Sunday February 1, 2009

Blessings from INDIA!!! Sunday February 1, 2009

It was a short night!!! After I went to bed I laid awake thinking about the wonderful time I’ve had in India & wishing it didn’t have to end so soon! I’ve missed Isaac (my son), Kayden (my grandson), & the rest of my family & friends back home, but the needs here in India are so great & it has been such a blessing for me to have had the opportunity to meet some of those needs.

We all got up early to say goodbye to Sharla & Kevin. After they left, the rest of us ate breakfast together. Sunita had brought some dosa & samosa for supper last night while I was sleeping, so Vilma saved some for me to have for breakfast this morning. I like the dosa, but the samosa is too hot for me.

Joy & I visited the dorms & children’s homes to take photos & to say goodbye to the children. The kids were busy cleaning the dorms & also washing their clothes. We stopped up at the clinic for the last time & I took a picture of Sue & Mel in front of their house—located on the 2nd campus across the road from the school.

We left the school about 9:30 am. The early part of the trip we drove through lots of little villages & then we came to an area that consisted of switchbacks as we had to cross over some high bluffs. After we crossed the bluffs we drove through some flat lands with sandy ground, huge rock formations & very little vegetation. As we got closer to Bangalore, we came to lots of road construction & speed bumps. With all our luggage, 5 people + the driver, it was a pretty bouncy trip, but all the passengers except me were able to nap a little.

About 2 pm we reached the north side of Bangalore & stopped at a Café Coffee Day to have lunch. Kotesh contacted Lowry College & they didn’t have a place for us to stay. When Vilma & Paul had stayed in Bangalore they found a little hotel to stay in downtown that was inexpensive, so Kotesh contacted them & made reservations for us.

Bangalore is a huge city with lots of one-way streets & our driver had a little trouble finding the shopping district Sue had recommended, but we finally found it & miraculously found a parking spot very close to the stores. It was fun checking out the different shops. We went to two different Indian handicraft stores—one had very steep prices & the other was much more reasonable. We were looking for gifts to bring home & also just enjoying seeing all the different things available. The streets were filled with shoppers as well as peddlers of all kinds of stuff. The first street we shopped on had a KFC (with western toilets) & lots of large shops appealing to westerners’ tastes Then we went to another street that was lined with little shops with goods appealing more to the less affluent & more economical prices.

Everyone had a successful trip--Sue found some curtains & a rug for her house…I bought Isaac a Nehru shirt, Kayden a toy train & a little Indian outfit to wear to church, a stainless steel bowl, a bedspread made in Rajasthan (a state in northern India), & some shirt fabric to give to Kotesh as a thank you gift...Joy bought some neckties & Indian blouses…Velma bought a pair of shoes, a shirt for Paul, & an umbrella for Mrs. Principal. I’ve probably forgotten some things, but we had a lot of fun.

About 9 pm we checked into The Palms Residence—our hotel for the night. It was a no-frills place, but it was clean & both rooms had two beds at a cost of 805 rupees for each of us (approx $34 for 24 hrs/room). The odor of moth balls was very strong, but I’ve found that to be common in hotels in India. Joy & I had been roommates since she arrived, so we decided to continue that tradition for our last night in India.

After we got all our luggage & treasures from shopping into our room, we headed out for Pizza Hut for supper. We had to wait for about an hour to get a table—we had been told it would be 10 to 30 minutes! By the time our waiter came, I was just about brain dead. Fortunately, Sue was still together enough to order for us. Vilma wasn’t as hungry as the rest of us—she had eaten a couple of ears of roasted corn from a nearby street vendor.

It was after 11 pm when we got back to the hotel tonight & it’s time to get some shut eye!!!

Blessings from INDIA…where the people are beautiful, the children are irresistible, & the GOD of Heaven is blessing us richly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!