Hindi movie and Domino's pizza

KC making dinner-potato parathas!

Week number 4~ crazy! Saturday was spent with me (Raina)all day in Casualty....doing what I usually do-sitting and talking to students. The nursing school kids here have class and "duty"(clinical) Monday-Saturday...but no afternoon classes on Saturday. Makes me very thankful for our whole weekends that we get. Saturday night, when I asked the girls what their plans were for the weekend...Pinky said-"Today is Saturday -I go to the Market!!!" So naturally I invited ourselves to go with them, and KC and I set off after 8 Indian girls to the market to buy ...whatever it is that they were going to buy. It turned out to be purses and jewelry so KC quit and went back to the house after about 15 minutes of girl time-he said it was too much :). The girls bought me some pink and gold bangle bracelets (the married women here wear a lot of bangles on their arms, so naturally I need some too) and the day was a success. We planned another time to go to the market to buy me a Saree. The nursing students are only allowed a "market pass" twice a month-every other Saturday. The rest of the time they are not allowed to leave DCH without special permission.
   Saturday night was another night of Hindi and Indian learning with Mrs.Lal. However, 10 minutes in we got a text message from Dr.Mousam saying 'code red: open knee fracture with lots of bleeding RUN to Casualty'. So-I ran to casualty and helped him with that-there were 2 other students there too , but it was nice of him to include me. The ortho doctor reduced the dislocation WITHOUT PAIN MEDICATION because it takes to long to wait on anesthesia there-that was a learning experience for me. We stitched it up and put it in a plaster splint....to do surgery several days later, instead of immediately to the OR like we would back at Mount Carmel. (partially because the patient/patient's family is responsible themselves to come up with blood to donate for the surgery, and money for the surgery before any surgery can be done-partially according to the doctor to let the leg "adjust" to the fracture) Interesting philosophy.

Me at the Magento mall

Sunday Dr.Mousam and his wife Dr.Shweta had told us that they would take us to Raipur. This had been talked about several times, but both in different scenarios. One person said we would spend the day with them-watch a movie and go to lunch with them, in another scenario they said they would drop us off at the market. As we were sitting at their house waiting to go we noticed that they were packing overnight bags.....that was the first clue we had no idea what was going on. The second was when KC said 'It will be nice not to take a bus this time' and Dr.Shweta said-yeah but you gotta take a bus back'. Oops...once again we had no idea what was going on in India! Turns out that they go home to their parents' houses in Raipur every Sunday and stay the night-and they were just taking us to Raipur to do some shopping and to get away from Dhamtari as a favor,  but we had to find our own way back. Because of this we were pretty much stuck there all day-at a MALL (found out that there are 4 malls in Raipur!) which was nice-but not really what we intended to do in India. We didn't really have any shopping to do (some of the stores were just as expensive as back home) and our food shopping took us 2 hours (we found their Walmart! It is called 'Easy Day'). We called him to tell him we were done-and he said he was coming to meet us one of the malls... but in 4 hours....& suggested we go watch a movie-also not something we wanted to do. They were all in Hindi. So we picked one that looked like it might be okay (it didn't say it was in Hindi like the others did), ate some lunch at DOMINO'S! woohoo (the pizza still has Indian cheese) and then watched Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji...which was 10% English, 90% Hindi. It ended up being kind of funny and we understood some of it. Then the Jefferins met us at one of the malls, and took us to the 'bus terminal' where we got on a BIG sleeper bus this time, and had a pleasant ride back to Dhamtari. All in all-what started as a very confusing day, ended up being good. Plus we had eaten so much pizza for lunch that we didn't need to waste any of our precious market food on dinner :).

KC at the 'Easy Day' (Walmart)

     I did end up going to the market to get a Saree yesterday-but not with anyone I knew. Because the students had already gone to the market twice that month, Pinky was not allowed to go-so she enlisted 2 staff nurses (both younger than me) to take me. They spoke understandable English, and were AMAZING bargainers in Hindi (one girl scared me sometimes yelling "SHE WANTS PINK ONLY" every time they tried to show me a different color) and were determined to find me a pink Saree for the graduation ceremony coming up this week, that would match my pink bangles. After striking a tough bargain (the girl threatened to leave if he didn't give it to us), they took me to little tiny hidden-in- an- ally tailor, and I will be picking up a completed Saree tomorrow! They then suggested I try Gup chup....a street vendor snack popular here with the girls also called Paani puri-before I knew it I was gobbling some sort of deep fried shell filled with a very spicy potato soup-whole ...and you just say "gup chup" to these vendors and hold out your dish for one after another until you are full. Then they made me promise not to tell any doctors that they fed me street food....I still don't know those girls names but I'd say we are friends. 
        KC started teaching English yesterday! We both told the respective teachers of our classes that we would like to sit in on a class and see how it is done before teaching. When he got to class and asked where the teacher was they said "you are the teacher" and made him stand up front. So-he was thrown into teaching immediately. It is a little nerve-wracking because they are so eager to please-they don't come into the classroom until you tell them too, they stand until you tell them to sit, and they all answer questions at once. But-they are eager to learn, and take notes at everything you say. He has been busy doing lesson plans for that. I also had no teacher when I got to the med-surg class that I am helping to teach (they said 'You can teach Trauma...but we don't have any Trauma books' so I am using our TNCC trauma manual....interesting) so I started right in on the different kinds of mechanisms of injury. I kept asking if they were bored...and they said NOOO MAM!(it is weird being called mam) Also these BSC kids stay in dorms off campus-at a village called Shanti Pur about 10km away, and they have already planned a weekend for us to come stay the night with them. We had to set some boundaries though-they wanted us out there for the next 2 weekends-from Saturday to Monday! We told them that this weekend we would like to go to Jagdalpur, a city about 5 hours away by bus. There is a waterfall near there called Chitrakote falls...one of India's biggest and nick-named India's Niagara Falls, and I think we are going to venture there on Saturday after KC's English class. It is far enough away that we will have to stay the night somewhere-so another adventure is coming!
Our days are becoming more hopeful-although still relaxed. For instance: the reason I have time to write this blog is because I went to surgery to assist with Mousam today-and his wife said that there are no ortho surgeries, nobody could afford to pay for them or to arrange blood. And, there were no patients in Casualty. So-back here to plan for my class that is not until 3 pm while KC takes a nap!

