इंडिया India

Written June 5th 2009:

India!!! Honestly I don’t know where to start, it has been absolutely amazing. I have been here for less than a week and it is one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. I am currently writing this blog on a train to the Himalayans (and hoping I will find an internet connection when we arrive) – but that’s not the point, the point is I am on a train riding across India!!! Sitting on the edge, letting my feet dangle over the side, and typing away to my friends and family back home. This is marvellous!

The people here are like no one else I have ever met, yet like every other person I know. Like most things I want to write home about, I simply cannot. I have had more feelings without words in these few short days. I feel simplified, not just in my spirit but in my mind as well. I cannot write down what I am thinking or how I would like to portray this beautiful place; I don’t even know where to begin.

Ill try writing this first blog a bit more surface, maybe that will open me more. So…heat! Im wondering if any of you have crawled into an oven and camped out for a bit beside a big old pot of stinky stew? No? Huh, you should try too or at the very least travel to India in the dead of summer. Yesterday was 46 for most of the day, humid beyond belief, add on a morning rain, some funky “scents”, and the combination can basically throw you over the edge. It seriously pushes your body to limits you didn’t know you could reach. Every pour of my body leaks, it is absolutely necessary to shower multiple times a day. After a few short hours you are melting, literally you feel like you are melting, like your skin is just dripping off of you and your legs cannot withstand the weight above. Insane people; bloody insane.

Food has been amazing. So many people got my mind messed with all sorts of crazy when it came to the food, but it has been great. I have not eaten a thing I didn’t like and it is not nearly as spicy as I prepared in my mind it would be. Sure the plates are essentially community stacked and just wiped off and handed to the next person, but hey, all for one and one for all! Delhi belly has not even factored in and for that I am grateful, Tasha has already been plugging in my head that this is where I am supposed to be; Im an Indian at heart…humm food for thought!

Again, I would love to tell you all about the people I am traveling with but I cant. I have wrote and re-wrote this part and there are not words, nothing even sitting at the tip of my tongue. I am with beautiful people, each and every one of them thoughtfully placed together on this trip, and for very good reason. They are lovely and they have taught me so much, together we will teach, learn, and grow and I am really looking forward to that piece of the journey.

Mama I miss you. I know you are stressed but there really is no reason to be. I have experienced more kindness, silent connections, and general respect here than anywhere I have been in the world. Dad your words, your verses, your eyes, have kept me calm and focused in times of panic and I am really grateful for that. Christa, I wish I could talk to you every day. I have a million stories I want to share with you so you’re all jacked up for Brazil; I am so excited for you and your team. Tiffany, I miss you. Thank-you for your messy scribbles and disastrous highlights that have beautified my bible and spoke to me when I needed it the most. I love, love you all and I hope to find time to write home again soon. Miss you!