durga puja

today i let this city steal my joy. traffic in this city is usually pretty bad but today it was awful. i really think it is because durga puja is next week and so everyone is out shopping for gifts. my hour commute (at the most) was turned into two hours sitting on a hot, crowded bus. i cant wait for thailand.

my kolkata self

kolkata has a way of leaving its mark on people. i have been in this city for five weeks now and i can already tell the effect it is having on me. melissa told us that kolkata tends to bring out the introvert in people and i can see this as true in myself. as a women in this city, i cant smile or look at the men which is difficult when they are all around. the commute in the morning each day is an hour of walking, riding and then walking some more. it involves a lot of weaving in and out of pople, cars, rickshaws and animals which at the end of the day adds up to exhaustion. i get home and crash on the couch for about 5 minutes then i sit in the kitchen to watch my indian mom cook and listen to her nuggets of wisdom. i have found that it is hard for me to process things in this city because there is rarely a free moment or time spent alone. i encounter beggers everyday and i still dont know how to react to them. i see men staring and touching women as if they were a piece of meat everyday. i got hit by a bike rickshaw yesterday and the driver didnt give me a second glance. i am quick to judge all the men of this city because the stories i hear. i am always ready to fight over a few rupees when a driver tries to rip me off. i have learned to see the beauty in people. last night a girl who was probably not much older than me gave up her seat so that i could sit down on the metro because my bag was so big. listening to the women sing songs while they work is beautiful. sharing lunch as part of the sari bari family today was awesome. it was the first time they shared their food with me. i wish i knew more bangla so that i could understand their questions but it is fun to sit and laugh with them. the smile of a child represents the hope for a future generation in this city. the hope that things will change.

i am looking forward to a break. this week we go to thailand.

dont forget to look up

i have been in this city for four weeks now and most of that time has been spent looking down. one of these reasons is to avoid things like trash, water and poop that line the streets. another reason is to avoid eye contact with the men that just seem to stare at us. today we went to a roof top restaurant for erin's birthday. i got to see kolkata from above the noise and chaos of the street. it really changed the way i saw the city just to change my perspective. there are beautiful buildings and an amazing park which are things i pass by everyday but never see. yesterday we were walking home with melissa who pointed out all the beauty of the buildings that we pass everyday which we usually dont notice. i will try to start looking up more often so i dont miss the beauty in kolkata.

we have officially been in kolkata for 4 weeks. i cant believe time has gone by so fast. i was talking to my host mom and she said in a little while the time will be all gone. my goal is not to dwell on that sad thought but to make the most of the time i have left here. i am feeling more comfortable with the language but still need to work on basic conversation. the best way to describe time in kolkata is that the days go slow but the weeks fly by. i can see how that has been true of my time here. i am looking forward to the next 3 months and enjoying every moment.

joyful noise

i started sewing a blanket at sari bari this week and to be honest it looks like my needle got drunk and went for a stroll around my blanket. this process has taught me patience because the faster i want to go, the more crooked my lines become. setting up my blanket also takes some time because it needs to be laid out straight and has to have bricks in certain places to apply pressure so it wont move as i sew. all of this takes time. we are usually at sari bari for 4-5 hours 3 times a week. i have averaged 3 lines a day which is nothing compared to how many the women can do in a day. this process has also taught me about humility of learning how to do something new. for the first week i would watch the ladies work and they made it look so easy and their lines were perfect. when time came to start mine, i was thinking "how hard can it be to make straight lines?" well, let me tell you it is a lot harder than they make it appear. i average 3 lines a day in part because my back starts hurting from being hunched over and my fingers turn red after poking it with the needle for the hundredth time. it is not easy and that makes me respect these women so much more. it is so cool to set up my blanket next to theirs and work alongside them. sometimes they are catching up on all the latest gossip but more often than not they are singing. i dont know what they are singing but it sounds so beautiful that i cant help but imagine what God thinks of their singing. in the mornings during devotions, there is such a joy that fills the room as the women sing praise to God. i dont know the words but seeing the faces light up speaks of a big God that provides joy among the sorrow and strength for the weak. i am thankful that God has given me eyes to see the beauty in kolkata and the hope that He is bringing to this city. at the end of week 4 i could not be anymore thankful for all that God has given me.

family time

first and foremost let me say that i am alive and no i did not feel the earthquake on sunday night but some people here did. it was north of kolkata and there was quite a lot of damage done there.

now on to more entertaining things. i absolutely love family time here. the family i am living with has been a huge blessing to us. it is so comforting to come home to smiling faces and people that serve God in such an amazing way. i know i have said this before but seriously we are one big happy indian-american family. we eat dinner together every night and then just talk and laugh together after. on sunday night, the family asked us to sing a song that we all knew. i figured i would start with j. biebs "baby" which they got a kick out of. we then transitioned to the national anthem. it was hilarious having 3 white girls singing america's national anthem in the living room of our kolkata host family. that is a small world my friends. we then proceeded to have a dance party to glee's version of "dont stop believing" at which point our indian dad just left the room laughing. these are the times i forget im not back in america with my family. God has given me a wonderful indian family that truly treats me as their own. i am so blessed. one thing we do in our weekly meetings with our team is 4-1+2. we have to say 4 things we are grateful for, one thing that was tough in our week, and two things we are looking forward to. i am always so grateful for the people God has giving me in this city. im off to another awesome family dinner (which will probably be rice & dal which i love) filled with love and laughter.

indian sweets

one motto to live by here is "expect less" especially when it comes to food. restaurants in the tourist area have continental sections of the menu that have pasta, pizza and burgers but they are never exactly the same as things back home. this rule certainly applies to sweets. we have eaten a wide variety of colors and textures all in the shape of a ball. one is a little white ball that is apparently the favorite sweet of bengalis. it tastes like cottage cheese soaked in sugar water. ive learned that eating it in one bite makes it go down a little smoother. last friday at mama t's we got a bight orange ball made of little balls. we had had it before and tired to refuse it but they made us take one so we choked it down. we have also tried a variety of cakes which just aren't as good as the fun-fetti cakes aunt barbara makes. im super grateful for the cakes and cookies we have back home. im sad i wont have a fun-fetti cake for my birthday this year but it is a small price to pay for investing this time in kolkata. i also have a great appreciation for peanut butter. i eat it with crackers for lunch at least 3 times a week and the ladies are always confused because i am not eating rice. oh well.

living in the land of mah-maw, biggies, and bow-bow

so i have decided that if i dont come home knowing bangla, i will for sure come home with a southern accent. i am living with a girl from texas and a girl from georgia so ive learned that sweet tea (and i mean super sweet tea) is a way of life, you always say yes sir or no ma'am. they think its crazy that you dont say thank you to everyone you come in contact with and cant believe you dont say excuse me when we have to push our way through a crowd. yesterday night we were sitting around the dinner table and one of them says "i have a bow-bow". i was trying my hardest to figure out what the heck she meant. apparently "bow-bow" is another way to say "boo-boo" as in "i got a boo-boo when i fell down". these are the things we cant help but laugh at as we all learn to live with each other. i miss laughing with old friends but i am truly enjoying making memories and laughing with new friends. sometimes all we can do at the end of the day is laugh at the chaos of this city and the crazy adventures we find ourselves in daily.

in other news, today we had a man stare into our room as we were sitting around talking this morning. its one of those things that makes me remember we are in india. im perfecting my death glare and it might be permanently on my face when i come back home. it comes in handy when the groups of men just stare at us when we walk down the street each day and in the metro when guys walk past in hopes of grazing a butt check or the chest region. this is life here.