The cockroach battlefield

Everyday holds something different :)


Raina (and KC)


PS we have a bit of a cockroach problem-but KC is waging war

No no no...not pickles, FLOUR!

This week we began our Hindi and cooking lessons with Mrs. Lal (Dr. Mrs. Chatterjee's mother), and so far it has been going pretty well; however, after the first day, we tried to use our new-found knowledge to go to the market and buy various food items. Raina found out that the word for pickles (ada) and the word for flour (atta) are very similar, and apparently the pronunciation of the "t" is quite important. After asking for flour, she was promptly presented with pickles. Not a great first attempt.

Our very first meal with a stove-before the paratha

The cooking lessons went well, and we learned how to make chapati (tortilla-type bread) from scratch. There are 3 different types of chapati that we learned how to make: roti (unfried), paratha (lightly fried in oil) and puri (deep fried...mmmmm). Since both of us were counting on losing weight in India, we decided to stick to just roti and paratha. Our attempt at making chapati went much better than our attempt to buy flour. We had breakfast for dinner last night with paratha, eggs, and jam, and it turned out really well. Also, tonight Raina got a lesson on how to wrap a saree, which is terribly complicated and I'm glad I can just throw on a t-shirt.

Raina in a Sari

On Tuesday neither of us were busy, so we decided to take an adventurous trip to Raipur (the capital of Chhattisgarh about 1.5 hours away). We had no idea how to get a bus ticket, but apparently you just walk into the "bus station" (a parking lot) and walk up to a random person and say "Raipur" and they will usher you onto a bus that is currently driving away. We crossed our fingers that it was the right one, and sure enough, 2 hours later we arrived at the Raipur bus station (after nearly getting off at the wrong stop twice). Since it was Raina's idea to take the trip to Raipur, I figured she knew which bus stop to get off at (she didn't), where we should go once we got there (she didn't), and that she would bring enough money (she didn't). All she knew is that our main goal was to go to a market, and change some of our money. So by some lucky freak accident (Raina repeating "market" louder and louder to an auto-rickshaw driver-and to her credit attempting to use the word 'Bazaar'') we ended up at the Raipur City Center mall, which we were told later is one of 3 malls in Raipur, and has the best supermarket. Unfortunately, we ended up at the mall before we changed our money, and we realized, as we were filling a cart full of foodstuffs, that we could not afford to buy even half of what we wanted. Naturally, yelling and casting blame ensued. So we ended up just buying the essentials (rice, sugar, and processed -basically American-cheese), and decided to go try to change our money. We were told by a welcome desk attendant that we could go to the State Bank of India to change our money, which we did (by auto-rickshaw). We arrived at the bank at 5:00pm, and the money-changing counter closed at 4:30pm. Good thing I decided to set aside enough money for our bus ticket back, or else we would still be at the State Bank of India in Raipur (at least someone in this marriage plans). So we hopped on a bus back to Dhamtari, got our pictures taken about 300 times (they really like white people), and 2 hours later were back at DCH. It was ultimately a waste of a trip, but at least we now know how to do it again.

Namaste

Wednesday was Republic Day in India (a national holiday similar to Independence Day), so no one worked. They had a flag raising ceremony in the morning, and sports activities in the afternoon (which Raina and I were reluctantly involved in). We both ran a race similar to suicides; Raina placed 2nd, while I fell down and got laughed at. Thursday Raina helped Dr. Jefferin (the orthopedic surgeon) in surgery all day (3 surgeries back to back to back), and I was put in charge of fixing the hospital internet, which involved scaling the side of a building and climbing 2 trees. Friday Raina was sick (the same cold I had) and could not help in surgery, and I was supposed to go to Sankra again but it was postponed, so we had a nice day off. Today (Saturday) we met with Mrs. Masih, the principal of the nursing school, to see if they would like us to teach. They asked Raina to teach Trauma nursing to 2nd year B.S. students, and I offered to teach English, so they asked me to teach 1st year B.S. students. We will each be teaching one class per day Monday-Saturday, starting next week. They gave me an English textbook to teach from, and Raina will be teaching from her TNCC Trauma book she brought from home. We are both looking forward to teaching, since it will be something that we can do every day to keep us busy (especially me).

Me discussing the various 'race' options...they were suicides- plain and simple

Raina with nursing students @ Republic Day

So it looks like things are going to get a little busier for us now, which is definitely an answer to our/your prayers. I'm sure it will be an interesting week for both of us next week as we settle in to our new teaching jobs, so please pray for us in that regard. We have heard the snow has been pretty bad in Columbus, but don't worry, it hasn't dropped below 55 here and we still haven't seen a cloud (although I thought I saw one today but it just turned out to be contrails <---look that one up, there's your nugget of knowledge for the day). Keep praying for us!

