And So It Continues

Hey Everyone!

Things I Have Learned:
- Once you have survived 14 hours on an Indian bus, every other form of transportation, no matter how long, is a breeze.
- Camels are a lot taller (and wider) than horses.
- It is possible for McDonald's chicken nuggets to sound appealing. (Shocking, I know.)
- The Taj isn't all it's talked up to be.
- Saying goodbye is hard. (Repeat from last post.)

Oh boy, where to begin? How about where the last post left off....

My alarm woke me at 6:17 a.m. on Wednesday, August 4. I got up, dressed, finished packing, stripped my bed, and took all my stuff downstairs. After breakfast, we loaded our suitcases into the jeep and then walked up to meet the bus. Once the bus was loaded and we were all on, we started our long drive to Delhi. And then stopped again ten minutes later because the bus ran out of gas. :) A sure sign that this would be an interesting trip! Once we got started again, we found out that it was a Hindu holiday and there was a parade on the route we were supposed to take, so we ended up taking a different route, stopping about once every hour to ask for directions or pay a tax, and finally pulling up in front of our hotel in Delhi at 11:30 p.m. After 14 hours on the road, we were all ready for a shower and a bed.

Thursday started at 5:00 a.m. After breakfast, we all piled back into the bus and left for Agra. We arrived in Agra around 11:30, and immediately went and bought tickets to see the Taj Mahal. A short shuttle dropped us off outside the security checkpoint and then a few minutes later we were standing in front of one of the seven wonders of the world. The Taj itself is smaller than I imagined it to be, and to walk around the entire inside, look at the tombs, and walk back out took maybe ten minutes. We had our group picture taken with the Taj in the background, and then we were all ready to get back on the bus and find some food. I wasn't overly impressed with the Taj, maybe because I was tired or sweaty or overwhelmed by all the other tourists or a combination of all three. But I'm glad I went, glad I can see I've seen it. This was a first-time visit for three of the long-termers in our group, people who have lived in India for several years, and if anything I am excited that they finally got to see it. :) We stopped at McDonald's for lunch, then got back on the bus and drove another seven hours to Jaipur, where we again took showers and went straight to bed.

Friday and Saturday were a bit more relaxed, since we didn't have to travel very far. Friday I woke up at 8:00. We ate breakfast and left the motel around 11:00 for the twenty-minute drive to Amer Fort. Amer blew the Taj out of the water - it was absolutely magnificent. We spent about two and a half hours walking around with a tour guide and taking lots of pictures. Words can't describe it - come find me if you want to see pictures (or wait until I post them on Facebook next week). We went to an Indian restaurant for lunch and then went back to the motel. Some of us went shopping in the bazaar, some of us stayed at the motel for some much-needed rest. Supper was at 8:00 at the motel, then a short meeting, then bed.

I didn't go anywhere on Saturday. Some of the team went to another fort and some went to the bazaar again. I opted to stay in the motel room and rest/read/journal/recharge. It was a nice, quiet morning. Everyone got back in the afternoon and then at 5:00 we met with a missionary team that is stationed in Jaipur. It was interesting to hear their mission focus and how that differs from what we had spent the past seven weeks doing. Supper was at 8:30, and then it was shower, pack, and bed, in that order.

Sunday was a travel day. We left Jaipur at 8:15 a.m. after a quick breakfast and drove until noon, when we stopped for a "snack and stretch" break. We pulled up in front of McDonald's at 2:30 and ate lunch. Our next stop was our motel in Delhi at 4:30 p.m. Our driver made good time, and the day of driving was uneventful and blessedly went by quickly. Some of the team went out for supper - the rest of us ordered pizza in and I was in bed before 10:00.

My alarm went off at 3:11 a.m. on Monday. We loaded the bus and were on the road by 4:15. It was a 45-minute drive to the airport from the motel, and it went by quickly. Before I knew it, we were saying goodbye to the people we had spent the last eight weeks with. It was hard, especially since I may not see these people again this side of heaven. After we checked our bags, we found the food court and ate breakfast. We boarded the plane at 8:40 a.m. and landed in Munich, Germany, seven hours later. We grabbed lunch in the Munich airport and then boarded our next eight-hour flight to Chicago, and from Chicago it was another three or four hours to Orlando. On-board movies and my iPod were definite life-savers since I can't seem to sleep on planes. After about thirty hours of travel, we technically left Delhi and landed in Orlando on the same day because of time change. It made for a very long day (literally and figuratively).

