PTL

I will never forget the first time I heard what has turned out to be my fav acro (acronym...) of all time uttered from the lips of Miss Alyssa Williams. "PTL...what does that mean?" I asked, filled with curiosity. "Praise the Lord!... duh," she responded. My life has never been the same since. So, imagine my excitement, shock and sense of divine arrangement when I saw the sign that is posted on the front door to my flat: 

Destiny. The best part about PTL is that it is extremely catchy and can be used in such a wide variety of circumstances. I challenge you to incorporate it into your vocab. In my upcoming abbreve edition I promise not to disappoint- there will be subcategories for acros AND compbreves (compound abbreves. get ready!)

I have officially moved into my new place and am slowly feeling a little more at home here. The flat is actually pretty large and is verrrry colorful. The living room walls are, you know, lime green and my walls are bright blue. Here are a few pictures so that you can finally have a visual!

The road that I live on looks like this- the picture was taken last night and the lighting is awesome! The second one is the pool at my complex. Everything is decorated for Puja. You might be like OMG wow that is nice that you have a pool! But keep in mind that in order to swim in it, you have to wear a shirt and pants. Any takers now?

This is my bedroom right when I first moved in. I'm working on it :)

And the kitchen. I don't know if people really have ovens here, but we have the stove top and a microwave, which is actually really nice. I'd put a picture of my bathroom, but I don't want anyone to worry about me, haha.

So basically the move went well. I need to get a mattress that is the size of my bed, because right now it is a twin on a queen frame. Slight ghetto riggage but I am counting my blessings here. I know that everything is going to get easier as time goes on, so I am really depending on that. 

Work is awesome. The office people are fabulous and here is a picture of Dona, my 'colleague' I guess you would call it, Aimee the finance intern from California, and Prabhat, my supervisor. He is a pretty jolly man.  

And my desk! One thing I would love to point out is the mug on there that I will admit is filled with tea. Tea! I have NEVER been a tea drinker, mostly because it seems like way more natch of an activity that I am comfortable with, but due to the fact that our little room in the office feels more like a sub-zero freezer than an office building, I have to do something to keep myself warm. And due to the fact that my options are tea or coffee, I go with the Taj Mahal tea. The only way I will drink coffee if it is at least 70% cream- and not just any cream- the vanilla or hazelnut International Delight kind. And although this is an international atmosphere and it would be quite delightful to find it in the local market, I have yet to see that happen. So tea it is.  

There was also an American flag at my desk before I got there, so of course I wave it proudly. 

                                                                      

Let's see. I must take a moment to say that I am so honored and excited that I have seemed to build quite the faithful set of readers. It is thrilling but also has been making me feel the pressure to find new and interesting things to post about, so I have been on the lookout for cultural things I would like to share with everyone. This post I am going to mention three things- the auto rickshaw experience, the head bob and the Forcefield. Ready?

I am choosing this particular auto rickshaw to give you a clear picture of how much people here seem to like bling. Anything that could be bedazzled is, and why not include your rickshaw? I think that Pimp my Ride should do a special series here and focus their efforts on rickshaws. So I am taking these things to work now for a number of reasons- they are actually way faster than taxis because they weave in and out of traffic and can squeeze into and through spaces that a car cannot. The drivers love to pack AS many people AS POSSIBLE into them to make as much money per ride, so it is not at all uncommon to see one with like 6 or 7 people crammed on. The other day Katherine and I got on one and were riding along feeling awesome. Sun was out, cool breeze was going, we were feeling like movie stars. Then this other man got on, squeezed in beside me, and I made the mistake of smiling and saying hi. Big mistake. For the rest of our time together in the back of this rickshaw, he stared at my face smiling (from about 7 inches away) and put his arm over my shoulder so that he could squeeze Katherine. It was kind of hilarious and I won't make that mistake again. 

Next on the line up is the head bob. I am having trouble thinking of how best to describe this so that you fully understand. The head bob is something that really confused me for the first little while, because every time someone was saying yes, I thought they were saying no. To practice, put your head straight up and then move it in an almost 90 degree angle towards one of your shoulders. 

That is the head bob. And here, it means 'ok.' So. I ask someone a question and they kind of jerk their head towards their shoulder and I never knew what was going on. I am going to copy what one other IJM intern in another city wrote on her blog about it- so funny!

"Also, the constant head bobble everyone does here continues to give me trouble. When someone wags their head side to side, I instinctively assume they’re telling me “no.” Lie. They’re just acknowledging what I’m saying. They could be saying “no,” or “yes,” or “okay,” or “maybe,” but you never really know unless you look at their eyes and listen for what follows or guess from the context of the bob. This makes it really awkward when someone is bobbing their head “yes” and I’m nodding up and down in agreement, but from the conflicting directions our heads are moving, I seem to be accidentally disagreeing. It’s a habit I’m trying hard to break. First step: stop head movement of my own. Next step: learn the bobble. Wish me luck."

The Forcefield. I wish I could say that I came up with this BRIL (...liant) name myself, but I cannot take credit for it. I am having trouble finding an appropriate illustration, so I might just have to get a picture taken when I am actually using the Forcefield. I have previously mentioned that traffic here is chaotic to say the least, and there is almost no order to it at all. Basically, he who honks loudest goes the farthest. Special priority is also given to smaller vehicles because of their aforementioned ability to weave around quickly. Crosswalks are not exactly the same as they are at home. If you want to cross the street, you just start walking. So what is the Forcefield might you ask? It's basically a very 'girl with an attitude-esque' talk to the hand motion given to all cars speeding at you 30 mph telling them that YOU are crossing, so slow down. It is hilarious. I love watching it happen. There will be 40 cars/buses/trucks/bicycles/motorcycles coming at you, but if you throw up the Forcefield, they just stop so that you can cross. It may look to an unexperienced outsider that you are about to lose your life, but they always stop. Try it sometime!

A few more things before I am done with this post, but I found a place that sells the most delish Naan bread and I have been ordering it for lunch. 

Also, the Puja festival is in full force these days, and the shrines are EVERYWHERE. As are lights, songs, drumlines (starting circa 5 am..), speeches, crowds, etc. Here are a couple pics of the "Pandels" near my house.

As far as work goes, this week I got to go for the afternoon one day on a field trip with all the girls from one of the aftercare homes. All of them have been rescued by IJM and it was really cool to meet them and see how strong they are. They call you "auntie!!" and come up to hold your hand, hug you, smile, etc. I loved it! Some of them looked really young and a couple were pregnant or had babies, but it was great to see how much of a difference IJM makes in the lives of individual people, and how terrible things would be for them if we weren't able to get them out. One of the girls I was hanging out with told me that she wanted to be a lawyer or a police officer when she grows up so that she can get other traffickers put behind bars like the one who trafficked her. I hope I can spend time with them again. 

I am officially on my third week here, and as much as it seems like time passes by slowly here, I think I am gradually getting in the hang of things. With how many people there always are anywhere, I am really coming to value and like my alone time. I have gotten a chance to read more, sleep more, etc.

Thank you all again so much for your emails, love, support and just general awesomeness. I have my mailing address now, so if you want to send me anything, email me and I will give it to you. Comment about that- my address actually includes a landmark. Haha! Also, if you want to set up any skype dates, my username is laurel.gillespie and I am 9.5 hours ahead.

Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to adjust. This is a little bit harder of a transition in some ways than I anticipated, but I know that God is giving me the strength and the spirit to get through it all and begin to appreciate things about this place. This weekend I am going to see some of the festival things and will hang out with some of the other new interns some more. I've also found a church I like, so PTL for that too :)

Have a wonderful weekend!! Hugs and kisses!