KC (and Raina)

Life in India as we know it so far

Pinky, me, Nikkita-nursing students

             This marks the beginning of the 3rd week that we have been there. And, while that may seem hard to believe, it feels like the time is going by very slowly. We are slowly beginning to identify things that we can do to keep busy, and have been trying to adapt the mindset that we should let relationships be more important than the physical things we accomplish. That being said I think it is going to be very important for me (Raina) to get to know the nursing students who are here, and have met several so far. Last week I had the nursing supervisor show me around the hospital, and tell me what her ideas are for me to do while I am here ( basically tell the nurses how to take care of the acutely ill patients-especially in ICU, not my calling, although their ICU here is very different here than the US) I also "shadowed" in the Casualty (ER back home). The hospital-DCH-is connected with the nursing school which has over 400 students, and they all work in the hospital as part of their schooling. So, that means that the Casualty is over staffed. They have a staff nurse (1 nurse for 18 beds can you imagine MCW nurses?) 2 GNM students, and an "Internship" student who is basically a nurse. They have about 1 patient per hour I would say in the day shift. They also have a "ward boy" who is an older gentleman that runs around, transports patients, does EKG's, etc. -they call him uncle. :) The nurses do not speak English very well, and the students are afraid to try-so in essence I sat at the desk all day by myself and observed. Saturday I attempted to go in from 7a-3p and did the same thing-sat. They wouldn't even let me help them make beds! They said-'no mam no, you sit here'! I did make friends with a girl named Pinky, who does not think she can speak English as she went to a Hindi medium school, but I am working on her.  So after a couple hours of this sitting, the orthopedic surgeon told me he was doing a surgery that day-a tibial interlocking, if I wanted to assist. He seems to think I have worked in the operating room-because he thinks that's what all Traumas consist of-and wants me to assist. It has been very trying to work with him, because he does seem to realize that I am not an OR nurse (or Operation Theatre -OT as they call it).  There is a lot of yelling, which is normal for surgeons I know, but it is hard when they are speaking Hindi! However, it has been a great learning experience and I am trying to be appreciative. I have now assisted on 3 surgeries, and am learning how to do sutures (which ALL of the nurses do here...the surgeons do not do them!) He said that if I keep a journal of the surgeries with pictures of the x-rays (ps he takes pictures during the surgery to document his work...it is pretty funny) that he will give me a "certificate" when I leave, in essence it will look very nice on my resume. I guess I can be thankful for that! 

Sunset at the dam

      I am hoping to teach in the nursing school as well, and had talked to the Nursing school superintendent about that. She said she would talk to them on Monday (today) and let me know what the schedule would be, but then unfortunately her elderly father died this morning-and in India they have to have the funeral right away as they do not embalm, so DCH is kind of on standstill. .The students said that they do not have class tomorrow because of the funeral.  Wednesday is a national holiday, so nobody will work then either. Also, Dr.Chatterjee's mother said that she had wanted to teach us some Hindi and Indian cooking, but when we asked her about it today she said to wait until February....? This is giving us a lot of time to sleep in and relax and I guess we should be thankful for that!

Us at the Gangral dam

          KC went last week to look at a building about 20 minutes away (in Sankra) to give his opinion about renovating it. He is supposed to go tomorrow to meet the contractor with them, but again with the funeral he does not know if he will. That is one of the things we have learned to do here...be flexible. He was supposed to go to Sankra on Wednesday, found a note on the door that said they postponed it, then Friday-the doctor told me to tell him it was postponed again-then Saturday he finally went! You never really know what is going to happen in Dhamtari. We thought we were going to Raipur (The capital about a hr and a half away) yesterday after church with the Chatterjees (they told us they would take us) but then when we stopped by Saturday, her mother told us they went on Saturday instead...and Sunday they said nothing about it, but invited us to go see the Gangral dam for exercise! So-off we went, to the dam, a tourist attraction for people from miles around. It was very pretty in the sunset, and then afterward we stopped at Dr.(sir) Chatterjee's mother's farm to meet her. She was a hilarious 83 year old woman who spoke a mixture of Hindi/English and loves cricket. We spent an hour watching a cricket match with her, and she knew all the players names.

What KC does while I'm at the hospital!

Our first trip to the market

      We have moved into a new apartment that is very cute and has a balcony which gets good internet. I am currently on said balcony drinking 3 rupee chai that you can get from the canteen down the road-delish. On the days that KC has had nothing to do , he mopped the entire apartment's WHITE floor-by hand!- washed dishes and did laundry. Our neighbors have a washing machine, but we have no laundry line to hang our clothes to dry. So, we have been using their washer, and their line, and feel terrible. Sometimes we will go to get it out of the washer and their son's nanny has hung out or folded ALL of our clothes!We would use the Chatterjees washing machine...but a rat ate through the electric cord so that's a no go there. Speaking of small creatures, while lying in bed last night, KC sat straight up and said "there is a cockroach eating a piece of paper on the floor"-it was very calm. He then proceeded to drown it in Lysol (or "Lyzol" in India... and no it is not the same) and when we told Dr.Mousam and Dr.Shweta our neighbors, she said..."So- Cockroaches are our friends...you probably have little rats too!" Hahaha...needless to say I had KC shake out and fold all of our clothes and pack them BACK in our suitcases! The mosquitoes are ridiculous too-one morning in chapel I killed 18 during a half hour service, and we are wearing Deet to bed.Our last week also included our first experience to the market (which is really just a collection of roadside shacks, and you have to know what you are looking for). Dr.Mousam went with us, so we would know where to start shopping. Hopefully we will be going to Raipur soon, as that is the biggest closest city and although we have a stove and refrigerator now, we cannot survive on peanut butter & jelly, grilled cheese and PB crackers forever! We have both decided that although we are chicken lovers, when it comes to cooking we are vegetarians...as the chickens must be bought live and whole....

