New goods up on the blog! (Nov. 20)

For those of you who are checking this blog daily to see if new stuff is up (Nana), here it is! We’ve had a good couple of weeks and I apologize for the blog drought I induced here by falling behind but I hope this will satisfy you all for a while because in 4 days Zach and I are off to Nepal for 20 days of trekking and travel! I’ll try and update as much as possible but as usual I make no promises…

Thank you for giving us feedback on if you’re enjoying the blog, it helps documenting our India experience that much easier knowing someone back home is reading. So again, thank you!

Blessings to you all and have an amazing Thanksgiving holiday! We’ll be on a 27 hour train ride while most of you are diving into your Thanksgiving feasts! Eat well for us because each of us have lost about 10 pounds already and there’s knowing what another 6 months of rice is going to do to our bodies!

Love you all and miss everyone like crazy!

Blessings,

The Brothers Gilbert

Just a day… (Nov. 17)

Zach is running a fever today. He didn’t go to work and slept most of the day. I tiptoed around the room with the lights off and made sure he was comfortable during the day by checking up on him from time to time. I was on my own for the day. Now I tell you this not to boost my ego by explaining how great I am, it’s not that at all. This was the first day since reaching India that I was truly going through the day as an individual, not as the brothers Gilbert.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love being here with my brother but walking the streets by myself while heading to the post office to buy train tickets for February I began to look around and be more aware of my surroundings. For instance, instead of constantly talking while I was walking I was looking around and seeing the bustle of the day. I was moving quicker through the crowds of people and cows and motorcycles and cars. In a way it was a sense of independence that I was experiencing. I stopped and bought a soda without seeing if anyone else wanted to stop. In a way it scared me. I think that Zach will agree with me when I say that there is a sense of security when we are both together in the streets and with that gone, there was a slight twinge of fear at being in the street by myself.

It gave me time to think and pray as I walked on to the post office. I began thinking about how amazing it was that I was walking these Indian streets with no fear of being run over by a truck. That was not the case for the first week or two; in fact the first few times walking around town were downright terrifying! Now I was comfortable with the noise, the filth, and even the stares from the shop owners even though they have seen us walking the same roads for months. I praised God for the opportunity to be here. I prayed for the struggles we face while being here and the pressures that were weighing down upon me personally. The list was long, and I needed the whole walk to the post office to get through it. It’s funny how when you say the things that are on your mind out loud in prayer how much more meaning they have. Praying silently is one thing but audibly talking to God is a whole other way of praying.

God certainly has a sense of humor because as I was rounding the last corner before hitting the straight stretch to the hospital I walked by two cows. Now normally cows just stand there and chew their cud and ignore you but this time was different. I didn’t realize one cow was a female and one a male but all of a sudden the male tried to mount the female as I was passing. I literally had to jump out the way as the female tried to buck the male off! I ran away laughing out loud before thanking God for the excitement in an otherwise normal walk. It was something I won’t easily forget!

The day went on without any other excitement. I made it a point to use this day by myself to think about why I was here in India. I went to the roof after the sun set to relax in the coolness of the evening and finish my chat with God. At times it is easy to lose sight of the reasons one comes as an SM, but as the evening on the roof continued I began the process of searching for it. I believe I found it.

As a human, our natural tendency is to take our own path. Some of us are more prone to this than others but I think everyone struggles with trusting God’s will to work in our lives. I know I have and still do and as I prayed, I began to see the value of completely trusting my path to God. I came to India to be used by God, not to build up myself. I needed to be a mirror that reflects God to those around me. I needed to stop focusing on the bad here and embrace the good, amazing, and incredible things that India and its people can be and are 99% of the time. I had forgotten that, but this evening gave me the alone time to think and pray and review my role here in India.

Mission service is not always glamorous, fun, or even enjoyable when one looks at the actual physical experience, but mix in God and his plan and all of a sudden the lens is brought back into focus and for a minute it is easy to see a picture of why things are the way they are. God is good and I pray to be a mirror and to never forget the picture that is bigger than myself.

And so, while Zach having a fever is never something I would have wished on him (he’s feeling much better now), I am thankful that he did have one for just one day because it forced me to be alone and think. It provided the opportunity to refocus, think, and pray and that was exactly what I needed to do. So thank you Zach for being sick although I’m sorry you were and thank you to God, who has a plan when even when I don’t see it.

Blessings

-J

Snakes in the street! (Nov. 14)

This last Monday was Auntie Enjati’s 75^th birthday and Uncle Enjati invited Zach and me to her birthday party at their house Monday night. It was going to be a typical India birthday party with a small service at the beginning and then a meal to follow. Zach and I get super stoked about these events because the food is always amazing! So we started over to the Enjati’s house around 7.

When we arrived we were 15 minutes late and yet still the service didn’t start until 30 minutes after we had arrived. (Typical Indian Standard Time.) There were plastic chairs arranged outside on the front porch/driveway area underneath the trestle that had vines growing all over it. The service started with Pastor Vara Jacob giving a short worship talk along with another pastor who spoke before him. After the worship there was the garlanding of Auntie and then we lit the candle on the cake and sang happy birthday to her.

Just as we finished singing there was a commotion 20 feet away at the front gate. A young kid came running back into the house yelling, “Pamu, pamu, pamu!!!” which means snake in Telugu. Zach and I had our cameras out already since we were documenting the singing and stuff so we rushed over and caught the entire killing of the viper that had been found amongst the parked motorcycles at the front gate. If the snake hadn’t been spotted we may have had someone with a snakebite at the end of the party. The snake had come from the jungle across the road and thankfully a motorcycle had been driving past when the snake crossed the road. There are no lights in front of the gate and the only way the snake had been seen was with the headlight of the motorcycle.

The viper was a “Russell’s Viper” and is one of the 4 common snakes in India. It is also an extremely poisonous snake. We were told after that they call in a “five step snake” meaning you’d be dead in 5 steps after being bitten. That may be a bit of an exaggeration since we’ve never had a viper kill someone here in Nuzvid since we arrived. We did however have a cobra kill a little boy earlier in the year but that was due to his small size and the fact that the family waited over 2 and a half hours before seeking modern medical treatment.

After the snake was good and dead Zach and I got pictures with the snake! It was huge as you can see from the photos! Anyway, it was good surprise to have at Auntie’s birthday party! Again, never a dull moment here in India!

Bangalore!!! (Nov. 5-7)

This weekend was amazing for several reasons. First, we needed to get out on our own and have a weekend to ourselves. Second, Brooke Bauer, Trevor Carstens, and Sidney Krall were meeting us there for the weekend! Needless to say we were pretty stoked about heading to Bangalore.

There were some logistical problems that we ran into though in our preparation to depart. First, we decided to go 3 days before leaving and so trains were completely booked. The only way to get tickets at the last minute is to pay about twice as much as you normally would and also you have to buy tickets through what is called “Tatkal”. Tatkal is where the railway companies save a select number of tickets that can only be purchased starting 48 hours before the time of departure. This is wonderful when you think about it but the problem with it is you must buy them within about 45 minutes of the tickets opening otherwise you won’t get them. We set up to buy our tickets at the second they opened up but we ran into internet issues and finally had to suck it up and by 2AC tickets, which is the second most expensive ticket class. It was a bit spendy but we were on our way! The second thing was a bit more stressful in reality…

I headed over to talk to him about us taking Friday off and going to Bangalore for the weekend. This is same man who had us get permission to go on any trip from our parents…so needless to say I was a bit worried. The conversation started off like normal, the usual pleasantries and such and then I dropped the fun little bomb about our trip. He cut me off halfway through my explanation with the usual “No, you can’t go, it’s not safe!”. I just kept on rolling with it though and told him we had already booked our tickets. He hummed and ha-ed for no less than 30 seconds before finally telling me that was okay but that any other travel should always be consulted with him first! I left as fast as I could simply because he wasn’t super stoked on the whole thing in spite of giving the go ahead.This second thing that I speak of was our wonderful Executive Vice President, Dr. R.N. Prabhu das. The one who thinks every single part of India is “unsafe” for us to travel to and also thinks we should be under the same supervision category as the students here. (Think boarding academy style but stricter). Anyway, we didn’t tell him until Wednesday afternoon and we were leaving late Thursday night.

