Monday, April 12, 2010

Namaste!

Hey everyone!

We're here! We're at an internet cafe, and these computers are great. :) We arrived in Chennai yesterday around 4am. We met Danielle, Martin, Sarah and Vedha and his youngest son Danesh. We got to our hotel and slept into the afternoon.

We had a delicious lunch at the hotel, we relaxed a bit, then walked to the subway where it took us to a LARGE and VERY crowded shopping area. The streets were filled! We went into a store that had many floors, and we all shopped for sudis, the indian shirts the women wear, and scarves. I also bought a futbol jersey. :) It's for the soccer team here, Chennai Super Kings.

It is VERY hot here. And very sticky. 95 degrees. Feels like 105! I'm wearing a long skirt right now. Our hotel room isn't air conditioned, and this morning I woke up stuck to my bed sheets, soaking wet. I used a squatty for the first time in Qatar! It went well. And we've been using them in our hotel.

Vedha and Danesh are very kind, and they are leading us around places, getting us good rates. :) We are in a town called Tamil Nadu, where most of the people speak tamil, so I haven't been able to speak much Hindi.

My feet are swollen from the plane ride! It's crazy. I think it was from air pressure or something. A couple of us have very fat ankles, but hopefully the swelling will go down soon. My feet just feel really tight. The bug spray I bought is working really well, and I haven't gotten bit much.

We are getting a whole lot of staring. It's just not common to see white people in this part of India. The people here are so kind though. They always want us to sit if we are standing. And we are getting plenty of yummy food. :) We have also been buying 2 water bottles every day form the hotel. So that is good.

I think we still have a bit of jet lag, because we're all still really tired, and the heat doesn't help, haha. But we've been napping a lot. This morning we had a yummy breakfast called dosa, which is this potato curry in bread. very good!

Tonight we will take a 6 hour AIR CONDITIONED bus/van ride to Vedha and Hilda's home. We will stay there for a while, and visit their church on Sunday. We will perform a drama and some testimonies. It should be fun! Then, we'll go to Mumbai I suppose. I'll let you know. At Vedha's home, they have internet, so I can email more from there I think.

This town seems very safe. And the people are very kind. The streets are crazy. Honking 24/7. And walking here this morning, there were many young women with babies and little girls begging for food and money. It was so sad. I gave one women some crackers I saved from the plane. Another I gave my water bottle.

We exchanged some money yesterday to buy clothes, so we have rupees now. I bought a beautiful brown sudi.

Whenever you bow with your hands, the people here brighten up so much! I think it is very respectful. I love doing it. They could be frowning, and then you do that, and they smile. I think the head bobbing is awesome, and I'm sure it won't be long before we are doing it also. :)

The flights were great. We got ALL of our luggage! No problems, praise Jesus. And Qatar airways was awesome!!! It was so nice. It was a 13 hr. flight, but I hardly remember any of it! I slept for about 9-10 hours of it. :) And watched movies.

Everyone is doing great. And no one has gotten sick yet. There are lizards everywhere! I love the people of India because they live on the edge. They're not cautious about things. And the word 'stranger' does not exist. Everyone you meet is like family. It's like you've known each other for years. And I love India also because it is so random! We saw cows laying in the middle of the street this morning. And there are motor bikes everywhere!

I'm really excited to be here. Even though it's so stinkin hot, it's great. It's so colorful.

Pray that God will give us divine appointments this week. And that God will give us strength to get through these days!

I miss you all! I will write more soon! Have a great week! I'm doing great, God is providing, He is here, and I'm safe. :) I love you!!

Love,
Maria