Home Sweet Home

The traditional pic in pjs in front of the tree..we have lots of pics like this from when we were kids and Dad made us take another one for old times sake

Steven, Mark, Calvin and I (notice how I am the shortest...they're my friendly giants)..i think everyone shot up when i was gone and so they think i have shrunk and everyone likes to make comments about how short i am...thank goodness for my friend Orisha whose comment was you are the perfect size to hug..helps make up for all the other comments about it.

at the Janzen christmas gathering with my dad and grandparents

Well I got home almost a week ago. Actually it will be a week in a couple of hours. How time flies even in this freezing cold Canadian winter weather. But I've been in Alberta for a couple days which even though it's cold it isn't quite as bad as the crazy Saskatchewan cold. But enough about the cold. I survived about 40 hours of travelling from Guwahati to Saskatoon including an unexpected delay in Denver. Another reminder that God still has me around for a reason was the fact that the airplane in front of us went off the runway on takeoff and injured 30 people. Anyways it's really great to be back and be able to spend time with family and friends at Christmas. I'm not sure where I'll be after January 10th. God knows I guess cause I sure don't. So far some of my options are living and working in Lethbridge, living and working in Steinbach, living and working in Saskatoon or Regina, living and working in just about any Canadian city, nannying somewhere, hawaii? southern usa? canada? who knows? anyways take care til my next adventure decides to report itself on this blog.

Love, Nadine

Siliguri, West Bengal/Nepal

Singing songs with the kids at a school we visited in West Bengal on our way to Nepal. Ray used to teach the guy who runs the school now. We sang "My God is so big" for those of you who don't know this song it goes...My God is so big so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God cannot do. So for the actions to so strong I decided to have fun with them and did like a really exaggerated muscleman pose and the kids all loved it, they were laughing so hard it was pretty cute :) and then they were trying to do it after and it was just adorable and really funny.

Autumn, Andrew, Laura, Me and Ellen waiting for the youth program to start

This picture was at the zoo a couple days before we left for Siliguri.

Hello there,

Well it's been awhile I guess. We went to Siliguri, West Bengal and Nepal (for about an hour or so) I rode a train. Everyone I know who has been to India always told me I had to ride a train there to have really experienced India and now I definately believe them. It was alot of fun. I bought some sweet Puma flip flops for about 7 bucks in Nepal. We met lots of people and got to do a kids program at a leprosy colony which was neat. We went to the West Bengal Handicrafts Expo in Siliguri and to a mall. At the mall I was freaking out to Autumn about how clean it was. I was just saying it over and over again, she thought I was strange. I'm definately in for some culture shock when I get back to Canada. Wilf & Laura Olson leave today to go to Delhi to fly to Canada tomorrow. It will be sad to see them go as we have all had a wonderful time with them. Becky went to Mizoram for Christmas with her friend on Monday so it's back to just the five of us. It will definately be different as Wilf & Laura have been with us for a month so we'e gotten used to being a family of 8 but with Autumn and Andrew around it is never boring. Some pictures uploaded! Isn't that cool! (I have to get excited about it cause it rarely works for some reason.). Anyways that's it for now and I probably won't post again for awhile so if I don't get around to it before Christmas, Have a very Merry Christmas!

Love,

Nadine :)

The Zoo, Tandoori Chicken and getting ready for Christmas

Well Ray, Wilf & Andrew left for Siliguri early this morning and the rest of us will join them on Thursday. It's been kind of fun to have some girls only time around here. Yesterday was a pretty full day, We went to the zoo and saw lots of animals. I really like the zoo in Guwahati because most of the animals are native to India so even though they are in captivity at least they aren't in captivity across the world from their home. I don't know if that makes any sense but that's the way my thoughts on that work. When we got to the hippos Autumn and I started singing Hip-Hip-Hip-hipipotomus(spelling?) remember that kids song we all used to sing. then we sang U-G-L-Y cause they definately aren't one of the most outwardly beautiful creatures that God has ever made. Yesterday night we set up our Christmas tree, drank apple cider, listened to christmas music and played cards. It definately helped get us all in the Christmas mood until you wake up in the morning and look outside with the sun shining and all the green trees and it's like +25 but the christmas tree now serves as a friendly reminder that the season for celebrating the Birth of our Savior is right around the corner. A few days ago we were all shopping at the Hub (a mall here) and I bought a cookbook. My conversation with the cashier went something like this:

Guy: You like Indian food

Me: yep

Guy: Do you know how to cook?

