when it rains...

We left the office at 3 p.m. today. Here's why:

Finally made it back to the flat... but it continued raining for about 6 more hours. Hello monsoons.

maybe I will be a teacher now

Danielle, I love you.

My ultra-fab friend and former roommate and bride-to-be Danielle (Benni) Rogers just completed her first year as a first grade teacher at an elementary school in Durham. She had every single student in her class send me an illustrated letter asking me all sorts of questions about India. ADORABLE. I am still melting from how presh this whole thing is. My favorite was that some of the kids told me that they were peach- entirely based upon the crayon color used to draw white people. So great. Top six favorites:

Number One.

"Dear Ms. Laurel. Hi! My name is T and I have a bike and I have a palysansn 3 and I have a x box 360. We are learning about India and tigers and I have a dog. Do they go to the school boys and girls and do you have a helper in your class and do you like India? They have a lot of tigers in India and they have monkeys do they have fish and shark and jellyfish and seaturtles? Love T."

Number Two.

"Dear Ms. Laurel. Hi! My name is J. My favorite color is pink and purple. I like to play in the gym. I have black hair and black eyes. Can I ask you some questions please? My first question is what language do they speak in India? What do they eat? What does the Taj Mahal look like on the inside? What to they wer? Do they have jewelry? Do that have farms? Do they have pigs? Do they have colors? Do they have the same buildings as us? Do they have school like us? Do they have video games? Do they have playgrounds? Do they have umbrellas? Do they have birthdays? Do they have tvs? Do they have clibors [clipboards?]? Do they have urasrs? Love J"

Number Three.

"Dear Ms. Laurel. My name is A and I am peach. My eyes are black. I have one sister and one mom and one dad and I am bery bery good at swimming. Can I please ask you some questions?...."

Number Four.

Dear Ms. Laurel. My name is J Ms. Laurel. My favorite color pink. Whats your favorite game? How is India. What do India look like? I'm the color brown. My favorite game is the wii. I have some questions. Is India good? Is India fun? Do India have food? Do India have ox? Is Indias food good? And do they have books in India? Why do they have so many people at India? How many money do they have? What do they food look like Ms. Laurel? We learned the short 'i' and long 'i' and the 'th' and 'sh.'"

Number Five.

"Dear Ms. Laurel. My name is S. My favorite colors are gold and pink. I have a mom and I have a dad and I have two sisdr and a bruthr. What do the Taj Mahal look like? What do they eat in India? Do they have apartments? How do they get money? Why do they have so many people? What does their money look like? Do they have hair like us? Do they have to kill for their food or do they buy they food? What toothpaste do they use? What language do they speak? What does they ledrs look like? Is it easy to find rocks? Can you see stars? Thank you. Love S"

Number Six. 

"Dear Ms. Laurel. I like carnivorous plants! My name is O. I am six years old..."

update

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who contributed to getting sewing machines and supplies for Rupali and her village ministry. I am going with her this weekend to order everything and will get to take the day to go to her community center in the village Monday to set it all up and meet the girls! Many pictures and updates to come. THANK you for making this possible. She told me that she and her husband have been praying for this provision for a long time. To God be all the glory! Y'all are the best.

and another life was brought to freedom today

Daniel 9

Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.

Thailand

Hey everyone! I am back from Thailand and all settled back in for the remaining THREE?! weeks I have left in India. The trip was much needed and extremely fabulous- I fell in love with the country and still feel like there was so much to see. The flight from here was only two hours which was great. I went with Joe, a Legal Fellow from our office, and we met up in Bangkok with my friend Christina from Mumbai and three friends from Chennai. 

As soon as we got off the plane I had a mini round of culture shock... Traffic rules were followed and trash cans lined the sides of the road. People waited in lines for the metro. The cabs were air conditioned. It was crazy. For the next six days we were all basically in awe of the differences between Thailand and India. The shopping is a-mazing, and for the first time in 8 months I didn't feel like a total hoochie mama for exposing my knees! Voratida met us down there for the weekend, and she and her mom showed us how to dine like A-listers. Voratida's mom took us to High Tea at the Grand Hyatt and lunch at the InterContinental. Then she took me on our own personal shopping trip to this mall that made me salivate as soon as we got in the parking deck. 5 levels: floors 1-2 were packed with wholesale clothes, 3-4 had thousands of pairs of shoes (and anyone who knows me knows that shoes have been my weakness since about age 3) and the top floor was all bags. My bank account should recover one day.

We also went to markets and to see some of the most popular sights of Bangkok- the smiling Buddha and the Grand Palace. The architecture was so interesting and different from anything I have seen before.  After spending the weekend in the city we headed to the island of Koh Samet for the rest of the week. It was about what I imagine paradise to be like. We relaxed, ate, read, sunned, motorbiked, swam, toured, and I came back totally and completed refreshed. Here are some pictures:

I met up with Addies little bro Griffith my first night in!! He had just arrived for a 5 week study abroad program and it was super fun to see a familiar face from the 'West!'

