TGIF... finally a feeling we are used to!

Greetings all! Thanks for taking the time out of your busy days to follow our blog... it has been proving to be pretty therapeutic for all of us, except for Lex who gets stressed out about what to write. Lucky for me, absence of words has never been a problem. Today at the train station was much like the others.. exhausting but rewarding. Every day teaches us something new.
We are planning on going to the city this weekend with our other new friend Danielle...there are 2 danielles now! She is from Austrailia and has been in India for 2 months now, so she makes up for the confidence that we seem to be lacking right now. It has been great being able to hear her stories.. she plans on staying for a total of 4 months so that makes our time look shorter! Not that we are counting the days already;) She is pretty adventurous and talked about wanting us to go on a guided tiger hunt with her. We considered it, thinking it might be fun...then she reasurringly told us that only like, 30 people get eaten by the tigers every year. I think that india is enough of an adventure. Our parents have enough to worry about without the threat of us becoming tiger food. ;)Every day is getting easier and we are getting more and more used to the culture. I am excited to see what this weekend in the city will bring. We are all looking forward to it, hoping to get some air conditioned rest (bridget;), and maybe a little shopping and indian treats. Thanks for all the support so far, we cant tell you how much we look forward to coming to the internet cafe to read your comments! A little taste of home goes a long ways... again, keep us in your thoughts and prayers, as our story is far from over!!!

Erin

A new look at serving

Well... we have realized that maybe instead of making a mark on India, India will make a mark on us. Which is so common of people to report with these kinds of trips but somehow I forget it every time.

Going to the station every morning and seeing kids who are dirty, have no home, little food, open wounds, mangled body parts, etc and realizing that us being there for two hours every morning is not going to change their circumstances. India is what it is... just like you said Kara. They sit on our laps with freshly wetted pants and we feel disgusted at our now dirty smelly clothes and guilt quickly follows. How can I feel disgusted at their dirtyness!?! What kind of person am I that I would even hesitate to pick up and hold the little boy who is always smiling and singing due to his soaked pants? Does it even matter? I get to go home immediately after and take an amazing cold shower and put on clean clothes while he stays at the station running around greeting the regulars and singing his heart out.

Nope, we're sure not going to change his life. He won't remember us the day after our last day. So what do we do with that as Americans who are taught that we can change the world and opportunities are endless? It's so hard to accept that we're not making a difference or maybe that the difference made is invisible to our human eyes. I am just not sure.

Danielle

teary

I just read some of the comments... and they just make me teary and remind me why we are trying to navigate our way through this crazy city. We can't find our hostel and it is frustrating and the city is packed with people because of the upcoming festival. I think today I just wanted to be done for a little bit and I got to be done by escaping via internet and reading your encouraging words. Thanks:) Danielle

The adventures continue...

After 14 hours on the plane and three days it is becoming more clear that we have entered a totally different world. The people, the sights, the smells... nothing reminds us of home. We are at the internet cafe and there are cows (huge cows. Iowa cows.) passing on the street outside. I repeat, nothing is like home ;)
Today we woke up at 4 am to another day at the train station. It is an emotionally difficult task to do. The kids range in age from 6 months- 12 years. Today we saw a babe that could not have been more than 6 weeks old sleeping in the station with her parents. Many of the kids we feed have no family.The kids live at the train station... the meal we give them is the only meal they will get all day, and it consists of 2 pieces of white bread and a banana or cookie and some milk. They are very grateful and very hungry after a long day and night at the train station. The living conditions for the children are worse than you can imagine, but they are all in high spirits and are always smiling. We wash them and dirt pours off of every inch of their frail little bodies. They look like little monkies crouched up on the washing table...it is then time for alphabet and letters. They are interested for a little while but quickly loose interest and would rather play (they are kids after all!). It is emotionally exhausting to work with the children. It is sad, but it is all they know and they are very appreciative of the time we spend with them.
When we were done with the children we took a much needed shower. It is so hot!!! 90 % humidity... we have not stopped sweating since the moment that we arrived. We had breakfast and went to find a taxi to take us into town (we are living in North Kolkata now. It is the slums, and certainley lives up to its name). It was a two hour taxi ride and cost a little over 6 dollars. That is one nice thing about this country! The downtown new market is a mess of people and the junk they are trying to sell. The traffic is incredible(as I have said before)...wherever there is 6 feet people will drive in every possible direction, honking their horns whenever possible. They drive on the opposite side of the road so it has been slightly disorienting.
I leave you in health and medium spirits! We are missing home a little and struggling to recover from the culture shock. It is absolutley a different world here...hopefully soon we will regain some sense of normalcy. We had a friend/ volunteer join us today from Germany... her name is Eva and seems very nice- and brave to be traveling alone!
We miss everyone very much already! Keep us in your thoughts and prayers for the next...57 days!

