God Carries

Package!!

31 Oct 2011 1 Comment

by God Carries in October 2011

After dinner yesterday, I found myself in a really bad mood. Dinner wasn’t very yummy, I was feeling grumpy, I didn’t know what I was doing when it came to devotions and nothing seemed to be going right. So, I was laying on my bed, just drowning in self pity when Daya came to my door. She invited me to the bungalow to watch Lord of the Rings. I, of course, agreed and my mood just lifted immediately.

Daya went to go set things up and I told her I’d meet her there. However, as soon as I was about to leave, Reeta came and asked if I’d teach her the song I had sang with the girls during Sunday Class. I said sure but then she told me to go teach everyone the song. So, she pulled me into another dorm where about twenty girls were standing in a circle.

For a good half hour or so, I taught them one camp song after another. They absolutely LOVED it! They were all repeat-after-me songs, so eventually, they repeated every move I made. I began to feel quite self-concious, haha. When I taught them the Tarzan song, it was absolutely hysterical! They got so into it!

Reeta finally told me I could leave but once I got out the door, the girls grabbed onto my arms to tried and pull me back in. It took quite a few strict words and some tugging before I finally made it out. Then, I headed down to the bungalow. Daya decided that popcorn would be perfect for our little movie night. So, she showed me the flavors of popcorn. It was chili flavored, chili flavored or chili flavored. She left the difficult choice up to me. I chose chili flavored . And, boy, was it spicy!!

We got through half of the Extended Edition of “The Two Towers” then decided we’d better get to bed. I slept in the bungalow again. I slept very well .

I spent a good part of this morning hanging out in the New Zealand family’s house. I ate some yummy fruit and had coffee. Good breakfast! After a short nap, I went to look for Lissi. I finally found her in the main bungalow and she informed me that I had missed a dorm mother meeting. Oops! She filled me in on everything though. I was in the kitchen making tea when Michael came in told me some AWESOME news! The package that Brandon sent me on the 18th had FINALLY arrived!!!

I was so excited and ran outside. I felt kind of awkward because I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to sign something but since Michael and the postage guy were talking and sorting things, I took my package back into the bungalow.

I had just started opening it when the postage man came in with papers to sign. Once I’d finished with that, the postage guy just stood there and watched as I got the package open. He was very curious about what was in it, so I told him what everything was. And he still stood there. Then, he said “chocolate” and pointed to the poptarts. I was confused. I told him that it’s not chocolate but he still stood there, all awkward. Then I picked up a package of poptarts and asked him if he wanted it. He nodded his head vigorously and was very happy as he left with his precious package of poptarts. I’m happy I got to make his day .

Then, I hurried over the New Zealand family’s house to finally have Daya try a poptart. She’d told me before how much she would love to be able to try one and that was why I asked Brandon to add some to the package. I woke her up and gave her the package. Once it finally registered in her mind what I gave her, her expression was priceless! She was so excited! She loved it .

So, now I have 720 juice packets to make sure I don’t die of dehydration . YAY!!

After lunch, Daya and I started watching the second part of “The Two Towers”. However, at about 3:30, Jody told Lissi and I that she was doing English class with the littlest girls and invited us to come and see how she does it since she wants us to take over for her because of the baby. It was all so cute! Jody had these little videos with songs like “Hickory Dickory Dock” and “Old McDonald”. The girls sung along so happily. Then Jody played a little educational computer game with the girls, gave them a worksheet and handed each of them a banana. I’m so excited to be able to do this with the girls every day!

Jody gave us the videos to put on our laptops then I returned to watching the movie with Daya. I also watched a bit of the behind the scenes before I came to get on my laptop .

My Package!

Mhmm

30 Oct 2011 3 Comments

by God Carries in October 2011

Last night, we led devotions in Dorm 1. They all loved singing songs and wanted Lissi and I to sing some English songs for them. For the actual devotion part, Lissi just told the girls how God led her to come to India. After devotions, I went back to our room and Lissi, again, stayed in Dorm 1.

