India Adventures

Hi friends! Hope you are all well!

We have less than two weeks left in India! We have started saying goodbye to some friends here which has been hard as we have no set plans of returning right now. But we both would LOVE to come back to India especially since we have 10-year visas 🙂 We are sad to leave but excited to be home for Christmas with friends and family!

For this blog post, we decided to make a list of everything we love and will miss here. Hope you enjoy it! (It’s all in no particular order)

• Seeing Tibetan monks walk around town
• Learning about a religion from friends who practice it
• Fruit and Veggie stands being down the street
• Any and all time we spend with Meena (the girl who cleans the house) and her two sons Asheesh and Abhishek
• Watching a traditional dance performance
• The sweet girls we taught English to and listening to them worship Jesus in Hindi
• The insane view of the Himalayan Mountains from where we are staying
• All the good Indian snacks
• Our friend Joseph who asks the best questions and is extremely passionate
• Looking at all the women’s jewelry and how they style their scarves-Emma
• Learning new words in Hindi from all our friends
• Indian food: Daal, Rice, and Cholle (Emma) / Paneer, Aloo Ghobi, and Roti (Claire)
• Everything being new and something we can learn about
• All the time we have had to read
• The foreign shows on Netflix -Emma
• Riding down Rajpur Road in a Vikrum
• Being called Di Di by kids
• Watching how Karan scares the monkeys away from coming into the house
  • This morning, there was a group of monkeys headed towards his house so I said, “Karan Ji, Bundar (Monkeys)!”. And he came running out screaming with massive yard clippers. Later, that day he gave me a metal pole to scare the monkeys away.
• Good ketchup that doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup
• Meeting with incredible believers who are the best encouragers and so wise
• The fast driving where lanes are just a suggestion
• Bargaining when we get an Auto
• Ayan’s laugh and facial expressions (Our friend’s two-year-old son)
• Praying for a meal with believers, Muslims, and Hindus
• All the foreigners we have met here and their loving kids
• The incredible hospitality from everyone we have met! It’s so inspiring and something I will miss most! -Claire
• Matt and Michelle of course!:)

We started talking about all the things we will miss and our list just kept getting longer! We are definitely going to miss living here!! Next week, we are doing one last trip to some towns in India and then we head home the following week:)

See you all soon!

Claire and I just returned to India after 11 days of playing tourist in Thailand. Let us just start by saying that we would not have had the amazing time that we did if it had not been for Michelle’s amazing travel agent skills. If you did not already know, the family we are staying with in India spent   7 years living in Thailand, Chiang Mai specifically. We left India with a very specific itinerary of things to do, people to see, and food to eat during our time in Thailand.  We did so much during our travels I am not sure that I will be able to do it justice, but here goes nothing!

When we arrived in Chiang Mai we visiting the Sunday Night market. In India we usually stay away from street food because there is a high likely-hood that is could make us sick. But in Thailand that is not something we had to worry about, so we took full advantage, buying anything that looked good. Claire and I spent 5 hours walking around the night market, eating and shopping and shopping and eating. When we got tired we just stopped for a foot massage. The Sunday Night Market was merely the first of many markets we visited, but it was definitely one of our favorites!

Over the next few days we climbed a “sticky” waterfall, bathed elephants, ziplined over the jungle, got a full body oil massage, and took a Thai cooking class. We all got free cookbooks at the end so hopefully we will be able to successfully cook a Thai meal when we return home, but no promises!

We then took a short trip to Chiang Rai where we stayed in the cutest little Airbnb and visited the night market. We decided to be adventurous and tried to cook our own noodle soup in a clay pot over a flame. We probably looked like fools trying to cook it all, but it ended up tasting pretty good so what does it matter! Afterwards, Claire and I got a delicious coconut-mango sticky rice ice cream dessert (see the picture below).

When we returned to Chiang Mai, we enjoyed the next few days visiting the Night Safari, hiking to a Buddhist Temple, drinking many cups of green tea and thai tea (mostly Claire), and eating many pieces of homemade pie from the store across the street from our hostel (mostly me).

