It's Nov 2nd, and I am so pleased to have actually reached this site! I have been unable to do so for some time, well only a week, but so much has happened in that time, that I just hope I can remember it all!!! I'm back in the Ripon Street Cafe, which isn't my favorite spot, but it is a place where I am able to add to the blog! Yesterday I found a really nice cafe that was air conditioned, not crowded, all of the keys on the key board worked properly, but I couldn't access the place to post! So, I left in frustration and hoped for a chance to come here today. And now, here I am!!!
Last week was a varied one with the Hindu goddess Kali being worshiped for days all over the city, at least, and possibly throughout the region. Fireworks, loud drums and a festive atmosphere abounded in the park behind the apartment where Premila lives. Friday night it reached a very noisy level as the night wore on. I just had to get up and see what was happening. As I suspected, Kali had been taken from her make shift temple and put on a truck. Her destination then was the Hoogly River where she would be thrown in. I remember clearly my first Divali, it was in Mumbai in 1970. Ganesh is the favorite god there (half man, half elephant), and he was worshiped nightly by those who lived in our apartment complex. When I learned that they would dump him into the sea after worshiping him, I was astounded. That feeling hasn't lessened forty one years later! How grateful it makes me that I can worship the living God whenever I want, wherever I want and that I don't have to dispose of Him when I have "had enough". Further, I don't have to appease Him. He chose me before the foundation of the world, drew me to Himself, forgave me, communes with me . . . Hallelujah, what a savior!!! On Sun afternoon, it was wonderful to hear the sounds of boys playing Cricket in that park out back, rather than listening to the din that had been wafting through our windows previously.
Last Mon and Tues I had gone to school to help with the very youngest students (they start at 4 here) who are weak and could use a little help in a smaller group situation. The next three days schools were closed as were many shops. I went out exploring to see what might be open and was able to do some further buying for my apartment. I then planned to spend Mon and Tues of this week getting settled in. Premila is going to her sister's house for the long holiday weekend this weekend (Fri - Tues), and that is a great impetus for me to actually move out!!! After what seems to me a very long and complicated process, it looks like this is actually going to happen!!! I am looking forward to completely unpacking and getting settled!!! As of right now I am planning to spend three days a week helping in the school and two in the office! School starts at 8, so it will be so nice to only have to descend three flights of steps! Currently I take the metro and a rickshaw and never even try to get there before 9! It is actually a great way to travel to Jadevpur, in S. Kolkata, where I will be living!!! I will continue to use the Metro to come back to the office as it is the quickest way. I might take a cycle rickshaw, a motor rickshaw, the Metro, and a taxi to get here, but . . . unless I can be otherwise persuaded, it is the best way, the quickest, and even the cheapest!!! I am now the proud owner of a Metro card that is good for a year and cost me about $4.00! Let's see if it really lasts past the first month. Hussein doesn't seem to think it will. I know that it saves me having to wait in line for a ticket. I missed a train the other day doing that. Sometimes the queue (line) is so very long!!!
There are two days next week that will be holidays!!! Let's hear it for this land of diversity!!! Last week it was a Hindu festival. Monday is Bakara Eid (the day that Muslims slaughter animals) and Thurs is the founder of the Seik religion's birth anniversary. As Premila commented the other day, "This is hard for your foreign friends to understand!"
Dave and Cathy Hicks have been through again, this time after several days in Bangladesh and Malda district of W Bengal. It was very excited to hear about what is happening in these areas with believers who have come to Christ from the majority religion of those areas! Last night I proofed a proposal that Dave is submitting for funds to help build a retreat center in Bangladesh, for next to nothing by Western standards, so that these believers can meet together, learn from the Word, learn to trust each other, et al. Most of them are first generation believers, and with the second generation coming up, plans need to be made to strengthen them in their faith.
I am going to be traveling down to Ooty, a hill station in the South, Nov. 18 - 25. Dave and Cathy are having a retreat with their partners. At first I didn't think that I would be able to go, but it is going to work out for me to go after all. I am really looking forward to meeting with others, some that I knew from days gone by and some that I have just read about in the Along Side Asia publications.
This past week I also got a cell phone. That is so convenient, as you all know. I thought about getting an internet connection so that I can check the internet from home, there is a computer in my flat at Pauline Bhavan, which belongs to PB, but it seems a little expensive and visiting an internet cafe is very cheap if you can find a good one! I'll be investigating that in the days to come.
On Sat I will celebrate by first month anniversary of my arrival in India. Though this past week has pinched at the independent American woman that I am, I remain very pleased to me here! I do feel like I am launching the next step. It will be nice to be a little bit more "in control" of my own schedule, what I eat, etc. I am looking forward to interacting with the other residents of Pauline Bhavan, and to seeing how the Lord wants to use us in each others' lives!
Sunday as I walked into Jeevan Joyti Fellowship, I was asked to share a word of encouragement with the congregation! The Lord had encouraged me that week from PS 32:8. So, I shared it with them. I found it very meaningful because of the fact that the wonderful hospitality of India can sometimes stifle those of us who are independent and don't like to admit that we don't always know what we are doing and would be able to do it in half the time if we were in a Western setting
As I close for tonight, thanks for taking the time to read by rambling thoughts! Shoot me an email . . . gindy.miley@gmail.com to help keep me up with what life is like back there in the USA. I don't get much American news here!!!
