Dev Diwali, Henna, and Candy!

This week was great! Actually, I had kind of an off week with wanting to study Hindi (aka not wanting to study!) but, other things were great!

First, Dev Diwali was this weekend. Diwali is celebrated in most of South Asia, but I think Dev Diwali is celebrated in very few places. However, since we live in the holiest of Hindu cities, of course we celebrate ALL the holidays! Diwali is a day (3) for people to celebrate, but Dev Diwali is a day for the gods to celebrate. We heard there would be thousands of people at the ghats (steps next to the river), so we decided to go down and check it out. It was actually really fun! There were not very many people actually worshipping, but tons of people lighting candles for prettiness and just having fun. There were tons of vendors for food, cotton candy, peanuts, cheap jewelry, balloons, etc. I told Kyle it was a lot like being at the State Fair of Texas. :-) We were not planning on going on a boat ride, because they are supposed to be super expensive on Dev Diwali, but we ended up being talked into it by a very good salesman/boat-rower for a very good price... it was so fun! We got to see the candles along many of the ghats in our city, which is famous for its ghats! It was my first time on a boat on the river here, and it was a very fun experience. It was also Corinth's very first boat ride, and she LOVED it! The pictures I got are terrible, because it was nighttime and my camera stinks at night, but here are a few semi-decent pics!

 

Family photo

 

No, this is not a swastika. It is a backwards swastika, which is the sign for peace. It's all over the place here!

 

The best picture I could get of the boats.

 

She was super happy about that balloon, and that made us super happy too!

Also, this week, I hosted my first mehendi party. (Henna is the same thing as mehendi.) Women often have mehendi parties, sometimes before special events like weddings, but sometimes just for fun! I had 12 people there, which I was glad about for my first event. I told a story IN HINDI!!! The story went with the mehendi design, and after we all talked about the story, we all drew the design on each others hands. The evening was pretty much only in Hindi, since I was the only one there who doesn't speak it, so it was great language practice. My friend told me today that there were some GREAT conversations going on that I am so thankful to God for! You can look up the stories at hennastories.org, and have your own henna party! If there is a mid-eastern or South Asian/Indian store close to you, they either have henna or can tell you where to get it! I look forward to having many more mehendi parties!

Some of my friends at the party!

 

 

Good discussion too! :-)

Also, this week, we got 3 packages! What?!? Yes, 3! Hooray! Corinth got an early Christmas present from her Mimi, we got a small package of wonderful things from my mom (including Christmas ornaments!), and a HUGE box of candy from the Worleys! We couldn't even wait until after we took a picture before eating some! Thank you all for loving us in this way!

She was genuinely this happy about the candy!

 

Corinth loves the ring pops!

 

I just LOVE Christmas!

 

Oh, and by the way, Happy Thanksgiving! Thank God for all of His blessings!

 

Baby #2 Update

We went for our second visit to the doctor yesterday. I thought I'd share the experience with you.

It actually started 3 days ago. We went on Wednesday night, which is a 20 minute ride away. You don't make appointments here, doctors just have certain hours that they work every day. Our doctor works from 6-8pm. We arrived to the office at 6pm, went to the desk to tell them we were there to see Dr. Singh, and they looked at us like, "who?" We said, "we are here to see Dr. Singh. Is she here?" They told us that she, in fact, was not there. She had gone on vacation and would be back Friday. Touche... this happened the first time we went to see her also. Kyle said later, "first time- shame on them... second time- shame on us." So, that was our failed attempt on Wednesday.

So, yesterday (Friday), we went back to the doctor, arriving at about 6:20. We tell them we are there to see Dr. Singh, is she here, and they say yes and tell us to sit down. So we do. For an hour and a half. At 7:40, she walked in the front door of the clinic, and we went back about 10 minutes later. Are you kidding? I mean, I know this is South Asia, but you're a professional doctor! Come on!!! So, Kyle and I and our 2 larger-than-life attitudes walked back to her office. She asked me if she'd seen me in her office before. I said yes, but left out the "I'm pretty sure I'm the only white girl patient you have right now" part. My head is so sassy sometimes! Then, she asked me why I didn't bring my paperwork from last time. I told her no one told me I was supposed to, to which she rebuttled with a short lecture about how she can't treat me properly without knowledge of previous appointments. Sassy thoughts continue... After that, it got better. I laid down to have the ultrasound done, and she said, "Do you have any twins in your family history?" I quickly said, "no, no one in my family has twins... and neither do I... only 1 baby..." She didn't think that was very funny. Oh, well.

