Purnata Bhavan

So here are some photos of where I have been living since August. Enjoy!

Agra Adventure!

Hello Friends!
So we had a wonderful time in Agra! There was so much that we were able to do. First, we experienced the adventure of long distance train travel in India. Traveling overnight in a sleeper car is quite an adventure. You wake up to chai wallahs walking down the isle singing their tune to let you know that they are coming with some hot milky tea. You also have the beggers, eunichs and sellers of wares. It is quit the adventure. Once we arrived in Agra we made our way to the hotel that my friend had reserved rooms for us at. We soon realized that all travels in India require that you bring your passport with you! The hotels need verification of your visa and passport validity. So we were quickly on the phone to our friends in Igatpuri to obtain the necessary information. We were lucky that someone was able to sift through our things to find our passports and tell us what we needed to know. A lesson not easily forgotten. :)
After settling in... we soon got to meet with my dear friend, Beka. She played hostess for us while in Agra and allowed us the pleasure of touring the city on the back of her scooter. :) Much fun. We visited the famous Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort, got to go to Church on Sunday morning as well as get a breif Sitar (musical instruments somewhat like a guitar but bigger and harder to play) lesson. The highlight of the trip for me was our encounter with two magnificant creatures. The two elephants were waiting outside our hotel one night on our arrival back 'home'. They were wonderful. We had seen them ocassionaly in our travels throughout the city in the three days we were there and I was secretly harboring a desire to have a more up close and personal visit with them. To our surprise they were just outside our hotel one night. I so much enjoyed just getting to stand by one of them. They are truely amazing animals!
Now we are back in Igatpuri and enjoying the weather.... now that the rains have officially stopped. The sun is shining again and the mold has stopped growing on my suitcase. :) Soon it will turn cold (in about a month) and I have a shawl ready and waiting for the chilly nights. Until then... I will enjoy seeing the sunsets and the stars out at night. Igatpuri is a beautiful green place to live. I am happy to be here now!

My 29th Birthday!

Just yesterday I celebrated my 29th birthday here in the metropolis of Mumbai! My team took me out to lunch at this buffet at a very nice hotel here in town. It is called the JW Marriot... and it is one of those places where it is just pleasant to sit for a couple of hours. It truely is a wonderful retreat... even just to go for lunch. AND THE FOOD!!! WOW! The food was wonderful! I had some smoked salmon, grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and even a waffle! The dessert was fantastic too!

Then I was off to get a pedicure! One of my teammates gifted me with a voucher for a pedicure at yet another nice hotel in town, The Taj. It too is a get away hotel... but I personally like the JW Marriot better. :) I have never had a pedicure before and I must say they are quite nice! I find it interesting that my first is in India... not a place that some would expect to be able to get a pedicure. If you find a nice hotel... you can get just about anything... if you pay. :)

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing... and then I got to go to a worship conference at a nearby church for an evening service. It too was a blessing.

All in all... I thoroughly enjoyed my birthday! I am yet another year older... which for some isn't so enjoyable... but for me... well, I've not hit 30 yet. :) I have some high hopes for this coming year. They all rest on the Lord and they will all be fulfulled in HIM.

Riding the Local Mumbai Train

I am sitting here on my bed on Sunday the 15th of July.  Today was a normal Sunday here... got up at about 8am and got ready.  I walked the 10 minute walk to the train station and bought a ticket to Churchgate as well as a return pass.  As usual, I am in a line of mostly men and I get about twenty to thirty glances while waiting.  After getting my ticket I climb the stairs to cross over to platform 2 where my train will arrive.  I wait among the other women who are waiting to board the ladies car.  Riding the train would be quite a different story if there were not ladies cars... in fact it might not happen at all.  The train comes and I board... I find a seat easily because it is Sunday morning and there aren't many travelers.  At other times it is standing room only and quite another experience all together.  This morning I am happy to be able to sit for my journey.  The trains are open... the doors slide closed but they are usually kept open unless it is raining heavily.  The windows too are open with bars across them.  There are fans hanging from the ceiling of the train to keep what little breeze there is moving.  Hand grips hang from the ceiling to help stabilize those who end up standing.  There are ads taped to the walls of the train and the floors are very dirty.  You always look before you sit... cause you never know what you might sit in otherwise.  The trains are meager travel... I only pay 12 Rupees to travel to the end of the line and back home.  That equals about 30 cents in US currency.  MANY people travel by train... and  so at heavy traffic times... it is a mad house trying to get on and off when the train stops.  I have been in the midst of that twice now and it is certainly something you have to prepare for.  When there are so many coming and going... you get pushed and shoved along and you got to be on guard.  Riding the train can always be an experience.  You just never know what you are going to see.