I slept a lot better than I had in the past few nights, but I still didn’t sleep as well as I want to. But I am getting there!

Instead of having church with the New Zealand family this morning, a guest speaker came and preached to the staff and college girls. It was really nice, especially since he spoke English so clearly! In the hour between him finishing his message and lunch, Jody, David, Yolanda, Lissi, the preacher and I all sat in a circle in the bungalow and just talked. The preacher told me that three months out of every year, he goes to Kentucky for some training. It was nice to hear America being mentioned . David and Jody mentioned that there is an American living in Kollegal. His name is Kevin and he and his Indian wife used to live in the states. However, when his wife couldn’t speak because of a stroke, her doctor recommended that she return to where he native language is spoken and maybe it will help her. I really want to meet him! It would be so nice to hear an American accent in India .

Anyway, lunch was so nice today because Jody, David, John, Robyn, Lissi, Yolanda, the preacher and I all sat at the table and ate together. It felt like a family dinner . After lunch, I got paint and paintbrushes and let the girls paint rocks for a little while. They absolutely loved it! But then we all had to go to Sunday Class.

Lissi and I led the class for the youngest girls. It was the most adorable thing! I taught them a song from camp and they simply LOVED it. Then Lissi gave a short Bible story, which Reeta translated for us. After we prayed, the girls wanted me to sing the song again, so I did. Little Sindhu just kept laughing and laughing! She was practically rolling on the floor.

I returned to painting after class. Many of the girls came to me with their rocks and had me write their names so they could paint it. The girls used up almost every last bit of paint and made such a mess but it was worth it! Only a few girls were still painting when one of the field workers brought his bike over and asked the girls to paint something on it. So they added some purple flowers and stars all over his bike. He loved it!

I finally managed to clean up everything. I just threw away all the paint tubes. Even if there were a bit of paint left in some, they were such a mess that I didn’t bother trying to go through it all.

Ah what a busy and fun day it has been! They do actually go to school tomorrow. It’s on Tuesday that they have off.

:(

29 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment

by God Carries in October 2011

So, last night, Lissi and I were both going to sleep in Dorm 1 because with Jayne gone, they needed at least one of us there. Well, there is only one bed so we decided one of us could just sleep on the floor. After dinner, Lissi went to the bungalow to talk to her family and I went to Dorm 1 and read for a bit. At about 10, Lissi still wasn’t back and I decided I’d go to sleep. Well, I couldn’t. It was so frustrating! Eventually, I gave up on going to sleep and headed down to the bungalow to see what Lissi was doing.

When I got there, Lissi and Yolanda were just sitting and talking. So I joined them . I told them how I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep now for three nights in a row. We tried to brainstorm on what the problem could be. I, of course, brought up my allergy to dairy, but I don’t see how that could be the problem because I had been having the same amount of dairy since before I stopped being able to sleep. Yolanda suggested that I take some multivitamins and see if that helps. Lissi had some input as well and said I should talk to Jody, who is a nurse, and ask her what she thinks is going on.

We talked about other things, as well. Like, our job here as volunteers and different things about the culture.  Yolanda encouraged Lissi and me by saying that us just being there with the girls is helping them a lot and that they will miss us when we leave.

Lissi decided it was time to get some sleep and I was sad because I really didn’t feel like just laying in bed, wishing I could fall asleep. However, Lissi then suggested that I could “sleep” in the bungalow and occupy myself by getting on my laptop. After all, there was only one bed in Dorm 1 and the gate to our room was locked. I happily agreed .

I stayed up till about midnight, then tried sleeping. Ah, the beds in the bungalow are SO much more comfy than the dorm beds! I still didn’t sleep too well though

I got up at 8 this morning and Yolanda, Lissi and I went into town for breakfast. It was awesome . After we had eaten (I had Dosa (sp?) ), we shopped for the rest of the morning.

