Parmeshwar ne Chidiyo ko Banaya

This past week was a big week: Thanksgiving and Jeremy’s first birthday.

Thanksgiving Highlights

What a busy, crazy, and thrilling day.  Almost everything that happened on this day was noteworthy, but I will try to condense it all.  Our meeting at one of the top hospitals was extremely successful.  We will be renewing our contract and will be working together in the weeks to come on an advertising campaign.  Unlike the meeting the day before in which our business contact couldn’t stop yawning and rubbing his face, these business people were extremely accommodating and friendly. 

Next we got McDonald’s and ate it in the back of a rickshaw.  Extremely hilarious.  I can only imagine what ran through the Indians’ minds that saw us: Cokes sloshing and ketchup dripping in our business suits speeding through traffic. 

I also got Henna, or as they call it here, Mendhi.  I feel so cool.  It is like I have a tattoo, but with no pain and no real commitment.  Thanksgiving dinner was an incredible spread considering our resources and our only oven being a toaster oven.  I stuffed myself with sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, roasted chicken, bread, corn on the cob, reconstituted cranberries, stuffing, pumpkin soufflé, apple crisp, and sparkling mango juice.  Best of all, I got to skype with my family. 

Jeremy’s Highlights

In India, the first birthday is a big deal.  I’m not talking cake and presents with a house full of guests.  I’m talking 200 guests in a rented hall with catered food and a meticulously detailed program. 

I got to see people that I have only met once or twice.  I also got to meet new people.  Because of my camera, I was dubbed the photographer.  So I spent most of the night snapping pictures with an intermission of bathroom runs with the little girls.  The night was a blast, but let me tell you…schmoozing takes it out of me.  I was totally pooped.

PS-This week I also read my first Hindi sentence that I understood.  It is the title of this post.  Translation: God created sparrows.

 

Who Knew?

Diwali

So this past week was Diwali, the Festival of Lights.  This is celebrated by firecrackers (lots of them), lanterns everywhere, Christmas lights, colored sand designs in front of doorways, and lots of sweets.  It celebrates the return of the beloved king turned Hindu deity, Ram, from exile.  It is also celebrated by work and school holidays.  Some of the brothers came up with the idea to have a 2 day seminar about being light to the world. 

Of course this meant planning full two day seminar with notice of a day and a half.  We had a nice turnout and it was a very encouraging time.  At the end of each day we had a candle lighting ceremony.  We learned/sang songs about being light and it was a very moving time: Faces aglow with candlelight and Indian voices booming in the small room. 

On another note, I have discovered that I am not impervious to culture shock.  There, I said it.  Lately I have been feeling easily agitated and tense.  Also, I want to sleep all of the time. 

“I don’t experience culture shock.  I’m above the normal human experience.”

Well, out of curiosity, I just googled “culture shock” and clicked on the Wikipedia article.  Rather comical.  Talk about a mirror.  You should do this.  The timing isn’t quite the same for me; I think that mine has been accelerated.  Read the section on transition shock.  Ignore the last two points and the word “suicide.”  This description is rather accurate.

“What do you know…I’m a human.  I’m not just a rock wall that is completely resistant to influences of culture and location…Who knew?”

Coping mechanisms of choice: Two days alone, Work, Chips and Salsa and Queso, Quesadillas, Apple Cider, Christmas Music, Long walks

The "O" Word

The content of my previous blog entries has been relatively informative thus far.  Although slightly out of character, I feel the need to express to whoever a string of consciousness involving something called Feelings.

This past weekend I was able to visit a hospital in our part of the city.  The hospital also supports an orphanage for HIV orphans from the ages of 4-16.  A group of ladies and myself went to just learn about what they do and how the workers their serve.  All of the orphans are boys.  All of them are very cute, but it takes a while to get them to smile.  The youngest, Joseph, hardly talks.  He was abandoned in the jungle at 6 months old and was found by some fishermen or something.  Anyway, we just sat and folded paper airplanes which the boys promptly turned into objects of war.  More smiles, some giggles.  Little bit of eye contact.  At the time, I didn’t know that all of the boys were HIV positive.  After leaving I found out. 

We walked over to the hospital and talked about the treatment of the boys.  I had many questions about this because of my time in Zambia.  The government of India just gives Anti-Retroviral medication for free.  Free.  This allows the children to live into young adulthood.  The boys have emotional problems the older they get because they understand that something is different about them.  They won’t live as long.  They are sick even though they don’t feel any different. 

My thoughts.  Why is it that some kids are born in India and they get proper medication and others are born in Zambia where there isn’t?  Why is it that any kids are born with HIV?  This is so unfair.  What about all of those Zambian babies that I love that were buried simply because of their parents choices in a country with poor health care?  Maybe they have it better  What must it feel like the first time you realize that you will die young, that your life was determined to be cut short even before you took your first breath?  I hate it.  I hate it for the babies who don’t grow up in Zambia.  I hate it for the children that grow into adults who face their ever shortening life with no parents to love them.  I hate it for babies left in the jungle.  So many babies.  I hate it for all of them.  So much. 

I encourage you to think about what Jesus speaks into the life of the orphan.  Use a concordance and just look up the word “orphan.”  I am still learning.

Nepal News

So Nepal is an amazingly beautiful country.  If you ever get the chance to go there, you should.  The government is not paying to say this.  I speak of my own volition.  Noteworthy things about Nepal include but are not limited to:

Time

I thought that India Standard Time was janky with the 10 ½ hour time difference from Central Standard Time in the US.  Wait for it…Nepal is 15 MINUTES later than India.  Why even bother?

Language

Nepali is closely related to Hindi with some similar words and structure.  It also uses the same script.  This means that I can read street signs and billboards, but much like Hindi, I have no idea what they mean.

Mountain Math

3 Tallest Mountains in US:

-McKinley, Alaska, 20,320 ft.

-Saint Elias, Alaska, 18,009 ft.

-Foraker, Alaska, 17,400 ft.

3 Tallest Mountains in the Annapurna Himalayan Range:

-Annapurna I, 26,545 ft. (10^th Tallest in the World)

-Annapurna II, 26,040 ft.

-Annapurna III, 24,787 ft.

[Creative names, I know]

Greeting

Namaste is used more in Nepal than in India.  It is accompanied by the “praying hands” gesture in front of your face.

Marriage
Customarily arranged marriages are the way to go in Nepal, much like in India.  However, I was unprepared for an older brother who approached me after church services in Kathmandu.
"Are you married?"
"No, I'm not."
"Stay here and I will find you a Nepali man."
"Well, we have to go back to India..."
"Don't marry an Indian man.  They only want your money.  Nepali men aren't like that."
"Ok, well...[insert mumblings about how I'm happy and I have to work in Mumbai, so I can't stay]"

P.S.

You may think that I am high maintenance and whiny, but I would like to publicly state just how much I loathe leeches.  They are disgusting creatures and I hate them.