and updates lately! I've been busy during the day and mostly incoherent at night. : ) I'll post more soon!

Prayer requests:
1. Continued health and dealing with the heat! Water, water, WATER!
2. Medical issues with the team here. Two separate incidents that required doctor visits. Please pray for our team. It's definitely more than unhappy coincidence.
3. That I would be able to finish my placement strong and that I would see God even move in my last weeks here!
4. Flights being organized. I'm delaying booking a return to Wales flight until I find out whether a certain baby will arrive in time for me to see him or not! Currently, it's looking disappointingly unlikely, but I'm hopeful! Pray that this time around flights will be stress free and easy!

Thanks so much for reading and keeping up with me! I covet your prayers, dear friends! God bless you mightily and look for an update soon! (I always say that, don't I? This time I'll try REALLY REALLY hard!)

Kaitlyn

Observations of a Foreigner

Here are some things I've learned while living in India:

Sidewalks are not to be walked on. They are reserved for sleeping, setting up stalls to sell fruit and veg, or just sitting for a while. Pedestrians should walk in the narrow space between the traffic and the sidewalk.

As many people as possible WILL be crammed into a tempo, rickshaw, elevator, bus seat, or public bench. There is ALWAYS room for one more. Personal space is for sissies, anyway. Scoot over and get to know your neighbors.

If you're eating out, don't be surprised if the thing you ordered that "isn't spicy" is very, very, very spicy. To them, it isn't spicy at all.

If the rickshaw driver charges you an arm and a leg and then your destination turns out to be 50 yards away, don't feel bad. You aren't the first.

Crossing the street is remarkably similar to playing frogger. Don't bother waiting for the gap in traffic, there won't be one. Either don't look and just run, or find someone who lives here and follow them across.

Traffic lights, staying in your lane/side of the road, and turn signals are completely optional. Turn signals can also be replaced by sticking your arm out the window and pointing.

If the horn on your car doesn't work, don't even think of driving. It's as important and frequently used as the tires.

Motorcycles and scooters will fit into gaps in traffic you NEVER thought possible.

It is possible to fit four grown people on a bicycle, along with two kids and six bags of groceries, and still navigate traffic like it's nothing.

When they call the thing attached to your shower a "boiler", they mean it literally. Don't put it all the way on hot to make it warm up faster. It hurts.

When the man selling things says "sixteen", make double sure he isn't saying "sixty" before you agree to the price.

At 1 am sharp, the guards at our apartment building MUST blow their whistles loudly to each other across the courtyard for at least ten minutes. Why? No one knows.

"Widespread dust" is a weather condition as much as fog or rain.

It's not 'hot' until it reaches 45 C/113 F.

If you say "I don't speak Hindi" in Hindi, it is a guaranteed way to get them to speak Hindi to you at 100 mph and expect you to understand.

"Right of way" means nothing. Unless you are a cow. In that case, expect all traffic to halt until you mosey your way across the road.

No problem!

Well, I definitely have things to blog about, now!

While I'm here for these six months,  I have two weeks to take and travel, rest, or hide in my room under the bed. This past week the school closed for a kind of spring break (which made me feel very much like I was back in school!), so Emma and I took some of our time and headed out for Delhi and Jaipur.

I've decided to call this post "No problem", because I've found that here, even if people have broken or no English, they almost always know and use the term "no problem" at some point in the conversation, and they say it quite cheerfully. I adopted it as my motto for this trip and used it quite often. Walking down an abandoned street at 4am? No problem! No prepaid auto? No  problem! No train ticket? No problem!
 
Saturday we headed out for the train station and arrived without incident. To make sure, we asked a guard to confirm that we had the right platform and car number. H helped, and then kindly asked us to give our names, home addresses, and passport numbers for official records- in a visitors' book. Now, maybe we're just suspicious, but that seemed weird to us. We gave fake ones.