So with that out of the way we headed off for Vijayawada to catch our 11:15 P.M. train to Bangalore. We jumped on the bus as it was leaving by running with our bags and all while it was literally driving away! We made it and caught our overnight train. It was really nice! Trains here are the most amazing way to travel because you have a bed and power for your computer and plenty of times to read books and watch the countryside as it flies by. I really enjoy train travel and wish the US had a better rail network. We made it to Bangalore around noon on Friday and hopped off at the platform to be assailed by a million rickshaw drivers who all wanted to take us to a hotel. We had already decided where we were staying and had called ahead to make sure they had rooms available and so we immediately found a rickshaw that could take us there. There was a ton of bargaining the price down amongst about 5 rickshaw drivers before we finally liked one guy’s price and hopped on. Bangalore streets are crazy and the ride was super fun! We arrived at our hotel after about 3 u-turns and having to stop to ask for directions twice. We booked our room and immediately called Trevor, Brooke, and Sid. Thankfully our hotel was only a block away from the main shopping street and that’s where they were.

It was easy to find them since we’re all white and it was so amazing to see some familiar faces after 2 months of not seeing someone we knew before India! It’s amazing how much strength you can gain from seeing someone who is going through the same struggles and experiences you are but in slightly different place.

To some up the next 3 days is pretty easy…free/cheap sightseeing, coffee shops, and food! We didn’t do much else. We immediately went and ate at McDonald’s, which in the US I don’t care for but here I loved it! We also ate enough 12-rupee ice cream cones for about a year in 3 days! We wondered around the shopping district for the rest of Friday seeking out used bookstores to replenish our supply of books since we all have read pretty much everything we brought over here with us… We also had more food, none of it with rice or curry! It was so good to taste things that none of us had had in a long time! Pizza Hut was dinner and then coffee after! Have I stressed the point of how amazing the food was? It was AMAZING!

Sabbath we decided to run around Bangalore and see some of the temples and parks that it had to offer. Since Brooke, Trevor, and Sid had booked the guest room at the Adventist college, Lowry Memorial College, which is about 15 minutes from downtown, we decided to meet at the ISKCON Hindu Temple the next morning around 10.

Zach and I had to get a rickshaw there so we got up and found one who was willing to take us out their for 100 rupees. This is a deal since the others were charging 200. We headed to his rickshaw and took off for the temple. As we were pulling out he yelled over shoulder that he had to take us to a shop so he could get a free gas card but he would take us to the temple right after. We agreed since he also said we didn’t have to buy anything at the shops.

We arrived at the shop and were attacked by the sales people… They follow you around asking if you want to buy something for your wife, girlfriend, mistress, etc. They also use language like, “Here you go my friend, this is perfect for you”, which in my head I’m thinking, “First, you’re not my friend and also, the last thing I need is $400 Buddha statue!” When they see you’re starting to leave they start pleading with you! “Please sir, would you buy just one small thing because you are our first customer of the day and you buying would be good luck for us!” We didn’t buy anything…it was fun to walk out after they annoyed us for 10 minutes!

We then thought we were heading to the temple…NOT! We went to 4 more stores! They were all the same and with the same annoying sales people! When we got done with the 5^th store Zach and I had had enough so we really lit into the guy about going to the temple and he gave us some story about something being broken on his rickshaw but his friend would take us from here. We made sure it was still going to cost the same, which it did and we finally made it to the temple after and hour of driving from idiotic store to the next! We didn’t get ripped off money wise but our time definitely was stolen…

ISKCON temple was really amazing. The pictures are really the only thing that does it justice but it was huge and was very ornate. It really made me appreciate being a Christian and in particular an SDA. The crazy chatting and offering bananas, coconuts, and other trinkets to the statues really showed how idol worship is still very alive in this modern world. It is crazy stuff, but pretty interesting at the same time.From there we headed to the main mall for lunch because it was rumored the food court was amazing, it did not disappoint! We found Taco Bell, Sbarro and Subway all with their own “Indian twist”. After eating and lounging at an outdoor coffee shop for a while we decided to walk to the Bangalore Palace and see what it was all about.

When we reached the Palace after about 45 minutes of walking we made it to the Palace grounds. Now this palace is actually more of a castle and was built to look like some massive royal palace in England, which I cannot remember the name of. Evidently the palace is still inhabited by the original family that built it but it now serves as an event center that has hosted concerts by the Rolling Stones and some other big name bands. It is also a popular wedding spot for the wealthy of Bangalore. When we arrived they were setting up for a huge wedding. There must have been 2,000 seats at a minimum with crazy purple and green decorations with the usual gold gaudiness that accompanies every wedding here.






It was several hundred rupees to go through the Palace so we opted for a few photos out front and then headed off towards more good food and relaxation.

As we walked away a rickshaw driver literally followed as we walked the several hundred yards to the front gate bugging us the whole time about giving us a ride. Here they seriously get in your face when they think you should use their service or buy their product. It gets really old, really fast…We finally got rid of him and found a rickshaw driver who said he would give us a “free” ride if we stopped by one shop with him so he could get his gas card. Since we made sure it was only going to be one shop before leaving, we hopped on and headed to the shop. As we pulled up Zach and I realized this was the same shop that the other driver had taken us to earlier in the day. We were definitely busting up laughing when we walked in and trying to sheepishly hide behind Trevor, Sid, and Brooke…. It didn’t work though; they recognized us as the “twins” who hadn’t given them good luck in the morning by not buying something! And we were happy to bring them more bad luck by not buying anything again! It was actually kinda fun to walk in and already know you weren’t going to buy anything.

Once we finished with the shop, we hopped back in the rickshaw (all five of us), and headed off towards the main road and our hotel. We arrived and hopped out saying thanks for the ride since he had indeed said it was free. He immediately began telling us we had to pay but we insisted he said it was free and began walking off. At this point he was torn between leaving his rickshaw in the street and chasing us down to bargain for a price. Sid put 20 rupees on the seat and it fell off in the gutter and Sid grabbed it up again but the driver thought it was in the gutter so he went looking for it and we made our escape! He said it was a “free” ride 3 or 4 times and we weren’t going to let him go back on his word! It was an awkward but fun experience for sure!

The rest of the evening was spent wandering around the Brigade road area, eating at various restaurants and finally finding another coffee shop to play card games in. It was a super good day and nothing was better than spending it eating and seeing the sights.

Sunday we all met at our hotel and then headed in to get breakfast at our favorite restaurant/coffee shop in Bangalore! Mateo is a wonderful little café that has everything from amazing donuts to tasty pasta dishes. It also has comfy couches and chairs to sit in so we planned to plant ourselves there for the entire morning and eat and play card games. While sitting there waiting to leave for Zach and my 2 o’clock train a guy walked up to us and asked us where we were from. That happens all the time but this guy was an American and we started talking with him about where we were from and what we were doing in India, the usual questions. Turns out he was touring the world as a Watson Scholar. The Watson Grant is a grant given to graduating seniors from participating colleges and universities that allows students to travel the world for 12 months following graduating from their respective institution. The grant requires that you only visit countries you’ve never been to and also requires you to research a topic that you want to learn more about. Our new friend, Manny, was researching and studying the international Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community around the world visiting the countries of China, Australia, Brazil, India, and England. He had just arrived in Bangalore three days prior after being in London for 3 months. Did I mention that the grant gives each person $25,000 to travel the world? Also, you can’t return to the US while on this grant for entire 12 months. It sounded so amazing but WWU doesn’t offer it and I didn’t know about it until now but for all my friends who are juniors could transfer to Whitman because they are a participating school.

Anyway, it was fun to hear about Manny’s experiences so far on his 12-month trip and also talk about the struggles we’ve had while here. Zach and I left at 1 to catch our train at 2. We hopped on the train after a little difficulty finding the right platform. We still hopped on with 10 minutes to spare and settle in for the 18-hour trip back.