All that said, baby F2 is doing great, measuring at 14 weeks and 2 days, and developing well! Every time I see babies (in real life or on the computer) I get really excited to meet my baby! Corinth was a spectacular baby, and I know they won't be the exact same, but I hope our 2nd is as enjoyable as our 1st is! God is good, and we are so blessed! Thanks for listening to my prego-rave! Talk to you soon!

Diwali, Housewarming, and a Man in a Tree

Happy Saturday! We have had a great week, filled with many things, of which I can only share tiny pieces with you!

First, last weekend was Diwali. Diwali, known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated to remember the Hindu god Ram defeating another god, Ravan, in battle. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, is also celebrated, but she will only visit your home if it is very clean. (Because of this, our apartment complex set the huge trash pile outside on fire, which we were thankful for!) Diwali is like the South Asian version of Christmas and New Years put together. It is celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains, which are all of the major religions here, other than Muslims. During this 3 (in our city it was actually 5) day festival, all businesses and many homes decorate the outside of their buildings by hanging lights like we do on Christmas. Many people have parties in their homes for family and friends, and everyone lights firecrackers and fireworks in the streets or on their rooftops. While we did not celebrate Diwali, we did go over to a friend's house for dinner and firecrackers. It was like Kyle was back in Kansas, up on the roof setting off firecrackers, fountains, and other fireworks with the boys! (It was cute to watch him!)

Our trash pile burning! Hooray!

 

 (Our building during Diwali)

Secondly, we had our housewarming party/ Christian worship ceremony in our home yesterday. It is common to invite neighbors over for a welcoming party after you have moved, so we decided that would be a great way to get to know people and tell them more about us. We had 15 people attend, most of whom were friends or people we meet with often, but a few were neighbors. Others that could not attend also brought us flowers and chocolate, which was SO sweet! Our party was very good, and we felt that it opened several doors for us to get to know our neighbors more soon. We also wore our very traditional South-Asian clothing, which was so fun!

Family photo, South Asian style!

 

 

Our ceremony 'stuff.'

And finally, this is what I saw out my window while eating breakfast this morning. Just another day in paradise, people!

This is our view from our dining room.

 

This is a man shimmying up the tree! We have no idea why...

 

Have a great weekend!

 

New Names and Sick Monkeys

This one will be short!

Last night, we went to a study of The Word at a young, new believer's house. She and her sister (16 and 14) have started this study and have all of their family (including their unbelieving parents) coming, as well as a few other friends. After the study was over, the girls told Kyle and I that our names are very difficult for people here to pronounce. (Kyle's 'y' is uncommon and my 'th' is uncommon.) Therefore, they gave us new, Hindi names! My name is Jyoti and Kyle's name is Prakash. Both mean "light." I like it! (Though I still like Kathy better!)

Also, Corinth has been sick with a deep chest cold the last 3 days. Today, while my house helper was mopping, Corinth and I sat on the porch. I hung a little trash bag on the bar of the balcony "fence" so that I could throw the 1 million tissues Corinth was going through into it. We came back inside for a few minutes, and when we came back out, I noticed that the monkeys had ripped a hole in the bag and taken some of the dirty tissues out. I told Kyle, and he I both said that we hope all the monkeys get sick from it! Kyle's language teacher thought this was hilarious and had a very good laugh over it.

 

Chai and the Palace

 

This week went really well! Language is SLOWLY progressing, and Kyle and I are both trying to use what we do know as much as we can while we are out in the community. Our house helper only speaks Hindi, and often tries her hardest to communicate with us what she needs from us or to ask what we need from her. She is so patient. I usually get around to understanding her much before Kyle does, and the other day she said (in Hindi), "Your Hindi is very good. His Hindi is not so good!" I laughed and hugged her. :-) My language teacher also told me I was meeting many goals, which is huge for her to say, because teachers here do not usually compliment at all. I say all of this not because my language is good AT ALL (I promise, it's not!), but to let you know that I have had an encouraging week with language.