The train to Delhi was fairly uneventful, with the exception of inexplicably stopping for 45 minutes and then going again, but no one else really seemed bothered. That and the fact that the man next to me seemed to think that his elbow belonged in my seat digging into my side. Wasn't overly impressed with that idea...
We arrived safely in Delhi at around 11:30 at night, and proceeded to look for the prepaid auto booth. We'd been told that prepaid was the best option and so had decided that's the only way we really wanted to go. We stepped off the train expecting to be mugged by all the rickshaw drivers, but instead found only one very polite man asking if we wanted prepaid autos.
Why, yes! Hurray! So we followed him.
Now, for those of you back home having a panic attack: I never said I was clever, but I'm not stupid. We did not follow this man into any dark alleys or deserted areas. I'm okay. That being said, read on!
So this nice man led us to the area where all the taxis and rickshaws are parked and kindly opened the door of a taxi-van for us. When we insisted that we wanted prepaid he said yes, this was prepaid. We insisted again, and he said that there was no prepaid. Then there was prepaid, but it was very far. Then it closed at 11.
And so on and so on...
By now, we are surrounded by what very much resembled the flock of seagulls from Finding Nemo. "Madam, madam, madam, madam, madam..."
So I got fed up and dragged poor Emma back to the station to ask a guard where the stupid prepaid was, and he kindly directed us back to a spot not ten feet from where we'd been having the argument with the mass of rickshaw drivers. So we walked back again, all the while followed by said flock of seagull men.
"Madam, madam, madam, madam, madam..."
Eventually, one lost rickshaw drive later, we made it to our hotel and collapsed.

The next day was spent visiting the Gate of India, dodging the vendors and women trying to put henna on my hands and then charge me money. They are unusually strong and fast, but I prevailed and returned without henna! And I only bought one thing (for about 150 rupees cheaper than he was charging...).
The rest of the afternoon we wandered through a market called Main Bazaar and looked around. It was nice not to be the only white faces around and therefore go without being stared at for a while, although I cringed often at the tourists. I can understand now many of the perceptions people here have of white tourists, which is sad.
We had dinner in a little cafe and then headed back to pack before our train the next morning. It was nice to have a lazy day and wander around after an insane week in the school.

The next day we left our hotel and walked to the corner at 4am, breaking almost every rule my mother ever gave me about traveling. But hey, we used to buddy system!
We arrived at the train station by five for our train at six, but the man at the gate wouldn't let us into the station. He told us that our tickets were not valid because we'd booked online, and that we had to take a taxi to a ticket office and get it sorted.
Off we go, not sure whether to believe him or not. At the ticket office, the employees are sleeping on couches (fair enough, it's 5 in the morning) or sitting on desks smoking, and most of them are clearly hungover.

Fantastic.

The man behind the desk tells us the same thing, and offers to book us more "shdigeds" (I'm pretty sure he meant tickets...). We say, no these should work and we don't want to go anywhere else, thanks. So he says fine, take it back to the train station and we can figure something else out. So we leave.

At the NEXT office, the man tells us the same thing. After arguing with him for a while, he calls a number, gets a code, writes it on our tickets, and says it's all worked out. So we got on our train with a few minutes to spare and were off to Jaipur. I still have no idea what happened or what was achieved... but I feel like that a lot in India, so I wasn't really so bothered. Just another example of God's provision!

Jaipur!
Jaipur is the capital city of the state Rajistan, and definitely one of the most beautiful places I've seen in India so far! We arrived in the morning, fought off some rickshaw drivers, and made it to our hotel without incident this time. After exploring the hotel a little we ate lunch and rested before attending a cultural event at a resort (sounds fancy, huh??). We got to see traditional dancing, storytelling (even though we didn't understand it), eat nice food, and ride a came.
The next day we headed for a place called the Amber Palace: a beautiful old palace on top of a mountain. As per Emma's wishes, we rode an elephant to the top. It was fun, despite my dislike of looking like a tourist! To make myself feel better about looking like a tourist, I took pictures of all the other tourists dressed like crocodile hunter while we waited in line for the elephants. Also on the way up, I got to put my camera to good use and get some good shots of the people and scenery. I had fun!

At the top, I started really feeling ill. We wandered through the palace and took pictures, and by the time we reached the end, I was not well at all. We cancelled our other plans for the day and went back to the hotel, where I slept and had a fever for the rest of the day.
The next day, I was much much better, and we did some calm shopping before our train left that afternoon.
Thankfully, the train back home was a sleeper train, meaning I had a bunk and was able to sleep most of the way home. We also had better neighbors and were able to have a really nice conversation on the way.

I enjoyed being a tourist for a while in India! It was nice to see different places and practice my traveling and "ok, plan B!" skills. It was amazing to see God provide for us in such "small" ways that ended up being so big! It's amazing to be in a country, in a situation where I HAVE to depend on him for everything. Not only on our vacation, but every day that I live here in India. When it's 104, and there are no rickshaws, God provides a rickshaw. When the power is out and we have no fans, God provides a breeze through the windows. When you really need an encouraging conversation and prayer with a friend at home, and the connection refuses to work, you pray and suddenly it's as clear as day. It's amazing to see His hand in everything.