The weekend was absolutely amazing! It was filled with good times with amazing friends. It was really a boost after being stuck in Nuzvid for 2 months with the same scenery.

That was Bangalore and I hope that you enjoyed reading about our trip.

Blessings, J

Murder in Nuzvid… (Oct. 27)

Now the title may be a little bit startling but you may have also noticed that this entry is talking about an event that occurred while we were in Narsapur so don’t worry too much all our female family members out there! Also keep in mind I’m telling this as it was told to me.

It seems that the interesting things happen while we’re gone and this is one of those times. Thursday evening a man stumbled into the ER with his throat cut from ear to ear. Of course blood was everywhere as well as a blood trail following him from the door so the ER went to work on him right away.

Now lets rewind a little bit and talk about how this happened. The man who was murdered was a local politician who was known to be quite corrupt. He had a reputation for telling people he would get them a good job since he knew everyone and was very important but only if they paid him 100,000 rupees. Now this had happened several times between this corrupt dude and a friend of his and the friend had had enough. The corrupt politician and his friend were riding on the corrupt politician’s motorcycle down a street that borders the hospital compound when the friend pulled out a sickle and sliced open the throat of the politician. This happened no more than 150 feet from the main hospital gate (and no more than 100 ft from our room) and since the politician wasn’t dead he kept his chin down and walked himself into the ER.

When he reached the ER he couldn’t talk since his throat was slit but he was able to write down the name and address of the man who had attacked him. This was fortunate for the police because they had the victim right there telling them who did it. Since one, and maybe both of his jugulars had been severed there wasn’t much the doctors and hospital staff could do. He died within 15 minutes of reaching the hospital.

We did see pictures of the guy after he had died and been cleaned up a bit and even then it was not pretty… The cut was deep enough to go all the way through his trachea and was probably 8 to 10 inches long and was gaping open 6 inches wide. There really was no way to save him but he did provide valuable information so the police could catch the killer.

While this story is definitely not a happy story it certainly shows the shocking things that can happen unexpectedly here in India. This really was an isolated incident and was caused by special circumstances but it is shocking nonetheless.

Just another day in India for most, but we should all pray for the family of the corrupt politician, he and his family need Jesus too

Narsapur Volleyball Tournament (Oct 27-30)

We left bright and early Thursday, October 27^th for the trip to Narsupor. Uncle William Moses Enjati in his SUV picked up Zach and me at the hospital gate and we struck out to our destination 3 hours away. Zach and I had unwisely stayed up too late the night before so we quickly fell asleep in the back seat in spite of the honking and curvy roads. Our driver was the same driver we had had on the way to Machilipatnam a few weeks earlier so it was good to see a trusted driver behind the wheel.

We sped along back roads for the first half of our trip. This was the part where we were napping in the back. All of a sudden though we pulled onto an on ramp that looked very similar to one in the US. Evidently the fastest route to Narsapur is to drive on small country roads and then get on the Chennai-Kolkata highway and follow that north along the coast to Narsapur. The Chennai-Kolkata highway is 4 wide and is extremely well maintained. It was really a sweet surprise to be driving along at 60 mph with little honking and hardly any swerving. The road was still open to everything from herds of cattle to huge trucks so it wasn’t exactly like an American highway but still quite close! We turned off the highway about 20 km away from Narsapur and drove along a river all the way to the school. Uncle was telling us that when he went to school here back in the 50’s and 60’s the only way to travel up and down this stretch of river was by boat but now roads crisscrossed all over India and the use for the boats was obsolete.

We finally arrived at the school around noon and first went the dorm where the rest of the guys from Nuzvid were staying. We noticed right off the bat a plaque on the new girls dorm with the names of Ron and Janet Wilkinson. It was pretty cool to see names we recognized! Right after that we went to the main area where the tournament was going to be held. There was a huge multi-colored tent next to the dirt court with flags on 10-foot poles encircling the court. Evidently they take this tournament very seriously!

When we arrived there were a few people milling about, messing with the sound system and chatting. We got out and realized we knew a few people there including our friend Vara Jacob. It was nice to hang out and chat to people while we waited to head over to George Kaligithi’s house for lunch.

Around 12 we headed over to Uncle George’s house to eat lunch. We sat down in plastic chairs under the palm trees and were served coconut water straight from his trees. It was nice to relax and sip on a coconut in the shade. Lunch was served right after we finished introductions and our coconuts at a table that had been brought out where we were sitting. It was nice and cool since it had rained earlier in the day, which was a welcome change from the squelching heat of Nuzvid!

Lunch was the usually rice and curry but this time most of the curries were fish curries…Now I haven’t ever liked the taste of fish, but this meal was prepared specially for us and I didn’t have the heart to say I didn’t like fish in front of our hosts so Zach and I begin picking through the pieces of fish looking for bones. It was probably my least favorite meal we’ve had here in India so far but the vegetarian dhal was quite tasty! I ate a lot of that and graciously took the smallest portions I could of the fish curries. It was a memorable meal for sure!

Now the games were supposed to start around 2 with the first game starting at 3 so we walked back over to the school. In fine India time frame the opening ceremony didn’t start until 2:45… But once it did start it was quite the ordeal. All the teams were lined up in front of the large tent with all the players in matching jerseys and flags. Nuzvid’s jersey baby blue and for the first time I was kinda happy not to be playing for them…Kidding, but we definitely didn’t not get lucky with the color for our team’s jerseys.

The opening ceremony lasted over an hour since every important person had to be honored with garlands and everyone who had even the slightest importance had to say a few words. The teams stayed standing throughout the ceremony with their flags. Also, it had rained quite heavily since lunch and so the court was soaked. There were a few ladies with buckets and sponges attempting to dry the court, which we found to be pretty hilarious!

The ceremony ended with all the teams gathering together in front of the table with all the trophies and having a prayer and right after the first game got underway.

The obvious favorite with the crowd watching was the local Narsapur team since they had the support of all the students who had the tournament days off. All the students watched the games and it was fun to get to know some of the kids while the games were going on. The questions they asked us never changed…”what is your name? Where are you from? and How long are you here for?” We eventually did have so

These children have been there at the school with few vacations or visits home so it was cool to hear about their homes and families. One kid I will always remember was Abushek. He was one of those kids who just wanted to hang out and chat and joke as much as possible. His smile is forever imprinted in my memory! He was from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which a state in India located east of the mainland in the Bay of Bengal. It was fun to hear about his home and family and all sorts of other things.me really fun conversations with some of the younger kids who were super friendly, which was really fun.

Now since we couldn’t play in the tournament Zach and I played a couple exhibition games but it wasn’t the same as competing. However, the next day that all changed when the father of Ravi came up and asked us to play on his team. Now Ravi was a younger guy we met from Spicer College who was an incredible hitter on the Spicer team. His dad (who’s name I can’t remember) works in Kuwait drilling oil and was back in India on leave. We jumped at the chance to play competitively in the tournament but we didn’t realize the other 4 guys on our team couldn’t play to save their lives…Needless to say we lost every game we played on Friday, badly. It was fun but also very frustrating, but more about that later.

That evening we headed to vespers where Zach was asked last minute to do closing prayer. He tried to pawn it off on me but I’ve spoken 3 times for stuff and he’s sneaked on by, so I was able to get off the hook this time. He did a good job and the service was actually pretty good.The games continued all day Friday up to sundown and then we had dinner in the café. The food there was positively amazing! They had some of the best curries and dhals I’ve had from a cafeteria anywhere. I think it was one of those times where they make extra good food when there are guests, but hey, I was totally down with it!

The next day we headed to the Kesanapalli church about an hour and a half away from Narsapur. We rode with Uncle William Moses in his SUV and got there around 10 when we thought Sabbath school was just finishing. Turns out it was just starting! Church ran until 3…longest church service of my life! But on a positive note all the seats in the main part of the church were full so Zach and I sat in the balcony and caught a little nap. It was a good service though and they called us up and garlanded us along with Uncle William and his wife who coincidently donated all the money to build the church. It was a nice service but I was definitely ready for lunch!