Before we returned to India, we spent one night in Bangkok where we spent a night on the town with some friends that we met. They took us out to a rooftop bar with a beautiful view of the city. Something that I forgot to mention was the MANY people we met during our time in Thailand! Michelle connected us with many of her friends from the years she lived in Thailand and my Dad connected me with some of his old friends as well. Some allowed us to stay in their home for a few days and others took us out for meals. We really enjoyed meeting every single person and hearing their stories. We feel that our perspective of what jobs and lifestyles are out and available in the world has exponentially expanded. I would not be surprised if Claire ends up in Thailand…

We were back in Dehradun in time to enjoy Diwali and enjoy it we did! Look forward to our next blog post to hear about our adventures!

-written by Emma; approved by Claire

 

Hi friends! Hope this post finds you well:) This past week we lived in Delhi volunteering at MDIS, an international school, and seeing all that we could see!

Weekend Fun

We spent the first few days with the Klak’s close friends. We ate lots of incredible food, drank so much chai that I felt as though I was no longer 75% water but rather 75% chai and visited Mehboob, Anu and Sana’s favorite spots. We had an evening stroll through Lodi Gardens, a huge park full of Muslim tombs and monuments, and after we had dinner at the Islamic Indian Cultural center, where you have to be a member to eat there! Definitely some of the best food we have had, in my opinion, especially the paneer paratha.

The following morning we went on an Old Delhi bicycle tour. Biking through the busy alleyways and streets was terrifying but quite exciting as there are so many things happening. I was almost taken out by a chunk of water buffalo meat about two minutes in!

Sunday, we were able to meet up with our friend, Joseph, who we met in Dehradun. We attended the church his family planted, which is in one of the more impoverished areas in Delhi. We then went over and had a really good lunch with his family and spent the afternoon catching up and bowling. Which on that particular Sunday God blessed me with the gift of being a pretty good bowler as I am normally horrific.

Volunteering 

Throughout the week, we spent our days volunteering at an international school. We stayed with the principal and his family who are from New Zealand. They were all so sweet and made incredible food, including homemade bread. The majority of our time was spent in the Library with the sweetest Librarian, Naomi. We sorted and shelved books and talked to all the teachers and children who would come in and out. We also sat in on a few classes, where Emma and I learned that we can hardly understand first-grade Common Core math.

The last day volunteering we were able to visit their community school that has around 200 kids from 2-13 years old. We visited each class, spending time teaching them songs and games. School in India typically consists of copying and memorizing, so the idea of us wanting them to play and be silly was a little foreign to them, but it was so fun to see them goofing around and genuinely smiling as they got more comfortable!

Each night we ended the day with a Dutch Blitz competition with the two older girls we were staying with. There was quite a bit of cheating involved in the game and for once it wasn’t from me:)

Exploring Delhi

After school, we spent our afternoons touring around Delhi! One day, we visited Humayan’s tomb with our friend Joseph. We spent some time at Dilli Haat, a government-owned handicrafts market. There I learned that my qualities of not being able to say no and enjoying bargaining led to me buying lots of gifts and things I don’t really need. One day we visited the Lotus temple, one of the last Baha’i worship centers, which I had been looking forward to as I have studied the religion a little in school.

Thursday afternoon, we spent time with Christina, someone the Klaks connected us with, over chai and cookies. She shared how she became a believer, about the social justice organization she works for, and her dreams for their future. She also told us about her church and how they focus on diversity, inclusion and encouraging people in using their own unique passions for Christ. All the best things! Christina is one of those people you quickly fall in love with as she shares deeply and genuinely wants to know your heart. Just a BIG FAN and would love to spend many more hours learning from her. Friday, we were able to have dinner with Naomi and her family. We loved spending time with her cute family and her mother, eating great salad, chole, and butterscotch ice-cream.

A little More Insight on Me

I’m absolutely loving India, but I think my favorite thing about the past few months is all that God is teaching me. It’s been so so good and quite overwhelming in the best way! This past year, I realized that I didn’t truly believe that I was loved by God, I knew that I was but I didn’t believe it fully each day. While living here my faith in Jesus grew from not only being centered on my feelings and my personal need for God but also based on facts and evidence that Jesus is the absolute truth. Also, since being here I realized that I held onto a lot of shame and guilt that was holding me back from truly accepting God’s love for me. Over the past few weeks, I have I been learning and starting to believe that the God who created the universe and led the Israelites out of Egypt is the same God who loves me! That he not only forgives me of my iniquities but he removes and forgets them! And I’m just so much more in love and stoked about God! Yup, super stoked!!

