Youth Groups East and West

   One of the hardest experiences while living overseas is when a close friend leaves. Sometimes, they're going to come back. Other times, however, you don't know if you'll ever see them again. Friendship is a significant part of survival.
  Since I've been here, I've probably made about 14 or 15 friends who are close to my age. Five of them have left. Four of them plan to return, but I'm not completely sure I'll ever see the fifth one again.
  When you're a teenager living overseas, and you meet someone close to your age, who is like you in some way (homeschooled, a foreigner, raised in another country, and/or a Christian) there's an immediate link between you and them. Because we're the minority, it's incredibly easy for us to make fast friends. In America, on the other hand, friends are so seemingly easy to come by, that people tend to be a lot more picky about who they spend time with.
 I am so blessed to be apart of a close knit youth group, here in this foreign land. Although I've only lived here for 7 months, they have become like a family to me. I remember the first week I went to youth, I felt like I had almost immediately been accepted; and although I travel often, each time I return, we pick up right where we left off.
  Recently, I returned to Louisiana and had the opportunity to be re-united to my old youth group, where I received a warm welcome. Even though I had been gone for months, I still felt the love radiating out of them. I am incredibly thankful for them adopting my family as an overseas project. I am also very excited at the prospect of a few of them coming here on a special visit.  
   In America, when a friend moves away, it's incredibly sad, but when a friend moves away while living overseas, it seems to be a million times sadder. The most important thing to realize when a friend moves, no matter where you are in the world, is that it's part of a much bigger plan. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
   The hardest things in our lives are what usually builds our character the most. When we go through a hard time, there are three things we can do. 1) We can completely ignore that it's happening, fall away from God, and start relying on other things. 2) We can call on God for comfort and draw closer to him. 3) We can call on God, draw closer to Him, and ask him to help us build our character and to help form us into the people he wants us to be. "Since God intends to make you like Jesus, he will take you through the same experiences Jesus went through. That includes loneliness, temptation, stress, criticism, rejection, and many other problems." (Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Life)
   When we are facing a hard time, instead of asking God, "Why are you doing this to me?" we should ask Him, "What do you want me to learn?" Also, never forget that behind every problem and situation, there is a purpose.

-Birdie

Just a Couple Adventures

Greetings,
    After I returned from my trip to America, the weather here started going kind of crazy on us. When we first got back, things were pretty normal, but after a few days, things got a bit strange.
    I was in my room, minding my own business, when, suddenly, I saw a flash of light. I went to my balcony doors to assess the situation, but neglected to notice anything out of the ordinary. So, I meandered into the Living Room, and Dad, who was doing his own assessment on the balcony, suddenly demanded, in his "I'm-the-biggest-so-you-have-to-do-what-I-say" voice, that Mother and I, "COME SEE THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!". When I looked down the street, I saw a giant tree laying across the road. Apparently, a flash of lightning and a gush of wind had brought it down in an instant. 
     In other news, on Saturday morning, Mother and I went shopping in a section of town called RT Nagar. While there, not only did we shop, but we also went to see our friend, Shanita*,who does stitching. She served us Chai, while we sat on her tiny living room floor, entertaining her 6 month old baby, who was diaper-less and sprawled our on a water-proof piece of (p)leather.
Soon after that, we walked down to the Veggie Walla (he sells vegetables). Shopping at a street vendor in a foreign country can be interesting and trying to one's patience, especially when there are communication issues. Mom said "Cilantro" and his brow began to wrinkle, but the moment she suggested "Coriander", he swiftly reached into a hidden bag under the cart. Thankfully, this time around, our troubles were few and our success morphed into a delicious batch of fresh salsa.
   That concludes my Indian adventures for now. Tank y'all fo passin y'all lil' eye up to my blog.
-Birdie

*This name is a pseudonym to protect her identity

P.S. Please vote on the poll to your right. :)

   These past several weeks, my family and I were in Thailand and Malaysia. Going back to Thailand, after all these years, was like running into a long lost friend while shopping at Walmart after 4 years of not hearing from, or seeing them.
   India is a very dry place. Thus, I have been living without humidity for the past few months. Anyways, when I stepped off the airplane in Bangkok, the first thing I said was, "HUMIDITY!!!!!!! OH, HOW I'VE MISSED YOU!!!!!!"
   While we were in Chiang Mai, we stayed at a resort up in the "mountains". They were really more like hills, but being from south Louisiana, an elevation of 10 feet feels like a mountain. During the mornings, because we were at a higher altitude, the weather was gorgeous! When we would wake up, it would be about 65 Fahrenheit, but by the afternoons, it would get up in the 90s.
   The whole reason we were there is so that the parental units could attend a medical conference. So, while my parents were sitting in meetings all day, I was hanging out with other kids relatively close to my age. The youngest in our youth group was 12, while the oldest was 17. We would spend our days having a Bible study, playing sports (such as Soccer, Capture the Flag, and Ultimate Frisbee), and swimming in a freezing cold pool.
   After almost 2 weeks of hanging out with these amazing people every single day, the conference was over. On the day it ended, we went down the "mountain" and stayed in a different hotel called The Empress, which is very near to a wondrous place called, The Night Bazaar. One can find anything from ridiculous t-shirts to fake Dr. Dre's Beats there. During these 3 days, we drank Starbucks coffee about 6 different times.
   Our last few days in Thailand were spent in a guest house. My days consisted of doing Math and watching movies, where as, my parents spent their days in meetings. After we left Thailand, we went to Malaysia for a few days in order to see some old friends.
   Needless to say it was amazing to get back to my home away from home, India. Now, my skin is getting back to reptilian like state. At the same time, my poor legs are having to get used to not being able to wear shorts outside. And as the weather is getting hotter, I am rejoicing in the fact that we just bought 2 air-conditioners.