Thai Iced Tea and the M&M cabs

Skyline from our hotel room in the city

A huuuge gold Buddha statue

Me and the boys in a tuk tuk

Entrance to the Grand Palace. There were some interesting rules here, like boys can't wear shorts and girls can't show their shoulders. We waited in line for about 20 minutes for the boys to borrow some hilarious pajama pants to wear inside. I had on full-length leggings, thinking that those would suffice.

Then I got to the gate and they said No Way Jose. Thumbs DOWN.

One of my favorites of me and Christina. She has been my lifesaver this year!

Dragonfruit = terrific

The boyz our last night at dinner

The girls on the other side of the island after our motorbike excursion

Take me back tomorrow?

Jet plane

Plans are made, hotels are booked, books are ready, camera is charged, bag is packed, the beach is waiting, and this afternoon I will be in Thailand! I have no qualms about being a super tourist , so there will be lots of pictures when I get back. I have grand plans of coming back with skin pigment and lots of souvenirs. And I get to see Griffith Shapack!!! See you in a week!

And Megan, I hate I am missing your wedding day, but I will be thinking of you tons Sunday and can't wait to see pictures. I have no doubt you will be stunning. Congratulations- all the long-distance patience paid off! Love you! xoxoxo

Taming the Beast

I inherited impressively thick eyebrows from my dad - thanks pops - which have proven to be both a blessing and a curse throughout the years. If I look back to pictures of myself in early middle school aka the Height of Awkward, I am horrified to see that my brows, if allowed to reign free, essentially grow from ear to ear. I became aware of the fact that they needed severe upkeep in grade six, thanks to the one and only Mark Bowles, my 6th grade Tormenter-turned-BFF.

Fall 1999: We were on the same team at our public middle school and were on the bus going to some kind of field trip. Back in those days, Mark was in the cool group and I was.. not quite as much in the cool group. I will never forget what happened. As I was innocently sitting in my seat at the front of the bus probably wearing some khaki short-alls, Birkenstocks and my favorite lilac waffle shirt, I heard my name called from a group of laughing popular kids in the back. His voice was above the rest. Slowly, I turned around to see him pointing at me and issuing a public declaration that I had a unibrow, and they had all noticed. In front of the entire class. If I dig deep enough into my repressed memory, I think that pointing and fits of laughter ensued. Maybe not, but for the sake of this saga I'm sticking with it. I turned back around with my chin quivering out of control, trying to remember what my mom said about 'sticks and stones.' I think it goes without saying that middle school sucks. Still mortified and sobbing at my house later that night, I retold the story to my older sister Heather. We decided it was time to start plucking. Yikes.

Then came the era of The Overpluck.

I assume that most people who were ever in middle school in the late 90's are well-familiar with this term. It was a time of pre-waxing when we all took it a little far with the tweezers. In a few minutes, my brows were transformed from an untameable beast to ...almost nothing! In my efforts to make them perfectly symmetrical, more and more kept coming off. The barely-existent-high-arched-brow-look made me appear in a constant state of shock. This lasted for at least 3 years. 

Then when I began high school I started to get the hang of how to shape the brows normally so that they looked a little more natural. I learned that it's all about shaping them to the contours of your face. To my great relief, Mya, my first regular waxer, taught me that "Honey, eyebrows are sisters, not twins." This also marked the beginning of my life motto, "Beauty is pain." Every two weeks I rolled up at Merle Norman to shape them up.  I firmly believe that nicely shaped eyebrows can transform even the most unfortunate face.

From high school all through college I went through a string of preferred waxers, until finally landing at my favorite spot, Brow Lounge, in Greensboro. It is amazing what a wax does to my face (starting with the fact that after I get it done you can actually see my face), and it requires a lot of trust to let someone do your brows. If they mess them up, you are screwed for at least a month. I learned that lesson the hard way at Friendly Center Ulta, when I left with my left brow about one inch shorter than my right.

My senior year of college I was introduced to the concept of eyebrow threading from Emily, my roommate who had recently travelled to India and swore by this technique. I went to the threading kiosk at the mall and was hooked.

Then I moved to India. You can imagine my elation when I realized that I would be working approximately 37 steps away from a Beauty Parlor where the threading is 30 cents. Approximately 50 times less expensive than it is at home. Every two weeks during my lunch break I walk out to Tame the Beast. Yesterday I persuaded coworkers Voratida and Dona to come with me and do it for the first time. They were resistent, but anyone who knows me well knows that I can talk you into anything if I am determined enough. I broke them down and they accompanied. Here are some pics.

Pre- thread. I was trying to make them as bushy as possible. I would zoom in more but it is frightening.

The Salon.