This week, we're back in the school and teaching. To be honest I've missed it, and I'm excited to get back to it! My schedule may change a bit after this break, and I may be up to different adventures soon! I'll keep you posted as we go.

1) As for prayer requests, health is still definitely a big one! This is the season for sickness and bad water, so please keep us in prayer for that!
2) Dealing with the heat. Normally, I'm not one to complain about being hot, but we're currently relying on public transport. At the moment we're walking, then getting a rickshaw, then another rickshaw, then walking to get to school. Then on the way home we sit in a rickshaw for a bit (they won't go unless full), which is like sitting in a plastic box, then sit in another rickshaw (at this stop they generally take 15-20 minutes to fill up), then walk. Patience would be a good one, also!
3) Relationships that I'm building with people here. That God would give me the words in every situation, and that I would have an answer for every question because of it.
4) That I could continue to live intentionally here, even when it feels like I'm doing absolutely nothing productive, particularly for God.

And with that, I leave you for now. Instead of uploading more pictures, click on the link below to see our pictures from India, including the ones from our Delhi/Jaipur adventure!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150233490276885.359382.687786884&l=92ec192ffa

God bless!
Kaitlyn

A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That

Here I am, sitting down to update, and I'm not sure at all what to write about.

Classes are going really well here! I'm much more confident when I teach our beginner class now, and I'm really enjoying getting to know all the staff and students at the school as well as neighbors I've met in the building. I learn just as much through teaching as the students do, or more. It's exciting when I'm preparing a lesson, and I can say: "Ah! So that's what present continuous is!" There have been some very amusing moments in class both when I make a mistake and when the students make a mistake. I'll have to post some of the more memorable quotes some time.

Spring is now officially here! Temperatures are usually around 97 degrees F during the day, and when I look at the future forecasts, the temps just steadily increase as time goes on. We'll be around 102 F by the end of this week… yippee! And I'm told this is nothing compared to what it will be later! It isn't bad since it isn't humid at these temperatures like it would be at home, and so far we've made it without turning on any AC in our flat, which makes me proud. (Of course, it does help that the temp goes down into the 60's and 70's at night and we have ceiling fans that could double as jet engines…)

I think I've either gotten over my culture shock, never had it, or haven't had it yet, because I find that I'm increasingly at ease here. I can cross the street without flinching, ride side saddle on the back of a motorcycle through Indian traffic without thinking I might fall off, ignore people staring at me, and have small interactions with people without constantly thinking I'm going to humiliate myself (though that doesn't mean I don't…).

Saturday before last was a Hindu holiday called Holi, a celebration of good triumphing over evil and spring time. On Friday night there were lots of bonfires and fireworks, and on Saturday there was a country-wide war of colors. Picture a typical summer-time water gun fight, except instead of water, colored dyes are used. I didn't participate, since the colors tend to leave you looking tie-dyed for a few weeks, but I watched from the safety of my balcony. My roommate played, and she's still pink, with nice burgundy-pinkish highlights. The roads and walls of buildings are still stained pink, yellow, green, and purple, as well as the goats and cows in the road. I think if I'm ever in India again on Holi, I'll definitely play.

In other news, I've been through my first sandstorm! Not terribly amazing or dramatic, but worth mentioning! And the temperature went down afterward, which was very nice! I've also begun to pick up random bits and pieces of Portuguese from some friends I've made here. It's amazing the vocab you can pick up from a two year old who speaks no English. I can now recognize "I don't want it", "It's mine", "daddy/mommy/aunty said no", pink, bottle, thank you, I'm sorry, good night, NO, "come with me", princess, pink, mine, aunty (that's me!!), spin, jump, no, pink, and some more pink." It's a lot of fun to pick up and use, since two year olds couldn't care less if you understand them, as long as you're willing to play with them!

This post is a bit rambling, but I hope that's all right! I'm seeing God move in amazing ways here, and I can't wait to share more in detail when I come home! He's showing that He is sovereign, no matter what the circumstances seem. He's also showing very firmly that He doesn't NEED us to work, He's perfectly capable of that ion His own, but He wants us here and following Him.