Me: No, do you?

Guy: yep...(flips through the book I'm buying) you should go try the Tandoori Chicken at..names restaurant a few blocks away...

Me: ok...will you write it down for me

Guy: sure

So today Autumn and I went and tried it. It was really good but a bit too spicy for my taste. my eyes were even watering :) but it was fun to go to a random restaurant and try a random food on a random guy's recommendation. I'm all about the thrill of ordinary adventures. So that's the latest happenings around here. I heard Western Canada finally got snow. Well I hope it lasts for Christmas you guys. Have a great day and look back next week for an update of our trip to West Bengal & Nepal since I probably won't blog before that unless something really exciting and out of the blue happens.

Love,

Nadine

P.S. Sorry my pictures never seem to want to upload so all you are left is with lots of words to read. I know it's not nearly as exciting and pictures tell stories alot better than I do. Sometimes Facebook works better so I guess those of you who don't have Facebook will just have to deal with reading these posts without pictures

hello there,
i climbed the mountain again today. it was a good time...sarat left today though so now autumn and i are depressed because it is the start of everyone leaving for a month. tomorrow is the last day of classes for the fall semester of the bread of life institute. autumn and i are going to get very lonely for all the students out there. we are learning an english song translated into japanese...it's pretty wonderful...not too much happening this weekend but next week we head out to west bengal/nepal for about a week so that should be a good time.
love,
nadine

Goodbye November, Hello Christmas (aka December)

2nd time up the mountain.

Mawia with the bird we cooked and ate...When they first started roasting it I thought they were just joking but we actually ate it..and it was really good.

It's beginning to feel alot like Christmas....well not really but it's the right month for it. Kalito wished me a Merry Christmas today so whether it feels like it or not the season to celebrate the birth of our Saviour is upon us and what better way to usher it in than with a sleepover at Kalipani :) Well I climbed a mountain again, did quite a bit of hiking, sat around a fire and listened to some guys tell love stories, ate lots of rice, played ball with some kids, sang songs, looked up at the stars, and made a bunch of good memories with the Bible students who are leaving on Friday for the break, some of whom won't be coming back :(. It's sad to say goodbye but there is youth camp in January which will be a great time to say hello to a bunch of new people. All in all a great time was had......love y'all...if you want to see more pics facebook is the place to be cause they aren't loading..and don't worry mom you don't have to get your own profile just ask your son to log you into his and you can get to my pictures from there...oh and you did figure out how to work the comments thing

End of November Fun

Hello there,

Well life's pretty great. I'm breathing and the sun is shining so it's a great day to be alive. Today Autumn and I and Kuldip went for a ride on Sarbanadah's motorbike. It was fun. Then Autumn drove Becky and me around in a rickshaw (with the help of a few Indian men pushing from behind :) Tomorrow I get to go stay night at Kalipani. I'm really looking forward to making a few more good memories with the Bible school students before they head home for Christmas holidays. (A couple of the ones I got close to will not be coming back) I played a "you don't know english and i don't know assamese" version of "run around tickling/tagging little children who will laugh and run away screaming and smiling" if you understood that you've probably been involved in such a game...if not you are definately missing out on one of life's most satisfying experiences. Yesterday we went to the science center and pizza hut...man life looks so much better from a non cooped up in the house standpoint...it's so much fun being able to go and do things and live again...it's so great! anyways i miss you all - let me put it into a perspective so maybe you can understand how much i miss you.

in the past just about 3 months I have spent about 7ish days with 1person between the ages of 14-35 and whose first language is english...does that help? don't get me wrong...i love india alot and Ray, Ellen, Autumn, Andrew, Becky and all the visitors we've had are wonderful and i enjoy their company a whole lot and I love all the Kalipani people but there's just something about people who share a language and a peer group with ya...so now that you know how much i miss you...i hope you have a wonderful day appreciating your friends and family that you get to see on a regular basis. oh and if you're on facebook i posted some new pics so go check em out

Love always,

Nadine

ya all the babies here tend to have that reaction to me :(
pineapples from our lovely pineapple lady
tea with wonderful friends!
new friends!
i can fully endorse this billboard :)

Manipur

I got sick, I ate pineapples, I met lots of people, I went to a WW II cemetary, a church, a monkey temple, saw lots of the rice harvest, went to one of uncle shyam's schools, watched a funny t.v. show a few times and sat in the imphal airport for a couple hours...it was a pretty wonderful trip. if you want to know more you better comment me :) maybe i'll tell you more later if you're real nice and i'm over my headache...

sorry no pictures..computer is being uncooperative...i've tried 3 times...so maybe next time..until then. take care and have a good day!