We stopped at a clothes shop and there were so many awesome clothes, but, noooo, as usual, none of them would fit! I was so disappointed and frustrated! Lissi made up for the mess the shopkeepers had to make for Yolanda and I, by buying quite a few clothes (I was sorta jealous. Everything seemed to fit her). In any case, I do have a fair amount of clothes already. I just want a really nice outfit.

By the end of our shopping spree, I was absolutely exhausted, drowsy, tired and light-headed. Ugh, I did not feel good at all! Once I got back home, there was an hour till lunch so I laid down. Of course, I couldn’t actually nap because my body is being obnoxious! After we had some lunch, I laid down some more.

Then, I was determined to stop being so lazy so I drank a lot of juice and had some peanuts and cereal, then went to help the girls make the J-somethings. It was hilarious! They made rolling out the dough look so easy so I decided I could try it. My rate was probably one J-something every ten minutes . I kept messing up! The girls probably found my failure hilarious though, so at least I got to entertain them .

At this point, I had renewed energy and tried to get involved with the girls as much as I could. However, every time I’d ask if I could help with something, they wouldn’t let me help . So, I went to sit on the log by Dorm 1 and talk with some of the girls.

I soon lost all motivation and didn’t feel very good again . I laid down again but decided I simply HAD to do something because laying down would not help me sleep tonight. So, I came to get on my laptop an hour earlier than I usually do .

First Day of School

28 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment

by God Carries in October 2011

It’s been a very different day today! I woke up bright and early at 6:00 because I wanted to see how a school day starts for the girls. At 6:30, we went to morning devotions then back to the dorm to clean up and get ready for school.

The girls had to iron their school uniforms, sweep, mop and do other random things. Latha, the college girl who is basically the dorm mother, was ordering them around. I felt pretty useless and very tired so I went back to sleep . Once I woke up, I skipped breakfast, as usual, and had my cereal. Then, at 8:45, I saw them all off to school. Lissi and I went into the different classrooms to see what they were like. It’s so different from American classrooms! I have pictures below .

Apparently, the girls wait until about 9:30 for the teachers to show up then they go to morning prayer till 10. So, school doesn’t officially start until then. Meanwhile, Lissi and I were starting work on washing clothes. We then went to Sujatha’s dorm for our own little staff (more like dorm mother) devotion. It was nice and simple with a few songs, a Bible verse, a bit of discussion then closing in prayer. I really enjoyed getting to spend that time to get to know Sujatha, Manjula and Sumitha more.

Lissi and I headed back to the wash area and from about 11 until lunch, at one, we washed clothes. Oh my goodness, it was so much work! But, I still like doing it . It was really funny at one point because we spotted a wild monkey up in the tree and since we had been warned that monkeys like to attack anything that moves, we were thoroughly freaked out. But he was so cute! We stared at him for a while then Lissi said, “they say you aren’t supposed to look in their eyes…” We both said oops and I asked if we should start running now. Then, he began to come down the tree and I was so scared! But, he just grabbed some food from the ground and scrambled back up his tree. Pheeeww!!

The school bell rang for lunch and the girls ran back home. Lissi, Yolanda and I were kind of late though because we were in our room drinking tea. Poor Yolanda! She must be so lonely these days! She’s the only one in the bungalow now. Anyway, after lunch, we discovered that Daya had delivered a squeegie for our bathroom. YAY! So, I set to work making the bathroom spotless. I’m so proud of it . It took me a good hour or so. Then, I laid down for a much-needed nap.

At about 3:30, the kindergarten girls came home. It was so much fun getting to play with just them! They are so cute. At 4:30, the rest of the girls came. Because Jayne is on holiday, Lissi and I are taking care of the Dorm 1 girls. Jayne left us a very long note with instructions for each day. I was kind of nervous when I first read it and wanted to get right to work on what it says. However, the eldest girl in the dorm, Shwata took over everything. She knew exactly what to do. So, I yet again, felt useless .

