Instant

Yesterday was christmas for me. My wonderful family sent me a HUGE box of happiness. Things like Mac & Cheese, toilet paper, theology books, Starbucks, and a 'fresh' pair of rainbows. Honestly I don't think there could have been a better care package. They really do know me.

This morning my roommate was looking at everything and he didn't know what any of it was. So I said um, this is a bag of beef jerkey you open the bag and eat it (beef is his favorite so its ok). This is instant grits you just add water. This is instant coffee, you just add water. He looked at me totally confused and said "What does 'instant' mean?" He is very good at english but the idea of instant is completely unheard of here. So I said i would show him.

I boiled some water and added it to instant grits and in about 10 seconds we had breakfast. He was shocked. He said thats food?!?! Already?!?!? Its like magic!! Then I said "do you want a cup of coffee?" and I poured the rest of the boiling water into a cup of instant starbucks (which is actually really good- try it). He laughed and laughed saying "here 1 meal takes one hour to prepare!" Then he said something very interesting he said "no wonder it is so difficult for foreigners to come to my india."

I think he really hit on something there. See I don't care if I have to wait for the bus, or wait at the market or the bazaar or whatever. But because I come from an instant culture it is hard for me to some days to not understand this culture to the extent that i want to. See the first few months I learned a lot of simple things. Don't shake with your left hand, bobbing you head means yes, drive on the left side etc. Those are easy lessons that can be learned instantly. However really understanding and becoming like this culture takes much much longer. Thinking like them, laughing like them, reasoning like them that doesn't happen by "just adding water." It takes time, it takes relationships, and it takes abiding in Christ. These are the things I want to learn/become and often i want it instantly.

A few months ago I was in Philly with my friend Phil. We went to the Art museum. He is very gifted with art (his cd ghosts of the great highway is one of the best i have heard in 2009). Now part of the time i walked around the Museum and said "oh that picture is nice that one is nice" based only on my appreciation of the aesthetics. However when he walked with me he would give me the background behind each painting. Once he explained to me that some of the artists were actually communicating a very strong message (often a very rebellious message) some of the paintings I didn't enjoy previously became remarkably beautiful because I knew how to understand them. I think it is this way with culture also. I can look at it and appreciate it for what is on the surface, but i want to understand why this culture has been painted this way. What each stroke is communicating.

Not sure if that makes a lot of sense, and forgive me if I am taking the analogy too far, but i think it is a fair illustration of life here.



r

The little things add up

I just got back from an American family's home tonight. We had an awesome dinner and really just hung out for awhile. It was very interesting to me because I realized a few things. After we prayed we walked into the kitchen to get food and the first thing I noticed was the size of the cups. I know it's weird but just hold on. See American cups are bigger than the vast majority of other countries. There XL size is our small size. So when I got things for my flat I got "normal" size cups (normal=small, we are the weird ones) and they are made out of stainless steel. Everywhere you go plan on drinking out of like an 8oz cup. However this family brought out the HUGE plastic cups and it was wonderful. Its funny the things that you notice when you don't have them.

Its also funny the things that are insulting/complimentary. An American took me aside and asked "how do you bob your head like that?" The culture here shakes their head a little, ok a lot different. I certainly made an effort when i first got here, but don't really notice it anymore. Apparently I am doing it without thinking, as weird as it sounds thats encouraging to me.



r

Diwali

So yesterday was Diwali. Well technically it lasts for 3 days, but yesterday was the bulk of the celebrations. Diwali is called the festival of lights and is a celebration of the birth of Krishna. It was amazing. See in the states we shoot off firecrackers, but here they call them "bombs." Now I figured that this was just a linguistic thing and maybe they didnt know the english word for firecrackers, or fireworks. False. Many of these were much closer to bombs than any firecracker I have seen. The streets erupted with "bombs" and everywhere we went we now had to dodge these "bombs."

At one point I had just finished my run for the day. I had my ipod in, hands on my head sucking in air, and my eyes closed. All of the sudden there was a flash of light, a burst of wind and the loudest BANG I have ever heard. Naturally i thought I was dying so I hit the deck only to realize that I had walked into a kid's "bomb" throwing path. The kids thought it was hilarious, and lets be honest it was.

We went into town last night and literally people would set up roman candles, strings of firecrackers EVERYTHING in the road. and we would just drive through. However after that it was time for bed. So about 11pm I settled down to sleep. No No, the "bombs" didn't stop until 7 am the next day. A group of kids thought the best place to blow things up would be right below my bedroom window. soooo i dint really sleep.

Anyway Happy Diwali! (its pronounced D'vall-ee)

Hugs and Stuff

I saw something interesting today. Nobody else found it interesting but me. There were a bunch of Americans in the Cafeteria (canteen) today. One of the girls in their group saw a guy she [I am assuming] she hadn't seen in a long time because she screamed ran across the room and gave him a huge hug. The Americans didn't think it was funny because it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The Indians didn't think it was funny because they were just stunned. See in their culture there is not interaction across sexes beyond a brief conversation. I looked around and the whole room was staring at these 2 people hugging, and they were completely oblivious. It would be about as shocking as a couple making out in the middle of the room would be to us.

I have said it before but I am continually amazed by their hospitality here. They are so patient with us as we stumble through learning their culture.

Learning Culture...

Imagine something with me. Imagine your company has a new intern. This intern is working for free because he is so excited about the work your office does.

He is a young single guy from India. This doesn’t really matter except that his accent is so thick it is pretty difficult to talk to him. Some people in the office even need you to translate his English. He is trying to learn American slang but keeps saying “yes sir,” to the janitor and “Yea dude,” to the CEO.

He cannot drive anywhere so if he needs anything you either have to drive him, or find someone else to drive him. When you do drive him you notice he is clutching the side of the seat because he has never seen someone drive as “crazy” as they do in the states. Thankfully public transport is pretty good so you are hoping he learns to use that.

Sometimes your work takes the both of you out of town. Now, although excited this man has never traveled like a normal person. See in his country he only rode in BMW and Lexus Suv’s, never (literally) in a Honda or a Toyota. His choice of hotels is only the best. Your company obviously cannot afford that so you stay at the Hampton Inn. Although he is perfectly content, you know that he has only slept on memory foam mattresses his whole life. Even though the hotel beds are comfortable to you, he is going to wake up every hour in the night because he wont be comfortable at all. Again, he doesn’t complain but you also know that he will be exhausted the next day and probably won’t be as productive as you. He does his best to fit in, but he isn’t used to the temperature in the states. He is used to it being warm so when you are perfectly comfortable you will see him shivering, sometimes his fingers even turn blue.

Also in his country he only ate at 4 or 5 star restaurants. Now you would love to have him over to your home for dinner, but many of your friends have told you that your cooking will make him sick if he can even eat it at all. Your boss even said that you couldn’t go to any restaurant of lower class than Outback (although you and him often would eat at “normal” places). Everywhere he goes though he carries a bottle of water because he can’t drink American water. He hasn’t ever even eaten with a fork before. Now although he tries to use a fork every single meal, you can always tell where he sat because there is food everywhere. He is so different that whenever you go in public with him you know everyone will stare at you (some people even judge you for being with him at all).

Although this is your imagination, it’s my reality- I’m that guy. Now my point in that is to call your attention to the generosity of my hosts. See although they are not paying me, there is certainly still a great cost to them. I am so blessed by the ways they have sought to ease me into their culture. They have made a huge front-end investment in me and I am thankful for them. I love it here, I love the adventure and everything I am learning, and I am very thankful for their patience.