Sincerely,
 Birdie
   

Baluvanahalli

Hey Y'all,
  So, this past Sunday, my family was supposed to go to our language teacher, Kavitha's, willage (also known as village for you people who are reading for the first time). The name of the willage is Baluvanahalli. (Try saying that 5 times fast, backwards, while standing on your head.) My father and I went, but my mother had to back out at the last minute. The reason behind Momma's absence, is because a friend of ours was having her first baby.
   In spite of that, Dad and I proceeded to go to the willage. It should have taken a mere hour to drive there. But India had other plans. We forgot that Sunday was to be the last day of the Indian Air-Show at the Indian Air-Force base. Unfortunately, the base was on our way. Being as church was supposed to start around 11a.m., we left the house about 10 o'clock.
   Even though we were close to an hour and a half late due to traffic, when we got there, the praise band was still in full swing. If you're an hour and a half late for church at First Bapty (FBC Lafayette), you'd walk in during the invitation.
    The small church building consisted of 4 walls, a roof and a window. Because it was a traditional church, I had to dress in traditional Indian clothing. (There's a picture on the left.) Also, the men and women sat segregated. Men on the left, and women on the right.
  Almost as soon as we got there, I was instructed to play the song that I had prepared with my mother, that now had to be turned into a solo. After I sang "House Of God Forever" by Jon Foreman, the congregation applauded. I noticed that while I was singing, their attentions were captured, but I'm not sure if that was because of my skin color or guitar and vocal ability. Soon afterwards, Dad gave his testimony and a sermon about Jesus being the Bread of Life, which my mother had prepared. Both the testimony and sermon were interpreted into Kannada, by Kavitha's husband, Murthy (a very popular name here) and the "organ" player (a cheesy-sounding synthesizer used to establish and keep the congregation in key but was thoroughly ignored).
   Directly proceeding the sermon, the praise team started banging on their copper pots and tambourines, while the congregation started singing and the synthesizer convulsed in a Mozzarella-Parmesan-fashion.
   After the church service, Dad and I went to Kavitha's house for lunch. We were served a tear-jerkingly, nose-dribblingly spicy chicken curry dish, with Roti (flat bread) and basmati rice. We also ate cucumbers snd onions which were doing the back-stroke in some curd-like substance, usually served at every meal for medicinal purposes to sooth the scorched tongues of poor, unsuspecting white children like myself. Not long afterwards, Dad and I hit the road.

 Thanks for reading!
-Birdie

P.S.
Please vote on the poll to your left.  Thanks ! :)

Cows and Parades

Hey Y'all,
  We were driving down the street the other day, and we saw a cow. Yes, this is a very common occurrence, however, this cow had blue horns! I'm really not sure why they are blue, but my guess would be that it was part of a religious (most likely Hindu) ceremony. As most of you probably know, Hindu's do, in fact, worship cows, which means that it is not uncommon to see a cow that is painted or has a flower necklace around it's neck. We have even seen a cow that has a small extra appendage growing out of it's back! If one were to pay a certain amount of Indian Rupees, then one could touch it.
   Last week, we were just sitting in out flat, minding our own business, when we suddenly heard loud music down on the street. When we heard the commotion, we all went outside to see what was going on. Even our house-helper, Kamakshi, joined us on the balcony. It was an all-girl parade in celebration of National Youth Day.  The parade consisted of hundreds of school girls, all in bright, white, freshly cleaned and pressed uniforms. This picture (look left) is of one of the schools' marching bands.

