Too Short Trip to Ooty

After our Mysore adventures, we drove through Bandipur Tiger Reserve on the way to Ooty. We had hired a driver for the next three days and he was much quieter than our previous one. I'm not sure he ever warmed up to us, a group of loud, giggly Americans, until maybe the last day. We almost hit a chicken in the middle of the road and he muttered a little bit under his breath, "Tandori chicken." I was like, Shareef, did you actually just crack a joke?? It was so unexpected that all of cracked up laughing and from then on we saw him smile a bit more and he even tried to tell us a few things about the area.

Driving through Bandipur, we decided to take a jeep tour for an hour before moving on to Ooty. I have to give him credit, our driver got us everywhere we needed to be on time and in one piece. I think there were times my aunt and cousin were certain we were going to crash into various road blocks, buses, other cars, chickens, cows, goats, people on bikes. bullock drivers etc. It is truly an obstacle course driving in India. The jeep tour was pretty good. We saw our first wild elephant sightings in the park and other animals including giant Malabar squirrels, monkeys, and plenty of spotted deer. A classic moment that will forever stick out in our minds is despite the fact that there are signs everywhere saying, "Do not stop. Do not get out of your vehicles. Do not feed the animals. Keep your car windows rolled up," some of us knew how to abide by these rules much better than others ;) My aunt had every intention of documenting each and every moment of this trip and she was off to a good start by this point. So when a group of monkeys were in the middle of the road rapidly approaching the car, the three of us in the back followed the instructions and rolled up our windows. Well, there was no way my aunt was going to pass up such a grand photo opportunity. She had her head out the window snapping away to her heart's content. In a split second, like with speed I didn't know existed, a giant lemur leaps onto the side mirror of the car and is face to face with Aunt Jan. Ignoring the screams of all of us in the back, as we thought it was soon going to be another passenger traveling to Ooty, she just kept snapping away. There were some expletives heard from the back seat as we continued to yell for her to roll up the window.

The monkey jumped down a few seconds later and we all starting dissolving into laughter and lots of "What were you thinking??" She turned around, holding the camera and said, "But look at these great shots." My friend has also been snapping photos but her picture was blurry and shaky from the fright of being face to face with the creature and she pipes up, "Yeah, here's mine. It's called the O sh**" photo!" Needless to say this story was brought up several times during the course of the trip. :)

We got to Ooty around 2:30 in the afternoon, had some delicious kebabs and checked into our room at the B&B. It was gorgeous with a beautiful view of the city and flowers everywhere. The weather was cool and I was in a very happy place. I was so bummed we only had one night in this beautiful spot but we were on a mission and packed a ton into each day. We visited the tea factory, toured the Botanical Gardens, which were beautiful and then embarked on some shopping. My friend and I just stayed out in the city and met up for dinner, while the other two went back to freshen up. Unfortunately this was my aunt and cousin's first solo auto drive and they ended up getting really lost, but that's more of the true Indian experience :) We had dinner and as was par for the course at about 9pm each night, my friend started to fall asleep at the table. I knew it was time to call it a day and head back for bed.

The room we had was very simple yet clean and I was in love with the gardens and tables outside which I knew we could enjoy over breakfast. I should probably explain that my friend has a real serious fear of spiders, snakes and other creepy crawlies that go bump in the night. I never knew the depth of this fear until I invited her to come visit me in a place that had these in droves. While I was plugging in my phone and unpacking some stuff, she went off to use the toilet. A few minutes later, she comes barreling out of the bathroom like a bat out of hell barely with her pants completely pulled up and leaps onto the bed, while shakily saying, "It's taking everything with me..." I have absolutely no idea what is going on and I ask her and she tells me that there's a spider in the bathroom. I start laughing quietly at first but then I can't help myself and I'm dying for like the next 30 minutes as I reenact for her what just happened from my perspective! I go in the bathroom and yes, there was a fairly large spider so I asked if she wanted me to get the owners to kill it. She nodded while still huddled up on the bed and so I go ask if they can take care of it. It was angled into a corner that I couldn't reach. They spent a few minutes in there and when they emerged, I asked if they got it. They looked at me sadly and said, "No madam. It has gone away." I see a look of horror on my friend's face and I start laughing again. They offer to upgrade our room, which of course I'm keen to jump on, but she doesn't want to cause any trouble for them so she refuses. Rather, she starts to set booby traps around the room in any cracks or crevices that another unexpected visitor could come through, including putting the trash can directly in front of the fireplace. I just cannot stop laughing and she's like, "This is not funny. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight!!" She's got her sweatshirt wrapped around her head and the blankets pulled up to her face. Five minutes later, she's sound asleep as I'm getting ready to take a shower. Hahahaha! So much for not sleeping!