The girls played until 5:30, then I helped a little in giving the little girls a bath. After that, they had their hair combed then Shwata gave them their snack of peanuts. They wanted to give me some, but I refused and told them I already had some and that they should eat their own snack. But, they insisted and each of them ended up putting a bit in my lap. Then, they went after Lissi. But, Lissi was prepared! As soon as they went to her, she ran out the door! Oh Lissi! Once, I had eaten what they gave me, they put more in my lap. It was the cutest thing!

From 6 to 7:30, the girls are to do homework, but apparently, less than half of the students showed up to school today, so they have no homework and just spent the whole day playing games so, they have no homework. Again, I ask: why in the world was there school today?! Oh well…

Oh! One last bit of news: There are barely any fireworks tonight! YAY! No more loud booms that make me think that India is in a war!

Last Day of Holidays – Ish

27 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment

by God Carries in October 2011

Great (yummy) day! I got like no sleep AGAIN last night but I was still determined to go the entire day without any naps and I’ve almost made it! I am so proud of myself!

Anyway…I spent a good part of my morning playing with the girls. I got to watch Jayne do her cooking class as well. It was very cute! Sujatha was there helping too. The girls were so proud of their creations and shared with all the other girls.

After lunch, Lissi and I sat and talked to Sujatha for a while. She told us a lot of interesting things about the culture and about the other dorm mothers. Apparently, Sumitha was married to a man for three years and they had a son. But, because of his frequent drinking and smoking, he passed away. After his death, his mother (Sumitha’s mother-in-law) took Sumitha’s son away from her and decided to raise him herself. Poor Sumitha! Sujatha told us that it is pretty normal in this culture that the mothers treat their daughter-in-laws very poorly (they treat them like slaves, actually). She told us that her own mother-in-law treated her so horribly she wanted to die. It was only after much prayer and patience, that her mother-in-law finally came around and treated her better.

She also told us about arranged marriages. The families of the girls here are searching for husbands for our girls. Since our girls’ families aren’t necessarily all Christians, a Hindu or Muslim man could end up being chosen for one of our girls, which is terrible! Thankfully, the girls are allowed to refuse a husband, if they wanted, which is definitely different from the old days. I wanted so much to ask about her and Michael’s story and whether or not she had met him before they were married and if she was scared. I couldn’t bring myself to be that bold quite yet though .

We spent a good hour with Sujatha then went into our room. I began to feel really light-headed and exhausted so I figured it was probably because I was dehydrated (I really don’t like the taste of the water here!). Lissi agreed to go with me to town to get some juice.

The juice-finding was very easy and I was chugging some as we walked back into KGH. Lissi wanted to go say hello to the New Zealand family quickly, so we went to their house. Quickly wasn’t quite how it happened though…

They were just about to have some tea so they invited us to sit and have some with them. Soon, Jayne showed up and had some tea as well. Then we talked…a lot. It was so great! Jody told us about what the discipline is and was like here. I was shocked! She said that when she and David first got here, there was a woman who, for punishment, would hold the girls up by their wrists and slam them onto the table! She also said that they would have the girls kneel on the hard floor and raise their hands above their head for a while and if they let their hands down, they’d get smacked with a stick. Jody and David set right to work on getting the “discipline” (more like child abuse) worked out. Lissi and I are both very thankful that they did!

However, the teachers are still allowed to smack the children with sticks if they don’t behave and the dorm mothers and college girls do the same. And it’s sometimes for dumb things like making a mistake on their homework! I could never bring myself to do such a thing! I like Jayne’s way of discipline: having them sit on their bed or on a bench for a good hour or so.

I had found out earlier that day that Yolanda had left to Mysore without us and I was quite sad because I really wanted juice powder. When I told Jody and Daya this, they immediately spoke up and let me know that there is some in Kollegal! YAY! No more dehydration! So, Daya, Sam and I went into town!

We stopped at “Chet” on the way to the shop and had some “Goby” and…I forgot the name of the other food. Goby is the chicken-flavored cauliflower and I got a picture of it this time! Yay! We asked for dessert instead of change so we got to eat a yummy, sugary coconut um…thing? Yes, thing. It was so good!