So back to my morning... shortly after sitting down and checking my belongings to make sure I have everything I came with... 5 women board the train.  There were 5 open seats near me... but they choose 5 seats on the other side of the train... and then they proceed to talk about me.  They are speaking Hindi and so I don't catch much but I do hear that they are commenting to one another about my dress.  The Church that I go to is a little more modern and so I usually wear blue jeans with a long kurta.  The kurta is traditionally worn with a pant and scarf that all go together... meaning that they match is some sort of way... perhaps not the way that Americans would match peices of clothing... but they do usually match in some way.  Well I was wearing a sort of mix between the traditional Indian dress (for young people) and the typical Western or Modern dress.  One thing that we as a team try to do is be very conservative in our dress.  Most foreigners or Westerners you see in India...especially the women... do not attempt to wear the traditional Indian clothes.  Even though I was half and half this morning... I was still the topic of conversation among these women.  If I was in full indian dress... I'm sure I would have received more praise and looks of admiration among the women on the train (which has happened before).  

My destination was about 45 minutes away so I settled in and watched out the window to catch whatever glimpse of Mumbai that I could see this morning.  Soon there were... well I'm really not sure what to call them...  They are women and children and sometimes even men who board the train at any stop and cart their wares to sell.  They walk back and forth in the car reciting their memorized lines and display their items for all to see.  Sometimes the items are hung in the middle of the car... other times the items are in a basket or box and are carried on the heads of the women or young girls.  They are usually selling small items like pens, hair clips, combs, handkerchiefs,  earrings and costume jewelry of sorts.  Occasionally you will find some selling sweets or a fruit of some sort.  They come and go and stick pretty much to their work.  But then there are the beggars.  They are usually children or some man or woman with an obvious deformity or injury.  Sometimes you see children of 7 or 8 years carrying babies in their arms.  Other children will come and sweep out the train with a small broom or rag.  They will sweep around your feet and then stick out their hand as if to ask for payment.  Yet another group of people on the train... and I must say these are the most confusing to me... meaning I don't fully understand who they are and what their role is in the Indian society... they are the Eunuchs.  They are Indian men dressed as women.  They wear the traditional Indian saree and the jewelry that the Indian women wear.  They even grow their hair and pull it back or braid it.  The eunuchs come on the trains and ask for money and in exchange they give a blessing.  I have also heard that they can and sometimes use fear to get money... It is generally understood they can issue out a curse just as easily as a blessing and so some will give to them just to avoid the curse.  

After a long and eventful ride on the train... my stop was soon approaching.  The train car was still not very full and my inquisitive neighbors had exited the train some time back.  Again, I checked my belongings before exiting and casually stepped off of the train car.  There is some security and relief to riding in the ladies compartment.  I notice right away that I am back in a sea of men and most of them are looking at me and wondering what this foreigner half dressed in Indian clothes is doing all by herself in the train terminal.  Where is she going?  Why is she by herself?  Why is she wearing that?  All unspoken questions but clearly communicated to me by the looks and stares and chatter among the men all looking in my direction.  I have come to tolerate it... but the ladies train car is... in an odd way... a haven. 

I exit the train station and find a taxi and I am on my way to church.  The day is just beginning and I have the fellowship of the body to lighten my heart and encourage my spirit.  And they do just that.  I am grateful for the fellowship that I have here in Mumbai.  The Lord has provided for my needs... even when I don't even know what those needs are myself.  He knows what will sustain me.  Thanks be to God... My Lord and MY PROVIDER! 

Introducing Nirmala

So this is Nirmala... my language helper. I told you she was as skinny as a rail! I look huge compared to her! Now I see why the Indians say that we are so big. :) Really she is so sweet. She is wonderful teacher too. We have our lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays. She also comes to our place on Thursdays to teach Danielle and Marcy. We keep her busy... but she seems to enjoy it. This past Wednesday I read some of a conversation to her and she corrected my pronunciation. I really feel like a 4-5 year old just learning to read and recognize words. At other times I feel like a two year old just learning to speak! Still I am excited to be here and I am excited to be learning Hindi! It will be great when I can understand more and surprise people with how much I know and speak. In time...