The City

Today we took a trip into the center of Kolkata and wow is it big! We took a taxi and all simultaneously compared the ride to driving on a one - way street THE WRONG WAY! Haha it wasn't that bad but we were glad to finally get there. Lots of sights and sounds and thousands of people shopping for the lastest trends in clothes and jewelry. We were happy to hear American music and see bottles of diet pepsi - and Lexi was extremely excited when she yelled from the Taxi with excitement "there's an American" - in a place soo foreign to us all it is nice to see things we are familiar with! We are all having more fun as we explore and discover more of the city. After we leave the internet cafe (our new favorite place to spend our spare time) we are going to go look for a hotel to stay in when we finish our time at smile. Hope all is well in the states - we can't wait to see all of you and tell you about our adventures thus far and experiences yet to come:) We love hearing from you all! Lots of Love B

We made it!

Hi! I miss you so much! This has been such a wild experience so far there are no words to explain to you. We arrived here safely and all our bags were with us (thank god!). We stayed the first night in a hotel with air conditioning... we have already been forced to redefine our comfort zone! There was running water but there was no hot water, so it was an experience. We got to our guest hostel yesterday and last night was an experience. We arrived by taxi and were surrounded by lean- to (sp?) and more poverty than any of us have ever experienced. We crossed the creek to our home so very far away from home on a 2x4 board... if you could imagine us crossig with 75 lbs on our back...there are no words! our roooms are minimal but there is a roof over our heads and a working fan, so we cannot complain too much (but we still find a way;))
We had our first experience at the train station this morning. We awoke at 4 am and took the train approximatley 50 minutes away to a Sealdah train station where we proceeded to arrange a tarp. We did not have to gather the children; they quickly came to us seeking affection, food and water. We lovingly gave all three. It was an incredible experience to be able to do all that for these children who have nothing. THey do not seem dissatisfied with their lives but seem constatley hungry and searching food. They are all small; they climb on you with their urine stained clothing. It is clear that they have not had a good meal or change of clothes in a longer time than they can remember. They are all in high spirits and seem grateful for a smiling face, and are suprisingly interested in learning the alphabet and numbers. It is humbling to see children living on so little but it is rewarding to be able to provide a meal for them they might not otherwise have.
I would love to explain India to you in a way that you could see it through my eyes. Your senses are immediatley overloaded with the sights, smells, and sounds of poverty. THe people are stuck between a third world and developing country. The streets are insane without seperation between pedestrian, bicycle rickshaws, motorcycles, and eurovans. There are no paved roads, only dirt and clay. The city reeks of the garbage that overcrowds the streets. There are goats, cows, chickens, dogs, geese and ducks on every corner. There is no seperation of man and beast. (sorry this is so choppy we were only able to get one hour at the internet cafe due to our overwhelming language barrier!). The experience so far has challanged me in ways that i have never before been challenged (yes i know that it is only day three). We pump oour own water, all the plumbing is outdoors, there government decides whether there is power or not. The poverty pushes you so far out of your comfort zone; i am constatly grateful for the three amazing girls I am able to travel with. We each bring something unique to the dynamic of the group.
There is so many other things and details that I wish that i could share with you, but I am running short on time! I hope that this finds you well and know that we are all safe and healthy. I love and miss you all!
Erin

Arriving

Oh my word.

I want to start by telling you about a verse I read on the plane ride to India. It's in Hosea and I can't remember the exacts but it sad we should have confident dependence in our God. That verse is now the theme verse for me and this trip.

Some highlights:
In JFK loading the plane to India, Bridg says "Holy BO" and we were off to a crowded plane where we were the minority!

Fly Air India whenever you can: screens on the back of the seats (with good movies I might add and even an episode of friends!) , warm cloths, eye covers for sleeping, footies to keep warm and a nice blanket. We were sold on India at that point.

We got to Delhi and had to connect flights with no boarding pass or ticket in hand to prove that we were to be on that plane. Yikes. Some major running between two Indian airport people to get our tickets printed so we could just get to our flight... this is all with about 2 hours before our flight was to take off... talk about stress! We get to our check in counter and they scan our bags only to stop mine and stare at me like some criminal... "you have tools. empty your bag ma'am" (uh oh) so I empty it and he takes it back to scan it. "is it ok?" I ask. "no ma'am it is not ok!" you have tools! and out comes a swiss army knife! whoops! maybe I forgot about that little knife. He let us go and there are now minutes before we are to get on our plane. But we made it:)

The connection in Kolkata and our hotel went so smoothly it was unbelievable! To all who prayed specifically for that, Thank you! God so totally went ahead and prepared the way!

I'll let someone else talk about some of the other highlights...

God is so Good and he shows us that minute by minute. The people here are beautiful, but it is a hard country.

Love you all and LOVE hearing from you!
Danielle