I'll post again very soon! Until then, here are some prayer requests, as well as a promise of more photos soon!

1. We continue to battle occasional illness. Colds, bad stomachs and the like. Please pray for protection and health, as we don't want to spend any time bedridden!

2. We're currently planning to travel a bit and see more sights in India, which is very exciting! Pray for plans to go through and for safe travel, as well as a good rest when we return before we continue teaching.

3. At the moment, I find that I am not sleeping well at all for some reason, and I can definitely feel it during the day. Please pray for good sleep and rest at night so that I have energy to teach and do what I'm supposed to be doing!

That's all for now, folks! Thanks for your prayers and for keeping up with my adventure. God bless and keep you all!

Kaitlyn

Snapshots of India





जीत मसीह की (Jīt Masīha kī)

Jīt Masīha kī! (A greeting I've learned that is used here. It means "The Victory is in Christ")

Things have been going really well here! During the week I've been teaching English a few times a week: one beginner course and one 1-1 beginner as well as helping here and there with other classes. I find it a bit intimidating sometimes, but I really enjoy it when a class understands something. Right now I'm just learning how to teach. It's one thing to know the language and be able to speak it, it's another to teach the grammar to someone else and give them advice on why they should use it that way. I think some of the upper-level students know more about English grammar than I do. It's good to have the team and all their experience, otherwise it would be a train wreck!

There have been quite a few interesting moments in class, including trying to teach the "TH" sound, which comes out "Tuh", and imitating cars to practice the "V" sound. I've also discovered that using sarcasm, however mild, is a very bad idea in beginner English class. It confuses people. One student thought he had offended me by sitting at the same table, and jumped up faster than I've ever seen anyone get out of a chair. I felt bad, then tried to explain that it was a joke, which I didn't do very well at all. I think he got it in the end...

Weekends are for relaxing and getting things done around the house. Iwent with a group to the zoo last week, which was a lot of fun! It was nice to just wander around and talk to the girls I was there with, even if we did have to constantly decline requests to have our pictures taken instead of the animals.

I'm struggling a little with the amount of staring I get, but I'm learning to let it amuse me when people nearly trip or run their bicycles into poles instead of letting it bother me. And it does make you feel good when a crowd of small children runs up to you shouting "Hello! How are you?" Other than that, I haven't experienced as much culture shock as I thought I would yet!

I've had quite an adventure learning to do day to day things here. Getting to-and-from places, shopping, cleaning, communicating (we're still working on that one) and cooking for myself. Not a lot of baking really goes on in India, which is my preferred method of cooking, but we do have a toaster oven, so I can improvise! I've also learned to get creative with rice and veggies. I'm going to come home an expert on fried rice!

Getting around has proved to be the biggest challenge. It's easy when you know exactly where you're going, how to get there, and how much to pay for it. But when you just climb into a taxi and tell him the name of a place, the results can be interesting.

I think my favorite part of going anywhere is travelling in the kamikaze auto-rickshaws (picture below). They're made to seat three people, but like any transportation in India, you can get at least twice that many people inside. So with six or seven people (including the driver) we speed through traffic (speeding through traffic in this city means you go a whopping 15 mph), playing chicken with things five times our size, managing to never hit anything and get there in half the time it would take anyone else. Adrenaline is a good way to start the day!

Well, that's all for this update. I leave you again with a few pictures and prayer points!

1) Health again! I'm battling some kind of stomach bug at the moment. It seems to be getting better, but prayers would be much appreciated!

2) English teaching. Emma and I are teaching a class of total beginers, and we're finding it challenging to have that as our first experience. Pray that we would be able to teach well and that they would really understand the material.

3) Rest. That we would get enough and be energized!

Thank you all for your support and keeping up to date with me! God bless!


 

All dressed up for a wedding!

 

  

A tempo. A taxi designed for six, but can fit about eight, plus three up front.

 

Auto Rickshaw. Six people WILL fit in there.










Rikki Tikki Tavi??

 

Improvising for a movie night!





Paddle boats at the zoo



यह भारत है (yaha bhārata hai)

This is India. At least, I'm pretty sure...

It's been an amazing first couple of weeks. I've settled into my apartment, learned to buy food and cook for myself, started helping with the school: teaching English and helping out with lots of other things, as well as getting to know my way around town.