Our new apartment

Hope everybody in Ohio is enjoying the snow! 
Click here for the new link to pictures of India!
 Thinking and praying for everybody back home and missing you all terribly,

Raina (and KC)

      

And now the real work begins...

The Friesens have left, so now we have to start actually working (we were hoping to start last week, but then we were surgically attached to the Friesens for 9 days). Today was the first day in the hospital for Raina, and I met with Mr. Peter, the maintenance supervisor, to talk about what work he had for me. Before I talk about the real work, I’ll fill you in on our last few days with the Friesens.

This is a National Highway!

Monday we visited Guttula, a village near the jungle about 1.5 hours east of Dhamtari. Guttula is important because it is one of the first locations where the missionaries settled when coming west from Calcutta in 1910. They came by ship from the US to Calcutta, then journeyed by ox-cart to Chhattisgarh. The total travel time was about 2 months (now there is a direct flight from Chicago to Delhi that takes 15 hours!), and they had 17 ox-carts (34 oxen) to carry all of their supplies. It is incredible what kind of hardships and difficulties the early missionaries endured to reach this area.

Cows everywhere!

On a lighter note, something quite amusing happened while we were at Guttula. We had to bring 2 vehicles because some of the local church leaders went with us, so therefore we had 2 drivers. While we were touring the church and bungalow, our drivers decided it would be a great idea to get drunk! So we finished the tour and came back to the vehicles to go visit a nearby rock formation, and they came stumbling out of one of the cars clearly unable to drive. The church leaders promptly began yelling and scolding the drivers and were very angry and embarrassed. So they called the rental company and told them of the situation, and they sent 2 more drivers from Dhamtari to “rescue” us. So we had to wait 1.5 hours until they arrived, and we were finally able to leave. The rental company told us to just leave the drunk drivers there, and they could find their own way home. I would guess they are currently unemployed.

Raina with an Indian girl eating off of a leaf-plate

Tuesday we went to Mungalterai (I probably butchered that spelling, oh well), which is located in the jungle about 1 hour south of Dhamtari. It was a nice drive and a very small little village. They had a “community gathering” for the Friesens visit, so there were quite a few people there, and we were instantly mobbed when we arrived. The children love to practice their English on Americans, so they were always saying “Good morning, what is your name? Where are you from?”. The youth group did a skit about the Prodigal Son, which was quite entertaining even though we couldn’t understand any of it. We had heard that some people in India eat from plates made of leaves, but until we went to

Waterfall we stopped at on the way to Mungalterai

Mungalterai we had not seen that (mainly because we were with the Friesens and were treated like royalty). Unfortunately (or fortunately), they did not allow us to eat from the leaf-plates, and gave us real plates, including forks and spoons. They allowed the Americans to sit in chairs, eat on real plates, use forks and spoons, and drink bottled water, while everyone else sat on the ground, ate off of leaf-plates, ate with their hands, and drank well water.

Lizard

Wednesday was a relaxing day visiting Dr. Martin (the Friesens grew up with him). We had lunch at his bungalow in Dhamtari, then went to visit his farm and had a campfire dinner. It was very nice to get away from the congestion and noise of Dhamtari and enjoy nature. There was a Leopard spotted at his farm a few days ago, so all the men decided we should go on a walk to see if we could spot it. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we did not spot the Leopard, although we did notice paw prints and droppings that were most likely Leopard. I would have loved to put up a nice big picture of Leopard poo, but alas, we forgot our camera. We ate chicken and pork cooked over the fire, with potato salad (finally something American!), rice, vegetables, and various other sides. It was a nice change of pace from the traditional Indian foods we had been eating.


So today was our first day of real work. Raina shadowed the nurses in the Casualty (what they call the ER), and got to see a typical day for them, which according to her was quite boring, they had only 5 patients while she was there for 5 hours. Things operate very differently here, and she is having a little trouble with the language barrier so far, but hopefully things will get better and she will learn some key phrases and become more comfortable.

The new apartment

As for me, I talked with Mr. Peter and asked him if I could take a look at our apartment they are preparing for us and see what else needed done. He gave me the keys and told me to report back to him what I needed and he would make sure it gets done. I was hoping I could actually do some of the manual labor since it is our apartment, but he would not allow it. It looks like they want me to be more involved with the planning and design of projects rather than manual labor. There is a building at the Sankra hospital (about 20 minutes away) in need of renovation and/or reconstruction, and it sounds like they want me to be in charge of that project, so hopefully I will be able to stay busy working on that for a while. I will have to adjust to the way things are done here, construction is very very different from how it is done in the US, and progress goes very slowly. There is no such thing as OSHA, and I will try to put up a picture later of the scaffolding they use (essentially tree branches and twine).

I think God is speaking to us in Dove chocolates...

Keep praying for us as today was a bit of a struggle trying to figure out what we will be doing and how we can best use our skills to help. We need to have patience and perseverance to get through the first week or so of settling into our “jobs” and getting comfortable with how things operate. I’m sure the next post will be filled with positive words to say about all of the great things we are doing. We have heard multiple times from friends, the Friesens, and even Dove chocolate, that the relationships that we develop are more important that what we actually do. We are trying to keep that in mind as we try to figure how God will use us here.


KC (and Raina)

Did we lock a cow in the gate again? (subtitled: You'd get your kids taken away if you did that in the States...)