Lunch was at the estate of a church member next door. And when I say “estate” I really mean it. He had two huge houses in the middle of a coconut grove on a pretty big piece of land. This guy worked in Abu Dhabi working for a construction company. He was on leave for a few months and he was a really gracious host. It seems like there are a lot of people who work in the Middle East either drilling oil or as construction workers. Also at lunch were most of the volleyball players from Lowry Memorial College, which is the Adventist college outside Bangalore.

After lunch we headed out to the beach, which was only 10 minutes away. We didn’t do much there. Here in India going to the beach is exciting in itself so everyone basically walked around a bit and then we headed back to the estate for fresh coconut water! The owner served us all coconuts on the front porch by using his sickle to put little holes in each one for us to drink straight from the shell. It was a good way to end the Sabbath before heading back to Narsapur and the volleyball craziness that awaited us there.

We hopped in a different car going back to Narsapur since Mrs. Enjati had come from Nuzvid and met us at the church so she road with Uncle in their SUV. We made it back to Narsapur around 7 and watched the rest of the evening’s games until it was our turn to play. Now like I mentioned above, Zach and I had been placed on a team with guys who meant well but couldn’t play at all. Also, our next game was supposed to be against the best team at the tournament, Spicer College. It was going to be an absolute decimation but Zach and I were looking forward to it. Evidently the rest of our team wasn’t feeling the fun vibes because they informed us they were all quitting and we wouldn’t play our last game. We objected and argued we shouldn’t just quit but the rest of the team had made up their minds.

With that in mind Zach and I were determined to still play and so we set out finding new players among the new group of friends we had met over the last few days. Vara agreed to play with us as well as Pamu, a guy whose parents live in Nuzvid and we had met at the hospital. Pamu had a friend from Hyderabad join us also. When it was all said and done we actually had a fairly good team!

We started off against Spicer with a lot of enthusiasm but little team cohesiveness since we’d never played together before but we quickly remedied that. We barely lost the first game of the three game set but came back and actually beat Spicer in game two! It was quite fun to see the fear in their eyes at the thought losing to a team of misfits! During the second game the Spicer team began getting angry with the ref and with each other and we simply let them bring themselves down. It was a great win for us and the crowd certainly loved a good match!

Unfortunately for us, the Spicer team rallied in the last game and beat us. But for us it was still a win because we didn’t even think we were going to score 15 points per game! In the end we all were still friends with the Spicer guys and it turned out to be a great competition!

We finished the evening out with an exhibition game before heading back to our guest room. The guest room we stayed in was actually supposed to be for another bigwig who didn’t end coming to the tournament after all so we took it. It was in the same apartment that Vara was staying in so it was nice to be right next door to him. Also, an optometrist who worked in Nuzvid for 35 years stayed on the extra bed in the living room of our apartment. His name is Dr. Rani Gy and he is a pretty hilarious guy! He carries his video camera and still camera with him everywhere videoing and taking pictures constantly. He is also the nicest guy and we really enjoyed having him stay in the guest apartment with us.

The only downside to the weekend were the mosquitoes…they were awful! We actually had to put up our mosquito nets in the room with some plastic twine Dr. Rani Gy had with him. We hadn’t put them up the first night and that turned out pretty bad, but after that I slept great! Zach on the other hand didn’t tuck his net in completely and he woke up with three amigos that had enjoyed his tasty blood all night. Finally on the third night we both slept well and were mosquito free.

Sunday we slept in and still made it to the semi finals and finals since everything in India runs about an hour and a half late, except for trains buses and church services…those start on time, most of the time. Anyway, we watched Lowry Memorial College beat Spicer College and then we watched our home team from Nuzvid win the finals in their league against the Kadapa team, which ironically is where Brooke, Trevor, and Sid are teaching this year, sorry guys… The games ended with the usual jumping around and cheering and all that fun stuff but Zach and I slipped away with Mrs. Lillie Kaligithi to see the “Sweet Home” orphanage.

Sweet Home truly lives up to its name. It is everything an orphanage should be and more. As we walked down the road through the campus it was truly beautiful and you could tell the kids who were their enjoyed there “sweet” home! After we toured the entire campus and met many of the children we headed to Mrs. Kaligithi’s home for lunch. It was fantastic! All the food we’ve had at people’s houses has been amazing and I actually get excited when we get invited over because you know the food will be tasty. We ate with her and then it was time to head back to Nuzvid.

We crammed into Uncle Enjati’s SUV and set out for Nuzvid. We actually ended up catching the bus and switching over to that because Uncle had to meet someone in a nearby village. It was fun to ride back with our friends who had won the cup and for a bit the bus was pretty crazy but eventually we all fell asleep or road along listening to music or reading. We were all pretty exhausted but it was good because the weekend was amazing!

This weekend was great for so many reasons. We were able to get away from Nuzvid and see another amazing school and orphanage that has so many amazing people running it. Also the students were really fun to get to know and I would love to go back! I think we both would love to return to Narsapur and the Sweet Home Orphanage.

It was a weekend of good times!

Off to Narsupor! (Oct. 27)

Well, it’s pretty late here, (12:40) and we leave for Narsupor bright and early for a volleyball tournament so I guess I’ll write more later! Things have been challenging here but also amazingly fun and exciting! We’re counting down the days until the dentist arrives so we can get involved with the dental clinic but until then we’ll hold down the pharmacy and out patient department like champs! God has really been blessing us and I’m sure that’s due to the many prayers from home. Thank you to everyone who’s been following our blog and praying for us, it means the world to us!

Blessings,

J and Z

DIWALI!!!! (Oct. 26)

So here in India the Hindus seem to have a festival every month or so and this month is no exception! We’ve had 3 major Hindu festivals since our arrival 7 weeks ago! The festival that fell on this day is the festival called Diwali. It’s the festival of lights as well as fireworks and firecrackers! This sounded great but experiencing it was what really made it absolutely incredible!

We were playing volleyball like we do every evening here and as the sun set the firecrackers could be heard all over town. Thirty minutes or so after sundown our tiny town of Nuzvid sounded like Baghdad on the night the US started the Iraqi war…

Needless to say Zach and I couldn’t resist the urge to head into town and see what all the firecrackers were about! We started walking into town and almost immediately we knew this was shaping up to be a crazy evening. What people do for Diwali is light candles and put up strings of lights and then the best part, they buy boxes of fireworks and shoot them off in the streets!

Now these fireworks aren’t anything like the pansy fireworks we have in the US… These things have 10 times the bang with a tenth of a fuse! Also, safety is not even thought of. People toss lit firecrackers out in the street regardless of who is walking, driving, or crawling by! We immediately saw it was our responsibility to make sure we didn’t catch a firecracker in the face by watching every side! The streets of Nuzvid were extremely hazy with smoke from all the firecrackers and you couldn’t walk 50 feet without having a firecracker blow up 15 feet away from you!

As we continued through the streets we finally found some shelter at our favorite street food vendor who sells some of the best samosas I’ve had for the price! They cost 5 rupees per samosas, which is about 10 cents. So Zach and I always get 2 or 3! As we sat there under the awning eating the frenzy of fireworks only increased.

We finished eating and heading down the main street. This is where things got a bit more nerve wracking. A guy threw a firecracker into the street not 5 feet in front of me and maybe 8 feet from Zach and it went off. You could feel the shockwave from the explosion and my left ear was immediately ringing! It was pretty crazy but we kept walking and finally decided to head down to one of the icecream shops in town to buy cookies for our trip to Narsupor in the morning.

The shop was closed, but as we turned around to head back to the hospital a family waved us over to their house and asked if we wanted to shoot off some “crackers” with them. Of course we did! They told us in broken English how to light the firecrackers and IMMEDIATELY throw them into the street. There was quite a bit of emphasis on ‘immediately’ so that’s what we did. It was soon apparent why immediately was so important; the firecrackers had the most deceptively short fuses I’ve ever seen! The fuse was over an inch long but burned for only 1 second at the most! It was amazing how loud these things were and sometimes they exploded no more than 5 feet from where you had thrown them! It was so much fun lighting and throwing these things because you really did feel like one little slip up could hurt really badly!

