Blogs from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia - page 10

This man can shop. He’s never more than two feet away from me and I feel he prefers to hover in a six inch radius around me. No one can have “personal space” here. This is a city of seven million people. It feels like I’m in a litter of puppies and each of us are crawling over each other trying to see over the edge of the box. Occasionally one puppy falls out but is immediately put back in the box with the others. That’s how it feels to me anyway. So Kumar and I shop all day long and all day long he’s right by my side quick to open a door, hold my bags, model shawls, and find restrooms. It was really sweet to see him take such an interest in finding a ... read more

The date was just ok. He's definitely not 'second date' material though. And, yes, at some point...I think it happened while I was standing on the side of the highway outside the hotel...it did cross my mind that I was meeting a near stranger and paying him to take me out and maybe this wasn't such a great idea. Alas, I do have a measure of common sense. A measure. In all seriousness to my dear readers who may be concerned for my safety this was all arranged by the hotel manager. No request is refused so when I went to the front desk asking for someone to take me to the movies management made sure I had an escort. Did I just say escort?? That makes it sound weird. And management is suppose to call ... read more

I think I'll get over this jet lag about the time I get home. Tonight I actually fell asleep at supper! And the worst part was we were out with two of Jeremy and Mike's colleagues (one from India and the other Russia). I just can't handle 4 engineers at once. About 8 o'clock I told the group I had to close my eyes for a minute and next thing I know Jeremys's waking me up saying they'd just finished their desert and were leaving. I thanked the Russian for a wonderful meal and apologized for falling asleep. I know. Its tacky. How do you apologize for falling asleep while someone is talking? Ok, let me back up a little bit. Today was my first day on my own with my driver, Annan. This morning one ... read more

Alright, I'm back. Where was I in this riveting story of baggage claim?? Oh, the smell. Anyway, after finally getting my bag I headed toward the exit where I was hoping there would be someone to meet me. I exit and there's this massive sea of humanity all pressed up against a metal rail...everyone waiting for someone they know to arrive. I see a dark Indian man holding a sign with my name on it and we make eye contact...that's my driver. But walking through the corridors to the parking lot I could feel all these male eyes making uncomfortably long penetrating stares on my white skin. I immediately look away and decide I'll just stare at the ground and that's when I notice all the people curled up in little balls just sleeping outside. Loads ... read more

As I was looking back through my journal today, I came across a page in which I took notes for a devotion time that I led while our YWAM team was in India. It was on “Life” which in Hindi ia Zindagi. What I did was search through my bible to look for verses that had to do with life or had the word life in them. I wanted to remind our team of what we were bringing to Kolkata, the second half of outreach and to give us some verses from the mouth of God to remember. I hope all of these verses encourage you and help to give you more life in your day today. I know that as I reread them, they encouraged me greatly. Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the ... read more