day 2

Well, actually, I'm gonna start from last night.

Went to dinner with Australia and Ireland, and then stayed up talking with Germanyx2, Russia, and Seattle. Then talked with Spain for awhile. And then Italy. And then talked with Australia for an hour and a half (he's leaving Sunday...:-( ) and went to bed when Francex2, Seattle, and Australia started rolling giant hash joints.

It's probably weird that I refer to people by their countries, but their accents are easier to remember than their names.

Ireland is quite possibly the cutest girl ever. Ireland (Carmel) and Scott (Australia) make fun of each others' accents, which is silly, 'cause they're actually kind of similar. ...to me.

I'm gonna stick some journal exerpts on here from last night.

"I am here. I've been here for...10.5 hours. And it feels like I've lived here...in another life. There are people from Spain, Russia, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Holland, France...all living here, speaking English, eating, drinking, taking the same cool showers, peeing in the same holes in the floor. This. Is. Amazing. ... This place is so beautiful, so rich, so full of culture and life. Maybe I'm experiencing the backpacker life and not the Kolkata life. I saw the trash in the gutters. I felt the tug of children on the street. Is my heart hard? Am I dead? I thought God wanted me here, but why do I not feel the suffering? I mean...I feel...elated. Amazed. How do I focus on serving God (and people, obviously) here? In this city where 7-year-olds are getting raper, and us from Spain, Italy, Ireland, the States - we're sitting on a roof smoking joints. ... it's cheaper to smoke here than it is to eat..."

P.S., I didn't smoke. I'm still the Stephanie you all know. :-)

So...here's the thing. There is so much energy here, and I can't help but be positively gleeful. But then I feel awful about feeling gleeful, because there's so much suffering. But the thing is...you don't see the suffering as much as you see the colours, hear the music, smell the curry. So it's difficult to realize how much the city needs, when you're so enthralled by how much it has. And then I end up sitting on a roof at midnight, journaling, thinking about how beautiful it all is - listening to car horns and gunshots. I wish I realized the suffering more. Please pray that God completety breaks my heart for what breaks His. I don't want the illusion of backpacker life - I want to know the real Kolkata, and serve with continued joy, buy also a sense of complete reality. And I desire to keep the joy as a state of existance rather than as an emotion, and also be aware of, and actively alleviating, the suffering here.

Oh, P.S., Matt had an awesome day today. :-) He's a gazillion times more comfortable. Rather than starting work today, we slept - we needed it. I pushed myself way too much this past week. So we slept, got food, journaled, yep. I bought a skirt (200 rupees), pants (90 rupees), and a shirt (100 rupees). Bartered all those prices down. In Bangla. Nay-cheh-hee-ay mean "do not need." Use that one on the streets a lot.

Okay, all done.

This blog will not be updated this much every day, I promise. This beginning-post-a-day thing won't happen for much longer. :-)

Love and bangla,
Stephanie

Aqui!

Hello! I'm here. Ate food. Drank bottled water. Broke the seal on the water so I knew it was safe. Staying at Modern Lodge - 200 rupees per night, total. Which means it's really only 100 per night. It's a nice room.

Actually, it's only ten rupees for a half hour of computer usage, so I'm going to stop typing like it's a telegraph.

Anyway! I'm HERE!! The flights were great! Last night, we stayed over in the New Delhi airport. We met a group of missionaries - they're working in Nagaland, running schools and teaching kids so they can know enough to earn scholarships and go to larger schools. Awesome. :-) Actually, we've met and gotten to know a lot of people - from Spain, France, Australia - yeah. It's wonderful. My tiny bits of French and Spanish are helping. :-)

Prof. Hatcher - if you're reading this, you were completely right about language immersion = fast learning. I literally learned the entire Bangla alphabet in the taxi on the way from the airport. Hooray!

So...there are people everywhere. OMIGOSH I almost forgot!! We got here in time to go to orientation at the Mother House. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH AWESOMENESS!! I'm going to be working at Daya Dan, a home for older children / teenagers with physical and mental disabilities. I get to be a teacher. I don't know what that means yet, but I'm SO EXCITED!!! I start tomorrow morning. HOORAY!!

Anyway, I should go check my email and such, so I'm going to leave you with that.

Oh wait.

Just so you know.