The next morning, we took a tour of Smyrna, the NGO that I had visited in April and it was one of the highlights for the trip for sure. This time we were able to meet with the teen girls that are living in the hostels there, in order to get an education. We talked with them about their hobbies, studies and dreams for the future. We shared our reasons for coming and how we were inspired by their hard work, which hopefully was an encouragement to them. It was such a memorable experience and we all left moved by the time there. My cousin even signed up to be a child sponsor. They are doing great things for the community and I'm happy to support them in whatever ways I can. If you'd like more information, please visit their website.

www.smyrna.org.in

Birthday Bash in Mysore

Rather than try and write one blog story about my family/friend visit this month, I figured I had better break it up some. For both our sakes! For months, I knew that some visitors were on their way in June and we had to plan carefully to make this trip enjoyable since it was going to be monsoon season in Kerala. I was beyond ready and excited to have guests to see what my life is like here. One of my best friends, my aunt and my cousin had endured the painstaking process of getting visas, parting with thousands of dollars, traveling for 48 hours across the world and had finally arrived. Hooray! And amazingly enough, we all managed to meet up in the same city on the days we had planned for. We were all coming from different places and by different forms of transportation. It was truly a miracle that our travel plans worked out. Power of prayer! :) My friend was coming on three different flights from different airlines and then taking a bus from the airport to Mysore. She had no way to contact me if anything went askew so when I saw her adorable face pressed up against the window at the bus stand, I literally wept with relief and joy!

The four of us spent a great weekend catching up, visiting palaces, galleries and enjoying our sweet driver Ahmed as he gave us lots of extra tidbits about the area. Sunday of that weekend was my friend's birthday and it was so much fun to be celebrating it together in India. My aunt had brought some fun decorations to put around the hotel room, opened gifts at breakfast, had birthday cocktails at this great outdoor restaurant, and went to see the famous Mysore Palace all lit up at night before heading to a beautiful restored palace to eat dinner. After we ate till we were stuffed, we set up a little after party at our hotel in the outdoor seating area of the restaurant, with a special cake made by the hotel and a bottle of wine from Paris. The climate in Mysore was remarkably cooler than my city so I was in heaven every single day lingering over breakfast at the outdoor restaurant. The one funny part of the day was when we showed up for lunch and there was a giant sign that said, 'Welcome to Birthday Party" I think my friend thought we were super on top of it and had planned this in advance, at least for a split second. I quickly assured her that I was not that awesome and we saw that there was a huge party happening in one of the nearby conference rooms. We all joked that us three white girls ought to crash the party, claiming that we thought it was for us lol. Instead we just took pictures with the sign and pretended all the hoopla was for her!

Who Determines your Steps?

Things have been pretty middle of the road for me lately. About three or four good days to every bad day. Which I’m thankful for! I’ve enjoyed having a sweet older couple living above me. They are such an encouragement to me. They sometimes bring me little snacks and share meals with me. They make sure we always have water and keep the property clean. We’ve had a couple fun little movie nights and regularly take walks in the neighborhood. They have faithfully picked up trash around the lookout point across the street from us and around the village ever since they arrived in January and it has inspired others to join them. They were even in the local paper for their clean-up efforts. They are the type of folks that look for the positives in every situation and rarely express any complaints with the culture or other elements like crazy hot weather. They have challenged me to do the same. I fail miserably all the time but I catch myself a lot more now and think about how they would handle it. One of the verses they shared with me over and over is Proverbs 16:9 which says, “In his heart, a man (woman) plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” The wife of this sweet couple always says if things don’t happen the way we think it will, the Lord is knows that it wasn’t the right “steps” for us. That has helped when you live in a place where your expectations have to constantly be modified. Each and every day things don’t go according to the way I thought they would and it’s a growing process to trust that God is still in charge of my steps, even when my plans fail.

They just went back to the U.S. this week and I will miss them. But others have now returned from summer break and I’m very glad to have some friends around again. I got to know a few Canadian students that are here working on research for a couple months and we’ve had a few fun game nights and meals out.  I’ve been busy here and there with my job and also spending time helping out my friend’s international school. I helped with classroom arrangements and led some trainings for their staff. It has been fun to see it all take shape in a new building over the last 2 months. The other thing that has kept me hopping is planning activities, accommodations and tickets of all kinds for when my aunt, cousin and friend come to visit me. They are going to be here this coming weekend and I am all packed and ready to meet them tomorrow. This week has dragged by a little as I anticipated a much needed visit from those I love!

Nothing extremely note worthy or blog worthy has really happened over the last couple of weeks but I’m sure I will have plenty to share after my adventures with my friend and family. My apartment is finally complete with all furniture delivered and I am continually thankful for this great little nook away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Even though I frequently have thoughts of murdering the roosters that live next door. ;) It’s hard to believe I’m about at the half way point. That means I have to start thinking about the future which is something I always dread. As the song by The Clash says, “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” I’m still taking things pretty much day by day so I will just trust for now that the Lord determines my steps!