Back!

So, we are back in the states, minus one teamate who wouldn't get on the plane. Just kidding, Everett's doing 3 months more in India as part of an internship. He was adjusting fabulously and already buying Indian guy clothes and throwing Hindi phrases around. He also took a ton of the trip's photos. Thanks Ev!

Bree and I got back Monday morning to VA after some 40+ hours of travel. Part of our time in transit included a nice chunk of time in Delhi so we hobnobbed around-shopping, exploring, eating, and wrapping it all up with Henna. Mine's faded a lot by now but I still like it. The trip back was pretty uneventful (always a good thing) and we arrived sleepy, dirty, and happy to surrender our heavy packs to Josh, Jon, and Bree's parents who were waiting for us.

(I love airports.)

I've decided to make a list of events and impressions that were memorable for both our team and personally.

1. Teaching: between the 3 of us, we taught many English, Spanish, and Cross-Cultural Communications classes. Bree and Everett did great leading their classes and it was a privilege to be part of such a confident, capable team. We couldn't have asked for better students either. Everyone was very engaged and eager to learn.

2. Staying with the RTB students. In the first city, the 3 of us stayed at a local ministry training program. We roomed with the students, ate meals with them and spent time with them (both in class and informally).  A personal favorite memory during the time we stayed there was 2 painting sessions we had. The first one I initiated and the next day, I walked out of my room to see just about everyone gathered around the table and painting furiously. It was really fun, particularly as most of the students had never painted before. I was seriously impressed with what they produced.

3. Cooking. The team and I took over cooking duty one night and as requested, we made American food (with some Latin influence and Indian dessert). They often have "culture night" and try different foods. This was the first american night.  The menu: homeade macaroni and cheese, mango salsa, steamed green beans with butter/salt/pepper, and American chocolate bars + Indian pastries  for dessert. In retrospect, those things sound a little odd together. As we were making the dinner we hit several points of "Susie…are you sure it's supposed to be like that?" to which I happily replied "it's cultural! of course it goes like that!" Moses and Ekta, 2 of the students helped us shop, chop, and prepare. It was fun and everything turned out great. I'd never made mango salsa before but they were in their prime and so inexpensive. It was a fun way to use a common regional ingredient in a very new/weird way. Some people were (understandably) suspicious of how mango would jive with onion and tomato but it ended up being the biggest hit!

4. Storytelling at a youth church. All 3 of us got to share during their very cool,living-room, youth service. After we told Bible stories to the group, we split up in smaller bunches to talk about the stories. Alot of the kids come from non-christian families, so attending the church is their own decision and up to them to decide to keep going. It is cool to see how much they like being there and some are even telling their families about Christianity. The folks who lead the group are doing a phenemenal job at building a community that reaches out to kids and befriends them unconditionally.

It was a great trip and we couldn't have done it without our friend's  and family's participation. If you're reading this blog, that probably means you! So, thank you!