Anyways, we are in Thailand now and loving all that we are experiencing here! 🙂

-written by Claire; approved by Emma

So much time has passed already! On Friday, we leave Dehradun for a week in Delhi and a second in Thailand. When we return from our trip we will only have a few week left before returning home. Now that you have an idea of the fun we have ahead, I will do my best to catch you up on what you have missed in the last few weeks.

First, we visited Chandigarh with our Hindi teacher, Neha. Chandigarh is a little under 5 hrs travel by bus. It was a bumpy ride, but we all made it without tossing our cookies! Chandigarh is the most organized city in India. It was designed by the French architect, Le Corusier, and is divided into sectors making it easy to get around and give directions to auto drivers. While there, we explored the Rock Garden, as well as the Japanese Garden. It is such a completely different city than Dehradun! Michelle connected us with a friend who had moved to Chandigarh a few weeks previous, so we had an opportunity to meet with her and go boating on the Sukhna Lake. As chance would have it, Tracy is a Biola graduate, only one semester before me, and we lived in the same dorm for two years. How funny that we would meet for the first time while in India! All in all, we had a wonderful weekend and we are hoping that Tracy will have the opportunity to visit us in Dehradun in the weeks to come!

Last weekend, we visited Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We took the Friday evening train into Delhi and then a three hour taxi ride to Agra the following day. I have been working my way through a historical fiction series that tells the story of the Mughal Emperors. The Taj was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife. The books start by telling the story of Shah Jahan’s grandfather Emperor Akbar and continues from there. It was intriguing to me to be reading this story while experiencing life in the very city the “characters” primarily lived. No matter how great the Taj was, my favorite moment of the weekend occurred when we returned home. Assuming that I was entirely alone, I was dancing in the backyard. When I turned around, I almost ran into our neighbor Shahnaz, who had come to the Taj with us. She had seen me dancing from the roof of her house and came over to join. Shahnaz, Claire, and I had a dance party in the backyard for almost an hour! It is one of my favorite memories of the trip so far!

This week in particular we had a favorite day that we wanted to share. On Monday, we met a teacher at the local university. She was so sweet, and I have to add…VERY beautiful. She invited us over to her house to meet her family sometime after our trip to Delhi/Thailand and we are looking forward to taking her up on the invitation. Before heading to our English class we stopped at our favorite grocery store, Chocolate Corner, to buy ice cream for the girls as it was our official last day of class. The girls were so thankful and excited for the treat and Claire and I returned home sticky and covered in melted ice cream. In regards to the English classes, there was one particular girl named Arpita of whom I am especially proud of. From the beginning she refused to talk. She refused to speak to me in English and often refused to speak Hindi. She seemed extremely shy and lacking in confidence, but during free time on our last day she asked me to go for a walk with her. We did not talk about much, but I was delighted to hear her trying to speak English. She was asking me questions about what I like to do and what my favorite animal and fruit are. It was so encouraging to see the progress she made in becoming more confident to speak English. Anywho… after English we went to the most delicious restaurant for dinner. It was supposed to be Mexican food, but I certainly would not call it that. Despite the mislabel, the food was delicious and the atmosphere was relaxing. While trying to catch a Vikram home, a Tibetan family pulled up next to us. They offered us a ride so we hopped in. We were so grateful for their kindness and overwhelmed by the hospitality and friendliness we have experienced while in India. All we can say is, “we had a great Monday”!

Last but not least, Claire and I visited a place called Robber’s Cave just the other day. It is a cave with a river running though it not 20 minutes away from where we are staying. We did not get the opportunity to explore it as much as we would have wished, but it certainly was an adventure! We are looking forward to going back sometime before we return to the States.

Well, I hope you enjoyed hearing about some of the highlights of our last few weeks. While it has not all been fun and games we are having quite a few adventures and new experiences. As we travel these next two weeks we hope to have many new stories and photos to share with you soon!

-written by Emma; approved by Claire

Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well!