We had a bit of excitement in Chicago, the first and only bit of traveling difficulty we experienced. Between the time our first flight landed and our second flight boarded, we had an hour and a half to get all eleven of us through customs and immigration, recheck our bags, and take a shuttle from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. Four of us didn't make it in time. It was strange having the team split up, sitting on the final plane and knowing that not all of us were on board. So seven of us arrived in Orlando at 12:15 a.m. and the other four arrived around 2:00 p.m. the following day. It was nice to have everyone back together again. :)

We spent two days in Orlando. Each day had different sessions to attend, all designed to help us transition back into American culture. There was also time for each time to give a short report about the summer and share a few pictures. The team dressed up for the report - the girls in their sarees and the guys in their Garhwali suits. :) The second day was eventful for the girls, as we found out that one of us had head lice! Since we were all sleeping in the same room, we spent part of the morning stripping all the beds and collecting anything that might have been exposed to lice. We all had our heads checked, and some of us had our hair washed with lice shampoo - the rest of us opted out and prayed we didn't have lice. :) But I don't regret having all seven of the girls in the same room - it was wonderful last-minute together time.

And then it was Thursday. The day I had been dreading since leaving Delhi. Thursday didn't have any sessions or meetings - it was simply a day for saying goodbye as everyone caught a plane home. The goodbyes started a bit earlier for us - one of the guys was leaving early in the morning and wanted to say goodbye to everyone the night before. By the time I left at noon on Thursday, most of the team was already gone. As hard as it was to say goodbye to the long-termers in Delhi, it was infinitely harder to say goodbye to the team. But now that we are in the States, we have many forms of communication to tie us together. Where there is a will, there is a way. :)

The plane ride home was easy, but seemed to take forever. I journaled for part of it and listened to my iPod for the rest. It was weird to hear people in the seat behind me talking about Iowa. At first I got excited because I hadn't heard that name in a long time, and I wanted to introduce myself...and then I realized that of course they were talking about Iowa - that's where our plane was headed! Very strange. My parents met me at the airport and we drove straight home. We have grilled every night and yesterday I had Iowa sweet corn for the first time all summer! So good.

Sometimes it feels like this summer was a dream - that someone else with my name went to India and I lived it second-hand. But then there are moments like these that remind me that I really was in India for two months:
- Automatically converting everything from dollars to rupees.
- Automatically converting the current Iowa time to India time.
- Someone turning off a light in the house, me not seeing the person but seeing the light turn off, and assuming that the power had gone out.
- Seeing a teammate's photo album on Facebook with pictures from India in it - and seeing myself in some of the pictures.
- Wearing a shirt that has sleeves shorter than the sleeves on a curta, and therefore exposing my awkward "curta tan." (I need to work on that.)

I was going to title this entry "And So It Ends," but that isn't true. My summer isn't over now that I am back in the States again. I'm still emailing the missionaries in India and Facebooking my team. And I'm still discovering what God has been doing in and through me this summer - that is something I'll be discovering for a long time.

If you're in the area, I'll be speaking at First United Methodist Church in Jefferson this coming Sunday. You can come and hear a story or two, look at a few pictures, then follow me back to my house to hear everything I didn't say and look at the other 500 pictures (as long as you also help me pack since I move back to college that afternoon).

It's been quite the journey - thanks for coming with me, and following my blog. You all are such a blessing.

Prayer Requests:
-For my team (Apex and SOS) as we transition back into American culture and, for most of us, college life.
-For me, as I prepare to speak on Sunday. Public speaking isn't my thing. Pray for my nerves, and that God gives me the words He wants me to speak.
-For safe travel for everyone as we return to school or work.
-That I will not slip back into life as I lived it pre-India. That I will remember everything and everyone from this summer, and that it will impact the way I live daily.
-That as I share about this summer, it isn't about me. To God be the glory.
-Whatever else God lays on your heart. :)

Current total number of pictures: I lost count at 493
Current total number of videos: somewhere around 30
Current total number of blank journal pages: 7
Current total number of days before college: 5