Today we got to go to Kalipani for most of the day. It was fun. Because of the "pujab" (weather) only 16 kids showed up for school (out of 60) so since it was so small Ray just taught them some english and Autumn and Andrew, Kalito & I hung out. After the school kids were dismissed, Kalito & I walked down the hill to the store. Kalito is wonderful. I really like her alot and she speaks pretty good English so we can communicate!!! She is going back to her home in Nagaland in October when the bible school has a week of holidays and invited me to go with her. I'm not sure if it will work with my tutoring schedule since Autumn and Andrew will still have regular classes. Remember all those table manners our parents taught us back when we were young (such as don't eat with your fingers) turns out they don't apply in this corner of the world where I've gotten to use my fingers a couple times already. It takes practice getting a certain technique. Uncle Shyam tried to teach me a bit on Saturday but then Sarbananda gave me a spoon and said I should just use that. Hopefully I'll get some more practice again tomorrow since we will be eating lunch at Kalipani this week. I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email and I'll do my best to write you back.

Love,
Nadine



The little boy on the far left won't smile at me unless I smile at him first
and then he gets this huge grin on his face. It's really cute :)


The fall 2008 Bible School students (along with
Autumn, Andrew, Kuldip & I)

Birthday and Anniversary Celebrations

Auntie Peggy & Uncle Shyam
Simon- the birthday boy and his parents
Simon's cousin & I
Simon


Just thought I'd share a few pictures from the weekend. We went to Simon's birthday party on Saturday and Uncle Shyam & Auntie Peggy's 41st wedding anniversary on Friday. I had a great time. Today was church at Kalipani again and we are going to the Baptist Guest House for an english service this afternoon. It should be fun. We are changing up the school schedule this week and will be doing school from 8-10:30 in the morning and then heading off to Kalipani for the late morning -mid afternoonish then we'll come back, eat supper and do about an hour and a half of school work in the evenings. I'm excited to see how it will go. At Kalipani we get to sing songs, play games and do bible lessons with the elementary school kids in the mornings and then join in on the bible classes for the college in the afternoons. Anyways take care and God Bless.
Love,
Nadine :)

Ordinary Adventures.

So I've definately decided that everyday can be an adventure no matter where you live. I just happen to live halfway across the world in a completely different culture than my own which meas the unusual (for me) seems to occur a bit more frequently. Yesterday it really clicked with me the whole "living in the world but not of it" that definately seems to be what we do here in Guwahati. We live here but we don't fit in with the norm. People notice a difference. They stop and stare. Sometimes they trip over something from paying more attention to looking at us then where they are going. Rarely they come up and talk to us. What if as Christians people noticed such a difference in us, that they could tell just by looking at us that we were different from everybody else. What if we had such a joy or countenance of love that people couldn't help but take notice of it. Some would even be so captivated by it that they would feel compelled to start talking to you about it. I don't know why but yesterday it really that verse and the concept behind it really just hit me. It's a much easier thing to grasp living here than in Canada where there isn't any really huge minority group. I try to imagine if I would stare if I'd never seen an Indian man or woman for my whole life and then I saw one. I think I would. It's just really hard to imagine having grown up in such a multicultural society as Canada and seeing people from many different races and ethnic groups on a regular basis. Yesterday was a day of many small adventures. Autumn and I went shopping at the Big Bazaar then we went over to the Hub but it wasn't open yet (a fire or something had closed it for awhile) so we waited for Ray to come pick us up to go swimming. Swimming was fun. A bit too warm for me cause after sweating for the last few hours I was ready for a refreshing sensation when I jumped in. Oh well it was great fun. After swimming we went to Uncle Shyam's & Auntie Peggy's to celebrate their 41st wedding anniversary. Seems we never run out of celebrations. Last week was Andrew's bday and next week is Ray and Ellen's anniversary. Next week we are starting a new schedule for school. We'll do school from 8-10:30 then go out to Kalipani for the rest of the day til 5 or so then come back, eat supper and do school from 6-7:15 in the evening. I'm looking forward to it cause I love going to Kalipani. Anyways take care, Autumn just informed me I have twenty minutes til we go pick up Uncle Shyam and Aunt Peggy and go visit Sarbananda & his family.



Blessings,

Nadine

My first Guwahati Rainstorm!

So today we had just finished afternoon church at Uncle Shyam's and Aunt Peggy's house and Autumn said it's going to storm. And storm it did. Autumn, Andrew and I went outside after church was over and just hung out for a bit and they went up on the roof and it started to pour and I mean pour. Autumn thought a hurricane was coming. It's nothing like a Saskatchewan rain. Saskatchewan rain lasts for half an hour tops. This rain comes down hard for 2 + hours. We all went out on the porch at Uncle Shyam's and watched for awhile trying to wait it out. Finally Samuel decided to drive us home. When we got home, Ellen was sitting on the deck cleaning green beans so we all sat outside and watched. There was a huge thunder clap and lightning bolt and we all got kind of scared. Autumn and Andrew jumped out of their chairs :).The power was out for about an hour and we had the candles on the table and were just about to start eating when it came back on. God has good timing :) The roads are going to be so muddy tomorrow I'm sure. And now we get to look forward to a couple more weeks of plus 35 weather with lots of humidity. Oh how I love to sweat :) Anyways that's my latest adventure from India! Take Care. I'll write about Andrew's birthday sometime later when I have time. It's off to bed for me.

Blessings,

Nadine

Kalipani

Yesterday afternoon, Autumn, Andrew & I got to go to Kalipani with Ray. It was so much fun. We sat in on the first half an hour of his bible class then we went with Simon (Simon is a boy who goes to the Bread of Life Academy, an elementary school for underprivilged kids, he's also the principal's son) on an adventure into a little mud stream near the school. It was great. After the bible class was over, Timothy, Raja, Nyin, Simon, Sarat (?), Autumn & I all hung out and played football (the version where you kick a ball around with your feet not throw it and try to tackle people) and other games. It was fun. They all speak decent english so we could communicate a bit. I know going there is definately going to become a highlight of my weeks here. It is very beautiful there. There is a beautiful mountain and a bunch of beautiful bamboo trees and coconut trees and all kinds of lush vegetation. The people are so kind and welcoming too. We have tea when we go out there and it's even hotter there than in Guwahati. I've gotten used to drinking hot liquids though. When I first got here I asked Ellen how people could stand to drink something hot while they were sweating and she said it was just something you get used to, it was normal here. Her words turned out very true and now I look forward to drinking tea despite the heat. It's Andrew's 11th birthday today so Me, Autumn, Andrew, Raja and Kuldip are going to the science center here in Guwahati then coming back for cake and ice cream. Should be fun! Take care and have a great day!

Blessings,
Nadine

Aditi's, Thirst & Mary Poppins,

Aditi's is pretty much my favorite place in the entire world...well not actually but it's pretty fun. The guy who works there (Smiley Sam) was driving with his friends down six mile road today and they stopped their car to ask how we were. at first we thought they were just some more of the Indian men who constantly gawk at us. This place gives "turning heads" a whole new meaning. but then we saw Smiley Sam and so we said hey. After our walk we went home cause I was thirsty but no one was home so we didn't have water then I saw one of the water thingers outside on the deck and I was like "hey Autumn, I'm pretty thirsty, come over here and turn the tap for me while I drink". It was pretty resourceful if I say so myself. Then we had our umbrellas out cause it rained a bit so Autumn was like I'm going to be Mary Poppins so she was then she was like, okay your turn so we both got to be Mary Poppins today. It was great fun. I'm learning all sorts of things about grade 6 & 8 math again. My worst subject is the one that they need help in the most. God is sure funny isn't he. But it's not too difficult and I can usually help them figure out the right answers (and not just by showing them the back of the book either :P) Just kidding Ellen, I would never do that. Anyways the food here is great. Ellen is a fabulous cook. We sleep in air conditioning...It gets kind of cold at night but it's super hot outside the "sanctuary" (the room where the A/C is) so it's either cold or hot and you can always add blankets. It's really kind of funny. Yesterday I went to bed with a sweater on, a towel and a blanket to cover me...Ray and Ellen laughed at me. Needless to say the sweater came off fairly quickly as it wasn't that cold inside the room. Hope you are all doing well. Write me an email sometime. I'd love to hear from you. nadinejanzen@hotmail.com

Love,

Nadine

The story of Prium & Smiley Sam The Aditi's Man...our new friends

Home Sweet Home :)

Hello there!

Well it seems like I've been here alot longer than 6 days. Every day there is a new adventure to be had. Mostly when Autumn and I go for our daily walks, looking for Prium..and hanging out at Aditi's. We get lost alot too. Aditi's is the supermarket a couple minutes walk from where we live. Smiley Sam (we made up the name cause we're too shy to ask his real name) always greets us from his post behind the counter where he watches India news in English. I bet Autumn that's how he learned English. He's pretty cool. Prium is a boy Autumn and I met a few days ago (on Saturday)...it's kind of a funny story. We were walking around our neighborhood looking for people who speak english when a boy riding a bike bumped into Autumn and said sorry, well we didn't really think about it til we saw him a few times just biking around kind of in circles so we stood on our "Prium corner" ( the corner where we usually see him and where we first got up the nerve to talk to him, it's right across the street from Aditi's so Smiley Sam always looks at us when we wait for Prium). So anyways I said hi to him and asked him where he lived and he asked us our names so we told him. We think his name is Prium but we aren't positive. The next day on Sunday when we were riding in the sumo on our way to Uncle Shyam & Auntie Peggy's house for church we saw him again and Autumn and I looked at each other and were like hey that's Prium so we waved but he didn't see us. Yesterday we saw him again and waved at him and he came and talked to us and said he had told a friend about us and his friend wanted to meet us so will you roam around here for awhile while I go and get him. So we waited for him and he and his friend came, rode past us into a side street turned around and just stopped and talked to each other so me being the weirdo I am went up to his friend and was like Hey I'm Nadine then Autumn introduced herself and then they told us they had to go cause they were late...but he said he would see us tomorrow so today we went out for a walk and stood on our Prium corner for a couple minutes waiting for him but we didn't see him. it was sad :( Anyways take care for now I'm off to help Ellen get dinner on the table. Sorry my grammar is pretty bad. No time to correct it, Sorry Miss Cook :)

Blessings,

Nadine

The pictures you can't take...

Guwahati is full of scenes and people and beauty that you can't capture with a camera nor would you want to. Today Autumn and I walked to the Bread of Life center and there were so many things you see as you walk. You see a group of homeless women combing each others hair with their fingers to check for lice. You see women picking through garbage at the side of the road trying to find something valuable enough to pick up and save. You see beautiful tropical trees and men working really hard doing manual labor without the help of the modern technology we in North America take for granted. On the way home Autumn dared me to wave at a bunch of men working on a roof so I did cause harmless dares are fun :) So I waved a bit and they waved back and they smiled so big and kept waving and as we kept walking they moved from where they were on the building to another part so they could keep waving. We get stared at alot. It's like we're celebrities just cause we are there are hardly any white people living here. The guy at Aditis Supermarket had a huge grin when he saw Ellen, Autumn and I the day we got to Guwahati cause they buy quite a few grocceries there. He grins whenever we walk into Aditis. The heat here is wonderful :) and persistent as in constantly, always dripping with sweat, there's no break from it. Some guys came today to install the air con. I'm pumped for when it's finally ready. They don't speak english and they knocked on the door and Autumn answered and she came back and told me "Nadine you gotta go out there and talk to those guys, They want to tell me something and I can't understand them." Me: "Okay...fine..." so off I go to talk to these air con guys that don't speak english but thanks to a few handy gestures and the fact that i've had experience trying to communicate without words we established the fact that they were going to eat and would be back later. i went back and told autumn. "they're going to eat..that wasn't so hard now was it?" she was astonished. she had no idea how i figured it out. i told her how handy hand gestures can be. I've definately chosen joy being here and because of that I absolutely love it here. It's amazing. I'm so glad God took me here to spend this next season of my life living, learning, laughing and growing in this part of the world. We get to go to the village of Kalapani tomorrow for my first time for church. I'm really looking forward to it cause it's Autumn's favorite thing about here and she isn't a big fan of anything Indian except Mizoram. Anyways I'll write more later. Take care and God Bless

P.S. I got to ride in a rickshaw today. When Autumn first suggested it, I told her no because I'd feel horrible for the guy but then she showed me the perspective of that's how they make their living and you can support them by going for a ride instead of walking. it was kind of neat although the roads are nothing like canada and neither is the way of traffic and thus it was kind of scary, alot of the time it felt like we would tip over but we didn't. Anyways I had a full morning cause earlier that morning I rode in an auto rickshaw with Ray, Autumn and Andrew, we went to visit a couple with 3 boys except the boys were at school. the woman served us indian tea :) it's sooo good. its like the perfect balance between Aunt Helen's and Mom's. when we first got here autumn and andrew were eating hot noodles and i was like how can you eat something so hot when the weather is scorching outside but this morning I had indian tea and then I had hot noodles too today for lunch so I guess I'm adjusting :)

I'm in Guwahati!

Beautiful Thailand - land of smiles

I got to Guwahati yesterday and it was love at first sight. It's so beautiful and green and incredible. Words cannot even begin to describe it. I like lists of 10 cause they let me give an overview of my experiences when I don't have time to write lots.

10 things I've done in the past 2 weeks I've never done before

10. ate fried squid and coconut chicken soup

9. seen a rickshaw

8. been on an airplane for 13 hours straight

7. swam in the most beautiful water i've ever seen yet

6. met Gerry and Kara Honigman and their boys, Alec, Elias and Vaughn, we had lots of fun with them in Phuket, Thailand.

5. ate with chopsticks in Hong Kong

4. slept under mosquito netting

3. met Kylie & Jocelyn Barnstable in Hong Kong

2. met a 5 year old swedish girl who spoke thai, english and swedish

1. used a squatty potty in kolkata

Greetings From Hong Kong!

Well I left Thursday morning from Calgary for the first leg of my journey to India. As I write this it's 11:30 on Friday night. I met up with the McMillan's in Calgary and said goodbye to my mom at the airport. Autumn, Andrew and I went on Morphis at the space station thing at the airport. It was fun. We watched some movies and slept a bit on the plane. 13 hours is a long time for one flight (Vancouver to Hong Kong) It was nice to finally get there. Hong Kong is a beautiful city at night and I look forward to seeing it during the day. My last few days at home were lots of fun. Mark (my bro) and I hung out with our friends Mark & Michelle on Sunday and played football and watched movies and then on wednesday i got to hang out with my cousins Dayna, Bradley and Kyle. I'll post a couple pictures when I get to India. just thought i'd let you know i got the first leg of the journey under my belt.

Peace, Love & Blessings,
Nadine