Our apartment is right in the middle of a mostly Muslim area, so there is no shortage of mosques around us. During the day we can hear the call to prayer if the windows are open, but it doesn't wake us up. We do, however, hear the wedding ceremonies and the holiday celebrations in the night. These past few days there have been loud fireworks all around and singing/prayers coming from the mosque nearby in honor of Mohammed's birthday (at least I think that's what it is...). Whatever it is: it's very, very loud...

My roommate and I have officially had our first (and hopefully only) experience getting completely lost. We ended up wandering the city for a good hour before we made it back. I was not impressed at all!

Since that experience, I've figured out how to use the taxis (tempos, auto rickshaws, and cycle rickshaws) without getting lost! My next step is buying food and clothing in the market without paying a fortune. Since I'm obviously not from around here, the prices can get jacked up to ridiculous amounts and I'm still trying to figure out how to negotiate prices. Thankfully, my Hindi classes start tomorrow and I can learn some numbers and vocabulary so I don't have to rely on finding someone who speaks English.

This will be a short update for now. Here are some prayer requests and some photos for you!

1) I'm currently battling a really irritating cold that makes it hard to sleep at night and a little bit dizzy during the day. It shouldn't last long, but prayer will make it go faster!

2) For continued good relationships with the team and that we would really be a blessing while we're here. They are absolutely fantastic people and it's wonderful to be working with them!

3) Language learning! I'm working on refreshing/ relearning Spanish in the school, and next week we start our Hindi classes. Pray for quick understanding and that we would be able to retain what we learn despite the information overload that comes with switching continents!

Thanks, everyone! God bless and I will update soon!







Weren't we in Wales a minute ago...?

Goodness, I don't even know where to start! Last time I updated, we were waiting on a visa to come through for India. We expected a three month visa after at least a few weeks.

Well, last week we found out that our visa requests had been processed, but we didn't know if they had been accepted or rejected. In the span of about two hours we decided that it would be best to take everything with us to London when we went to pick up our visas and fly out from there if we were accepted. We booked a train to London for the next morning, a flight for two days later, packed, said a very hasty goodbye, and were off the next morning to London. We parked our stuff (we had a LOT of stuff) at a Starbucks and went in to get our visas. We found out that we were approved for the full SIX months and that was pretty much that! Now we had a whole day and a half until our flight.

I thought I had packed very lightly, but I still found it very difficult to navigate the London underground with a massive suitcase and a backpack. The entire way around London (we went LOTS of places trying to sort out paperwork and details) we got ONE elevator and maybe two escalators. Many, many, MANY staircases, though... after spending six or so hours in a library and making the poor librarians nearly bonkers trying to shoo us away from fire exits and telling us that sitting on the floor looked bad, we crossed town (again) and crashed at a wonderfully hospitable friend's dorm for the night. Two flights later, we're here!


When we applied for our visas, I had just begun to feel very comfortable in Wales. I was building awesome friendships with girls in my knitting club (yeah, we had an actual knitting get together on Saturdays! Stop laughing.) and generally loving living there. I no longer wanted to go to India, really, for many reasons. So I prayed for peace. Over and over I prayed for a peace with the decision to go. But I continued to feel stressed and grouchy about the fact that we might get visas. The day we were ready to leave for London, I was just plain angry. I didn't want to spend lots of money to go to London on a "maybe", I didn't want to lug a massive bag all over the city and look stupid, I didn't want to fly AGAIN. I wanted to stay in Wales, darn it, leave me alone. All I felt was stress and a terrible sense that this was the wrong decision. Somehow I must have gotten it wrong. God couldn't want me in India. I couldn't do anything good in India. In fact, I probably couldn't do anything good anywhere. Why wasn't God giving me this peace I had asked for?

So, on the advice of a lovely woman at the center who kept me from having a nervous breakdown, I went ahead as if I already had the peace I had asked for. God would give it to me in his time.

Along the way, God put little things in my path that really let me know he was watching out for me despite my disinterest in speaking to Him. Someone to help me with my case on the subway stairs (THANK YOU random men from London that DIDN'T try to run me over and get on the train first!), ease of travel, a member of the team to travel with...

Two flights and a few days later, we find ourselves settling into our new apartment. I'm sitting here in the dining room by the open door to the balcony listening to the Muslim call to prayer drift over the traffic horns and the people shouting to each other in Hindi, and I remember how much I loved this place when we came back in November. I've met with the team, and I feel really at peace here. I'm very excited to begin tomorrow, with a small amount of nerves but that's okay.