Here's hoping...

my life will one day become more exciting. i wrote a nice little post but it all disappeared...just goes to show it really didn't mean anything to anyone..i'm going to manipur in a few days..hopefully i will come back with more exciting stories than the ones i don't have right now...i'm going to the eye doctor tomorrow, we're getting company tonight, we're waking up early on sunday morning to go to manipur...yep...that's about it...i'll report back later. just a post to let you know if you don't hear from me for a week i probably haven't died, i just went to manipur

until then,
love from
nadine

This one's for you Pamela...

well actually it's for all of you that read this blog but Pamela's sure to take a more passionate interest in this one than most of you which is why it's addressed to her...feel free to read and hopefully it will make some sense to you as well. it will probably make just as much sense to you as it does to her considering my talent (or lack thereof) for writing clear and concise and grammatically correct letters/blogs etc.

So without furthur adieu,

My dear Pamela,

I met your Brazilians today. They are the sweetest, most hospitable, and most wonderful people ever. (Man that makes me sound like an optimist huh? I guess there are worse things to be in life :P)

Wilf & Laura, Ray & Ellen, Autumn & Andrew, Kuldip, Becky & I all went over there for supper tonight. The food was amazing. (You're officially inviting me over for a Brazilian meal when I get back to Canada, how bout supper? we can sit and chat about India over a nice leisurly brazilian meal..doesn't that sound lovely, oh and you should invite Raysha too while you're at it :P)

They speak good english and it was soo nice to meet other "foreigners". It's amazing how you can just feel so at home with people you just met but they definately have the gift of hospitality and when you share the "foreigner connection" it's pretty easy to become fast friends.

Anyways just thought I would let you know that I met them, I love them, they say hi, I told them you missed them and that you said hi..they love you alot, I was talking to her about how one of the first stories I heard from you when we went for coffee was about the wonderful brazilians you met and she was like OOhhh you're Pamela's friend, she got pretty excited when she found that out...then later she asked me if I was Wilf & Laura's daughter (probably because I was in Jorhat when they came over here for supper) and I was like um..nope but I can see how you would come to that conclusion...they're about the right age to be my parents and we're all white and they'd never seen any of us before, as you know in india that's pretty much all you need to draw the natural conclusion that we're related. i'm sure it would be the same in canada if we only ever saw indian people together and all that...but anyways now i'm rambling on and my pictures of your little brazilian baby haven't loaded...soo sorry, she's grown quite a bit (a kuldip observation)and was quite shy at first when 9 of us walked into her house but she warmed up and she's quite a cutie...i'll maybe upload them to facebook someday and tag you in them. take care!

love,
Nadine

What I think about

Disclaimer: I've been stuck inside for almost a week. What else do you expect me to write about?

I thought I'd give you a bit of a glimpse to what I think about. I've had alot of time to think lately given my imprisonment. It's voluntary cause I know it's good for me but for those of you who know me you can imagine how much I hate it! Basically I think about one thing but it covers many different ideas. It's one of my favorite things to think about and it presents so many new adventures and possibilities...you guessed it, The Future!!..the unknown, the surprises...the things waiting to happen..here are some of my latest plans/ideas...

Hitch-hiking across the states and canada and visiting friends along the way - if you want me to come visit just let me know...potential stopping points include: texas, california, kansas, and ontario but it would be on my journey trying to visit as many states/provinces of canada...i figure maybe i should explore the homeland first...make my way across North America.

backpacking/working my way across the world - finding friends around the world that i can stay with for a few weeks til i find enough moola to move onto the next interesting destination...i think this idea has pretty good potential..i already have the connections in india, thailand, hong kong, and peru so i'm working on it.

getting a job (uggghh) -ick ick ick...jobs suck...other than roofing and being a cabin leader at camp, work sucks! i'm going to avoid it as long as possible...maybe even my whole life...which brings me to..

