Done With Dengue!!

The Mysore Palace at Night

I am so sorry for the delayed post; as some of you might know, I got sick with dengue fever.  Dengue fever is a result of being bitten by a mosquito with signs of extreme fatigue, a high fever, dizziness, and dehydration.  Needless to say, I have been in bed for the past two weeks.  It started two weeks ago when I was in Bangalore.  I traveled to Bangalore and Mysore with John and Carol for a fun weekend road trip.  Bangalore is known for shopping—cheap shopping.  I bought myself plenty of souvenirs while wandering the tiny allies of one of Bangalore’s shopping districts.  We only we stopped there for one day because Mysore was our final destination.  It took about six hours to Bangalore and another six hours to Mysore, because of the traffic.  Though, the scenery on the way was absolutely gorgeous.  It was a mix of tropical Hawaii and rocky Colorado- strange mix I know, but beautiful.  Mysore is a city known for its palace and kings.  They still have a king, but he no longer rules.  I was able to tour this elaborate palace; it looked like a palace in Aladdin (although Indian!!)  The palace was set high above the ground so that the king would arrive on an elephant and would just hop off; no need for the elephant to bend down!   There was also a huge festival of lights while we were there.  The whole city was lit up; and the palace at night was stunning.  Parades of elephants and camels wandered the streets; people from all around would travel to Mysore just to see these lights.

The Elephant Parade

While we were driving back to Mahabalipuram is when I began feeling sick; luckily I was able to sleep the whole drive home.  I had no idea why I was feeling so sick, I assumed it was dehydration.  Unfortunately, I was in bed for the rest of the week sleeping about 15 hours a day.  I finally went to the doctor last Thursday to see if they could diagnose what was wrong; they called me the next day saying that I need to come to the hospital.  Consequently, I was in the hospital for three days.  They diagnosed me with dengue fever and a really low white blood cell count; any lower and I was going to have to have a blood transfusion.  The hospital was quite interesting to say the least; I had some cockroaches sharing my room with me!  There is quite a different standard of sanitation here in India!  Other than that, I had air conditioning so I was a happy camper.  I was finally released Monday morning with my white blood cells exceptionally high, considering I was only there for three days—at least the doctor was impressed.

I have been home the rest of the week just resting.  I feel so much better, although still exhausted.  It is going to take me a while to be completely back to normal, but I am on the road to recovery.  It has been such a blessing recovering so quickly.  I want to thank you all who have been thinking and praying for me—I have totally felt all of your prayers!

The Gorgeous Sunset from our House in Mahabs

By Thursday I was feeling more myself again.  Carol and I started a Bible study with the teachers from Achiever meeting once a week.  A majority of them are Hindu so it has been so interesting spending time with them and hearing what they have to say.  We are reading through the book of Matthew.  And I am telling you, it has been as much as a challenge for me as it is for them!  This week they were a bit confused with the passage so I was able to read through it with them.  It is really helpful when I read out loud because they are able to hear and understand my pronunciation of certain words.  They all speak good English, but it is important that they continue to grow and learn more as they are teaching the children solely in English.  They questions and comments they have after reading a passage are fascinating because a lot of the questions challenge me in my thinking.  But God is so prevalent in our meetings; by His grace Carol and I have been able to answer their questions in a way that they understand.  They best part is we are able to break down walls and encourage friendship and fellowship among the teachers.  It has been so challenging, but so rewarding.  I am looking forward to continuing these weekly studies for the rest of the time I am here.

Sparrows of Splendor

Later this week I went to Chennai to look at some fabric for the Sparrows bags.  I found some great fabrics and am really excited to keep these sewing projects going.  Yesterday I spent some time with the widows while they were working on the bags.  I was able to take some pictures of the bags to put on their website.  This project is coming together!!

Sharon's Birthday Party

Last night we had a 21st birthday party for Sharon.  We meant to surprise her last Saturday, but because I was in the hospital, we postponed it.  A lot of her friends came and we had a great time playing games and dancing.  We had delicious chicken biryani (a rice dish) and I made chocolate cupcakes—which were a major hit!  I was quite impressed with them myself!! 