These first few days have been crazy, but they've been fun! I've managed to survive cooking for myself with few familiar ingredients and get around a small bit with LOTS of help. I'll keep you all updated! I have wireless in my apartment, so I'll be able to update often, I hope! In the mean time, here are those prayer points:

1) That we would really mesh well with the team here. They are a lovely bunch of people and I can't wait to work with them!
2) For language learning to go well. You can usually find someone who speaks English, but we'd love to know some basics to communicate better with everyone else!
3) Continue to pray for finance! God is really working and doing some crazy fish and loaves provision! It's great!

4) Another that is not related to Gap Year, but that I mentioned a while back: Kelsey that I asked you to pray for went home to Jesus Feb 2. We'll miss her here, but praise God she's no longer in pain. Please pray for her family as they celebrate the amazing impact she's had for Christ. http://www.kjkdancingthroughtherain.blogspot.com/

God bless you all! I will update soon!

Mind the Gap

Hello again! You'll have to forgive me if this post doesn't make much sense. It's almost 3am and I'm really tired!


So much has happened since Monday! I've had an absolutely crazy adventure in London as well as moved residence.

The London underground is one of the most fascinating things I've ever done. You can literally cross a massive city in a few minutes quite easily if you can navigate the stops and manage not to fall into the gap between the train and the platform, which a kind recording reminds you about at EVERY stop. "Welcome to such-and-such a station! Mind the gap!" You can even buy t-shirts that have the reminder printed on them. I love it. I'm sure the novelty wears off when you live there, but I get really excited about taking the tubes.

On Friday Emma and I took the overground train to London, which was in itself an adventure, to apply for our student visas, spent the day in London, came home at 1am, then today we moved out of the centre and into the new house we're staying in. An eventful couple of days!

Let me catch you up to speed on the current visa situation. Here's what happened before London:

*We went to India in November with the rest of the Gap Years on tourist visas. When we applied for our visas, the UK people got six month multi-entry, while the Americans got three month singles. This is pretty standard if you apply from the UK as a non-UK passport holder.
*This last year, there is a new rule that says you must be out of India for two months before applying for a new tourist visa.
*We were told to re-apply in the states in order to get a six month visa. But since our old visas were not expired yet, we would have to get an exemption to the two-month rule and the not-expired visas from the consulate. But by the time we got someone to be helpful in doing this, we would not have had our passports back in time to return to Wales.
*Since we had to apply in the UK, we decided to apply for student visas instead of tourist, hoping for six months. We called the office, and they said we could apply from the UK, no problem.
*You are now completely confused.
*That's okay! Keep reading anyway.

So when we arrived at the office in London, we stood in line for ages, then as soon as we got to the front, the man told us that our passport photos were too small. Now, I was lucky and got a semi-decent photo (which is like getting a good drivers license picture: rare and exciting) the first time around. So now I had to spend four pounds on new photos after not going to bed in over 24 hours, not bothering with make-up or a hair brush, attempting sleep on a train for six hours, taking the underground, running across London, and standing in the cold wind for 45 minutes. Was I in any sense of the word attractive? Absolutely not. More like mildly alarming. And they made me pay lots of money for proof of it. Fantastic.

Anyway,
I got to the front of the line with my new scary pictures, and after about ten seconds the man shut my application and said that I wasn't allowed to apply from the UK. He sent me to another man, who said the same thing. Maybe the photos scared them, I don't know.
The girl applying with me, on the other hand, got all the way through the exact same process, no questions asked, until there was a separate problem with her paperwork. So we left, called our team leader in Wales AND in India, and ran across Victoria, London to two different libraries to print corrected paperwork for Emma. We thought that maybe she could at least try again and get in.
So we tried again with new people. They told us no again, but kindly let us at least apply for tourist visas instead of making us leave. So we did, and we should know in 15 working days or so.


So, it was frustrating, but we made it! Halfway through the mess our team leader here texted us and told us that the whole center was praying for us, which was massively encouraging and de-stressing. It's good to know that God in control and that people are praying for you!

The rest of the afternoon was much better than the first! We took the underground across town to meet up with a good friend and spent the afternoon wandering with her around Camden Market, which is one of my most favorite places I've ever been to. Good to spend time with her and good to just wander around a bit of London! It was great! I received these fantastic wool fingerless mittens that keep my hands nice and toasty! I'm seriously considering taking them with me to India, even thought it will be absolutely boiling there... :)
The train ride back was uneventful, and we returned to the centre around 1am. It was most definitely an eventful trip. We even have to go back to collect our visas and/or passports when they're ready.