The mother of the house suddenly invited us into the courtyard of the house and made us sit down. She then proceeded to bring out sweet cakes and a sweet noodle and yogurt treat, which we ate with spoons out of metal cups. The cake was “burfi” and the noodle stuff was “simya”. It wasn’t half bad but I didn’t feel like I could have eaten more than she gave us. We chatted with them some more while one of her sons set off more firecrackers in the yard about 10 feet away, that was safe! We then headed back out to the street to intending to leave and head back to the hospital but they handed us more firecrackers to blow off so we stayed a bit longer.

Now several things happened while we were blowing these things off. I threw one into the street but it didn’t go off and we thought it was a dud. It wasn’t though, and about a minute after I threw it a lady was walking by it and it exploded right before she almost stepped on it! She jumped, turned around and began yelling at us. I’m assuming she was swearing at us but she kept walking. It was so funny but I did sympathize with her since almost the same thing had happened to us earlier. Also, whenever one didn’t go off immediately our gracious and crazy hosts would run over and check it and try and light it off by lighting a piece of newspaper on fire and putting it next to the wick. This seemed a bit dangerous to me but hey, like I said before, safety isn’t really thought of here in India.

Another thing that was really crazy was when one of the girls in the family lit a firecracker and didn’t through it fast enough. It ended up exploding 1 to 2 feet from her hand and Zach and I were standing right next to her so of course we felt the whole thing. Thankfully she was fine but we were pretty scared! Also, our ears were now ringing like gongs!

After setting off a few more we said goodbye to our new friends and headed back towards the hospital but we literally had to run from safe spot to safe spot until we got off on a quieter street and even then every once in awhile someone would be lighting off more firecrackers.

We finally made it safely back inside the hospital compound and the safety of our room! It was by far the craziest thing I’ve ever experience with firecrackers and I pretty sure this is my new favorite festival! I think we should celebrate it back in the US just for fun!

Prisons and more impromptu speaking (Oct. 22)

While eating lunch at Enjati’s house Uncle William Moses received a call from the prison ministries coordinator asking if anyone at his house wanted to go help with the prison outreach that afternoon. Since Zach and I were the only one’s under the age of 30 there we agreed to go.

We hopped in the tiny van that the coordinator drove around in and headed to the prison. I would tell you his name but when we asked him his name he told us we couldn’t pronounce it and so we should just call him “uncle”.

Upon arriving at the prison we headed in to see the prison director who we were told was the youngest the prison had ever had. I would say he wasn’t even 30… but the prison seemed to be doing it’s job with the barbed wire and 20 foot high rock walls so hey, no worries here!

We chatted with him for a few minutes before signing in on the register and heading into the prison yard. The walls were from the original prison built by the British back in the time of British control in India. We of course had been asking about the prisoners. We wanted to know what they were in for and how long most of them had been in, etc. We were told that all types of criminals were put in the same prison here. Everything from murder and rape to theft and cheating… I’ll admit that surprised and caught me off guard since that’s not necessarily how I envisioned it being but in we went. The prison was quite nice. The prisoners bathed in the yard in showers that were nicer than the one in our room at the hospital! The prison yard was a medium sized courtyard with the cells built into the outer walls of the courtyard. There were women with babies right in the mix of the rest of the prisoners. It was all organized in a very efficient way but not anything remotely close to the prison I had envisioned in my mind.

They put out chairs for us and all the prisoners sat down on mats in front of us. I counted somewhere around 60 prisoners in total and they all seemed to be eagerly waiting what we had to talk about. The coordinator got up and began leading song service in Telugu which neither Zach nor I am proficient at… About 10 minutes after we had left the hospital the coordinator had asked me to give another impromptu talk for the inmates. Fantastic! I’m getting pretty good at the whole “make something up on the spot” thing! I’m starting to wonder why Zach never gets asked though…

The song service lasted just long enough for me to get my thoughts together and then we had a solo song by one of the inmates. The coordinator told us later that he couldn’t read or write but he loved to sing but he had to sing by himself because he basically made up the words and song as he went since he didn’t know them by heart. He sounded quite good for apparently not knowing what he was doing with the words. It was all in Telugu so Zach and I couldn’t tell the difference.

I got up and gave my talk which was strangely close to the one I gave at midweek prayer and at the churches we visited a few weeks back… It’s nice having different crowds to preach to because you can keep the same sermon!

After the sermon the prisoners wanted Zach and I to pray with them so we prayed with each one individually. It was great so pray with them.

The prisoners had to eat then and then head back to their cells so we left the prison yard and went back to the prison director’s office to have a nice cold Sprite! The prison director wanted to know all about us and why we were in India and such. It’s funny how every person asks the same 3 or 4 questions when we first meet them. “What is your name? Where are you from? Why are you here? and For how long are you here?” Without fail, these questions are asked in rapid succession here in India by almost anyone you meet.

After our chat with the prison director we headed back to the hospital to eat dinner. Then we decided to get a jump-start on laundry! It was a good Sabbath full of surprises and good experiences!

White people after 7 weeks!!! (Oct. 22)

Now I mentioned in the last post that the best part of Sabbath was church… Now normally I wouldn’t be the one to say that but as we sat there between Sabbath School and church 6 Caucasian people walked by and up to the front of the church! Zach and I were both stunned! We didn’t know they were coming and it was definitely a shock after being the only white faces we’d seen since arriving!

It turns out that near here in Ibraham Patnam there was a group of pastors putting on some evangelistic meetings for two weeks. This Sabbath they had been invited to come and put on the church service here in Nuzvid!

It was amazing! The sermon flowed in an organized manner that we hadn’t heard since arriving here and one of the pastors was a very good soprano saxophone player who stayed on pitch the whole time he played!!! I had almost forgotten it was possible! The man who spoke was William Miller, which is ironic because he was speaking on Oct. 22 (Great disappointment thingy in 1844?) and also because as he began introducing himself and telling about his 3 children (2 boys and a girl) I realized that I had been in Argentina with his daughter! The Adventist world shrinks the more I meet people all over the world!

Anyway, it was great to talk to them after the service and make more connections. Pastor Miller’s sister was on the trip and she’s from Wenatchee so there are some more things to connect everything.

The Daily Grind (Oct. 12-25)

Well, not much has happened since we last added to this wonderful little blog we’ve got going here…We’ve really settled into the monotony that is everyday life here in Nuzvid. Don’t get me wrong, everyday has it’s new set of challenges but truthfully there isn’t much to do is this little town so we’re entertaining ourselves as best we can! Two weekends again, (Oct 14-16) we simply stayed in Nuzvid, went to church and enjoyed AY in the afternoon. (We still haven’t gotten used to being in meetings every weekend for a total of 8+ hours from Friday vespers to Sabbath late night prayer meeting) Anyway, we did laundry on Sunday and played some volleyball. It was a pretty dull weekend but a relaxing one at that.

Sunday night our good friend Raj Pitta came by with his wife and asked us if we wanted to go to Ranchi on Wednesday to preach on Sabbath and help with music. We were excited about the whole thing but skeptical since Raj is a planner and not a logistics kinda guy, if ya know what I’m talking about… I love Raj but he has great ideas that rarely seem to become reality. The waiting list for the train tickets was up in the 60’s so it was a slim chance that we would even be able to get tickets, but we tried. A couple days later we found out it wasn’t going to happen but no worries because we hadn’t really gotten our hopes up.

The rest of the week didn’t really have much going on with it. (Oct. 17-21) We did get invited over to the registrar’s, Robert Franklin’s, house for dinner on Wednesday. That was definitely something to look forward to! Wednesday afternoon I (Jeff) also had a great surprise from Dr. Prahbudas… He called around 4:30 and asked if I could give a talk at 7:00 (yup…2.5 hrs ahead of time) at the midweek prayer meeting. I initially told him yes but had forgotten about our dinner plans. I remembered Robert Franklin’s invite about 15 minutes after I told Dr. Prahbudas yes and immediately called him back to explain the situation. He answered and I began to explain that I couldn’t do it but he didn’t even let me finish… All he said was something to the effect of, “Don’t worry, no problem, you can go to Robert Franklin’s after giving your talk.” In dealing with Dr. P I’ve come to understand that to mean, “Don’t worry, what I want you to do is way more important than dinner at Robert Franklin’s…” Basically everything Dr. P does is the most important so this really wasn’t surprising. I ended up giving the same sermon I gave at the three churches we visited a few Sabbaths back so it was all right.