 

Here are pictures of the monkeys on the wall outside our balcony, and the park that we go to often. It is about a 5 minute walk away. (We do NOT touch or interact with the monkeys. They are very mean and dangerous here!) 

 

 

 

Kyle got to go to a training for local leaders, which he loved and was very encouraged/excited by. We also went to an Indian friend's house 'fellowship' Sunday night, which we really enjoyed.

We are trying to have family days on Saturdays, where we try to do something fun as a family (and sometimes with friends also, which is fun!), and today we went to the Maharaja's Palace. He's the "king" of our city, though I don't think the present Maharaja actually lives in this palace anymore. It is a museum now of old carriages, war weapons, and pictures of an old Maharaja with leaders from countries around the world. It was fun to see, and Kyle and I both got to share the good news with people while we were there! Here are some pictures of our outing!

 

Looking out over the river

 

The Fort/ Palace that we visited

 

Corinth petting goats, very gently!

 

Other fun things that happened this week: I successfully went out without Kyle, once to the park with Corinth, and once all by myself to go have coffee with a friend. I was so excited!!! Also, I made chai on my own for the first time, and we received our first care package! I didn't take a picture of my excitement, but trust me, I was thrilled!!!!! Thank you Mommy and Daddy!

 

 

 

 

Love you all! ~Kathy

It's The Small Things...

It's the small things that sometimes make me so excited here! One day, I successfully bought paper clips, and I felt I had a productive day. :-) Well, this small thing has made me more excited that any other small thing lately (other than Corinth, who isn't so small anymore!):

 

We're having a baby!!! Yay!!!

 

 

Bhoht Jantu- That Means Many Animals!

We are in our new home! We moved into our flat on October 12th, and have been working like little ants scurrying about to make it a home...  tora tora, which means little by little! Speaking of ants, good grief there are lots of bugs here. And by here, I mean inside our flat (and outside, too, of course!). I have literally found a different kind of bug every day. My mom says that it is 'toughening me up.' ...okay... There are also TONS of animals here. It seems that there are some parts of the city where different animals tend to congregate, but our area of town is home to pretty much all of them! Within a 3 minute walking distance, we see these animals on a very regular basis: dogs, cows, goats, squirrels, water buffalo, wild hogs, butterflies, parrots, donkeys, chickens, and of course monkeys. So. Many. Monkeys. Our flat is on the trail that the monkeys take every day from wherever they start their day to wherever they end their day, so we can (and do) sit at our window and watch the monkeys for very long periods of time each day. Corinth loves watching them! :-) We also have a mongoose that lives in a thicket/trash area outside our window. And, last week was a Hindu festival, and during those few days, they were giving camel rides around our neighborhood. So, pretty much we live in a zoo.
We both (and I'm sure Corinth feels the same) feel like we ARE the zoo almost always when we go out. We are always talked to by strangers, Corinth's cheeks are always pinched, and someone almost always comes up to us and tries to take Corinth from us without asking so they can take a picture with her. You'd think it would be flattering, but I now feel very sorry for movie stars all over the world. Every time I go out, I feel like Julia Roberts. (Yes, I know I look nothing like her, she's just the movie star that always pops into my head!)
It is going to take a long time to get used to living here, but there are so many things that will always remain strange. You can pray for us that we would be at peace and find joy in simple things every day. Also, you can pray that we would learn Hindi quickly so that we can converse more with people than just "Hello. How are you? What is your name?" We have been doing language class with our tutors every weekday, and so far that is going well. Also, big shout out to Rosetta Stone- it's awesome!
Thank you for praying for us, for responding to our updates, and for your messages on Facebook and Viber. Hearing from you guys is encouragement that we really need, so if you ever even think about us, send us a message, even if it's just to say hi or to tell us what you had for dinner. We love you and want to be in your lives still, and vice versa! I'll leave you with a few pictures of our last few weeks, with a promise to get more pictures of our neighborhood and the environment in which we live! Love you!

Corinth's new friends, the workers at one of our favorite local restaurants!

 

Corinth and her baby doll calling her Grandma!

 

Racing girls in "our park." :-)

 

Corinth the movie star, mobbed by adoring fans!

 

Corinth watching the monkeys out the window!