maybe i should just be a professional mooch..you know that carefree, adventurous, irresponsible 20 -30 something year old that comes around a couple times a year to tell all the interesting stories of what they did and where they went since they last saw you, the type everyone loves but always thinks should settle down and do something more productive with their life...i think i would make a pretty good storyteller...

going to university in australia and getting a double degree in law and international studies in 5 years. (ugghh to the university part...cool to the australia part)...5 more years of school? um..no thanks..although i'm sure it would be more interesting than high school...but still paying the big bucks to write papers..doesn't sound very appealing but hey...i have been known to change my mind...

get married (Ya right..IT would save me having to make my own decisions about what to do with the rest of my life...who am I kidding... getting married would be a really dumb idea on my part...i love having no clue where my life will take me)

nannying- could be fun..not sure i could hack the commitment part of it but it would be a fun way to earn money and not have to pay expenses..plus i love kids...it has possibilities...

travel buddy/companion/lovable but unprofessional tour guide - i'm working on the charm part but i definately have the potential to convince some poor fool that they should take me along on their next vacation. i'll show them the sites and provide delightful/entertaining company for them. I also come with friends in 6 countries on 3 continents that will give us free food for a couple days,i'll show you a good time in exchange for travel expenses? if it sounds like a deal comment me and let me know where/when we're going.

anyways this is the latest as of 1:00 pm on Monday, November 10th (Indian time).
if you have ideas/suggestions leave comments
if you want to know the latest plan leave comments
if you want to hire me to be your travel companion/buddy/unprofessional tour guide leave me a comment...i'm availabe as of october 2009..cause i gotta enjoy the sweet Canadian summertime of takin it easy, going to camp and get my share of hard core manual labor at 12 bucks an hour right Dad? i figure since i strip shingles now i deserve a raise..what do you think? anyways take it easy and keep in touch...oh and if any of you is offering a free bed, free food and free transportation next fall let me know and i'll be seeing ya...Remember if you're interested in taking advantage of one of these tempting offers they are available after October 1/09 unless it's an offer I can't refuse then I'll be there on May 10/09. let me know where i'm headed..

love,
nadine

Dear: November

Well you've been here for almost a week and so far you're alrite. Today you're bringing visitors from Canada. That should be fun. You have good timing since you missed the bombings. I'm not sure you're going to beat your bro October cause he was pretty amazing but hey I'm open to surprises. You started out with a bang when you taught me a major lesson in trust and doing things spontaneously...now I'm left to insert 50+ eye drops into my eyes each day and be eternally grateful that I never have to wear glasses again! (yay!). You brought America a new president, hopefully they'll stop complaining now. I don' t have much expectations out of you. Hopefully a trip to Manipur and a couple more eye doctor appointments. That's about it. You're kind of a sad month trapped between October and December which are both exciting, eventful and memorable. But hey if Manipur is epic you may have earned your place as more than a filler month. I'll let you know how it turns out. Good luck!

Sincerely,
Nadine

Jorhat/Kaziranga Trip

Walking around on Diwali night

Elephant Ride!

Mrs Mohantas (Sikha) & I

At Jorhat Christian Medical Center

My first Indian motorbike ride!

Eryen & I on our early morning elephant ride!

Some thoughts from the journal I took with me on my mini trip combined with my current thoughts and memories from the experience...

Oct 27 - Man whenever I think I have settled into a routine or live a somewhat predictable not very exciting life God throws a new adventure or excitement my way. Today we spent the day travelling to Jorhat in the sumo. I got a pretty bad headache and wasn't feeling too well by the time we got here. We (the group from Texas, Kuldip & I) arrived to a warm welcome from Dr Mohantas & his wife Sikha and daughter Mamata. On the way to Jorhat the Texans got the true Indian experience (bathrooms, traffic, roads and food) we stopped at a little roadside restaurant and snack stand(not nearly as quaint as it sounds. Very UN-north american) and while the Texans were buying bottled water and pop I saw an Indian man flipping flatbreads on a grill thing and I was like hey that looks good so I ended up getting one and the Texans, although more cautious, got some too. It was a deal - 3 flatbreads for 9 rupees (less than 25 cents CDN) As we got closer to Kaziranga we saw elephants walking along the side of the road carrying stalks of bamboo. It was pretty neat. Anyways we got to Jorhat and spent the evening with the Mohantas. They are such a wonderful family. Very hospitable and kind. Sikha didn't speak very much english but she was fluent in the universal language of love. My latest reading recommendation is Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. It's quite a short book and well worth your time I think.