The talk went well and it was actually nice to give it without using a translator since midweek prayer meeting is really only for the nursing students and they all have class in English so I just gave my talk.

Right after the meeting Zach and I rushed over the Franklin’s house thinking we would be late…we weren’t. Mr. Franklin had gone out to get some last minute groceries so we sat and talked to his wife. It was really nice to sit on a couch again!

Mr. Franklin arrived and got right to work making his specialty, “parata”! It’s basically another form of naan or chapatti’s but so much better! He rolled out the dough on an oiled granite slab and then picked them up and slapped them down on the stone again. He oiled his hands between each parata by dipping his fingers in a bowl of oil. After slapping them down he bunched them into little balls by half folding, half rolling them. After that he rolled them back flat and put them on the flat, metal cooking plates on his stove until they were golden brown. The smell was amazing and the paratas came out light and crispy. Right after that Satir, the chaplain here at the hospital, came and so did the Franklin’s niece who is a nursing student and lives with them. She is from Maryland and speaks English with absolutely no Indian accent! It was really nice to speak English without having to listen carefully to what the other person is saying!

We sat down to eat and as expected it was phenomenal! We ate so much food and then sat in the living room and chatted for a bit. We then headed back to the hospital and headed off to bed. Eating at people’s houses here is where all the amazing Indian food is at!

The rest of the week went by without incident. We did however meet a man named George Kaligithi who is the brother-in-law of our good friend William Moses Enjati and also the grandfather of Anisha Sukrutham! He lives in Eugene, OR but is here visiting family. He also happened to be in the hospital due to his diabetes so once he found out Zach and Anisha had gone to UCA together and we had all been at UCA at the same for Anisha’s graduation we were instant family. He invited us over to William Moses’ house for Sabbath lunch so we headed over there after church. Lunch was great but the greatest thing about Sabbath was actually church this week…

New stuff!

There's a bunch of new stuff up now! Enjoy!

Blessings,

J & Z

Suicides and Snakebites (Oct. 12)

Things have moved back to normal this week now that Dussehra is over but you never know what you’re going to encounter in a hospital. We’ve become accustomed to snakebite cases coming into the ER but one thing I won’t get used to are the suicide attempts. This week we’ve had one every day this week with the most traumatic being today. Most of the time the people they bring in have taken some sort of poison ranging from pesticides to household cleaners but today they brought in a guy who tried to hang himself. I needed to get the pharmacy key from the ER so when I headed in there they had just finished in abating him and were using a bag to keep him breathing. Of course he had a neck brace on and looked to be in pretty bad shape. They worked on him until about 5 when they decided he was stable enough to be transported by ambulance to Vijayawada.

It’s really sad to see so many suicide attempts in a city that only has 50,000 people. I’m not sure why there are so many here but the reasons they give are dealing with problems at home, spouse abuse, or even as simple as they got into an argument with their husband or wife. We’ve talked to the doctors and staff about why there are so many here in Nuzvid and they don’t understand it either. Evidently the number of suicide attempts seen here is extremely high and abnormal for the rest of India.

I don’t understand and I don’t think I ever will. The only thing you can do is help them when they come in to the hospital and of course pray. It’s hard not being a doctor and going on rounds and seeing patients who have problems and all you can do is pray for them. That’s much better than nothing though…

Impromptu preaching… (Oct. 8)

I can’t say I relish the idea of speaking up front. I can do it but wouldn’t consider myself amazing at it. I also like having a good amount of time to prepare for it to ensure I don’t get up there have no idea what I’m going to say. Well, after our surprise trip to Machilipatnam we were treated to another wonderful surprise when Pastor Kumar Pitta knocked on our door at 10:30 PM. He’s Raj’s older brother and they are definitely related. We had talked about maybe going with him visit the 3 churches he pastors some Sabbath but we didn’t know it was going to be this one and we certainly didn’t think we would be speaking at them. Pastor Kumar had a different idea. We would be speaking at all 3 churches in the morning! We tried to explain that we would prefer to speak another weekend so we would have more notice and more time to prepare. Normally that would have been a good enough reason to get out of speaking the very next morning but Pastor Kumar countered with, “Well, I’ve already to the church members that you’re both speaking”. This guy was good! He’d covered all his bases…. We were absolutely exhausted from traveling to Machilipatnam and back and running on little sleep with it being festival week and all so we headed to bed intending on preparing our sermons the next morning. The problem with that was, we were tired and we slept a bit to long and so when 8:30 rolled around we were still just looking up texts to use for our topics. Thankfully Kumar was in fine Pitta form and came a half hour late. We still really only worked on our sermons for maybe…10 min?

Anyway, we set off to the first church and Zach somehow weaseled out of speaking. I spoke there at the first church to an audience of 8. The church was about 15 ft by 30 ft and was decorated with crazy streamers and banners. It was really nice to have a small audience but still it was certainly nerve wracking. We ended up not singing at this church and I almost fell asleep while Pastor Kumar gave his talk since I was perfectly hidden behind the pulpit. I was pretty thankful for that!

We finished up with the first church and moved on to the second church, which was a couple kilometers down the road. The 2^nd church was identical to the first with the layout and decorations except that this church still had it’s Christmas banner up behind the pulpit with not only a picture depicting the manger and Mary and Joseph but also Santa Claus in all his red suited glory. This church had a few more people but the attendance was still under 25 people total. Here Zach and I both spoke as well as sang a couple songs, which we came up with on the spot. I ended up pitching “Teaching the Truth in Love” by Acappella about 2 steps too low so that ended up being kind of a disaster but hey they didn’t know the difference!

Here was the first church that we had members wanting us to pray with them and give them a blessing. This part of the day really had an impact on why I was here. It made me realize that even though I was falling asleep from lack of sleep as well as hungry and tired from the heat, this was a phenomenal way to witness. I hope that we represented Jesus.

From this church we ended up stopping at one of the members house for chipatis and potato curry, which was absolutely amazing! Zach and I were talking about how if we were able to get a motorcycle we could come out here to this ladies house and learn to cook this stuff! Zach and I both ended up drinking the water they handed us to wash our hands with…oops. But hey, it’s been a couple days now and no vomiting or diarrhea. I think we’re in the clear, hopefully.

The third church was identical to the first two and we did the same thing we had done at the other churches. There were more kids at this church though and that made it really fun. Here we prayed with more people than the other two churches combined. It was interesting to find out that most of the members we saw were Hindu Christians, that is they held true not only the beliefs that SDA’s hold to be true but also any number of Hindu teachings they have chosen to follow. It occurred to me that this would not be a weird thing to do if you were a Hindu because Hindus are polytheistic to begin with so in their minds, what’s one more god to add to the list. While this is true, I also found kind of sad. It’s almost like they have the concept of religion all jumbled.

One interesting thing about these little village churches is that they have sound systems…but not for the inside. They have speakers that are on top the church and project out to the entire village. I’m sure the villagers have mixed emotions about that. I know I would!

Our day ended around 4:00 PM when we got back to the hospital. We didn’t really do much after that since we were so tired after preaching and traveling and not sleeping…but it was certainly a good experience for us. I think we are both going to prepare some sermons though so we’re not unprepared when we get asked to speak less than 12 hours before we have to speak. Although when you’re using an interpreter to speak it does give you a few seconds to gather your thoughts and figure out what you’re going to say next. So maybe less preparation is okay!

