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