Namaste

We arrived safely to India! Thank you for your continued prayers.

Time flies when you’re…flying. It seems like no time at all passed between when I left XNA and arrived in India. Ha. Definitely racking up the frequent flyer miles. I seem to be adjusting to the time change well (the mandatory afternoon tea times sure are helping!) We arrived in Mumbai around 1:30am on Monday. We were blessed with a 5-star hotel room that night, for a brief rest and warm shower. We had been traveling since Saturday night, and I, for one, needed that shower! The next morning, Monday, we flew from Mumbai to Bhuj, the capital city of Gujarat. Gujarat is north of Mumbai, on the west coast of India. From Bhuj, we were transported by SUV through villages and tiny towns to our final destination— Ghandidam. Phew. Monday night we settled into our hotel, met with the leaders of the Kutchi Development Project (KDP), and began to plan and organize for the celebration conference this week.

The sights and sounds of India are out of this world. I feel like I’m on a movie set…the wrong movie set. Any moment now, I keep telling myself, someone is going to tap me on the shoulder and say, “psst…Jenn, we need you over here, you’re about to go on…” and then I would return to reality. But, for the next several weeks, this IS reality.

…elephants and camels in the road, and cows everywhere, and beautiful, tiny women in colorful garments, with silver urns precariously balanced atop their heads, flowing down the road from the well, giggling children, and children with dark, blank stares, car horns (oh my, the horns!), dusty, dirty, filthy feet, decorated with jewels and bracelets, tarnished silver and gold, jingling…lots of jingling…chai, creamy and sweet, incense and smog, overpowering moth ball scent, curry-stained fingertips, bobbling heads signifying ‘yes,’ and nods I once understood as ‘yes,’ now signifying ‘no,’ muggy, sticky-back-of-neck hot, impeccable service, trains of tiny men following me everywhere, sweeping up after me, straightening things I wanted off-centered, calling me ‘madam’ and blinking a lot…

I had some traditional clothing made last night. Three tiny ladies and one man who knew the words “Fantastic!” “Classy!” and “Very Fashionable!” helped me sort through piles upon piles of fabric. I went in thinking I knew what I wanted, quickly became overwhelmed by the limitless choices, and settled on some drab colors with exciting trim, when I originally was looking for some fabric in the neon genre. “Don’t want to cause any more of a scene that I already am,” I said to console the part in me wanting the magenta and tennis-ball-yellow colored scarf.

Still not certain of my role here, or the purpose I am/will be serving. Just learning, a lot. I did think there would be more people here. I was prepared to not be able to move because of all the people. So far, things seem pretty normal, density-wise. But, I am in a more remote area… Mumbai will be a doozy.

I don’t think I have malaria, yet.

Chai time. Namaste.