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.