I'm on top of the world!

Rickshaw Accidents: 7
Motorcycle Accidents: 1

I'm in Nepal and it's beautiful! Shelly and I got here on Friday morning after riding a train for 12 hours, crossing the India-Nepal border on foot, spending a day in a Nepali ghost town with pretty much nothing because of political strikes, and then riding a bus for about 16 terrible hours through some amazing mountains (driving in Nepal is pretty much like driving in India and it's about ten times worse when you are flying around sharp curves)! To say we were glad to finally make it to Kathmandu would be an understatement! The Nepali people are so unique and probably the most beautiful people I've ever seen.

We are staying with our friend Bhuwan's family and friends and they have been so wonderful and are taking us all over the city. We rode around on motorcycles our first day here and went to see some beautiful temples and palaces and yesterday we climbed to this huge Buddhist temple that looks over all of Kathmandu. The view was incredible! This morning we woke up at 3:30 and rode motorcycles up this beautiful mountain to watch the sunrise. It was really foggy and I'm not sure I've ever been so cold, but it was definitely worth it. They say on a clear day you can see Mt. Everest, but we couldn't see much. It looks like I may leave Nepal without actually seeing the top of the world! The drive back down the mountains was incredible- we went through all these small villages and it was exactly what you think Nepal would look like!

The next few days are going to pretty much be one big adventure and I'm SO excited! Tomorrow we are going bungee jumping in the Himalayas on the border of Tibet(if you happen to think about us tomorrow a little prayer would be nice)! Later in the week we are traveling to Pokhara, a beautiful city in the mountains, and going white water rafting. We are also going on an elephant jungle ride in CHitwan N.P. and are hoping to visit a couple of villages also- those are my favorite!

So we have a pretty big week planned! I miss our friendsin Kolkata, but it's been pretty nice to get away from the craziness of India. The political situation isn't exactly stable in Nepal right now because of some big elections coming up, so if you think about it, please pray that we would stay safe during these next few days and that the big elections coming up here would be peaceful. I hope all is well back home... see you back in India!

"Before the mountains were made, before you had given birth to the earth and the world, before time was, and for ever, you are God."
- Psalm 90:2

Happy Holi!

Yesterday was the Holi Festival in India, also called the Color Festival. It's probably one of my new favorite holidays... it was SO much fun! I'm still not exactly sure what the festival is for or what it's celebrating- something about crops but that's all I could figure out. Shelly and I left our apartment yesterday morning and I was literally purple five minutes later. Everywhere we walked people would yell Happy Holi! and run up and smear color on our faces. We went to one street and everyone was outside dancing and there was a little band of drums and a rickshaw leading people around... color was flying everywhere and everyone was just laughing and dancing and having the best time! By the time we made it back to our apartment we were COVERED in paint- I was pretty much black! It took so long to get it all off... I'm still a little pink and blue in some places!!

Shelly and I are going to Nepal this week and we're sooo excited! We still aren't sure when we are leaving (we aren't so great at planning in advance), but I'm pretty sure it will be one day this week. We have a lot of Nepalese friends from school and we are really hoping to get to meet their families- I'm really excited about that! I've heard nothing but really great things about Nepal so I'm excited to go and see it!

Tomorrow is Easter, so Shelly and I are going to church and then to lunch somewhere in Kolkata. I'm sure it will be a great day, but I know we will miss home a lot tomorrow. I would love to fly home for the day and spend Easter with my family! We went to my friend Shaid's farmhouse last night and Shelly and I tried to talk them into having an Easter egg hunt with us... they didn't think it was a good idea. I hope you all have a great Easter back in America... eat lots and lots of good food for us!

My Indian Family

Namaskar!

I can't believe we have less than two months left in India. I'm not gonna lie... some days I get excited about coming home and seeing my family and friends and Shells and I talk all the time about what kind of foods we are going to eat our first few days back (it's pretty much always the same.. a steak!) but then to think of leaving my friends here makes me so sad. Yes... I know I can come back and visit, but it's not like I can email them or call them when I get home. My closest friends here live on street corners and in rickshaw parking lots and beneath train tracks. I guess for now I can't think of leaving... I'll just be here.