Random cows

Wow. It feels like we have been all over India since the last post...but really it has only been in a select few cities (villages really) within 30km of Dhamtari. The Friesens (grandparents started churches here, parents stayed as missionaries, they grew up here) still have a full schedule up until they leave next Thursday. The 100 yr celebration of the beginning of Zion Mennonite Church at Sankra( near Dhamtari )was this whole weekend (14,15,16) and the reason for them coming to India. However their family seems to have had an influence in every town within 100km...(including Raipur!) so they have to visit a lot of people. They haven't lived here for over 40 years, and some of the people they grew up with have passed away, but it has been very interesting to meet and make contacts with all of these people who are still around. It has kind of been a blessing in disguise (maybe a hassle to them) that we tag along as the doctors that invited us and who we have been sharing meals with are extremely busy, and unable to introduce us to all of these people. Thursday was Shantipur, lunch there...and visiting where the one Friesen couple came back and lived for 3 years in '68-'71, and then dinner back there that night at the church. Let's talk about dinner. 

KC in Shantipur with a guy that wanted his 'photo'

              I'm not crazy about lamb as it is, KC is okay with it...but he's not a big fan of organs (aka brain, liver, kidneys, you name it).  Around here when they cook for a big group of people they take the animal and just throw it in whole into a pot over a fire.  At the church in Shantipur probably 30 of us were eating, and so there were a lot of baby goats killed. (They appeared to be babies because KC had the ribs...and possibly a liver?)It was a very new experience for us. They also eat with their hands, which we are getting a lot better at...you wash before -you wash after...although the rice is a challenge. The food was actually not too spicy, and they were okay at taking "no" to seconds for an answer there :). It was also nice to connect with some of the people that I may come in contact with at the hospital. One girl was a labor and delivery nurse, and spoke some English, so we attempted a conversation. The nurses here have a GNM track...or general nursing & midwifery...which is 3 years.  A lot of nurses do this course of study, and one doctor told me they have more clinical experience so they may become better OR nurses. (or O.T. here) I told the girl I couldn't imagine delivering a baby and we left it at that. KC tried to stick it out with the men on their side of the bonfire. Again-the people are INCREDIBLY nice, and treat us like royalty. It seems to us to defeat our idea of missions sometimes...another thing we are trying to get used to. The people here now are more middle class (for India) because they are the 3rd generation of people since Mennonite Missions started here. Although they are still living in very humble situations compared to the US , they have a lot more money, education, and modern lifestyle then some of the people in outlying villages. Also-we have not had a lot of contact with Hindus, as we have been mostly with Christian Indians.

Choir at Sankra

            The next day started the cetennial celebration at Sankra...a festival really. It started with a parade through the whole town (about 1km) of everybody there singing and clapping...to the church. There were more live flowers than I have ever seen decorating that place, and a HUGE tent that they had rented from a nearby town. ( I cannot imagine how long that took to put up, it was put together with pins I think). There were 2 overflow areas with chairs for if the church became full, and another area under the tent for gathering. All of the services were in Hindi, but the people were so excited to have their esteemed guests (the Friesens) there that on the first night we were included too! We got more flowers, and a special guest pin which was embarrassing but again very nice of them. There were sermons, singing (hymns and praise songs in Hindi-not their strong suit, I think they are better at cultural songs!) and then a "culture show" in the evening with dancing. It went on all the next day (ending with some crazy fireworks illegal in the states), and then ended on Sunday with a final service and tree planting. They were very excited to celebrate 100 years, and there were well over 100 people from all over the area. I think all of the Mennonite churches in Chhattisgarh were represented. Again-everything in Hindi, but Mr.Friesen's sermon was in English translated to Hindi, so at least we could hear that. 

'Ber' fruit everyone kept picking us

   Friday we were unexpectedly taken to a Government building to meet with the state police in order to fill forms out that stated we were in the country. Let's just say that this must not happen too often for them. There were 4 forms, all asking the same thing (including height, hair/eye color) and they had been photocopied with someone else's answers whited out. One guy stood in the middle of the room and yelled things in Hindi to everybody else while they shuffled through our papers. It took 2 hours, and ended with photos of each of us...and then a photo with the guy who appeared to be in charge. The next day when we were called back AGAIN...he proudly showed us the photo that he had run out and printed that same night, which he now keeps in his desk...he said it was "a happy memory". 2 hours in the police station...I did not call a happy memory. Then a girl asked for a picture with me-white people are celebrities. We are all squared away with the police now...I think. Who really knows in India, the language barrier tends to be a bit of a bother.

      The cows really do roam freely here- it is definitely not a myth. In fact we saw 3 huge cows of some kind today that were taking a nap in the very busy road next to the divider. If we forget to close our gate when we leave they wander into our yard...same with the door on our house! They also have water buffalo wandering all over aimlessly...which apparently gives a very rich milk. Who knew. The stray dogs are everywhere as well and yesterday we hit a puppy and the driver kept right on going. I'm trying to get used to that but I doubt I will. We also walked into a house for tea at Shantipur, and I immediately picked up their teeny tiny puppy...it was their pet it had to be safe! KC reminded me that we declined our rabies shots so I put it down....and looking back I think it had fleas.