Last week was a varied one with the Hindu goddess Kali being worshiped for days all over the city, at least, and possibly throughout the region. Fireworks, loud drums and a festive atmosphere abounded in the park behind the apartment where Premila lives. Friday night it reached a very noisy level as the night wore on. I just had to get up and see what was happening. As I suspected, Kali had been taken from her make shift temple and put on a truck. Her destination then was the Hoogly River where she would be thrown in. I remember clearly my first Divali, it was in Mumbai in 1970. Ganesh is the favorite god there (half man, half elephant), and he was worshiped nightly by those who lived in our apartment complex. When I learned that they would dump him into the sea after worshiping him, I was astounded. That feeling hasn't lessened forty one years later! How grateful it makes me that I can worship the living God whenever I want, wherever I want and that I don't have to dispose of Him when I have "had enough". Further, I don't have to appease Him. He chose me before the foundation of the world, drew me to Himself, forgave me, communes with me . . . Hallelujah, what a savior!!! On Sun afternoon, it was wonderful to hear the sounds of boys playing Cricket in that park out back, rather than listening to the din that had been wafting through our windows previously.
Last Mon and Tues I had gone to school to help with the very youngest students (they start at 4 here) who are weak and could use a little help in a smaller group situation. The next three days schools were closed as were many shops. I went out exploring to see what might be open and was able to do some further buying for my apartment. I then planned to spend Mon and Tues of this week getting settled in. Premila is going to her sister's house for the long holiday weekend this weekend (Fri - Tues), and that is a great impetus for me to actually move out!!! After what seems to me a very long and complicated process, it looks like this is actually going to happen!!! I am looking forward to completely unpacking and getting settled!!! As of right now I am planning to spend three days a week helping in the school and two in the office! School starts at 8, so it will be so nice to only have to descend three flights of steps! Currently I take the metro and a rickshaw and never even try to get there before 9! It is actually a great way to travel to Jadevpur, in S. Kolkata, where I will be living!!! I will continue to use the Metro to come back to the office as it is the quickest way. I might take a cycle rickshaw, a motor rickshaw, the Metro, and a taxi to get here, but . . . unless I can be otherwise persuaded, it is the best way, the quickest, and even the cheapest!!! I am now the proud owner of a Metro card that is good for a year and cost me about $4.00! Let's see if it really lasts past the first month. Hussein doesn't seem to think it will. I know that it saves me having to wait in line for a ticket. I missed a train the other day doing that. Sometimes the queue (line) is so very long!!!
There are two days next week that will be holidays!!! Let's hear it for this land of diversity!!! Last week it was a Hindu festival. Monday is Bakara Eid (the day that Muslims slaughter animals) and Thurs is the founder of the Seik religion's birth anniversary. As Premila commented the other day, "This is hard for your foreign friends to understand!"
Dave and Cathy Hicks have been through again, this time after several days in Bangladesh and Malda district of W Bengal. It was very excited to hear about what is happening in these areas with believers who have come to Christ from the majority religion of those areas! Last night I proofed a proposal that Dave is submitting for funds to help build a retreat center in Bangladesh, for next to nothing by Western standards, so that these believers can meet together, learn from the Word, learn to trust each other, et al. Most of them are first generation believers, and with the second generation coming up, plans need to be made to strengthen them in their faith.
I am going to be traveling down to Ooty, a hill station in the South, Nov. 18 - 25. Dave and Cathy are having a retreat with their partners. At first I didn't think that I would be able to go, but it is going to work out for me to go after all. I am really looking forward to meeting with others, some that I knew from days gone by and some that I have just read about in the Along Side Asia publications.
This past week I also got a cell phone. That is so convenient, as you all know. I thought about getting an internet connection so that I can check the internet from home, there is a computer in my flat at Pauline Bhavan, which belongs to PB, but it seems a little expensive and visiting an internet cafe is very cheap if you can find a good one! I'll be investigating that in the days to come.
On Sat I will celebrate by first month anniversary of my arrival in India. Though this past week has pinched at the independent American woman that I am, I remain very pleased to me here! I do feel like I am launching the next step. It will be nice to be a little bit more "in control" of my own schedule, what I eat, etc. I am looking forward to interacting with the other residents of Pauline Bhavan, and to seeing how the Lord wants to use us in each others' lives!
Sunday as I walked into Jeevan Joyti Fellowship, I was asked to share a word of encouragement with the congregation! The Lord had encouraged me that week from PS 32:8. So, I shared it with them. I found it very meaningful because of the fact that the wonderful hospitality of India can sometimes stifle those of us who are independent and don't like to admit that we don't always know what we are doing and would be able to do it in half the time if we were in a Western setting
As I close for tonight, thanks for taking the time to read by rambling thoughts! Shoot me an email . . . gindy.miley@gmail.com to help keep me up with what life is like back there in the USA. I don't get much American news here!!!
Is dumping the image of the various gods into the river a tradition? Is that a ceremonial type of thing, or more like us taking something to the dump?
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