Current thoughts

1. It’s still surreal to be living here in India. It amazes me everyday as we walk down our little lane to the main road that we are currently living in India! I get to first hand learn about India through experiences instead of in my classes. One of our favorite things is driving down the main road from Dehradun to Rajpur crammed in a Vicrum because we just get to sit and take it all in.
2. I am so so thankful to have met so many different people and hear all of their stories. Because the Klaks have lived here for 20+ years and are incredible hosts we have been able to meet LOTS of people! One of my favorite things is listening and asking questions to everyone we meet. This past week we spent a few car rides listening to our Tibetan friend share his life story and explaining to us the importance of the Dalai Lama. I have always been confused by the Dalai Lama in my religion classes so it was so cool to learn from our friend the importance of the Dalai Lama to the Tibetan people.
3. Reading books is the best! I have learned so much and have had lots of realizations about life. One book both Emma and I read (I read it yesterday so still fresh on my mind) is “The 3D Gospel”. It’s a quick read that shares how the gospel speaks to all cultures, “3D Gospel seeks to teach primarily Western Christians how to contextualize the gospel, so that it is great news to all cultures (56). “ I definitely recommend this book as it sheds light on how to share the Gospel to different people groups but also how understanding the different dimensions of the Gospel ourselves, expands our knowledge of God. Yup, I’m a fan of books.

Class Life Updates

We love teaching English twice a week at a girl’s hostel in Dehradun. Definitely a highlight of our week! We have gotten to know them a lot better and typically spend way more time laughing and talking then teaching English. Most of the girls are away from their family for long amounts of time and the hostel itself is quite dark and gloomy, so we just try to be a light while we are there and make sure they know they are loved. A few times we have stayed for their devotion and worship time which was really cool to witness. Emma loves when they choose to sing worship songs in Hindi as it sounds more similar to traditional Hindu worship songs.

As for Hindi class it can definitely be frustrating at times but we have learned lots. We have learned to write half of the letters in Devanagari script and have about 15 more to go. The hard part is they all look somewhat similar and their pronunciation can change depending on the word. (But we really can’t complain because English has so many random rules and irregular forms)

We have also been spending our Tuesday afternoons helping out at a foreigner’s homeschool group. It has been incredible to get to know the families and learn what brought them to Dehradun. Also, it’s comforting to play and teach little kids, as childcare is something both Emma and I love doing!

Travels

We visited Haridwar last weekend, the 4th holiest Hindu city! Saturday night we went with two friends to a Hindu ceremony on the Ganges River. Thousands of people travel to Haridwar for this ceremony every day. It consists of a lot of singing, clapping, placing of bindi, bathing, and releasing of little leaf candle boats. Many people submerge themselves in the water as it is believed that the river cleanses people of their past sin. It was eye opening and intriguing to watch such a large group of people perform a worship ceremony for a religion I don’t follow. Living in a predominantly secular city and practicing the current largest religion I became blind to the truth that millions of people fervently follow other religions. Witnessing this ceremony has definitely made me rethink and process my view on religion and its impact on people’s lives.

This next weekend we are traveling to Chandigarh with Neha, our Hindi teacher! The city is neighboring Punjab so we will get to experience new food (South Indian)! Chandigarh is the best-planned out city in India and completely different than anywhere else in India. We’re excited to visit!

Our neighbor, Shahnaz, and friend Jessica are coming with us to the Taj Mahal! We will be taking a quick trip in two weekends! Neither of them have gone, but have always wanted to so we are stoked to experience Agra with them!

Other

Tonight for dinner we are having probably my favorite dishes Karan, our caretaker, makes: chicken curry, aloo gobi and roti!

We would love if you could pray for us! For safe travels and opportunities to share just how great Jesus is with our new friends. And for us to be as healthy as possible!

Matt and Michelle left today for a month! So we are on our own, hopefully this causes our Hindi to improve as we can no longer rely on them to help us communicate. We will miss them, but will see them soon when we come back from Thailand!

-written by Claire; approved by Emma

Hi all!

Sorry for the long wait for this blog post. I am sure everyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting to find out what Claire and I have been up to;) We have been having a wonderful time and it is practically impossible to share all of our experiences, but here are a few highlights:

Hindi Classes:                                                                                                                            During our first two weeks in India, Claire and I took a total of 40 hours of intensive Hindi classes (4 hours a day). I would like to say that we are fluent now, but Hindi is a difficult language! Claire is definitely more confident in her Hindi than I am, but has made a couple of hilarious mistakes that we think are worth quoting…

“I like stale weed.”          and              “The monkey owns the mall.”