I got lost today coming back from the Mother House. And people were really, really helpful. And now I'm back. So I know what happens when I get lost. Not that I'm planning on getting lost again. And! Be proud, Dad. There are children grabbing at me for money all over the place, and I haven't given them anything. It's sad. But we spent a long time at orientation learning about how giving people money encourages them to not become self-sufficient. Because most of them actually have money, and they're professional beggars.

I just typed this all in ten minutes. Hooray!

I haven't showered in two days. Proud of me, Domtar?

Okay, all done.

Love,
Stephanie

P.S. I'm so happy here, that I cannot put it into words. Thanks for being so supportive. I start working tomorrow. :-)

P.P.S. It's freaking hot. And freaking freaking humid. I need thinner clothing.

P.P.P.S. Prayer request: my friend Matt, who's traveling with me, is super-nervous about being here. Please pray for 1. safety, so he doesn't have to be so actively worried, 2. peace - like what Paul writes in Philippians 4 about not being anxious and presenting all requests to God - that transcends understanding, 3. that I would know how to be comforting, practical, and my usual ridiculously enthusiastic self all at the same time. Yes, I'm nervous, but I'm very confident in God's protection and provision, so it comes across as brash boldness. 4. Most importantly, the people of Kolkata. There's a lot of good going on here, and it's a beautiful city and culture. But there's also a lot of crap going on. Kids being used to get money for drugs, sex trafficking, a LOT of street kids. Please pray that God would provide for them, and that they would somehow be able to get off the streets and become independent.

Okay, now I've typed for 20 minutes. Sorry if this was repetitive. I'm not gonna read through it, because we need to go eat a safe, cooked dinner, made without contaminated water. Promise. :-)

Yes, I'm taking my malaria meds.

Love and samosas,
Stephanie

Tomorrow.

No more words come to mind...my writing major isn't doing its job right now.

-Stephanie

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, this is cute:

Secondly,
3 days.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay, that's all.
Time to do more homework. :-)

Love,
Stephanie

আগ্রহান্বিত

My Facebook status currently says "Stephanie is আগ্রহান্বিত."

আগ্রহান্বিত --> Bengali for "eager; zealous; intent; intently desirous; inclined (to); wistful."

I honestly can't read every consonant in it, but it's something like ag...in.....yeah. I know some letters. Working on it.

Anyway, finals are next week. I'm done with classes right now. Literally just finished. The work I have to turn in gets turned in on Monday, or emailed over the weekend if I'm ambitious. School is almost done.

It's strange. My last practical criticism class was today. I'm gonna miss that class. I don't think I appreciated it enough while I was still in it. Oh well. I took good notes.

India in five days.
India in five days.
India in five days.

To do:
Open Citibank account.
Get traveler's checks.
Pick up work checks.
Deposit work checks.
Start taking malaria meds so I don't turn into mosquito-woman.
Find out what malaria does so I don't continue to think of it as something that might turn me into a superhero.
Pack (ha).
Learn Bangla.

Sorry, this post isn't very inspirational. It's really just me keeping a record of what I need to do before I leave.

Oh, and pray. I've been doing that, a lot. Not enough, but a lot. I've been told by about five different people in the past week that spiritual warfare is going on like whoa in India, specifically Kolkata, right now. I don't mean literal physical violence - I mean, people are actually doing exorcisms and stuff. There's so much idolatry that demon possession happens all the time. And then exorcisms happen. And demons leave. Lldksfjaljfdslkj!

If you're reading this right now, please pray for India.
Thanks. :-)

Love,
Stephanie

Request. (not a prayer request)

You know those silly little make-sure-you're-not-a-robot word verification thingies you have to type before you comment on a blog post?

When responding to something I've posted, please create a definition for the word your computer makes you type.

Thanks.

:-p

-Stephanie

Homework, focus, and motivation.

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." - Colossians 3:22-24

Okay, so. I know I'm not technically a slave. But, if you're a college student, you know that sometimes, it feels like we're slaves to school. Especially the week before finals. Like nearly every other student at IWU, I'm having difficulty finding the motivation to study, to revise papers, to prepare for finals. I just don't want to. It's even more difficult to do all this work when all I want is to hang out with my friends before I go to India.

The point of this post is not for me to complain about all the work I have to do - everyone has that. The point is to remind me, and you, that we're not really working to get the A or for our professors. We're working for something much bigger than Ed 255. In Colossians 3:23, slaves are told to work with all their hearts, because it's really the Lord they are serving.

And that's the mindset that I need to have.

Love,
Stephanie