Today we moved out of the centre and into this new house we're staying in until we make it to India! It's a fantastic place to stay, and the people are wonderful to let us stay for an undetermined amount of time while we wait for visas.

So that's what I've been up to this week... and hopefully I will have more news for you all soon! Here are some updated prayer points for you!!

*That we will be granted visas for a full six months if it is God's will. He does not have to abide by embassy rules, and we need to keep remembering that!
*That we will receive an answer quickly.
*Cheap travel back to London. Our last tickets were quite expensive, and we can't really afford to do that again!
*Financial support! That it keeps a'comin' and we see God's provision through it! He continually meets our needs through these many unexpected expenses, and while it's disconcerting when they happen, God is faithful. We are blessed to be able to stay in the current house rent-free!!! Thank God!


Thanks for reading and for your prayers! God bless you all!!!
Kaitlyn

Quick Update!

Hello everyone!
I thought I would send you a quick visa update!

I'm living at the centre until Thursday, and after that I will head of to live in another part of town with a lovely couple who has offered us a room to stay in until we can make it to India! Thank God for them!

So, at the moment we are traveling to London on the 20th to hand in our applications for visas. We leave at 3am and spend the whole day there, then come back at 4am the next day. It will be an adventure, as neither of us are experienced with trains, but it will be okay!

I will update as soon as we know if we're accepted or not! In the mean time, please pray for safe travel to and from London, and that our visas will be accepted quickly and easily if that is God's will!

Also, I would ask that you pray for a friend of mine. Her name is Kelsey, and she's fighting an extremely rare and dangerous illness at the moment. Please pray for her, even if you don't know her. She's such a beautiful, strong believer, and she needs prayer support right now. You can find her blog at: http://www.kjkdancingthroughtherain.blogspot.com/

God bless you all!
Kaitlyn

A trip to India! ... two months late...

Alright, so I skipped a few (many) weeks in my blog posting, and I'm WAY behind. What have I been up to since DT week? Well, instead of writing a post that's ten miles long, I'll hit the highlights!

The other American and I got our visas, and on November 4th we headed out on a 34 hour journey to Delhi, India. That was the calmest part of the entire trip. From the Delhi airport we took a taxi trip to the next town.
Now, we were tired after our trip, and looking forward to a nice, quiet car ride so we could rest before arriving.
Silly western people. This is India.
India traffic is the farthest thing possible from American traffic. I thought Indy traffic was crazy.
For starters, there isn't really a designated side of the road to drive on. "Generally on the left" is as close as we got. Bikes and pedestrians do not have to wait for a gap in traffic, they just go. It is not unusual to see a couple with their two or three children and all of the day's shopping crammed on one very small motorcycle. I'm nervous riding a bike, let alone in a draping Sari with four kids in my lap...
Turn signals are rarely used. To merge into traffic, you honk your horn and push your way into traffic. If you are really polite, you'll honk before you merge.
The funny thing was, nobody EVER got upset. In the states, if someone cuts someone else off, horns honk, people shout and it ruins the whole day. Not in India. That's just the way people drive.
At one point, there was a massive boulder in the road (who knows why), but instead of slowing down or going around it, our driver went OVER the median and drove on the other side of the highway for a while. No one really got stressed except for all of us tourists in the back.
This town is about a ten hour drive away. Our driver made it in eight. That's including getting lost and changing direction a few times. This is how fast people in India drive.
For my mother's sake I'll stop there. And for my mother's sake I will say that once we got used to it, we felt very safe because our driver seemed to know what he was doing, even if didn't speak enough English to reassure us.

We were definitely a novelty wherever we went. One white person is a rare thing in the areas we visited, let alone a whole crowd of them. People stared at us absolutely everywhere we went. When we were walking in a market, one woman just reached for my hand and held it before giving me this huge smile and a hug, then walking away. Interesting.
It was strange getting used to the staring and being a practice dummy for people wanting to work on their English. People would go out of their way to come up to us, shake our hands and say "Hello, from where you come from?" and then not know enough English to continue the conversation. It was especially cute when it was a whole herd of small children.

