Well the weather has turned cold and breezy here, but it is NOT Christmas. Kallie-Jo thinks it is time for Christmas music in our apartment because it is cold and almost Thanksgiving. Naturally, she has been arguing for Christmas music for about a month now. I just respond to her playing of Christmas music by playing Kallie-Jo’s least favorite song in the world—Mandy Moore’s rendition of “Only Hope.” Living together constantly for five months gets interesting. Thank the Father though, we haven’t attempted to kill each other yet. Kallie does bite me regularly, but if you know Kallie you know that’s just her way of showing love.
Anyway, it just feels like a different world here right now. There are about two or three open days a week, we know people, and we have things to do. It’s very abnormal for us. It has been lovely because we have been able to plan things with people across town and actually fulfill those plans.
So this last Saturday night we made plans to go and stay the night with our home stay family. We were super excited about this, because we have not been able to see them a lot. Before we got to their house we were asked to come and visit some other friends of ours. We are studying the Word with these friends so we took the opportunity. She was asking me to do some mehendi (henna art) for her for a party she was going to. We had heard about one girl who has been storying the Word using mehendi so I thought I would try it out with this opportunity. I drew it out and after doing her cousin’s full hand I got to give her some mehendi. It was really fun! I’ve always liked doing little doodles and stuff and mehendi gives me a fun opportunity to do that.
After we finished there we went to our family’s house. The kids were excited to see us as were the mother (G) and her house helper who returned recently (M). We played with the kids and hung out with all of them. It was fantastic. Even more fantastic is their “humom room.” People here have these rooms where they have a shallow space under the floor and then have a wood burning stove hooked up to that area to pump warm air into that region. Thus a fantastically heated room happens!
G cooked us one of our favorites- biriyani! It was delicious. Even more, we watched this movie that we watched half of with them months ago called 3 idiots. It is definitely a Bollywood masterpiece. It has comedy, drama, romance, and Ameer Khan, a welcome addition to any movie in our opinion. We even ate supper in the warm room where we were watching the movie. After eating, we laid out our beds on the floor where we planned to sleep with M. It was like a sleepover! I love sleepovers! After the movie was over we laid down to go to sleep. As per a traditional sleepover, we had some great girl talk. We got to discuss her faith with her a little bit (she’s a believer). She voiced the frustration she has that her family believes and still have many problems. It is not a crisis of faith, it is just difficult for her to accept. She has a great story of coming to faith, though. Please lift her up and her brother. He is hoping to do more schooling now that he has been away from school for many years because of money problems. He wants to graduate high school. We are going to do what we can to support this before we go. After the heavier subjects were done we moved on to a lighter, more traditional topic- boys! M’s parents are trying to get her married off. She has yet to find anybody desirable and let’s just say this can be a tough area for her specifically to find a good man. We teased her about one single guy that we know and she confessed to finding him a little skinnier than she would like. We laughed very hard at this and confessed to sharing the same feeling! All of us like a little meat on our men.
The next day we went to the “Botnikl gardens.” We were pleasantly surprised when we discovered that our English-challenged and non-local friends G and M pronounce the word “Botanical.” We told them they speak great English because they can actually pronounce that word correctly. We played at the park for a long time. Our playing included a riveting game of adult hide-n-seek which involved G crawling on her hands and knees through a circle of flowers to avoid being found! It was hilarious! Later in the park we were just sitting there—Kallie, me, M, G, the father of the family, M’s brother, and nine little children. Let’s just say we were getting some pretty intense stares from a group of men and women walking through the park. They were trying to discern whether we belonged or not. One of the kids did something well and I praised him for it in Urdu. Then we heard their conversation become a little more heated because I spoke some Urdu. This made me even more of a mystery.
We had planned to go home that day, but after some persuasion, we decided to stay one more night. Yes, this does mean that we spent about two and a half days in the same clothes and without a shower, but the fantastic time was definitely worth the slight smell. We got to spend more time with the kids, who get cuter all the time. One of the littlest ones is now talking and it is just adorable. She has her own way of pronouncing everybody’s names. I am “papiece didi.” It reminds me of my own little nephew. That night I also got to do some more mehendi. I did one describing the fruits of the Spirit on M’s hand and did both of Kallie’s feet. My skills are definitely improving.
The next morning after chai, time with the kids, and 1 ½ scrambled egg sandwiches (so not the epitome of local food) we hopped in the car to be driven home. We offered to walk from various localities, but as we neared our house, the driver said that he would just take us to the gate because we had not showered for two days and he did not want anybody to see us. He was joking… I’m pretty sure. J
Upon returning, we have made our flat much warmer. We now have two working heaters and hot water bottles that sleep with us at the foot of our bed. And yes, bed is singular and not plural. About a week ago Kallie and I pushed our beds together to try to stay warm.
On a different note, the other night we had an interesting chat with Badji. She asked the simple, yet typically nosy, question of what time we go to bed. We told her what time, but then proceeded to say that it often takes a while to go to sleep. It was much worse about a month ago than it is now. She asked us why and we explained that there is a lot of tension sometimes because we are overwhelmed with thinking about what our purpose is here, but even more because we are concerned with what we will do when we return. Will I get a job after I graduate? What does my future hold? Upon our confession, Badji sat up from her reclined position and asked us why we would worry about all of this. She said that G*d is in control of everything and we have no power over anything in our future. Naturally, she transitioned into her usual spiel of how life is a test and G*d decides if we pass or not. Only half paying attention, I sat there and pondered how this truth that He knows the future just never seems to settle with me. And yet, this woman who I so desperately want to know truth is saying it to me with the simplicity that it should have. It’s a moment I will not easily forget and has helped me at least inch a little bit forward in the challenge of not worrying about what the future holds.
Remember that the Father is in control of everything and that hot water bottles are fantastic for a cold bed. These are my life lessons of the week.