Claire and I both have favorite words in English and have been shocked to find out that this is not a normal thing…so are our favorite Hindi words:

Emma: gulaabee (pink)

Claire: manpasand (favorite) HAHA! Ironic…

Now that we are done with our intensive Hindi classes we are switching to an hour class once a week in which we learning to read and write in Devanagari script. We are going to class with our cook, Karan, who has never learned to read or write, but has always wanted to. So far we know 6 letters….I think that is a pretty good start!

Movie Excursions:                                                                                                                         Our Hindi teacher, Neha, is a huge movie buff, so she took Claire and I to a newly released Bollywood movie called Gold. This movie follows the India National field hockey team winning gold in the 1948 olympics. This was especially interesting for Claire as she played field hockey in high school. The Indian movie experience is quite different than the US movie experience. Instead of trailers, the movie plays advertisements or public heath announcements. And before the movie begins the entire theater stands for the Indian national anthem. I cannot get over how absolutely beautiful the anthem is! Then at the climax of the movie there is an intermission. I think Claire and I would both agree that we really enjoyed the movie! I personally cried three times.

Oh yah…I forgot to mention that the entire movie was in Hindi and there were no subtitles. It was definitely an experience to remember.

New Friendships:                                                                                                                        Since we arrived we have been getting to know our neighbor Shanhaz. She is 17 years old, super sweet, and wants to improve her English.  Two weekends ago we had her over for chaai and taught her Monopoly Deal and Pass the Pigs. Then just last weekend we hiked up to Shaker Falls! She is a little bit shy, but I think she is starting to get more comfortable with us, and more confident in speaking English. Shanhaz told Michelle that is is her dream to see the Taj Mahal. Claire and I are hoping to invite her to come with us when we go, but we are not sure if her parents will let her come. Please pray that her parents would let her join us!

Teaching English:                                                                                                                          Last but not least, we have begun teaching English to 25 girls that live in a nearby hostel. The girls range from 10-17 years old and come from India, Tibet, and Nepal. The girls are SOOOO sweet and are so excited to learn English! They even ask us for homework as we leave! We will continue teaching English and building relationships with these girls over the next month or so.

MISC Fun Tidbits:    

• The bugs here LOVE Claire, especially her feet!
• September 13th was a GREAT food day!
• Our favorite form of transportation is a draw between Autos and Vikram.
• I have a new love for Momo’s (basically a Tibetan potsticker)!
• I am allergic to cats…
• We officially bought our tickets for Thailand!!

Sorry that this post is so long, but a lot has been going on over on this side of the world! We will try to post more regularly as we continue this adventure!

-written by Emma approved by Claire

P.S. Sorry for the size differences on the pictures. Formatting can be soooooo frustrating!

 

 

Namaste!

We made it to India! We arrived to New Delhi on Thursday in the early, early morning. And then we experienced the excitement of driving in India. Apparently the rules of the road are mere guidelines here… Upon arriving at the hotel I accidentally set off the fire alarm at 3:30am which was a fun start to our India adventure. While in New Delhi we were able to visit a Muslim neighborhood and shrine of a saint that people pilgrimage from all over India to visit! It was the coolest thing! I just loved learning about the community and seeing the similarities between Islam and Christianity through this experience. I think my favorite thing so far is that all I have learned in my Anthro and Religious studies classes I am experiencing first hand.

The next day we drove to Rajpur, Dehradun where the Klaks live and were we will be staying for the majority of our trip. The little town is the cutest thing and so diverse as the population consist of Tibetans, Indians, many different people from villages in the Himalayas, as well as foreigners. We have been hanging out a lot with the Klaks who have given us tours around Rajpur, and living the slower Indian life. Which I must say I already prefer over how we view time in the States. Lots of Chai had been drinken and so so much good food. Also, BEST NEWS EVER…we can eat fresh fruit and vegetables including Apples!!

Well, that’s just a glimpse of our first few days here! We start Hindi classes tomorrow! Thank goodness, because as of now all we can say is hello, okay, and cat.

Hope you all are doing well!

– written by Claire approved by Emma

Thanks for joining us as we spend the next four months in India!