While we were in the first city, we were able to visit a church and participate in the service. I absolutely fell in love with it. Never have I felt more welcome and loved while visiting a church. It was really encouraging to see such a strong Christian church in a predominantly Hindu and Muslim city. We got to spend some more time with people from the church when we led a cell group/bible study for some of them. We went to the home of some of the members and got to talk to them for a long time and get to know them. Again, really encouraging to see God moving in India!

After the first city we moved on to the second, (where I'll be doing my placement!). It was an interesting twelve-hour overnight train journey to get there. We were crammed to the car with many, many other people, on bunks stacked three high and listening to the chai seller go by every ten minutes waking you up by yelling "Chai, chai!" I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure it would be a favorite pass time...

We were able to visit the school and spend some time learning Hindi. We were given a crash course on pronunciation and a list of Hindi words, which were things we could buy in the market just outside the school. We didn't know what the words meant, but we were supposed to come back with them and try not to get ripped off. My team got the word "peanuts" right, but ended up buying nearly a kilo of them for fifty rupees. Our teacher laughed at us. By the way, a kilo of peanuts is a LOT of peanuts.

Anyway... the next crash-course was on how to wear a Sari, which is the gorgeous wrap-around dress that women wear. Pictures of that as soon as I get my hands on them!

I loved being in the school. We got to spend some time teaching an English class and build relationships with the students and staff there. We also got to spend quite a bit of time with some of the staff members while cleaning and painting the school top-to-bottom. It was an awesome chance to feel useful and serve the team.

I was hugely blessed to be able to meet the team I'll be working with and spend time with them seeing what I'll be doing. We were able to visit a women's Bible College (Junior and senior aged girls) and pray with them. They were such sweet girls, and I'm very excited to go back and hopefully spend more time with them.


The last few days in India we spent in Agra, visiting the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. It was fun to spend time as a tourist for a little while, taking cliché pictures and browsing shops. Definitely something to cross off my bucket list!
It was sobering, however, while we were waiting for our train back to Delhi to go home. We had quite a long wait, and while we stood awkwardly piled onto the platform, three little beggar boys came up to us and asked for money, which is not unusual at all. But what was unusual was the fact that they stayed for a long time, just playing around and showing off. The oldest was no more than maybe seven or eight, and the youngest not even walking. We earned some stares from locals and tourists when we began playing games with them. They seemed surprised that we were willing to touch them and interact with them.

It was hard to again be hit by the extreme poverty of India, and to watch these boys that will have to grow up far too fast go from person to person on the platform, asking for money that will probably go to someone else who is sending them out to beg. But it was humbling and a blessing to be able to sit on the floor with them and let them laugh at the silly white people making goofy faces and just be children for a while. When we left, they followed us all the way to the train, pulling our arms and talking to us in Hindi. We pointed at the train, repeating (rather pointlessly) "We have to go on the train." One of the boys kept repeating a phrase over and over, and a man translated for us, saying "He says: 'Don't go.' ".
That hit me really hard, and it was a long train journey to the airport. It was like God was reminding us before we left that His love is so needed in India. He loves these children more than we ever could, even if we could have spent more than an hour with them. At the end of the day, we get to leave the poverty and spiritual warfare of India behind and fly home to our churches and our safe houses. This is every day for them.

Since then, I've had Christmas break and spent time with my family, and now I'm back in  Wales! What's next? Well, while we were in India, God made it very clear to me that He wanted me to go on my placement there, so I and the other American are planning to head back there for six months. I'm very excited to see what God has planned there and to be a part of it!
We are, however, facing some visa difficulties. To make a VERY long story short, we can apply for visas after January 18th. We need to decide what the best kind of visa to apply for is and go for it. We would both REALLY love your prayers on this. I'll send out more detailed info on the lovely e-mail list ASAP! Until visas are sorted out, we're both with the team in Wales seeing what he has in store for us here!

Prayer points!

1) Visas! That God would give us wisdom in deciding what kind of visas to apply for, and that the applications would be accepted quickly and for the full amount of time we would like.

2) That we wouldn't be frustrated or discouraged in waiting, but remember that God has us here in Wales for a reason, and His plan and timing are perfect.

3) For the team in India to be blessed and see God move in their area and the school. That their work would be multiplied and the kingdom of God furthered.

4) For financial needs to be met in ways that bring glory to God's name.

Thanks so much to all of you who are reading this! Sorry for the long wait. From here on, updates will be more frequent! God bless you all!