holiday season

Hato peak


Eye team in jalandhar

Choir from NE adventist college

Pam, Me, Janet, Rita, Helena in Simla

I have been staying in the nurses hostel at the simla sanitarium for a week now. There are seven of us sharing three rooms that are rather small. The girls cook there own meals, wash there clothes by hand, take bucket baths. But as you can realize there is seven of us with one bathroom so its very hard to get into the bathroom and even harder to have hot water from the geezer. The girls are very nice all of them are from Monipor a north east state in india. They eat very different food than what I have been having in india, they have rice for every meal and no chopoti as well as put dried fish in every thing, so they always have to make me a small portion with out because it tastes and smells gross to me. On Christmas eve a singing group from the North East Adventist College in Selong came and sang for us it was amazing I was blown away, they sang beautiful. After their performance we had refreshments and I got to meet them and they were very nice. A couple of us from the hospital were invited by Mrs. Sunita to midnight mass at one of the local catholic churches so we got permission from Dr. Bazliel and went. Some was in Hindi, some was enlgish, and some was latin, I enjoyed myself. Christmas day Rita and I went to Mrs. Sunita house for lunch. And afterwards a couple of us girls went shopping at the market for the whole afternoon. I had a good Christmas but it was definitely different from my usual. I missed my family a lot and are traditions but when I come back it will make me cherish them even more. A second choir came they day after christmas to sing for us except on the complete opposite side of the country they are 2 hours from bangalor all the way in the south. One of the singers coincidently is another missionary from Andrews University we had contacted each other threw email before and it was exciting to actually meet him in person. They sang lovely as well but this choir ranged from 6 yrs old to 68 yrs old. A little girl sang she was so cute, it was all lovely. And after the program the hospital provided lunch it was delicious and I got to talk to steve as well as the rest of the choir. The director and her husband actually lived in the states for quite some time near Andrews university. I wore a sari for the first time this day and it was so much fun but im not use to it so I felt uncomfortable, I was scared it was going to fall down at any moment when I sat down of got up because its just folded on not fastened. Most people commented on how beautiful I looked in it and were glad that I tried there native clothing. On Sunday the choir, me, and a few other hospital workers traveled 2 ½ hrs to Hato Peak where we would be able to hike up and see snow because most of them have never seen snow because there from South India where it does not get to cold let alone snow. We left the hospital at 6 AM had breakfast in Narkanda and than started the hike up the huge mountain. We were a group of around 40 people so it took us 2 ½ to 3 hours to climb to the top. At the top it was gorgeous, there was a temple and when you stood at the top you could see snow caped mountains surrounding you all around. I felt bad because there was little snow at the top but it was more than they have ever seen so they were happy about it. I got to talk with steve on the walk up and it was really nice to talk with someone from home, knows exactly what your going through here. Your only aloud to be in india for 6 months at a time so we both need to leave and we decided to take the trip to Nepal together so now I wont have to go by myself I feel much safer now going with someone else and not alone I was nervous about that. Last night was New Years Eve I made brownies for the other girls and they devoured them I only got a little bit before it was gone, most of them have never had anything like it. Sadly india does not have a light up ball that counts down the time like in New York but I told them all about it and they just laughed. So we watched an Indian movie till midnight and wished everyone a happy new year. I found that I love Indian movies they are so sweet. I always have to have them translate a few things for me but you can pick up on most of what is happening. I started my duty at the hospital. We have 4 patients so there is not much to do but I am learning as much as a can. I have a lot of fun with the girls here.

eye camp, last day in jalandhar

Friends on bus trip i met


dilpreet killing me when i got my teeth out
The 21st we left Jalandhar at 5 AM for Rajpura, Himachal which was 2 ½ hrs away. The camp site was located in a beautiful temple. Where we meet the high priest, and all the people bow down and touch his feet with there head. They fed us delicious breakfast and gifted us all shawls. Because Im a foreigner they always treat me the best as well as stare at me the whole time im there. We started OPD doing BP, sugar test, vision, and tension. But than I sadly had to leave at noon, Surrith and I drove 21 kilometers to Kalka where I was going to pick up my bus to Simla. Because the road was in such bad condition, part of the road was not paved others were bumpy huge pot holes where your whole vehicle fit into while dodging the motorcycles and cows, it took us 1 ½ hrs to reach. The bus was just stopping for gas here in Kalka so I had to hurry and load all of my belongings into the bus storage but you always have to be careful because people just take your things here in India. There was one spot available all the way in the back God was looking out for me I was thankful for my one spot. I was sitting in the middle of two young couples that knew each other. We all started talking and they were very nice wanted to know everything about America, shared there food with me. There from Delhi all 20 yrs old in school except one just graduated and started working. They were coming to shimla for 1 day to sight see, 3 of them had never been up here so this was there first ex that knew each other. We all started talking and they were very nice wanted to know everything about America, shared there food with me. There from Delhi all 20 yrs old in school except one just graduated and started working. They were coming to shimla for 1 day to sight see, 3 of them had never been up here so this was there first experience on the curvy twisty roads and it did not settle with them so they were throwing up the whole trip I felt so bad. Of course they were all in secret doing this because there parents don’t allow them to date because they are to be arranged marriage but they all have hope that they can convince the parents other wise, I have great respect for these people who want to stand up for themselves no matter what the consequences are it’s a hard thing to go against your family here in india. When we reached simla there was a horde of taxi drivers wanting to drive me but someone from the hospital was going to pick me up. And you wont believe it because I was the last to get off the bus someone had taken my pillow and in side was Bob my stuffed monkey. Serves me right for not looking after my things properly. I don’t like traveling by myself in india because its not safe for a lone foreign female to travel alone so thankfully God put these four amazing people in my path for a reason, they stayed with me until lucky came and helped me with my four bags minus a pillow and stuffed monkey and we walked up to the hospital. Hopefully I will get to meet these people again during my travels of india.