On another note! The RAINS have come!!! Wow... I didn't know it could rain so much! We had some flooding last Saturday and it was fun watching people on TV walking through thigh high water. There were buses driving through water that was up over the wheels. It seriously is impossible to stay dry during monsoons here. You PLAN on getting wet when you leave the house! And an umbrella... just doesn't cut it. When the wind blows and it is raining (which is often) every part of you from the shoulders down is wet. The chacos I got before I left have been a life saver. They are the only shoes I will wear now in monsoon. They will stay straped to my feet if I have to waid in water and they don't flip so much water and street muck up on the back of my legs when I walk down the street. I have also established my monsoon clothes. They are entirely synthetic but they dry fast even while still wearing them. When I wear my jeans (occasionally) they are rolled up to capri length to avoid the water. My ankles are showing, which draws some unwanted looks and gazes, but my pants aren't soaked half way up my calf. All in all, I am learning to manage the rain. There are still many times when it is just pouring down and I have to go out. I just have to psych myself up for it and go knowing that I'm going to get wet and there isn't anything I can do about it. Some say... that you haven't truely experienced Bombay/Mumbai until you've experienced the monsoons here. I guess that I got initiated fast.

Learning Hindi is Hard!

Okay... so I knew that learning another language wasn't going to be a peice of cake... but I didn't think it would be quite like this.

I have a language helper that comes to meet with me twice a week for 1 1/2 hours each time. Her name is Nirmala and she is so cute and as skinny as a rail! :) She is doing a good job... but I must admit there are some things that I just don't get. So there are verbs and then there are helping verbs. Sometimes a verb is used with a helping verb and sometimes it isn't. There isn't a rule that I can learn to figure out when to use the helping verb and when not to. It's just something I have to figure out case by case. I like rules much better. I'm less likely to make a fool out of myself that way. Well... I guess I just need to get over it... cause I'm going to make a fool out of myself and I'm going to do it a lot. I had just better get used to it now. :) So, Nirmala and I have been working on verbs these past few weeks and I AM learning... just not as fast as I would like. Hee hee... again get over it right! Next time we meet... I get to work on time... and verbs by trying to tell her what I did at different times throughout the day.

Hindi is also difficult to learn here because so many people speak English. Really it was surprising to me too. :) Most of the educated people speak English and there are even those who grew up learning English as their first language. Learning Hindi from these people is okay but not the best... because they may not know it well enought to teach it. Another large part of the population in Mumbai are uneducated but only know their own mother tongue which just happens to be Tamil or Marathi... NOT Hindi. So they are not much help either.

I'm finding some things that I can do that do help in my language learning. I have my Rosetta Stone for my computer that I have used several times. I need to work on that a little more frequently. There is a small group that meets in a home just near my apartment and it is a Hindi speaking small group. I will be visiting that this week and plan to practice my listening skills. There is also Hindi music and Hindi TV stations that I can practice my listening skills. I hope to practice more my conversational Hindi when I move out of the city at the end of July to work in the womens home.

So there is a little inside picture of my language learning experience. Please be lifting me up in this... I really want to be able to communicate well... but the process of getting there at times is not very much fun. But I'm hangin in there. :)

Just saying Hi!

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I just wanted to say hi. :) I know my voice sounds really weird and high pitched... not sure how to fix that... anyway hope you get a laugh or at least a giggle from it. :) Enjoy!

My (temporary) Apartment in Mumbai

Here are some pictures of my temporary apartment. I will be staying here until mid July when I will be moving out of the city. We are kind of being spoiled with this place. We have hot water, air conditioning, water purification and even a washing machine! All of these are luxuries here that we will not have (most likely) after mid-July. I guess you can say that we are easing into the Indian way of living (at least for the majority of Indians).
So all is well for me. I am enjoying the few more days that I have the appartment to myself before Marcy & Danielle arrive on Friday. It will be nice to have them... but I admit, I will miss my alone time and having the whole place to myself. I have found that I rather enjoy living alone. Especially in India... where it is so difficult to get alone anywhere.
Language lessons are going well. I have had two of them now. My teacher is in her twenties and she teaches middle school aged children. She is very sweet. We have been working on conjugating verbs... a challenge but I am making progress. :) I would most appreciate you prys regarding my language learning. I wish I could just snap my fingers and I would be fluent. It is most difficult and humiliating at times when you mess up and say something really stupid. Still... it must be done if I want to communicate well and value what they value. I can learn Hindi. I can learn Hindi. I CAN learn Hindi! There... I think I'm motivated now. :)