             Like I said, it is extremely hard to get used to how we are treated here. Because the people have such a history with the Friesens, they were given the highest treatment at the celebration* dinner in a separate place served at a table while all the Indians ate in the other room, people don't let them wait in line for anything they have them cut to the front, drivers wherever we go* and so we were included right along with it. Literally any time you stopped moving someone would ask "You want something, chai? a seat?" Little kids come up and like to practice their English...."Hallo, Whut is yer name? Wher are you frum?" and that is all they can say. Then they give you a piece of paper that says "utogrph book" and ask for your autograph...or "photo" and pull out their cell phones :). It is funny to see that it makes them so happy! Saturday night someone literally thrust their baby at me while it was screaming to take a picture of us and she kept saying..."just one, just one". They have ABSOLUTELY no shame in frank staring. Even if you look at them. KC and I took a walk down the road during the service on Saturday (we needed a break from Hindi monotony) and an entire school of children ran out from the playground pointing and laughing...I think we made their year. There are 2 kinds of schools here...Hindi Medium and English Medium...that one was definitely Hindi, no one spoke a word of English . People also ride ALOT of motorcycles, or small motorbikes, to get around here and they PILE the people on them. Today we saw a woman riding sideways on the back with a toddler in between her and the driver, balancing an infant in her left arm. Yesterday I saw 3 children who looked under 5 squashed together with 2 adults on one small motorbike.  Dr.Chatterjee said that diabetes is on the rise with lack of exercise, people are not having to walk or ride bicycles as much with these new ways of transportation. 

Me in the "Shalwar Kameez"

        I had clothes made this week, and that was an experience in itself. I think it will take some time before I can do it myself. Dr. (Mrs.) Chatterjee took us, or rather the driver dropped us off, outside one of the many shops on the street that ALL LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME. We walked in (KC and I with our shoes on, while the owner "tut-tutted" us until we took them off) sat on some mats, and she told him in Hindi my price range. He proceeded to pull out every single fabric in that range(300-400 rupees about 8-10 dollars) and even after I had picked 2 out he pulled them all out and spread them on the floor together so I could see. Shalwar Kamiz have 3 parts-the long top that covers the hips (kameez), the pants that look like bloomers in a triple x when you get them from the tailor (shalwar-but so comfy) and then the scarf (dupatta). I needed a white one for the hospital (well really I was told "oh you can just wear what you want with a lab coat, the doctor will give you a lab coat" but everybody else wears white so I'm trying to blend in...ha), and then picked 2 others out. You then take them to a tailor and they measure you and make the outfit. Or...if you are Dr.(Mrs) Chatterjee, she has the driver drive by the tailors, yell out the window that I need fitted, and then have the driver take me back to her house, so that the tailor comes over (by foot I'm sure) and measures me at home. I got the outfits 2 days later (the tailor charges 530 rupees...about 11 dollars) and they really were very comfortable.  I think I look like a pregnant Indian with white skin wearing it, but people at the celebration told me  " you are looking so beautiful this evening" so I'll take it :).

Aadi-our neighbor (Dr. Mousam's 2 year old)

                To the tune of wild dogs fighting to the death that I hear right now, I will close with a humiliating story that summarizes the awkward moments of India that we have been experiencing since we got here. Because of the celebration this weekend there are several bishops, and members of the MCI (Mennonite Church in India) here in town. Friday night I was cold, and when in India do as they do, so I brought my prayer shawl that mom bought from the World Market. It has writing on it and KC thought I should ask first what it says in Hindi, but of course I did not. Apparently the BISHOP told Mr.Friesen " will you tell that woman that what she is wearing is very offensive to the people, I cannot tell her it will be rude"-and at the same time I had asked another young woman what it said. She grabbed it...stuffed it in my purse and said..."Yes it's in Hindi but it is worshiping Hindu gods put it away!" It was a Hindu prayer shawl that was praising several of their  Hindu gods, which in Christian India is terrible.  I turned around, and a whole circle of people was watching me and laughing. That = KC and Raina in India :-)

Advice for India-brought to you by dove

   As you remember us in your thoughts and prayers- KC suddenly came down with a cold today and is sick in bed with a sore throat. He is trying to sleep it away which on a hard bed and pillow made of rock is difficult. Also, it is still not clear when or what exactly our work will be here.Though we have heard lots of ideas about helping in the hospital, etc, they don't appear to "need" us.  We are loving the people's hospitality, the weather and the time to relax but want to do something ! This is tough for 2 planners, who want to get a job done where we see results. Pray that we remember there HAS to be a reason God put us here, and that the relationships we are starting and our time together can benefit no matter what we do. 
To see the rest of our pictures ( I write way too much, imagine if I put all the pictures up I wanted to ) Click Here

Day trip to Dondi

Today was an interesting if not unplanned day. Members of the Friesen family are visiting Dhamtari Christian Hospital (DCH) and the surrounding areas this week. Themselves, along with their ancestors, have been crucial to the Dhamtari and Chhattisgarh areas. Members of their family helped to start DCH in 1910, and they lived in the area until the early 1960s. Rev. Stanley Friesen and Dr. Weldon Friesen (and his wife) are visiting. They were both raised in the area and lived here until they were in their early teens, before returning to the US.

Without the Friesens knowledge, we were told to go "visiting" surrounding areas with them, so they did not plan on a large enough vehicle, and we were very cramped (Raina and I in the way-back with an Indian man). We visited a village called Dondi, located about 100km (60 miles) from Dhamtari. The drive took about 2 hours (yes, 60 miles in 2 hours), along a somewhat paved, very bumpy road (although it was a very pretty drive). Click HERE for a map of our route today. Dondi is on the edge of the jungle, so we saw forests and lakes and mountains, and of course our camera died as soon as we left, hence no pictures with this blog. The first time we realized the camera was dead it was when they stopped the driver to take pictures of a potter out in front of his store. His potter's wheel was literally just that...a wheel off of a wagon, and he was incredible. His clay was being dug up by members of the family, warming in the sun to treat it, and then he spun it. Another member of the family (or random person...one can never tell in India) treated the pots and then baked them in an oven. It was very cool to see....and yes it was Raina who brought the camera without checking to see if it had batteries...don't worry they are both charging on our converter don't you worry.   The Dondi area is also home to one of the largest open Iron Ore mines in the world, so that was interesting to see.