Thanks for reading!
-Birdie

Going to the Willage

Hey Y'all,
    Yes, I know, it's been forever, but I was on vacation. Thus, I didn't write anything. Anyways, the two most exciting things that has happened in the past few weeks was The Hobbit coming out (which, the majority of you could careless about), and going out the "The Willage" or Village as most of you would call it.
     Now, about the Village. Our language teacher, Kavitha (Ka-vee-ta), invited us and another American family out to a village for a church's Christmas Celebration. Now, I say "a church" because Kavitha's husband is the pastor of 5 churches, and one of the five was in this particular village that we went to.
     The drive was about an hour and a half long, which is a rather short time for getting somewhere in India. Ok, so, I'm going to attempt to describe to you what driving in India is like. Driving, or even riding, in a vehicle in India can only be described as a battle scene in Lord of the Rings. Nobody know what's going on, or who's doing what. All anybody know is that there's 5 million other people all trying to go different ways at the same time. On top of that, there's always someone going the opposite way of what they're supposed to be going.
     As soon as we got there, we, of course, asked Kavitha's husband where the bathroom was. When we asked him he just kind of looked around as if he was thinking,"What are these cray-cray white people talking about? The bathroom is all around them!!" I think that now would be a opportune time to note that Indian people will use the bathroom pretty much anywhere, one of their favorite places being the side of the road. (btw, not big potty, only little potty.) Turned out that the nearest bathroom was a 10 minute stroll away, which would have been a different willage.
      When the celebration started, us white people were instructed to go sit at the front of the tent, where chairs and tables were set up, and face the church, who were all squatting on the ground. Needless to say, it was a slightly awkward feeling. Close to the front, were all of the children. There were probably about 30 of them. Every time I would see one of the staring at me (staring is not considered rude here) I would smile, but only one of them would ever smile back. 'Twas quite strange to be perfectly honest.
      I have learned that with any Indian celebration, there must be music. The music at this celebration was all in Kannada, so I didn't understand a word of it. On the other hand, some of the musical instruments were quite interesting. There was a Tambourine, a Djimba looking thing, and a brass pot. The man playing the brass pot had these metal rings on his fingers that he was hitting against it. I'm going to note that when we arrived, I was hoping the the God I worshipped would be there. I was thrilled when I felt his presence in that tent, even though I couldn't understand anything that anyone was saying.
     After the celebration was over, we all ate lunch. They put us white people in a small building where the church services are usually held. The lunch consisted of Chicken Biryiani (Sort of like spicy chicken Jambalaya), Vegetable something or other (which was closest to a veggie Jambalaya), and Chicken Kabab (Drumettes done rotisserie style). By leaving food on out plates, we indicated that we were then full. We were then served dessert, which consisted of fresh fruit, showing us that they had spared no expense in serving us. After the meal, the celebration was officially over, so good-byes were spoken, which exhausted our knowledge of Kannada.
     As we pulled away, trying to avoid getting lost in pot-holes, we successfully located a restaurant where we exchanged the price of a few sodas for use of the Squaty-Potty. Afterwards, I drifted into a food coma while my Father-Dearest wrestled with the ridiculous roads of India.
  -Birdie

P.S. I thought that when we left the states, I escape all the annoying music. However, while we were sitting in a restaurant a few weeks ago, the nauseating, high-pitched, auto-tuned voice of J.B. (I'm sure even you homeschoolers are smart enough to figure this one out) attacked my ears.
    
    

Thanksgiving, Moving in, and Watching a Funeral.

Sorry it's been so long since I've written anything, but the past few weeks have been quite eventful.
   Three weeks ago, it was Thanksgiving, and to celebrate the occasion, we went south to a city in the mountains called Kodaikanal. We spent Thankgiving with about 5 other families. While we were there, we hiked a mountain, swang on a rope swing, which was hanging from one of the many giagantic trees up there, and (of course) had Thanksgiving dinner. For Thanksgiving, we actually got to eat Turkey! Turkey is rather difficult to find in India.
    Two weeks ago, we were preparing our flat so that we could move in as soon as possible. We had to clean the flat from top to bottom. Also, we had to paint two rooms. We painted the foyer a gold color. In addition to that, we painted my room gray. Another thing we had to do before we could move in was buy matresses and sheets. Plus, we had to move in the little bit of furniture we had and get our den and kitchen set up. After we did those things, we were ready to move.
     Last week, on Monday, we took all of our belongings (as far as we know) from the guest house, and moved them, and ourselves, into our new flat. Our kitchen is completely set up, thankfully. Other than that, we have a couch, a love seat, a chair with an ottoman, a coffee table, and an armoir, with a flat screen tv and a dvd player in it. Then, we have matresses on the floor that we are sleeping on for the current time.
     We have been searching for a church since we got here. Sunday, we went to a church that we had never gone to before that some friend of mine from youth group invited me to. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and hope we make that our church. It was the only church that had quite a bit of people my age in it.
     Yesterday, I was sick for the first time since we got here. It was just a common cold, but because I was running a small fever, I got to skip out on language! :) On top of that, we got to see part of an Indian funeral take place right across the street from our flat. The entire time the funeral was going on, there was a guy blowing on a conch shell while playing a small drum. After performing many Indian rituals, that we couldn't see because of the crowd of people surrounding the body, they placed that body, which was covered with a red cloth and lots of flowers, on a ladder like stretcher. Then, they placed the body on the stretcher in a Qualis ( a vehicle sort of like a Montero) and drove away.
     Well, after these eventful past few week, I am quite looking forward to Christmas vaction. It will be nice to have a bit of a break, even if it won't be the full two weeks like back in the states.
     
       -Birdie