Blogs from Trivandrum, Kerala, India, Asia - page 3

So far, on our trip we've met some amazing people whose love and personal sacrifice for the gospel has been inspiring. Their level of struggle and persecution is far beyond anything I could've imagined.....this happens prior to baptism. Therefore, after baptism their foundation is much stronger than someone who hasn't experienced the same level of intense persecution. A special thank you to Christy & Lucy for their hospitality and servitude, Suma, this sister went straight to work after the Singles Devo and after working the midnight shift joined us the following morning for volleyball and fellowship. G2; this brother has taken off three days of work to chaffeur us around the town while playing Chad Talo's, Foundation CD, lol! Tim, Collin, Chris and Chad for their love and leadership. Love, Tanisha : )... read more

Yesterday we went to the "Silicon Valley" of Kerala. It was called TechnoPark. It was corporate like. We met with the CEO Mr. Mervin Alexander and we all sat around a big fancy round table with mini flags from all around the world. To say the least, I felt very important. We watched a powerpoint with different statistics about TechnoPark. It was interesting but for me somewhat hard to understand because I'm not very good with business. Next we went to a company called the Software Incubator. They greeted us formally with a flower and paste for a bindi. The social ambiance and hospitality of everyone we have met makes me feel so welcome and not like a stranger at all. There we watched a number of performances done by the workers including a mime performance, ... read more

Kerala - Trivandrum 23/02/11 - 24/02/11 After our original train got cancelled we managed to get on the next scheduled train from Varkala after much deliberation and a remittance stamp from the railway staff. They were actually really helpful, which must be a southern Indian railway thing! Anyway we were picked up by the owner of our Homestay and as we arrived at night we just settled in at our cottage. We stayed at Lake Woods Retreat Homestay run by a very accommodating chap called John (for 300Rs). It is about 7km from the city centre which takes about 20-30 minutes driving. It was 1200Rs for a standard room and 1500Rs for a superior. The rooms are separate from the owners house, next to each other (like semi detached chalets) which look out onto a ... read more

Etter en lang tur, med pitstop i Dubai, kom vi til Trivandrum, eller Thiruvanantapuram som det heter på lokalspråket, lørdag formiddag. Jentene dro fort ut for å handle klær, med meg og Mats på slep. Vi gikk dog rimelig fort lei av fargerike kjoler og glitrende bukser, så vi dro tilbake til hotellet, og på veien stoppet vi for en kaffe på en av de lokale sjappene i nabolaget. På søndag var vi på stranda i Kovalam hele dagen, og nesten alle ble solbrente. Inkludert meg, selvfølgelig. Høydepunktet for dagen var de små bananene jeg kjøpte av en dame på stranda. De var nydelige. Bananene i Norge blir nok en enorm skuffelse etter dette. Som vanlig utenfor Europa, ble jeg som høy, hvit person bedt om å stille opp på bilde sammen med lokale gutter på ... read more

After being at the ayurvedic clinic for 13 days I was so ready to see the beach, and shop. I went with a friend from the clinic. We had so much fun. The ride was about 40 minutes, the driver was so thrilled to point out temples to us along the way. There are temples everywhere here. Shiva, Lakshimi, Ganesh, Hanuman. Every morning about 5:15am I am serenaded by beautiful flute music coming through the fields behind my room. The music inspires a spark in me to start my day and off I go to practice yoga and pranayama with the other ladies up stairs. I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the beach, the feeling it gave me of tranquility and vitality. It was very clean. There were men doing like a tug of ... read more