Oct 28 - We had breakfast at the Mohantas. It was a typical Indian meal served to guests. Soooo good. I think I must have drank at least twice as much tea during those three days as I typically do here in Guwahati. After breakfast, Linda, Eryen, Sikha, Mamata and I went shopping and the men (Jerry, Gary, Barry & Dr Mohantas) stayed at the house to talk about the work Dr Mohantas is doing in Jorhat. In the afternoon we all went to 'christian' the "Gary Tate Medical Dispensary" Gary Tate is one of the Texans. He's an 83 year old WW II veteran who has actively supported NE India mission work financially since helping to build a railroad there during the war. He's very popular among the many people he supports and has made several trips back to visit and see what's happening. Anyways the sumo was full so Dr Mohantas had to take his motorbike to get to the dispensary and I got to ride with him! I've been waiting 2 months for my first Indian motorcycle ride. So fun! Dr Mohantas is someone whose respect you want to earn and I believe I have. Remind me to tell you more about him when I come back to Canada, he has a fascinating testimony. It amazes me how Jorhat and Guwahati and NE India in general are included in tourist books geared to white people cause you never see any. Anyways back to my day-to-day account. So after we celebrated the grand opening of the dispensary we stopped and saw the beginnings of a church some missionaries are building then we went to a bit of a celebration that Dr Mohantas had planned in honor of the American visitors. We got some awesome embroidered scarves and a bunch of cute Indian kids sat on my lap. After that we went to Crazy Hut for pizza. (a couple of the Texans really got a kick out of it and even stole the menu, don't tell anyone :P) Then we went and walked around town and looked at all the lights and saw fireworks and heard the firecrackers in honor of Diwali (the Hindu Festival of Lights) It's kind of like a combination of Christmas and Halloween. By the time we got back to the hotel we were dead tired and fell asleep quickly.

Oct 29 - We had tea and a lovely breakfast at the Mohantas house then we went to the Jorhat Christian Medical Center and saw what Dr Mohanatas and many others are doing there. Remember the hospital in Pearl Harbor for those of you who have seen the movie? Think a tiny bit less clean and organized and you'll have an accurate picture of what the Jorhat Christian Medical Center looks like. On our way to Mariani Junction (after visiting the JCMC) we passed the Jorhat Prison (not the official name but close enough) Just saw the outside as we were driving by but is definately not on my list of experiences I want to have. Mariani Junction was one of the places Gary Tate was 60some years ago during WW II. He actually worked mostly at a place 100 miles away building the railroad but I think he really enjoyed being back at one of the places he remembers from long ago. That night when we got to our hotel at Kaziranga he told us a bunch of stories of the war and his trips back to NE India. In 1994 he actually saw Mother Theresa at the Calcutta Airport and got close enough to take a fairly good recogizable picture of her. It was quite interesting.

Oct 30 - Woke up at 4am so we could go ride the elephants at 5 am. The Texans (still suffering from jet lag) only had to wake up an hour earlier than usual so I was the one that was dead tired for once. I would definately recommend the elephant ride. It was very peaceful and the view of Indian nature at sunrise is something you can never fully explain the beauty of , you just have to experience it yourself. We weren't able to get an elephant ride in the park cause it didn't officially open until November. So if we would have gone the next day we could have gone. The joys of legalism huh? Mom - remind me to tell you of my elephant ride revelation someday. Well we got in a whole day worth of sightseeing in about 3 hours. We went to Kaziranga Park, the Tea Gardens, a model of a traditional tribal village which officially opens in January and ended up at a tea store and souvenir shop on the way back so I am now the proud owner of my first Indian souvenirs. Mom - I'm going to try and send stuff home for Christmas with a couple from Regina when they go back in the middle of December. They should get here next week unless circumstances change. I bought you something useful- native Indian green tea. Aren't you happy? Plus I haven't even died yet. How much better of a christmas present could you ask for? :). Wouldn't it be ironic if something happened to me tomorrow, that would be eerily creepy for all of you reading this then. I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that we haven't seen the end of the violence yet and I'm not a doom and gloom person but if it's my time to go it's my time to go and God has a reason in everything that happens and He uses every situation for His glory and honor. Ok, that's the end of that. Back to my account of October 30. We ate a wonderful breakfast at the hotel and then started our journey back to Guwahati. It was about 3:00 pm when we stopped fora bathroom break and got the news about the bombing in Guwahati. Kuldip even said he was scared to go back. We didn't know any details and since bombs and political violence isn't all that uncommon here I didn't think too much of it. Definately didn't think it was going to be among the worst attacks in the Northeast in years or that it would make International headlines. So I did my best to reassure the Texans that it was all just normal for India and that it wasn't really a big deal. Well we got back to Guwahati and heard the news. Over 60 dead and 300 injured in Ganeshguri and Pan Bazaar and other parts of Guwahati and area. Let me tell you a bit about Ganeshguri to put it into perspective -it's about a 10 minute walk from our house. It's where we buy many household and groccery items. We are there almost everyday. On our way to Jorhat on Monday, we had stopped there to buy a tarp. In fact, the day of the bombing, Ray, Autumn and Andrew were parked under the flyover (the exact same area that was bombed) 30 minutes before it went off. Talk about God still having a purpose in wanting you to stick around for awhile huh? oh and Pan Bazaar is where we took the Texas ladies shopping on Saturday. There had been a big crowd and angry voices there but we didn't think too much of it until 5 days later. Well the Texas people left today to go back to the States (they were supposed to leave next Tuesday).