Blessings J & Z

Another surprise trip… (Oct. 7)

We got up Friday morning expecting a normal half day at work but of course the administration here love throwing us curve balls periodically. As we arrived at the chapel for worship, Dr. Prabhu Das and Robert Franklin met us in the hospital entryway. Now if you remember Dr. Prabhu Das is the “helicopter administrator” and Robert Franklin is the extremely helpful school registrar. They informed us that we would be leaving for Machilipatnam in 10 minutes for yet another fun filled trip to the state police headquarters! Now keep in mind we were running on about 4 hours of sleep after being up until 3 the night before partying it up in the streets of Nuzvid for Dussehra. This was not especially fun to find out but at least we would have the opportunity to sleep in the car.

This time we took the same “Ambassador” type car as we had taken the first time but this time we only had 3 of us plus our driver which gave Zach and I plenty or room in the back seat. It is actually a really comfortable car if you only have 4 people in it.

We set off and Zach and I were out before we were out of Nuzvid. We stopped after about an hour and a half for breakfast, yogurt over rice cakes, with coffee to wash it down. I can’t say we liked the rice and yogurt combo…

We headed into Machilipatnam and straight to the police headquarters. Of course the guy we needed to see wasn’t there so we went out to make some copies and then back to the same restaurant we ate at twice the previous time we came here to Machilipatnam. Thankfully this restaurant is really good so that wasn’t a huge burden for us!

After food we headed back to the headquarters and actually finished up our paperwork in about an hour. It was really nice to finally hold the finished permit in our hands and walk away knowing we wouldn’t have to come back here again!

After that we headed to find the fish market because our driver wanted to find fish to take home. We found the fish market and it was quite the experience. Most of the fishermen had come and gone already but a few people were still there trying to get rid of the last of the days catch. It was really disgusting around the stalls, because like the rest of India, cleanliness is kinda on the back burner. There were only a couple types of fish being sold along with shrimp, crabs and small sharks.

We then headed off to find some papaya, which we found but Robert Franklin must have forgotten we had asked to stop for some because we buzzed right on past a million papaya stands! Oh well, next time.

We then headed back towards Nuzvid but were still in search of fish to buy for our driver. We stopped at little villages along the way home, but it was no use, the fish we were looking for were not around.

Suddenly we pulled off to the side of the road about 2/3’s of the way back and got out of the car. We thought we were looking for some more fish to buy but it turns out the place we stopped was on a manmade lake that they use to farm fish. At the time we stopped there were around 30 or 40 people unloading these long metal boats of hundreds of 2 to 3 foot long fish. They would load the fish into crates and then 2 guys would each put a crate on their heads and then haul it over the bank and onto a tarp to the guys packing the fish in ice. There was a big pile of ice that the truck had brought as well as a couple scales. We were told this fish would be taken to Delhi where there was a great demand for this type of fish. The truck was no refrigerated of course so the drivers would work in pairs and drive all the way to Delhi nonstop.

It was really cool to see as they unloaded all these fish. There were several young boys working and they all wanted us to take their picture and show them.

When we first arrived the boat they were unloading was about half full. As we were leaving another boat was being poled up to the unload point and it was loaded all the way of to the edges of the boat. It was only a couple inches above the water!

This was one of the most interesting things I’ve seen so far in India and I’m glad we stopped even though we didn’t find any fish for our driver. Actually have fish in the car would have stunk so I guess that’s a good thing we didn’t find any!

Dussehra! Partying it up Hindu style! (Oct. 6)

This week has been the week of the biggest festival here in Nuzvid. The festival celebrates the Hindu holiday of Dussehra. This holiday is to remember the goddess “Durga” who, in Hindu fables, was created by the gods when they needed a being to defeat the demon King Mahishasura. The gods all gave Durga their prized weapons to do this task and so Durga is portrayed in Hindu temples as the goddess with all the arms each holding a different weapon. I still think Hinduism is the strangest religion of all time but the people are so nice and they certainly know how to throw a festival! It is sad to see modern day idol worship be this prevalent.

Anyway, here in Nuzvid this is the festival to beat all festivals and it did not disappoint! The festivities have been building all week in the form of preparation for the big crazy parade and celebration on Thursday night. We headed out with some friends around 8 to go see what was going on. As we walked from the hospital down through the town streets there were definitely more people on the streets than normal and this number of people only increased as we moved closer and closer to the main street in town which has a Hindu shrine built beside it amongst the shops. Very quickly the crowd became so thick that you weren’t able to walk you could only shuffle along and the entire mass of people moved around like waves on the ocean. The air was filled with the sounds of people making noise with noisemakers as well as the pounding of drum brigades. Needless to say, it was extremely loud! We moved through the crowd and once we were close to the center of the action we squeezed off to the side to watch a group of drummers and also this dude dressed up as the Indian goddess Durga. He was parading around holding a trident and eating fire! It was pretty cool! Then he hopped on his ox drawn cart that was decked out with hundreds of bright lights in a big design that resembles a male peacock all fanned out. The oxen were actually huge bulls, the white ones with the hump that are the most common here in India, and when I say huge bulls I mean HUGE! The backs of the cows were as tall as Zach and I! I felt pretty small standing next to these huge animals.

We enjoyed the craziness there for a while and saw many of our friends from the school in the crowd. We even ran into Dr. Rao and his wife as well as one of the older guys who plays volleyball with us. It was funny to see Dr. Rao in the crowd because it seemed to unlike him to be out at the festival! We then headed back towards the hospital since the procession actually didn’t start until 11 or 12. I had no idea how crazy this festival was! People had told us it was the biggest of the year and it didn’t disappoint!

We got back to the main street near the hospital and then headed out past the government hospital to the estate of one of the grandsons of the original king of Nuzvid. This is where the procession always starts every year and there were probably 10 or 12 tractors pulling carts with the same type of float we had seen earlier in the main part of town. The lights on these floats were powered by generators, which were being pulled behind the trailers. You would think the noise from the generators would be annoying but these generators also powered speakers on each float that were blaring the ceremonial Hindu music heard all over India so you really couldn’t hear the generators. And don’t forget the drum people… We looked over the floats and then walked back into town to watch the procession. By now it was 11 or so and the procession should have been starting soon but it was late so we ended up waiting until 12 or so. While we were waiting there were different groups performing in the streets. One group was doing synchronized sword fighting with bamboo sticks, which actually looked more like dancing that anything. This was all done to the beat of a drum of course. Other groups were just dancing and drumming.

Finally the floats and people began moving through the streets around 12:15. The first thing in the procession were these giant doll looking things made out of paper mache that people wore and then danced around as they walked. This is one of the famous parts of the celebration that is unique to Nuzvid, so it was really cool to see it first hand. Every couple hundred feet the participants in the parade would stop and do their thing while not moving for 5 or 10 minutes before moving on through the streets. This was really nice because by now we had climbed up on a rooftop and were watching the craziness from above. It gave us a really nice view of the celebration!

The procession slowly moved past us with each “float” having roughly the same things on it: a dude dressed up as a goddess with several maids who were also dudes dressed up to play the part. Evidently here in India males play the roles in spite of the fact that most of the characters in this festival were female. We also were told that one of the groups was not just acting but were cross-dressing eunuchs. You kinda have to expect the unexpected here in India because everything goes!

The procession continued past us until around 2:30. We were told that this procession would move around the town until around 7 AM but we didn’t follow it around for that. We had work in the morning, so once we had seen it, it was off to bed! The pictures are really the only things that do this festival justice and even then pictures are nothing compared to experiencing it first hand! The bottom line of this festival was that Hindus know how to party!

Busiest week yet… (Oct. 4- Oct. 7)

As the title states it’s been busy… We’ve had so much happen over the past few days! The week started off slow with a regular start but soon started to get interesting! Many of these things were good but several of them were very sad.

I’m going to start with the sad and finish with the good stuff. First off, whenever a snakebite case comes in to the ER most of the hospital knows it, especially for me working in the pharmacy because we handle all the antivenom. This Wednesday, a family brought in an 11 year old boy whom had been bitten by a cobra. Cobras are the most poisonous snakes here in India and I believe the world, if I’m not mistaken. So this case was especially dangerous, not only because it was a cobra but also the size of the boy. The prescription came in immediately to the pharmacy and we quickly got all the drugs needed for this boy. It had only been a few minutes since we sent out the meds that we heard screaming and crying echoing through the hallways of the hospital. The hospital is rather big and the pharmacy and Out Patient Department were on the other side of the hospital but the crying could be heard clearly. It turns out the family had waited too long to bring this boy in and he had died upon arriving to the ER. It certainly put a solemn haze to the rest of the day. So far we have had many snakebite cases since Zach and I arrived but this was the first death from one.

