India-Bound

Hello, and welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy tagging along with me as I navigate through India and seek to serve in love and joy. It is my desire that this blog will allow those who read it to feel like they are experiencing all of the same things I experience and feeling all of the things I feel as I confront what are sure to be many, many challenges. I hope to update often, and I promise to keep you entertained and, most importantly, provoke dialogue about a variety of issues, the likes of which such culturally and spiritually diverse place as India is sure to evoke. This will hopefully be a learning experience for all of us.

My current situation: I have a little over a month to go before I leave (February 3rd). I figured out today that I have four weeks of work left before I quit my job to do this nonprofit gig. I've never been outside of the U.S. before so this will be a new experience in every way for me. To be able to count down the number of days before I leave on my fingers and toes (x2) is exhilerating and terrifying at the same time. (The answer to the question you're currently thinking is: Yes, I will count through my toes first and leave my fingers for the single days left at the end. It's easier and not as smelly.) I have gotten all of my shots, suffered through willingly ingesting live typhoid and my passport is already in my bag waiting to get stamped. I have 95% of the supplies I plan on taking with me all ready to go and in a neat little pile. The rest I'll get soon, including my Visa which I'm applying for tomorrow. Included in that 5% are the books I have yet to decide on taking (which will be a mini nightmare; I've already narrowed down and expanded and narrowed down at least eight times) and the amount of toilet paper I choose to take to save my left hand from terrible indignity. I am always fundraising, and probably will be up until and during my trip. If the Spirit moves you, or you just find yourself in the giving mood, feel free to message me for my address! Just so you know, you automatically gain two 'awesome' points any time you do this... but you have already received four 'awesome' points just by reading this post. Add up your points at the end of the trip and if you reach a certain level, I'll bring you something from India!! (Promise.)

If you don't have any clue what I'm going to actually be doing for almost five months in India, here's the lowdown. I will be doing 16 weeks of volunteer work in a daycare program in the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. I don't actually know where exactly I will be (and I won't find out until I get there and they figure out where I best fit their needs), but I do know it will either be in Palampur (the 'Tea Capital' of North India), a hill station town in the foothills of the Himalayas, or a little bit farther north in Dharamsala, the home of the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan government. I would love to be in Dharamsala, to stay with a Tibetan host family and experience a whole different culture inside of a different culture. To live with and learn about Tibetan buddhists while living in Hindu India would be a mindblowing experience. I'm excited to seek out correlations between these religions and Christianity and reveal the beauty of God that these people are already saturated with. And the children! I am so stinkin' excited to hang out with/teach/love on those Indian kids. I chose such a long volunteering duration partly so I could provide some stability for those kids while they are growing and learning. Volunteering is wonderful, but most people only stay for two or so weeks and children thrive on being able to see the same face week after week instead of watching one leave and a new one come in every week. I hope to build wonderful relationships with the kids and the workers in this program, to show love, grace and proper wisdom so that they can get the best possible chances of success.

After my volunteering ends, I will have two and a half weeks left to explore a bit farther South into India. The first week I will spend on a five-day mountain trek accross a Himilayan pass guided by sherpas and in a group (for your ease of mind, Dad). The last week and a half have not really been planned out yet, but I can guarantee pictures and tales of shrines and architecture, tigers, elephant rides and ventures in unique Indian food.

Anything you want me to do/see while I'm there? Leave me a comment and let me know!

In peace,

Aaron