Today I went to the eye clinic to have my last check up before my surgery on Monday. The optomotrist guy is really neat. He might even be going to the University of Waterloo to finish his education sometime in the near future. It's neat to think of the culture shock he will experience having lived in India his entire life. The bandh was on again today and tomorrow will be as well. Kind of like house arrest but it's usually over by late afternoon or early evening. Anyways I'll try and keep you updated. I'm sure I'm missing something that I find interesting and exciting but I guess I'll just have to keep some stories so you'll have something different to hear about when I get home. Oh, here's something funny before I end, so Samuel (Uncle Shyam's late 20's-early 30's year old son) took Ellen and I to the eye place today (because Ray was at the airport dropping off the Texans) and out of nowhere he tells me his landlord's son is getting married on Friday and wants to know if I'll go with him. So at supper Ray and Autumn were talking about some Indian wedding they went to a few years ago and Ellen pipes up with "Nadine has a date on Friday" and so I had to quickly correct her. I don't think I did a very good job of defending myself since I didn't have a chance to think up something clever. Ray just started laughing at me...I'm really glad Auntie Peggy (Samuel's mom) is going too cause that will make it a bit less awkward. I always seem to get myself into all kinds of unusual circumstances but usually end up having alot of fun and becoming a "good times, good times" (as Autumn would say) moment so hopefully that will ring true. Anyways there's the latest random adventure from your favorite person on the other side of the world :)

Love,
Nadine

Life's Great, I'm fine, No Worries!

Since my lovely city of residence has made international headlines Ellen thought it would be a good idea that I let everyone back home know that I'm safe and sound and all that. So this is the last thing I need to update and I think I've taken care of it all that way (Facebook, Email, Phone the family, Blog) man even when nothing happens you gotta let people know. It kind of felt like 9-11 last night except it happened 10 minutes away and not across a continent. Intense but nothing really to worry about as far as we know. Well I plan to write more about my trip to Jorhat/Kaziranga and all my experiences but I'll do that later.
Love,
Nadine

So I decided to write a bit more now...while I wait for pictures to upload which aren' uploading and it's really frustrating me but anways... Today was science experiment day and so we were working and Autumn and Andrew like to get off topic or to make "deals" with me such as "I promise I'll do it tomorrow" and the like. This is how our conversation went tonight.

Andrew: Can I please do questions 4 and 5 tomorrow. I promise I'll do them.

Me: Sorry Andrew, but no.

Andrew: Please, I'll pinky swear and I never break a pinky swear, Right Autumn?

Autumn: um...yah you do Andrew.

(Andrew, Autumn and I all burst out laughing because we know it's true. )

I'm not sure if this story was funny or not but Autumn, Andrew and I sure thought it was.