Once we had the Tang (juice powder), Sam and Daya had me direct us home. I did surprisingly well! Although, it ended up being the long way home, oops. Once, we got back, I went to my room and continued work on my map of Kollegal. I now know how to get to Chet whenever I want, YAY!

Today was the last day of holidays-ish. They go to school tomorrow and Saturday then apparently there’s another festival on Monday, so they get that day off as well. I am so confused! Why in the world do they bother with school tomorrow and Saturday? In the words of Daya: Only in India!

So Tired…

26 Oct 2011 1 Comment

by God Carries in October 2011

I slept pretty well last night and I took a short nap in the morning, but I still felt so tired all day! It was so annoying! I was determined to make the most of the day though…

In the morning, Lissi and I got to help Jayne with her cooking class. The girls chopped up potatoes and carrots, then, after Jayne made a dough and put all the vegetables in, she had the girls roll the dough into little balls then flatten them. Then, we took the girls to Jayne’s kitchen and they each got to fry up their own group of “potato cakes”. I think that the name potato cake is totally not fair because it made me think of the yummy, dessert kind of cake, so I got all excited and was really started to crave some cake. However, these “cakes” were full of vegetables and it made me kind of sad .

Anyway…after lunch, Lissi, one of the college girls and I set out for some much-needed shopping! We had to get various things for our kitchen and bathroom so we could finally return all the stuff we have been borrowing from the bungalow. It was kind of fun, I guess. The college girl knew right where to get everything so it wasn’t much of an adventure. Plus, I was so exhausted that I just kind of followed wherever Lissi and the girl went. It was very successful though!

When we got back, Lissi and I got to work! We cleaned up the kitchen and put each dish in it’s proper place. Ah, the kitchen looks so much neater now! I feel accomplished.

At about 4:30, we went down to the bungalow to meet another visitor. He talked a bit and the girls sang some songs for him. He was very nice. Sujatha later told us that he used to be Brahman (the highest caste of the Hindu, in other words, he was extremely honored and rich and looked up to) but then he converted to Christianity, so now he’s looked down upon by the Hindu. It was very inspiring and amazing!

Lissi and I went back to our room and used the jam (jelly) that we had bought and spread it on the J-Somethings that Sujatha gave us a while ago then sprinkled some sugar on top. So, we had a nice little snack . And now, the J-Somethings are in our tummies rather than cluttering up our kitchen. YAY!

Lissi left for a church service and I stayed and read a book and drank some tea. Then I came down to the bungalow to get on my laptop!

Our snack

Yummy

25 Oct 2011 3 Comments

by God Carries in October 2011

Today, I slept, then woke up. Yummy. Then got on my laptop. Yummy. Then played outside in the sand with one of the girls. Yummy. Then I went to lunch. Yummy. Then I went to sleep. Yummy. Then I played outside again. Yummy. Then it started to rain so I got on Skype. It was “yummy”…

This is for you, Uncle Paul!

Titles are Getting Annoying

24 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment

by God Carries in October 2011

I started the day by going to a dorm mother meeting. I felt super special

Before we started, I was finally taught how to make true Indian tea. It’s awesome! They use loose leaf tea in a boiled milk and water mixture.

Once we all had our tea, we talked about the upcoming week, which isn’t a holiday but there’s no school. Apparently, it’s a week for preparing for school . Oh how I can’t wait for school to start! Then there’ll be a set schedule and I’ll know exactly what is expected of me.

After lunch, Lissi and I had some fun playing with the girls, during which time, it started to rain while the sun was out. I was confused. Anyway, we got to play a good hour of ping pong with Tonu. It was so funny! After much failure though, I gave up and went to read a book

I was soon interrupted by a girl in my dorm who insisted that I try a a snack. She decided to shovel half our sugar into it too. How kind! Haha. Anyway, it kind of tasted like cereal. But then not really because I didn’t like it very much and I love cereal!

Then, I was hurried away by Tonu to get my laptop set up for a movie. Just as the movie started, another storm came and the power cut. Thank goodness the power came back on because the girls were starting to go crazy!

