Hi All!
Living in India has made me want to blog again! There is just WAY TOO MUCH going on over here not to share it with YOU GUYS!!!
Before I journal a few recent events...let me add...MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE and hope you're holiday planning is not too overwhelming. Enjoy the season.
SHOPPING IN GURGAON
The other day Joel and I went to a local market to find printer ink cartridges. Unfortunately, there is no Staples or Office Depot here. What we have is tiny little shops that have one or two of everything and you just go from shop to shop until you find one that has what you're looking for.
Luckily, we found my cartridges and my total was 2370 IDR (Indian Rupee). I gave the shop owner 2400.
Here's our conversation...
"Madam, please, do you have 30 rupee."
"No, I'm sorry, I don't, You may just keep the change."
"Oh No Madam! Please, maybe you take something else perhaps?"
"Ok, what do you have for 30 rupees?"
"This will do, Madam?" showing me a small purse-size spiral notepad.
"That will do very well" I said. Our transaction was complete and he seemed quite happy.
So...
Carry small money here, NO ONE has change, not even shop owners.
CHRISTMAS CAROLING, INDIAN STYLE
I went caroling with a small group from our church last night. It was an extremely unique experience to say the least and definitely worth writing home about!!!
We were supposed to meet at the church at 6:00. I showed up right on time. No one else did! By 6:30 I think everyone would have been there, but by then, we'd lost a few who decided to go off and get something to eat. So then a few others decided, while waiting for them to come back, they would run to a local market and buy some santa hats for everyone to wear while caroling. We FINALLY climbed into 3 vehicles about 7:30!!! only to spend another 30 minutes in traffic to get to our first stop. We lost both of the vehicles we were traveling with and spent another 20 minutes on the side of the road waiting for them, only to find out they'd taken another route and they were meeting us at the home. In the car, on the way there, I was told this stop was in a very bad part of Delhi. Because the family we were going to see has had some hard times, we were carrying a bucket of food and a few presents with us to them for Christmas. Unfortunately, that drew attention to us, and the fact that there was a white woman and two white missionaries walking in the neighborhood. Several people on the street took interest and we ended up clinging to our goods and walking (almost running) to the home as fast as we could with a crowd closing in on us from behind. We climbed several flights of very narrow stairs (only wide enough for one person at a time), passing through someone else's kitchen on each floor we climbed. But I have to say, the joy in the eyes of the family as we sang to them made every minute of the journey worth it!!! It was special and I was so glad I was there! Our cars picked us up in a different location so we didn't have to go back through the earlier neighborhood and once tucked safely back inside, I was told this neighborhood is so bad, even the police don't come here! (Now they tell me!!!) Anyway, the rest of the evening was more of the same...driving in traffic, winding our way down several small roads (in much safer neighborhoods), parking, walking through small alleys and climbing several floors to sing a few carols, have a prayer to bless the family and move on to the next home. We didn't finish until about 11:30 last night and I still had a 30 minute ride back out to Gurgaon in some pretty dense fog. Needless to say, Joel, who couldn't accompany us because of work, was a little stressed about me being out so late.I was more worried about keeping Brij (our driver) up and making him maneuver down some pretty nasty, narrow roads with our company car. And guess what? We get to do it all again tonight AND tomorrow night!!! Maybe!