It was very interesting to see the beginnings of Christianity in this area. There are 22 Mennonite Churches in Chhattisgarh, and the Bishop of this area went with us on our tour by the Friesens. I think he knows the family history and story of every single church and it's pastor! We saw the Mennonite church that was started by the Friesen family, as well as the Dondi Christian Hospital, also started by the Friesens. The church they used to attend met us there eager to invite us all (even us-the awkward add-on guests that they didn't plan on) and to talk about EVERY SINGLE MEMORY that they had of the Friesens. The oldest lady in the church (she was about 4 foot and her high pitch Hindi probably carries to Pakistan) remembered the men when they were very young and was singing the songs that they used to sing and talking about their slingshots.We were presented with what we thought was lunch....lots of delicious and not so delicious things. So we ate up...and then promptly had lunch at someone else's house about an hour later. The weight gain is going to be immense people just you wait. (or weight..ha..ha get it...) The Friesens showed us the bungalow they grew up in (complete with a young cow that kept trying to get out of the yard, and the owner kept yelling at it in Hindi so it would sprint aross the yard), and informed us about many different aspects of India. It was like having our own private tour with a guide that spoke perfect English, and all for free! We also visited another Mennonite church with about 20 chairs in it...very new. The pastor was very proud, showing us the teak wood decorations and introducing us to the boy from the tribe of  Gonds ( a non-Hindu tribe who worships animals)  who slept in the yard day and night to protect the materials while the church was being built  . 

We are slowly becoming integrated to the India life, things are very different here. We made our first purchase from a street vendor (bottled water-probably got ripped off), and we have found out the types of food we like and don't like. The hospitality of the Indian people is incredible. Any time they have a special visitor to their home, the present them with a lei of flowers, along with more food than you can imagine. Also, they do not take no for an answer when it comes to food, so if you really don't want something you have to cover your plate with your hands...which we are constantly doing.

On a side note, WE GOT OUR LUGGAGE!!!! It finally came on a flight to Raipur last night, so we had to be driven (driving here is borderline suicide) to the airport to pick it up (1.5 hours each way). So Raina now has her own clothes to wear, and we can finally get our things unpacked.

We will be "touring" with the Friesens all week (now they know) and there is a centenary celebration (as they call it...or Centennial for us) at a nearby Christian hospital this weekend that we will be attending. So it looks like we wont actually start our "jobs" until next week.


KC (and Raina)

I can sleep anywhere at anytime...

...except in India at 3 am apparently.

Namastē (or Namaskar),

(Hello...because sadly it is one of the only 4 words that KC and I know. Yes Steffi we should have learned Hindi)

KC asleep in our double twin beds

We have now been in Dhamtari since Saturday night. Today we were supposed to start our work ( Raina in the hospital, KC with "Mr.Peter" the maintenance in charge at the hospital ), but were yawning so profusely and falling asleep in Church yesterday, so the doctors (Dr. Sunil Chatterjee- head of hospital and Internal Medical doctor and Dr.Veena Chatterjee-his wife General surgeon and OB/GYN) suggested we take another day to rest. The time difference is 10.5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time-and it is kicking our butts. I have been waking up both nights and staring at the ceiling for a good two hours, one night listening to loud Indian music, the next listening to a cow .

The front of our guest house

    We arrived Saturday night, and were picked up by a taxi driver who spoke no English, but sure knows how to navigate potholes, 

honk his horn, and flash his brights. It took approx 1.5 hours to get the to hospital campus, which is large surrounded by a gate. In this campus are several "bungalows" or houses, made up of staff, doctors, etc, and then the Nursing college, nursing hostels and the hospital. And cows, always cows...Dr.Mousam Jeffrin met us here, and showed us into the guest house, which turned out to be better than expected. The houses do not have open roofs which is what I was afraid of, and this guest house is 2 stories with several bedroom/bathroom combinations, a sitting room and a very old kitchen.We have 2 twin beds pushed together with a lot of blankets.  The Chatterjees arrived and showed us the particulars of the bathroom- there is no hot water or shower, per se, but a bucket of water with your standard heating coil that you hang into the water. You can't let the coil touch the metal, or it will melt, and you cant test the water while it is turned on or you will die. Okay-maybe not die, but 240volts would hurt. KC and I have a system now though, and this morning was a good shower day-2 buckets of hot water instead of 1 ! :)

Our shower-notice the precariously placed hanger and water heating coil

The toilet that apparently flushes toilet paper - it doesn't

              Anywho...so the first thing we noticed is that they want you to eat, and they want you to eat a lot. They kept offering us food at 10:30p when we got here. We declined...and they kept going. We ended up with 4 bottles of water and some delicious crackers. The next day we woke up, ate breakfast with the Chatterjees (they wanted us to eat American oatmeal, eggs and toast!) and went to church....I still without any luggage. Due to our flights being changed so much all THREE bags are still in Delhi...so I have been wearing some interesting combinations of clothing. The one doctor's wife scrounged for some skirts, because I arrived in a skirt and so they thought I only wear skirts because I am a Mennonite. Needless to say my mother would be proud at the array of long skirts I am wearing, and the fact that I have not looked in a mirror.

