“I Reek” and Other Musings From My First Week…

My bags took four days to arrive. It is awkward enough to move to another country, let alone to do so without clothes, shoes, or deodorant. The women in the house were kind enough to lend me some of their salwar kameez, but I was not about to ask them for their towels! So, for the first few days I, well, reeked. It is funny to look back on now, but at the time it was really embarrassing. The women in the house all work at the school, some as teachers and others in the front office. They are all older than me and speak to each other in Hindi or Marathi, which was very difficult on the first days, but now I am more comfortable with them and ask them what different words mean.
We generally sit in the house after dinner watching Hindi TV, which is really, really funny. Everything is extremely dramatic and the producers of every show love to zoom in on the face of a character and do crazy effects to show the intensity of the scene. It ends up doing the opposite and I burst out laughing right in the middle of the most dramatic moments!
A few days ago, my roommate came and she is great! She is 19, from Goa (a state south of Maharashtra), also teaches in the primary school, is a Baha’i, and is named Rupa. We were so happy to room together because we are the youngest girls in the house. I know that we will be very good friends by the end of this year. Through her, I have become closer many of the other girls in the house and the other teachers in the school. Rupa was a student at NETTI (New Era Teacher Training Institute, located about 15 minutes down the road from the high school) and this is her first year of actual teaching. For the past two days, we have been in workshops along with the other teachers reviewing different approaches to teaching and ways of infusing spirituality, healthy living practices, and respect for the environment into our lessons. It is interesting to see how freely religion is discussed here as opposed to America. The teachers range from Baha’i, to Hindu, to Muslim, to Christian, to Zoroastrian, and everywhere in between, and yet everyone works together so peacefully in order to best serve the students. Everyone acknowledges the importance of spirituality in education and all are willing to unify in order to bring that spiritual energy into the classroom. It’s really amazing. Also, there is a certain level of politeness that seems to exist in this country that is really outstanding. Every time something can be done, 3 people pop out of their seats to offer service, whether that means fetching tea for the speaker, passing out papers, or turning on the projector for the power point. It’s like they have a sixth sense for helping people out and I oftentimes find myself lagging!
Another great thing about India is the tea. Milk tea is my new addiction. It’s everywhere and always deeeeeeelicious! I’ve never had better tea in my entire life and can’t wait to learn how to make it. I end up drinking at least a cup a day and it makes me so, so happy!
The other thing that made me very happy this week was finally getting my luggage. When the man from Air India came up to the house, I was nearly jumping for joy. I pulled the luggage into the house and immediately jumped into the bathroom! The hot water geezer works in only one bathroom and everyone was asleep so I got to take a peaceful, warm shower. I have never enjoyed a shower more in my entire life! Not to be overly spiritual or anything, but that shower honestly took my understanding of baptism to a whole other level. Something as common and elemental as water literally opened up a new world to me. It renewed my sense of confidence, purpose, and dignity. I was clean and refreshed. I was now in India for the long run. My belongings were here and I was no longer a visitor, but now a resident. It was both exciting and frightening. On the one hand my stuff had finally arrived, but on the other hand its arrival meant that I was not leaving anytime soon.
India is now where I live. It is now my home.
Today I woke up before everyone in the house (my internal clock is still adjusting) and went for a short run. I brought my prayer book along and said prayers while looking out over the gorgeous Krishna valley.

Every time I looked up from my prayer book, there in front of my eyes was a stunning symbol of God’s grandeur! I felt so humbled and thankful to God for allowing me to serve in such a physically beautiful and spiritually vital place. I came back to the house just as everyone was waking. I took a cold bath in my bathroom since my hot water geezer is broken. Here, a bath means filling a big bucket with water and then taking a cup and pouring the water over you. It sounds terrible, I know, but it’s actually wonderful! You end up only using a bucket’s worth of water and it gets the job done. This was my first cold bath and it was so amazingly refreshing! Obviously it is cold, but after the initial shock, your body warms up and you end up feeling like you just jumped into a cool, clear river. I had washed my spirit through prayer and then cleaned my body with water and the result was my best day in India so far!