Sometimes families in the small outlying villages try and take snakebite victims to magicians or shamans but of course that doesn’t work. It turns out the boy had been bitten 2 hours prior to arriving at the ER and he simply had gone too long without treatment. I think the saddest part of this whole thing is that he could have lived. We’ve asked the doctors here how often snakebite victims die and the answer we’ve always heard is almost never. Most of the people hear understand the importance of time when rushing to the hospital for treatment but not every does. This was one of those cases.

The very next day before we were doing rounds with the doctors and were still in the ER/ICU checking on the patients there when another family brought in a 4 or 5-year-old girl who had been hit by a bus. She was unconscious and had a large gash in the side of her head. They began patching her up immediately but were worried about the head trauma so she was sent off to Vijayawada for CT and MRI scans. The facilities here at the hospital are fairly rudimentary. We only have an X-ray machine and I’m pretty sure its from the early 90’s and so if we need any other kind of tests done that involve some kind of imaging, the hospital is forced to refer patients to Vijayawada.

Anyway, that those were the two traumatic cases that came in this week. Things like that are common but not for us so it was a little bit crazy from our point of view this week.

Thursday brought on a whole new type of excitement though!

Exhibition! (Carnival) (Oct. 4)

Our friend Raj has been telling us about this “exhibition” for the past week and how he wanted to go to it with a group of students from the school. He kept telling us that we’d do it all of last week and that didn’t happen. Raj is a great guy with tons of good ideas but you don’t really know if what he says is going to happen until it actually is happening. We also figured out that the “exhibition” is really what we would call a carnival or fair back in the US.

Anyway, we actually ended up leaving for the exhibition around 7 PM and headed over right after stopping by Raj’s house and picking up the rest of the group in the family toy car. (It’s super small) Zach rode in there with the family and I hopped on the back of Raj’s motorcycle and off we went.

The exhibition was pretty cool for being so small. There was a row of vendors selling the usual cheap festival stuff. There were also carnival games, but much more rudimentary than in the US. They had a BB gun shooting booth and a booth where you throw rings at little blocks of wood and if you ring one you get a prize. Another popular one was where you had to try and roll 6 ping-pong balls into little numbered slots and add the numbers up to see what prize you would get. Zach and I played the ring one and the ping-pong ball game a couple times and each walked away with a really cheap LED flashlight that broke literally the 3 time I used it during a power outage…that’s not an exaggeration.

There were also rides like you would see in the US at the fair but with much less of an emphasis on safety. For instance there were no attendants walking around checking to see if you were properly buckled in, but that’s probably because there were no buckles. There were only bars on 2 of the rides we went on but not even a chain across the side of the Ferris wheel that went super fast. You actually achieved a slight feeling of weightlessness on that one! It was super fun to walk around go on the rides but the best part was the food! We had amazing samosas and this other dish that I really wasn’t sure of but it tasted good and they said it was veggie. There were also these crispy “Elephant ear” things that they put chili powder on. It was definitely different but pretty good. We stayed there for a couple hours and then headed back to the hospital.

I thought we were done for the evening but on the way back Raj stopped and picked up some chicken street food that is unique to Nuzvid. Zach and I tried a bite but didn’t eat the rest, partially because we were stuffed and partially because we still haven’t really enjoyed eating meat here…It’s just a bit different when you walk past a couple butcher’s shops around town and see the chickens hanging there in all their glory…

Anyway, it was a pretty fun evening and definitely one of those “India experiences”!

More white people in India! (Oct. 3)

Since we’ve arrived we have been the only Caucasians we’ve seen. That’s totally fine and I really do enjoy it, but for some reason it is comforting to know that Sidney Krall, Brooke Bauer, and Trevor Carstens are in India now! We chatted on FB with Trevor and it was good to hear about how things are going for them. It sounds like we’re having many similar experiences. We figured out we’re about 9 hours or so away from them so we’ll definitely have to head town for a weekend trip soon. I think Zach and I are stoked to know we have other amigos relatively close by (by Indian standards).

Blessings

Monkeys, Motorcycles, and Hindu Temples (Oct. 2)

Well, Sunday morning sometime between our 2^nd and 3^rd loads of laundry our good friend Raj Pitta stopped by our room to chat with us. He’s does that on occasion but today he wanted to see if we were interested in heading to a village about half an hour from Nuzvid to see this Hindu Temple. The temple was on top of a hill but started at the bottom with a small temple and then from there were 1300 steps straight up the mountain with 5 smaller temples equally spaced up the 1200 steps on the way to the top! It was quite amazing! Now that was exciting but the ride there was even more exciting!

We started off from Nuzvid on 2 motorcycles, Raj and Zach on one and myself and Johnson, another friend of ours, on another. We zipped through traffic for 30 minutes weaving in between trucks, buses, cows, goats, other motorcycles, etc. I thought all my scary moments on roads had been used up while teaching drivers ed but I was sadly mistaken… It was definitely fun but none the less a bit nerve wracking. I think that was mainly because I was simply a passenger, not the driver.

Anyway, we made it there and climbed up to the top of the hill. It was really amazing seeing the village below and all the surrounding countryside, which is normally hidden from view. The Hindus know how to build sweet temples! I love the architecture and thought that goes into making these impressive structures but at the same time it’s humorous to me to see their gods and realize how ridiculous the religion is. I want to respect these people’s religion but I don’t think I’ll ever understand it.

One great thing about this temple is the fact that it is home to hundreds of monkeys! They were hilarious! There were monkeys of all sizes, mothers with little baby monkeys riding on their backs and hanging from their stomachs as well as full-grown adults swinging from trees. We got close to one adult monkey who was close to the edge and he turned and leapt to a tree branch about 30 feet downhill! They were super entertaining to watch!

After we climbed to the top and chatted with the police radiomen stationed at the top next to the temple we headed back down. While we were waiting for Johnson to catch up (turns out he has bad knees after a motorcycle crash almost killed him 7 years back), we were looking out over the village when all of a sudden the power came back on and all the lights in the valley turned back on! It was amazing to see the entire village come back to life just as the sun set and power was restored.

We got to the bottom and headed into the village for some street food. Now up to this point I haven’t had any problems with the food disagreeing with my stomach or intestines but I wasn’t sure how this was going to go… We had battered and deep-fried chili peppers and these deep fried dough balls with chutney. I wasn’t worried about the deep fried stuff but the chutney was cold but absolutely amazing! I decided to tempt fate a bit and so far it’s turned out all right. Raj told us to slowly start eating the street food and in a couple weeks we would be totally fine. I hope he’s right! At this point I think Zach and I are getting braver with the street food and so far it’s going well and is absolutely amazing! Fingers crossed!

We also had some chai, which is made right on the street by tea and coffee vendors. That is something I may become addicted to by the end of our time here. It’s only 6 rupees for a cup the size of a shot glass but that’s all you need! It’s sooooo good!

Power had gone out again right as we were getting food so once we finished eating we hopped on the bikes and started out for Nuzvid. Now at this point Johnson hadn’t really talked to me while driving because I thought he needed to concentrated on the driving but evidently once the sun goes down the driving is easier so he was able to chat the whole way back while weaving in and out of the same traffic…(Sarcasm) He also thought this would be the best time to tell me about his motorcycle accident and 32 minute 4 AM motorcycle runs to Vijayawada. (It normally takes at least an hour) I definitely enjoyed the ride back but it was more nerve wracking then the ride in the daylight. I really do love how they all use motorcycles over here. It really easy and super fun! I’m thinking I need one for when I get home! Haha!

Anyway, that was our Sunday activity. I wish we had a motorcycle of our own so we could explore more, we’ll see how that goes in the next couple of weeks. Raj says he’ll help us get one for cheap! Hopefully that works out!

Blessings, J and Z