And this is why I don't look in the mirror

            After a 3 hour church service in Hindi, where KC and I had to stand up and introduce ourselves and 'say a few words' which were translated, we were told we were going to an "engagement ". We thought it was a wedding, but really it was a giant party for a couple of nurses who are engaged. They exchange gifts, have a ceremony, and take vows -then feed everybody. The doctors were very concerned that we wouldn't be able to eat-but eat we did. And they PILE that food onto the biggest plates you have ever seen....then you eat rice, goat in a curry sauce, chips with salsa and some sort of chapatti bread with your hands. They asked for forks for the Americans though, and were impressed by our stamina :). Surprisingly...we held onto that food quite well thank you.

        This could go on and on detailing all of the events that we have done so far...most of them unplanned because really Indian time doesn't exist...people just do whatever whenever. My medical friends would find it humorous that we ended up at an Indian doctor's seminar on BPH  (benign prostate hyperplasia...KC was less than thrilled) at 9o'clock at night thrown by a drug rep....and like the states they had food! But in the interest of not putting you to sleep-and because we were supposed to go eat lunch at the Chatterjee's 15 minutes ago (don't worry we were an hour late this morning and the food was there and ready after we got there) I am going to close here. Dr.(Mrs.) Chatterjee's mother-Mrs.Lal- lives with them and is the sweetest cutest Indian woman, and has invited us for lunch..and all of our meals. She speaks excellent British English and is determined that we will learn some Hindi. She is also determined to make us gain weight I think. 'Help' as they call it here, is readily available...so they have 3 girls that work for them, and this morning she kept making the poor girl make us roti (flat delicious fried bread in grease) after roti.

The hospital is going to be interesting. It is bigger than I thought, and although very poor and dirty, they have a lot of doctors and the nurses at least seem to know what they are doing. The Emergency Room is called "casualty" and the OR is called "the operation theatre". We were able to just walk into OR today...took our shoes off and put somebody elses flip-flops on...bring on the athlete's foot. We watched Dr.(Mrs.) Chatterjee in surgery and then 5 minutes later she sent a nurse out with the stone so I could see how big it was! It was almost 2.5 cm...massive. (I told Amber that hers was no big deal after that :) ) So I am not sure what my role will be there. Tomorrow I was told that I will be assisting the orthopoedic surgeon....let's hope it is not in OR because I will not know what I am doing.

Keep on praying because the first day here we were kind of wishing it was day 79....

Raina and KC P.S. Apparently the blog does not email you every time we add a post, sorry about that we thought it did ...when you become a "follower" it just lists our blogs as one of your preferred blog in blogspot.comPS...as an added note we still do not have our luggage because it "contained liquids" (which is totally allowable because it was checked). So the British airline PAID someone to TAKE IT BY TRAIN for 24 hours to Raipur where we would pick it up. But...there is too much fog and the train was delayed 10 hours, so the guy they paid refused to bring it and took it back to the airport. We still have to call tomorrow to convince them that we are not criminals and that it can be sent by air to Raipur. Anyone want to make bets that it will be either missing or the wrong luggage by the time we get it? I'm getting REALLY tired of these borrowed skirts...

Just trying to get there....

Ello greetings from Lundin,

So we left Columbus yesterday at 5:30pm our time....and wouldn't you know it decides to snow only in Columbus right when we have to leave. Needless to say we were delayed about an hour and half getting into Chicago.

So OF COURSE we would miss our next flight direct to Delhi, India. (KC has horrible luck with flying FYI don't ever fly with him, your flight will be delayed or cancelled ). We were re-routed through London then onto Delhi, which I was excited about-at least I could say I'd been to England !:) Anywho so the flight to London had a "leaking galley" which turned out to be a leaking COFFEE POT, a must-fix for all international flights apparently. We were delayed another 2 hours, and missed our flight to India...again. Sigh.

 So here we are...in London for 6 hours, waiting to go to India tonight, where we will miss our connecting flight to Raipur. BUT we got 10 pounds a piece to make up for it...woohoo(and just so everyone's clear I was sadly mistaken about the pounds/dollars exchange rate....that is like $5 in the airport for us to eat on ...and the dieting begins! :) )

I really do like traveling though, there are TONS of interesting people in the London airport, from alllll over. We fly British airways too....and it is virtually empty so were hoping for a whole row to ourselves. The most interesting part is going to be when we get into our final destination 12 hours later than planned,  and have to explain to the hospital that we need a ride now....wonder if Indian transportation is any more reliable than Central American???

 off to use our 10 pounds for food!

Raina (and KC)

PS   Things I have learned about international flights so far:

1.) When riding in Coach...don't approach the Business class loo with your toothbrush in hand, they will kindly look you up and down, ask what seat you are in and send you back to the coach bathroom

2.) Don't ever expect multiple connecting flights to...connect

3.) Pack extra clothes in your carry-on for when you are told that ONE of your 3 checked bags was last seen at JFK, and the other ones have not been seen....oops.

4 day countdown!

Its hard to believe only 4 more days until we leave! We are very excited and nervous at the same time. The preparations have been going pretty good, I have been off work since last Monday, which has really helped to get things together and to finish things around the house. Raina and I will both be off work this week, so hopefully we will have plenty of time to tie up all the loose ends. The last couple weeks have been somewhat of a struggle trying to juggle everything, and we definitely noticed Satan trying to get in our way. But now that the stress of the holidays is finally passed, we are starting to feel a little more comfortable about the trip.

We are eternally grateful to everyone who has supported us prayerfully and financially. God has truly blessed us with wonderful friends and family who have made this trip possible. I'm sure the first week or two of the trip will be the most difficult, so please continue to pray for us as we enter into an unknown environment.


We will try to give an update when we arrive, which should be sometime on Saturday the 8th.

God Bless!

KC