As promised in a much older blog, Here is your "Meet Andrew" section. He's not quite so into this as Autumn was so it will likely be much shorter. In Andrew's words but typed by me.." I had a good day. That's all and I have a massive cut on my ankle." See, I told you it would be short. Don't you all feel as if you know him so much better now :) He is a fairly typical 11 year old boy and reminds me of my brother in some ways. Andrew and Autumn are both very unique and wonderful children who can be very frustrating at times. Doesn't this describe 99.9% of all children in the world. I'm sure my parents would use those same words to describe both my brother and I, right Mom and Dad? I say 99.9% because as I have learned throughout many math and english classes there is always an exception to every rule or generalization. Anyways, so Autumn and I were exploring around Kalipani today. It's become our new daily ritual. We needed something to replace our daily afternoon walks with. So today we were trying to find the waterfall. We like the variety of options that Kalipani has to offer so we tend to rotate through the jungle, the mountain, going down the hill, or trying to find new things to discover and explore. Everyone says there is a waterfall and sometimes we can hear the water running but we've never actually seen it. David and Raja and Timothy always tell us that they will take us someday but we haven't gotten around to it yet. but on with the story, while we were trying to find the elusive waterfall (in our 30 minute deadline before class started) Autumn saw a snake and I got to experience her reaction to them. She said she would cry but she didnt which was good. But she did freak out a bit. I didn't see it (which I am very thankful for) so I remained calm saying "Hey Autumn, don't freak out. It's really not that bad." (See, I'm totally the most compassionate and understanding person ever...:) so she made me go in front of her on the way back down and I was like fine but I'm not going back to save you...although if a cobra actually came out in mid daylight and bit my dear Autumn's ankle I probably would go back and try to save her. Hopefully I never have to find out though. Well I'm going to write you a nice long blog today and then I will leave you all alone until next Friday. Deal? well too bad for you because you aren't here to disagree so you'll just have to say ok....it doesn't look like you are going to get pictures in this blog as the internet is not being very cooperative in that department. Anyways I thought I would give you a bit of an idea of what my life here in India is like. A typical weekday includes:

7-7:30 - Wake up/Breakfast

8:00 - School starts

11:00 - leave for Kalipani

12:00 - Arrive at Kalipani

12:30- Lunch. After lunch I go exploring with Autumn, or talk to Serat and Timothy or play with Simon or visit with Kalito.

1:30 - Bible Class starts

3:30 - Bible Class ends

5:30 - Get back home

6:30 - Eat supper/Do dishes

7:30 - Science or Social class

8:30 - Devotions

10:00 - Bedtime

That is just a general timeline of what happens in a day in my life. And in case any of you are new to reading my blog I will now write a bit of a description of some of the people I tend to mention in this blog...

Ray and Ellen McMillan - these are the missionaries that I live with here in Guwahati. Ray teaches the bible classes and Ellen takes care of all of us, feeding us delicious meals every night and being the warm, friendly, loving grandmotherly type.

Autumn -Ray and Ellen's 13 year old granddaughter. She is in grade 8 and I try to help her with her school work as best I can. She's alot of fun most of the time and I really enjoy her. She's a typical 13 year old in that she is the self proclaimed coolest person in the world and everyone else could only dream of being more like her but besides her cockiness she is a warm, sweet and friendly girl.

Andrew- Ray and Ellen's 11 year old grandson. He's in grade 6. He is very mischevious and talkative. He asks lots of questions and has a fantastic memory when he wants to (as in he will remember everything you would rather him forget and convieniently 'forget' to do school work, chores, make his bed etc.). He can be very charming and sweet as well...when he wants to be.

Becky - She's a very beautiful 23 year old Mizo girl who works very hard around the house helping Ellen out with lots of different chores. She's really kind, sweet and wonderful and I really like her alot.

Well that's everyone I live with. Maybe some other day I will write more about the rest of the people I dearly love here in India. But it's time for bed. Hope this gives you a bit more of an idea how life goes here.