My FAVORITE girl. I want to take her home! She is so extremely presh.

Trim trim to Voratida.

It's a two person process here. Four hands, a roll of thread and some dull scissors later, and we are good to go people!

The picture I had us all take together. The inside of this place is about as big as it looks.

Now go get you some!!

[Disclaimer: Mark and I have since reconciled and he is actually one of the best guys I know :)]

1 Corinthians 15:22

"In Christ all shall be made alive."

subject, verb, object

This picture says something to the effect of "Laurel is my teacher" in Bengali.

For the last five months I have been tutoring one of the staff in our office in English twice a week. He has a big English exam coming up in August and has been freaking out. Since I worked for so long with the beloved UNC Athletic Association tutoring English, I gladly took on the challenge. It's been a blast pulling out random grammar rules and tips out of the recesses of my mind. Every Tuesday and Friday at 3 p.m. we get together to go over his homework and work on the next lesson. I am a really strict teacher and have given him stern orders that I must never hear him speaking in anything other than English around the office. It's great and he is getting a lot better and more confident. Anyways, for the sake of a new blog post we took some pics yesterday during our class:

Going over homework- 

Chiranjit and me - 

Me scolding him for having subject / verb disagreement... slash this pic was posed :) Please don't judge me for my crazy humidity hair!

One of our earlier lessons. Suzles would be proud!!

lychee lovin

Ah, it has been so long since I have posted. I seriously need to get back in the game here. Today's short edition is going to be covering all of the scrumptious fruit I have been indulging in recently. I am totally going to miss the fruit and vegetable market with it's array of exotic options. My fruit guy and I have a nice budding little relash - recently he has been slipping in some free fruit treats with my purchase. I do pretty much keep his apple import business going, but I still find it endearing. All the other fruit selling dudes try to get me to go to their stalls, but me and my man know where my allegiance lies. Here are my top three favorites for the beginning of summer. Oh and it's already at least 110 degrees daily. Add about another 47 degrees of humidity / hair destruction forces and you have a day in my life.  

The Lychee. I had heard of it but never tried it. De-LISH. They are kinda a lot of work to get open, but worth it for sure. I definitely recommend trying to find some! They come in fresh off the trees? I think.

The Mango. I fell in love with mangos junior year at UNC when my roomie Benni and I would constantly hit up Target for Naked Mighty Mango drinks. She would sip on them for about a week and I would swallow the whole half gallon in about 4 swallows. I couldn't understand how she had so much self-control. The mangos here are awesome - slightly messy to eat but completely worth it. 

The Kiwi. What's not to love about a kiwi? I buy them in bulk and eat one almost every afternoon. I think they cost about 15 cents each. What a steal.

I am here for exactly six more weeks! I am trying my best to soak in everything that I can before I say goodbye to this place. This particular week is crazy busy with a film crew in to work on a movie about human trafficking, and I can't believe I leave for Thailand next Thursday. Coming soon: the 30 cent eyebrow threading experience. 

Also, I wanted to say an enormous thank you to all the people who responded to my post 'Behind the Veil.' I was overwhelmed but not surprised at how generous the people in my circle are. I now have the funds to present her with more than enough money for the machines. I will be visiting the village in early June and will definitely have a post to cover that experience. Keep praying for these girls :)

a new day

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13374646

vacay part two

See you in two weeks, Thailand! I cannot wait.

 

club rickshaw

My beloved Aimee has left! :( On Sunday afternoon she and her bags went to the airport headed home to L.A. Our little room in the office is not the same without her...She was such a ray of sunshine to me and to our whole office. The boys had planned some celebrations for Aimee and Liz's last weekend and their execution was stellar. Saturday evening we all went to dinner, a bunch of girls got henna and then the boys rented rickshaws for the night. This is awesome because normally the rickshaws only run on specific routes, so they had to essentially be bribed/persuaded to go out of their route for a whole evening. One of our guys had gone to an area where the seriously pimped out rickshaws tend to congregate and had them do a little 'audition' to test their lights and their systems. If only I could have been there for that part. He explained the sitch and struck a deal. Before we knew it our two maniac drivers came to get us with lights flashing, music bumpin, and took us all over the city - here are some pics before we took off of Voratida, me and Aimee holding up the back. Our driver brought along his friend who LOOOVED Usher, Akon and Justin Bieber. Guess you had to be there but his moves and his excitement were contagious to say the least.

And for my family / Stephanie: I am also posting another picture from the weekend to follow-up my animal lover post from January. I went to the medical camp for the second time this past weekend and one of my friends took a candid picture of me frolicking with the calves right outside the clinic during some free time (decked out in a full salwar suit I might add). Making progress??

I cannot believe I only have about 7 weeks left!! Where has the time gone?

IJM Chennai

God is moving! 522 bonded laboroers rescued last week in Chennai. Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk_QDA_9gOE&feature=share