I, Rachel Read, am finally beginning to like….maybe even
love South Asia. Don’t get me wrong, my time here has been fantastic, but I’ve
never actually loved the place. Sorry to all the natives who are reading this.
BUT I realized this week “wow, it may be 5 million degrees outside (people talk
about May like it’s cursed…that’s how hot it is) but this place is finally
growing on me”…it only took 8 months.
Let me tell you why this place has grown on me.
1.) There
is so much life here. It’s never quiet and you are never alone…that’s what
happens when you live in a city of, plus or minus, 10 million people. People are
always on the streets....and cows, goats, and stray dogs. If they aren’t, you are in trouble, because either a
tsunami is about to hit or you are out way too late for you own good.
2.) In
spite of how dirty the city may be, there are some seriously beautiful places down
south. Wow. A few of us interns went down south to the tip of South Asia with our friends, Anju and Gitu, a few weeks ago…it was beautiful. We had many adventures on this
trip. Dr/Father Sabu took us on a safari in the mountains. I was maybe a too
little optimistic about seeing a tiger…or maybe an elephant…or even a
leopard…but we did get to see lots of deer and a giant lizard. We also had the
opportunity to have leeches crawl up our feet while we were on a hike. It was
truly a hilarious experience. Seriously. I cried out of laughter for a good 2
hours.
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| Look at that view. Pure beauty. |
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| And we got to climbs trees...one of my favorite things to do. |
3.) I
love IJM. Seriously. I love my co workers, I love God’s faithfulness to this
organization, I love the work we do, and I LOVE our clients. We had another
Freedom Training last week. Let me tell you…it was really hot. 3 days of no air
conditioning. Wow, baby. I started thinking that maybe I was capable of living
in the village or even in a apartment with no A/C. Umm no. May hit and I
realized that I’m not as adaptable as I once thought. ANYWAYS, our clients make
sitting in the heat worth it. The children at Freedom Training last week stole
my heart and I will love them forever. Here is a picture of them after crafts
one day.
4.) Although,
the magic show has yet to happen, there is still some hope that it will happen. Maybe not though. Time will tell tonight. I laughed out loud when I saw this billboard today advertising for
the magic show. It’s these random situations that I find myself that bring me
so much joy in this country.
I know it's hard to see, but it says PC Sorcar Magic Show. I laughed, then thought "what is my life?" Then i answered it and the answer was "random."
5.) There
is no doubt in my mind that this is the exact place I am supposed to be right
now. Why not love it?!
While
being here I have had to learn some difficult life lessons. One of those
lessons being that we live in such a broken world. My head has always known
this and I think even my heart has known this at times, but brokenness is so
evident here in South Asia. America does a relatively good job of hiding the
brokenness of our culture. Everything looks pretty on the outside…and many of
us try to keep it that way. If we look ok on the outside, then maybe we can
keep it together on the inside. That is not the case here. The poverty can not
be hidden, nor can the pain of so many people that live here. It’s
heartbreaking to drive down the streets after 10pm and actually see how many
people are sleeping on the streets…whole families. I’ve been listening to the
song by Caedmon’s Call. It says it all.
As usual, I would like to end with something random. Margaret, Bobbie, and Meredith have recently had a mouse problem in their apartment. His name is Albert and he's a bad bad mouse. They has been the thorn in their side for quite some time now, so they bought a trap this week. Yesterday morning was the day Albert was caught in the trap. Margaret called me and said "Rachel, I think Albert's in the trap and I'm too scared to get him out." She goes on to tell me that Blessy and Joby are going to come over soon, but I say "it's ok I'll come over, I think I'm brave enough to take him out of your pantry." Ok, let's go ahead and discuss my western mindset. In America, traps kill. In America, mice are about 2 inches long...maybe. I'm thinking, we had a few mice in my house growing up, yeah they were scary then, but I'm 25, i can handle this. Ok, I get to the girl's apartment and this "mouse" in a "trap" is very much alive. 1.) This mouse is a rat. 2.) This trap is a cage, not a kill trap. I still decided to be brave. Here is the video.
This video refuses to work, so you may just have to look at Facebook :-)
Yes, you may not think this is funny. That's ok, I do.
Joby is one manly man...the next video is not for the faint of heart. If you are a lover of mice, then don't watch the following video. You could cry. sorry PETA.
Goodbye Albert.
I love each of you and miss you dearly. Don't be a stranger. I always love emails/life updates :-)
