From the shadow of a mountain

As I live in the shadow of a mountain I wish I could adequately paint a picture of the beauty that surrounds me, but I know that words or even photos can’t describe this indescribable wonder.  The Children’s Home I am at is surrounded by the magnificent Himalaya’s and I am in constant awe at the majesty of all that surrounds me.  I think I could wake up every morning and not lose that sense of wonder.

I am loving every minute of my time here.  My team is great and I’ve met some great locals too. Yesterday was packed with two church services and a site tour. One of our church services was on a huge military base which was incredibly interesting.  More on that later. Matthew, our team leader is top notch. He is American, but has lived in India for 11 years and fluent and literate in Hindi which is a great help. I love the surprised looks on the people’s faces when he starts conversing with them in their native tongue.  I also love the fact that he is just as Indian as he is American.  I love that he and his wife speak 3 languages to their new baby son and that he understands this complex culture so very well.  

We took the train from Delhi to Kalka and the train station in Delhi was absolute madness.  The craziest place I have ever been.  I’m glad both Matthew and Jonathan, the finance manager from eMi who is local were there to guide us through. 

Two things I’ve learned the hard way about this culture.  Eye contact between men and women in generally not practiced.  Tell this to the girl who lives in a neighbourhood where everyone says hi to everyone.  I’m used to smiling and exchanging greetings with both men and women I encounter on the street.  Here my friendliness is sometimes seen as seductive. I’m trying to train myself.  Eye contact or greeting strangers in general is not really a part of this culture.  It’s something for me to get used to.  A good challenge.  I’m enjoying a new way of interacting even if it is completely opposite of what I’m used to.

Also it is considered polite in this part of the country to take seconds after a meal.  It is considered extremely polite to take thirds.  So I have to make sure my initial portions are not too big.  And I need to remind myself to eat slower too.  My plate will not even be half empty and I have 5 people telling me to please go take more.  I also strategically make sure I take seconds when people are watching, otherwise my second helping may as well not even have occurred.  This was an interesting challenge on the first day when after we arrived, our host gave us each a mountain of rice and I needed to finish it and still go take seconds.  All of this is part of what I love.

I had the chance to interact with some of the “middle girls” yesterday.  Because our day was so packed, I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with them, but am hoping to do so more throughout the week. I’m usually pretty good with names, but so far I’ve been having trouble.  The names are so different even from South India where I was last time, that I have been getting some of the kids to write their names down for me.  Today, being the first work day, the team is realizing the enormity of the task ahead of us.  We do in one week, what might take months to do at home.  Although some work is finished after we leave, everything we need on site for the survey must be completed this week.  I’m working on collecting an inventory of their existing water and sanitary infrastructure.  I’m feeling challenged, but I’m looking forward to the task at hand.

Anyway there is so much more I could write.  I know this precious time will slip away before I want it to.  I wish I could stay longer than I will, however, I hope in this short time I will be able to best learn and understand all I can from this place that at times seems so mysterious.  

 Taking a tour of the site to plan our course of action for the survey and site assessment.

 Love these girls.

 Little Raj is the youngest of the boys.  He made his way into my heart with that smile of his.

 Beauty unexplained.  Mountains like this in every direction.