More of Vienna

I am standing gaurd at the back of the Hapsburg Family Summer Palace. I found the gaurd house to be quite cozy. :)


Here is the Summer Palace from the top of the hill. This is still on the family's land. There is another large structure behind me... a place where they would have parties. Really... this place is huge. So... if you get a chance to visit Vienna... DO! Also, if you get a chance to see the movie Marie Antoinette, it shows the summer palace at the beginning. Marie was an archduchess of Austria who married a prince of France. The movie is the story of her life. It was pretty cool to actually be there to see it all and know that once a family owned all that land and the huge palace. It was fun to think about what it would be like to live in that palace. What would you do if you lived there???

Video to Share

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Yeh... I figured out how to put a video on my blog... with the help of my dear friend Anne. She has a great blog and puts pics and videos of her baby boy all the time. You should check it out sometime if you want. I've put her blog in my links so you can meet my good friends.
So we went to the Hapsburg family 'Summer' palace today. It is away from the city some and has some amazing flowers and garden areas. The land is huge and so is the palace. Anne took this video of me... I hope you can hear it okay. If this works good... I'll be posting more video's in the future... Yeah!!! Enjoy.

Vienna

So, I made it to Vienna! I'm visiting with my friends Chris & Anne. We have walked around downtown Vienna and here are some pictures for you to enjoy. This is the European Smart Car. They are tiny!


This is the St. Stephens Cathedral. The last time I was visiting in Vienna back in 2004 they were also doing contruction on the steeple. I guess it's just taking a while.


Here is some Roman ruins that were found during some construction in Vienna. They were marked off and put in this display. Pretty cool.


This is the Hapsburg Family Winter Palace. Pretty big huh. They still have festivals and fun stuff for holidays in this area.

What's next...

In approximately one month and 8 days, I will be making a major life change. I'm not getting married, not having a baby, not starting a new job (well I guess I kinda am), I'm not finishing school... so just what am I doing?

I will be moving! But wait... before you make any assumtions about this NOT being a major life change... let me explain.

I will not just be moving to another town... or another state for that matter. NO! I'm moving to another COUNTRY!

Now, talk about a major life change. Really now, think about it. There is a lot of stress involved in just moving to another town. You gotta find a new job, change your address, phone number and maybe even your drivers license and your vehicle license plates. You have to find a new neighborhood to live in, a new grocery store to go to, and a new church community to get involved in. If you have kids, you gotta find a new school too. Not to mention just finding new friends to hang out with... people you get along with well and can invite over to your house for dinner and a movie or just to hang out.

Think about all that... and now add just a little more on the plate. Say now that this new community has a whole different style of dress and your wardrobe just isn't going to cut it. And the food they eat is... well... it's not what you're used to and they don't have the quick microwave dishes that you used to rely on in a pinch. There are also all these unexpected rules and ways of doing things that are just different. For example... they have a different pair of shoes that they only wear in the house... they sit on the floor when they eat... the women are not supposed to show their ankles... and they don't eat with their left hands (just to name a few). Now lets just put some icing on that very large piece of cake. How much more stress do you think it will add to the situation when you discover that most of the poeple in this town that you are moving to... do NOT speak english?

So... yeah... I am making a major life change. If you haven't already... pray for me.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Stay tuned...

Yes... I am still using this site

Okay... so I won't waste my time appologizing for how poorly I've kept up this site. You already know if you've visited it at all. I am going to make a change though... turn over a new leaf! I realize that this is a great way for you all to check out what I'm doing and be kept up to date... but it will take me keeping up my part of posting regularly so that you can be informed.

Thanks for hangin in there with me. Really...I'm going to use this more often now.

Now I'm going to try to post some pictures. I just got a new computer... a MAC (I love it!)... and before, with my PC, I was having trouble posting pictures. So, I'm going to try it again. Wish me luck... if this works well.. that means more pictures from me in the future... I know how enjoyable pictures can be. So here goes.