church in jalandhar

Sabbath I went to church and my friend Dr. Denyl spoke, and there were 2 baby dedications they were so precious. Church did not end till after 2 so I was starving, thankfully Somalika and Guarav made me a delicious going away lunch of paneer (chesse/ tofu), aloo (potato), rice, egg curry, and khere (like rice pudding) this is my favorite food in india. Later that night I had to pack my bags im very much a procrastinator im leaving the next day very early and I leave my packing till the night before. I did not realize how much stuff I have acculamated since being in india, I only had 1/3 of my belongings with me in jalandhar but I packed 5 bags and this is obviously to much for me to handle when im traveling so I sadly and begrudgingly left a whole bag in jalandhar. It was very sad saying goodbye to everyone that I have become such close friends with these last 3 months but its time to move on, and I might come back in Febuary.

christmas program in Jalandhar

Friday the 12th the church choir put on a Christmas program. In india normal workers don’t know how to read notes so they just sing what they want its so funny. Kerry and Kevin the missionaries from South Korea are in the choir and they are the only ones singing the right note because they can read them its so funny. But you don’t even think about that because the choir sings with such passion it over shadows that. And of course they have an Indian accent so some of the words are pronounced differently, but they did an amazing job. They decorated the church fancy for Christmas and the females wore bright blue robes while the gentlemen wore dark suits, they all looked very sharp. Before you go into the church you have to take your shoes off in respect, so I did this as I usually do and than when you come out of the church its always clustered with people putting there shoes on, but this was a different night for me. I went out of the church to look for my Punjabi shoes (jotties) that I had just bought two weeks ago which was its own adventure because im foreign so all the shop keepers give me a more expensive price for everything. I had to go to 7 stores till I found a fair shop keeper to let me buy them for the normal price of 150 Rs. One store wanted me to pay 1500 Rs. can you believe the inflation. So you can see how much I had to go through to get these gorgeous jotties that I love and when I go out side to put them on you wont believe but they were not there. I was like where are they? Did one of my friends hide them? No, sadly someone I think by accident took mine instead of theirs because I waited there till everyone was gone and this pair of dirty, old, used jotties were left. Everyone could not believe that this happened they said this is the first time this has ever happened and they all felt so bad. So I waited till next week to see if the person the maybe by accident took them would bring them back when they realized they took the wrong ones in the dark. But sadly with no luck they were not brought back so I lost my jotties, all I hope is that the person that took them really needed them more than me. That same night Praven the business manager of the hospital invited all of the bachelors and spinsters over to his house for dinner after vespers. Now in the states spinster is a derogatory term, but in india it is not it means the same as bachelors just and unmarried woman nothing being wrong with it. So I had to clarify with Praven before I came about this, he thought it was funny. There was around ten of us there ranging from 19-33 plus one married man viraj which is older than us but did not want to be left out. We all had a good time eating delicious Indian food made by praven mom and socialized.

the fish market




Dilpreet & I sitting in her garden






This is what I have been up with since my last blog. I went to the fish market with mr and mrs Solomon, it was crazy. Rows and rows of fish sellers just sitting on the ground shouting for customers. It was a funny site to see plus it had a stench. You picked the fish you wanted right from the basin filled with water right in front of you on the ground. The seller would weight it for you and than take the scales off with this brush and cut it into pieces right there in front of you, while you are bargaining for a lower price. I have seen nothing like this before. And right around the corner there are dozens and dozens of people selling vegetables and live chickens and than when they hand it over they have cracked its neck and de-feathered it right in front of you on the scale. It was so funny this market was placed next to an old canal with instead of water piles of trash was stacked up.