And tonight my dad comes to visit!!  He will be here for about two weeks.  We will be traveling to Goa (the Las Vegas of India), Delhi, Agra (where the Taj Mahal is located), and Calcutta.  We will be visiting some good friends of ours along the way.  I will keep you posted on those adventures as well.  Thanks again for reading!!

Clearly the Foreigner

This week was my first week teaching by myself in the classroom.  As of right now I am teaching art classes to all of the grades.  I am trying to be creative, since I have no teaching experience, and so far it has worked out.  My lesson usually includes reading a story out loud and then conducting some sort of art project.  The children usually get bored with the story, but when I bring out crayons they start cheering.  Every little line or addition to their drawing they run up to me yelling “Miss, Miss look”; I smile and celebrate their efforts.  I am finding it is not about the skill and technique in my “art classes” but about building self-confidence—the skill will come in time.  By stepping in, it gives the teacher a 40 minute break which I know is so needed.  I am still in the beginning stages of organizing projects and lessons and will soon teach about two classes every day (so if you have any art project ideas please, please, please let me know!)

This past week I have been also working with the Sparrows of Splendor (widow’s sewing ministry).  The main tailor and I work together to come up with new bag patterns and designs.  I am so excited because next week I will be going to fabric stores around Chennai to find fabric for the totes—the fabric here is beautiful!  For my Project Funway readers… the tailor was interested in the flower pins we made for our beach tote we made this summer.  It was so much fun because I was able to show him how to scallop the fabric, baste, gather, and secure a button.  He was quite excited about them!  The main tailor is very talented; he designs a lot of the patterns then teaches the widows how to make the totes.  They all do a beautiful job with the bags!

So the embarrassing story of the week…  The Commonwealth Games (which for people like me who don’t know what they are) are a miniature version of the Olympics for the Commonwealth countries (those which were once under British rule).  They occur every four years, and this year they are in Delhi.  Long story short, Delhi is not ready to host all of the players from around the world so they are organizing home-stays for all of the athletes.  Rumors are going around that the conditions in these home-stays are horrible (like cockroaches in beds etc.).  Many countries are refusing to attend.   So in a quick attempt to save India’s reputation, they wanted to film a public advertisement to show the hospitable nature of the Indian people.  I was asked by a friend of a friend to act in this commercial.  They needed foreigners to act as the athletes—which is funny because how athletically challenged I am.  But I agreed because they were desperate.  The shoot took about 12 hours!!  I was in a few different scenes where I was supposed to be one of the Ping-Pong competitors (yes, Ping-Pong is an Olympic-like sport). There were also scenes of a family welcoming me into their home and some ladies putting henna on my hand.  I felt like a complete fool, but I just smiled and went along with it.  Little did I know this ad is going to be on national television all over India.  Who knew that I could be the next Bollywood star J

I was able to explore Mahabalipuram the other day.  It is known as the Temple Bay; there are many temples from the ­­­­­­­­­­­­7^th century!  We went around the town and saw the gorgeous Hindu temples; the carvings are beautiful and so well preserved.  While we were visiting one temple, I was taking pictures I noticed this group of 15 people start walking towards me.  One lady asked if I would take a picture with their group; I could not believe that this was happening. My friends said that this group was probably from Northern India and more than likely had never seen a Westerner in real life.  They took like ten pictures, rotating people in and out and putting their hand on my shoulder. I do not understand why they would want to take a picture with me, but I guess it was flattering.

 

Yesterday we went into one of the nearby fishing villages.  This village was also destructed by the tsunami, but has slowly been built back up over these past five years.  We went to a fish auction, which was pretty interesting.  The fishermen bring in their fish, they have an auctioneer auction it off, and then ladies from the village buy it and sell in in the city—everyone benefits.  Rain was pouring down, but people just conducted life as normal.  John helped this village out a lot after the tsunami so that is why we were able to visit it.  Normally you do not go into villages where you do not know anyone.  We were welcomed us into their homes, which consist of four mud walls and a piece of tin for the roof.  They have nothing, yet went to the store to buy Pepsi for us and offered to make us breakfast, even if they would not eat themselves.  These people are the most joyful people I have ever met in my life, despite the fact that they have nothing.  It has been so refreshing to be around this joy and see that happiness does not come from the things of this world but from our relationships and faith.

PS- here is the link to the Commonwealth Ad if you are brave enought to check it out!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZKP2IJjPqQ