What an uneventful day it’s been…

Diwali

24 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment

by God Carries in October 2011

It was so much fun last night! We celebrated Diwali, or the Festival of Lights. The Indians basically just celebrate light! It’s a Hindu holiday that’s based on chasing away the demons and bad luck using light. All the other religions celebrate it as well though, only with different twists. I’m guessing that Christians use it to celebrate the light of God .

The actual holiday is supposed to be on the 26th, but it’s ten days long usually so I guess we just decided to celebrate it yesterday . Anyway, we started off by each getting a stick and putting dough on the end of it. Then, once the fire was lit, we’d cook our dough and eat it. It wasn’t too bad . After we just kinda hung around the fire a bit, we gathered to the edge of the playground and sat down to watch firecrackers!

They were fantastic! Daya and Michael lit one after the other and we all just “ooohed” in excitement. The whole time I couldn’t help but to imagine how illegal all this would be in America . During the firecrackers, the girls handed out a yummy sugary-syrupy drink with a cake inside. It was so good! I think it was honey cake, or something like it.

Just as the firecrackers were coming to an end, the storm that had been in the distance the entire celebration rolled in. It started pouring rain in HUGE droplets. There was also plenty of thunder and lightning. The girls hurried to work with bringing everything to safety. Once we all got into our rooms, the power went out. It was off for a good two hours. Brushing my teeth by iPod light was very interesting .

All in all, the girls had an absolutely amazing time and so did I!

Click here to view pictures from this post

This Seems Like a Good Title

23 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment

by God Carries in October 2011

Church this morning was, as usual, amazing. We continued our discussion on how God’s way of doing things is completely opposite to the world’s. We added in things from our different cultures such as how people view stay-at-home moms. It was so nice.

Afterwards, the New Zealand family’s grandpa (John) asked me how I decided on coming to India. I bascially told him my entire testimony. He told me his own and explained how the most important thing is to be willing to do what God wants you to do. He gave me some advice on what I could do after India and suggested that maybe I should pursue a degree for now, but not forget the idea of being a missionary. It was absolutely amazing to get to talk to him. It made me feel loads better about my future. I just need faith

After lunch, Lissi and I went to the girls’ short Sunday school class at one of the school buildings. Mabel from Bible camp came and led it so it was very nice seeing her. It was mostly in Kannada but the English Mabel would randomly throw in was quite helpful.

My stomach wasn’t feeling too good, so I took a nap for a while. Then, Lissi randomly woke me up and said that I needed to come to the bungalow because there were visitors. When we got there, all the girls were sitting on the floor and there were two white people and two people with cameras. I was so confused! Lissi and I introduced ourselves and told where we are from. The visitors didn’t really tell us their names or what they were doing here.

After the girls sang two songs, the white woman who came spoke to the girls. She said that a long time ago, she worked at the boys’ home in Malavalley (this home was where the Bible camp was) and, on Sundays, she’d come to KGH and do some things with the girls in the bungalow. Then she explained that the girls she knew were now all grown up and married and that she was praying for our girls. Then, all the girls were dismissed and Mabel showed her around.

I went back to my room becuase my stomach was hurting again. After it settled down, I went out to join the girls. I was holding my iPod so Tonu asked if I had the song “Mary, Did You Know”. I said that I didn’t but we could go to the bungalow for internet and I could buy it. She and another girl, Shwata, decided to come along.

So, we were sitting on the steps and I was on my iPod when David came by. He asked what we were doing and Tonu answered, “We’re terrorists so we are getting a plan to take over the world. New Zealand is next” (that’s Tonu for you). To which David replied, “Okay, sounds good. Have fun!”

After I got the song, we went over to get the snacks they were serving. Oh my gosh, it was sooooo good!! There was this sweet bread type thing with spicy trail mix type stuff. Yummy yummy!

There’s going to be a bonfire tonight in celebration of the Festival of Lights. I’m so excited!