It's been the best week. We've been spending every morning or afternoon at DumDum this week, and it's been so much fun. I absolutely love those families. Shelly and I have gotten really close to a lot of the moms there, and it's so nice to just go and sit with them. Most of them are younger than us, and it took them a long time to warm up to us. We didn't think a lot of them liked us at first, but I think they just didn't want to bother getting to know us because no one stays for long. Well, we're pretty much best friends with all of them now. They're so protective of us when we're there and always make sure we don't sit in the sun (they love our white skin and we love their dark skin... we always argue about who's is the best) and they tell everyone we're their sisters. The picture of the lady and her baby is my friend Mogoli and Babushna. He's probably the cutest baby in the world and she's such a good mom. I think they give little Babushna all of their food because he's so chunky! She always gives me Babushna when I come and tells him I'm his American mama. I really, really love this family. Shelly and I really want to do something special for our friends there before we leave. I love the part in the Bible where it talks about throwing a banquet and inviting the poor because they can't give you anything in return. We want to do something special for our friends at DumDum but really have no idea what to do. We have probably about 30 or so friends there, but when you start giving out things the kids start coming from EVERYWHERE. We brought chocolate a couple of days ago and I saw kids I haven't seen in the two months I've been here. I don't know where they come from... but they come. If you think about it, please pray that we would think of something special to do for our friends at DumDum. No one ever does anything for the moms and dads and grandparents... people bring food and all for the kids, but no one gives them anything. We just want them to know that we think they're special!

Shelly and I went to Sealdah on Friday to see our friends that we haven't seen in a long time and had so much fun. They decided we needed makeovers, and before we could say anything they had pulled out all of their makeup and jewelry. To say that I looked like a clown when they finished would be an understatement. It took all I had not to burst out laughing when I looked in a mirror and then at Shelly. To make it all complete, they pasted two dots on both of our heads. I thought I was never going to stop laughing when I left! It really was so nice to hang out with them where they live, though. They love to share their things, even though it isn't much at all. I think we could probably all learn a lot from them.


That's about all from Kolkata, so dta-dta (good-bye in Bengali) for now!

We're moving!

Today Shelly and I are moving into a new apartment and we're sooo excited! We've been living in a guest house for the past couple of weeks, and it's pretty terrible! It's pretty much a box and we had one too many encounter with huge roaches.... seriously, they were HUGE! We've spent most of the week looking at apartments, and NONE of them worked. They were either too far, in a bad part of town, already taken.... there was always something wrong with them! We found this apartment yesterday and it's perfect! It's right in the middle of the city and we have a room on the 8th floor with a great view! We're really excited about our new little home! We even have a shower with HOT water... as in hot water that comes out of the wall, not even from a bucket! It may not seem like much to you, but trust me... in India, this is a big deal.

I thought I'd put up a few more pictures of our life and friends here in India. The first one is our little friend Samim at Coffee Day here in Kolkata. The one of the four girls is a little family that lives at Dum Dum. That's there home behind them... a little tent under a bridge. Sonaya, the smallest one, is probably one of the cutest little girls I've ever met. I absolutely love going to Dum Dum and just holding her. She's so, so sweet... she has the biggest brown eyes you've ever seen and she loves to just sit in my lap. Her older sister, Shema, the one on her right, is absolutely beautiful and has the sweetest spirit. I love to sit with the two of them and play games with them... I'm not sure what I'm going to do in May when I have to leave them and come back home. The other picture is of our new friends Acia and Chupa. Chupa is Acia's granddaughter... they told us that Chupa's mom died but we're not really sure about that... she called someone from our phone yesterday and kept telling us it was her mom. They make up stories about their lives to make you feel really sorry for them but then I think they forget sometimes when you become good friends with them! They make me laugh! I met Chupa one night on Park St. and she had a terrible burn on her arm. Shelly and I have been taking her to the hospital every other day to get it cleaned and dressed. I'm starting to think it's almost pointless... she always takes off the bandages and when we meet her it's realy dirty. It's really bad, though, and we're afraid she's going to get an infection so hopefully she will understand that she needs to keep it cleaned. She's a really sweet girl and her grandmother is hilarious... I'm realyl glad we met them! The other picture is the first night we found roaches in our room.... so, so nasty! And maybe you can't tell how big he was big, but trust me... he was huge.

Well, I need to go finish packing and start moving. I'll leave you with something to think about from a new book I'm reading...

"In 1996 the World Health Organization reported that an annual increase in preventive care of 75 cents per person in the Third World could save 5 million lives every year. That would take less than $3 billion. Surely the people of the wealthier nations can find $3 billion to save 5 million people. The National Center for Health Statistics reported that people in the United States spend between $30 and $50 billion each year on diets and related expenditures to reduce their calorie intake."
-Ronald J. Sider, from Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger