Everyday moments in India

Here are some highlights from the past couple of days (please note, this is just from a couple of days, so they might not seem like huge highlights, but here's my life):
- I am feeling a lot better. I'm not sure why I was sick, and the fun thing about India is that I will probably never no, but oh well and praise the Lord!
- 3 days ago we went to a place outside the city that is a spiritual retreat center. There is also a church there and a school. We got to help out with the school and do a spontaneous VBS-type thing for them (of course it's India, so they told us to do an hour long program and gave us 30 minutes to try and come up with something...). The best part was that it was for the whole school, so age 3 to high school all sitting together. We were able to split them up a bit, so I took a group of high schoolers. It was funny trying to think of a game that high schoolers could play and that's easy to understand. We decided to play heads-up 7 up, the classic, but they never quite got the point and kept cheating and opening their eyes. Then we did a skit of the Prodigal Son parable and shared the Gospel, and a lot of students responded! God so moves in weakness!
My favorite part of going out there was getting a chance to see the country-side, which is so beautiful! So different from the city, obviously. I feel like I'm only getting to see a small part of India, but it's all so different so it might be impossible to experience everything.
- The past two days have been pretty cold here. I mean, cold for India so weather in the 70s or so. I actually had to put on a sweater last night because it was so cold riding in the rickshaw with the wind. I'm loving it! It's cooler because of the rain, so hopefully this is a nice preview of the upcoming weeks that I'll be here during monsoon season.
- I went to a large park yesterday called Cubbon Park. There we found the "Govt. Aquarium" which was so great. It cost 5 Rs, so like 10 cents to get in. It reminded me of the Brazos River exhibit at Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, where they show off the everyday fish that you'd find here. I got to see a Tilapia, which I've never seen one alive before- I've just eaten it. There were some pretty cool ones there too. All in all, it was a very fun, random India experience.
- So I'm used to getting asked, "And do you have boyfriend?", but the other day I got asked, "And when will you get married?" I answered that I didn't know, and then the girl looked at me with a confused face and replied, "Haven't your parents told you yet?" It was one of those strange cultural moments- totally wasn't expecting that one. I started trying to explain how American dating worked, how we want our parents' blessing, but that we normally pick the person ourselves. I feel like I have a lot of little moments like that where I realize how different American culture is from Indian culture. Indians still have arranged marriages, which is strange to me as an independent American, but it makes sense in this culture. And it's done in so many different ways depending on your family background- I feel like every person I meet has a different story. This couple we were talking to are distant cousins and are secretly dating until they were done with school, and then they plan to tell their parents and convince them to let them get married. I don't believe that is typical at all, but I just didn't know what to say that whole conversation- it was just awkward. Good times.
- I found a drink that I like at Cafe Coffe Day- the Caramel Freeze. It's a cold coffee drink with caramel and toffee nut syrup, and it's only 65 Rs. Up to this point Coffee Day hasn't been my favorite, but it's started to be redeemed...
- I saw a giant butterfly made out of thrown away paper cups at a mall today. Picture coming soon...
- Tonight I lost my roommate. I've had this awesome girl from Boston staying with me the past couple of weeks- which has been such a blessing- but she has a group that is getting in tonight, so she moved into the hotel where she'll be staying. So I'll be on my own until the 13th when another girl comes from Kansas City. It's fun to have different roommates, but it was a little confusing figuring out how much we all owe for staying here. All they gave us was that our apartment costs 41,200 Rs. for a month, so about $825. But I'm sharing it with 2-4 people the whole time I'm here based on which week it is. But of course, I enjoyed figuring it out.