You'd think something exciting would have happened in the past 5 days since I last updated this blog, living in India and being the adventurous sort that I am but nothing really noteworthy has happened. Some people from back home emailed me. I love hearing from you. Thanks...My pictures won't upload. The internet hasn't been working very well lately. My Facebook profile picture has stayed the same for the past week or so..Time feels so different here. It seems like a month has gone by in a week somedays and other days it seems like a week can take a month. I guess it feels that way occasionally in Canada too but I notice it more here. So Autumn, Meera, Nayomi & I had to sing a song in front of the odd and even boys at Kalipani today. We did a better job than the boys but we definately aren't cut out for Canadian Idol. Kalito came back from Nagaland last night. She was gone for a week but it seemed like a month (that time thing again) we weren't sure if she was ever coming back so we were very happy to see her again. Raja isn't going to the hostel until January!!!! this is very good news cause Raja is the funniest kid in the world. The other day Ray was teaching about music and notes and he pointed to line G (it was labelled G too) and asks Raja "what line is this Raja?" and Raja answers "C"...and yesterday Meera and Raja were having more trouble learning the musical notes. It's really kind of funny actually. The Kalipani kids are starting to feel more comfortable around us and a couple of them will hug me when i come and when they leave. alot of them will cling to me or try and grab my hand when we are singing or playing games.there will be like 4 of them all trying for one arm. they are really aggressive kids too. when we first got here there was this one little kid "nyin" who just slapped this other kid "banoo" in the face. it's really intense. parents will just slap a kid when they need to punish them or whatever without even thinking about it. very different from canada that's for sure. the texans are coming on friday afternoon. i'm getting really excited to see them and to go to jorhat next week. we went to the zoo last saturday - much different from your canadian/american zoos. Basically what I got from the zoo was a "how to identify the animals you are warned to watch out for in the wild 101" course. We went to the snake house and the two most dangerous snakes they had were the cobra and the python...and Andrew said they used to have a well with a glass lid full of cobras they had just caught in the wild. The tiger in the zoo was captured in the wild just 6 hours away from Guwahati. It's much different than knowing all the animals were imported from halfway across the world and there is no way you will run into any of them unless they escape from the zoo and even then the odds of you being attacked by one are very small indeed. At Kalipani whenever we go up the mountain or go hiking in the jungle David, Raja and Timothy always tell us to watch out for the tigers, leopards and snakes..well i'm tired so i'm off to bed...as you can tell this blog is pretty random and all over the place. i just spent like 2 hours reading the archived posts of someone else's blog so i didn't put any effort into my own tonight...sorry. Maybe I'll write more on Saturday after the Texan's get here or on Sunday before I head to Jorhat on Monday...Bye!

Swimming in India & the Life of William Carey

Swimming in Canada is very different from swimming in India. When you want to go to swimming in Canada, you go to the pool, pay the admission, get changed, shower and jump in. When you want to go swimming in India, you go to the pool, ask if you can swim, they give you a long time consuming application to fill out (which includes needing a doctors signature, passport photos etc.) then you go back to the pool and they tell you the hours of admission when you can come. Then when you actually get to go to the pool to swim you first get changed, shower then someone leads about 10 minutes of exercises for everyone who wants to swim then finally you get to go swimming but before and after you are actually swimming everyone just stares at you like you are some strange person and they all ask if you are new and we are like yes, we are new, thanks for asking. Last night we watched "A Candle in the Dark" the story of William Carey who was a missionary to India and together with a wealthy Indian man abolished the Hindu practice of Sati. He faced many obstacles and trials and yet kept on trusting God that he was where God wanted him to be. It was a really inspiring movie to watch. I loved it. It really encouraged me. I love going to Kalipani. I know I talk about it alot but if you ever went there you would totally fall in love with it too. Yesterday Autumn and I gave shoulder rides to a bunch of the little boys who go to the elementary school there. It was so fun and they were so happy. They laughed so hard. Anyways back to what I was going to say. I think I'm going to need to get married someday...bet you never thought you'd hear me say that huh? Well let me furthur explain. My current dream is to build a little bamboo hut near Kalipani and live there and eat rice, dhaal and bananas and play football with the Indian boys and play games and sing songs and with the little Indian children and teach them about Jesus and climb the mountain every afternoon and learn to play the guitar every evening. I just figure I'm going to need someone to talk to and teach me how to play the guitar, So if you know any boy who loves God first, whose first lanugage is english, who is adventurous, plays guitar, is a good friend, can hold a conversation and would love the kind of life I have just described, send him my way :)...Raja left for the hostel yesterday (but he's coming back for one day before he leaves for good). We are all sad. Everybody loves Raja. He's the greatest kid in the world and we are going to miss him so much. On Monday we are going to meet with the guy in charge of the World Vision project to find out if we can help at all with what they are doing here in Guwahati. I'm looking forward to that.
Love,
Nadine

So on Sunday I found out there was going to be an federal election in Canada this week. I forgot about it again until breakfast today when Ray mentioned it. Conservative minority again? Well that seems like a big waste of time and money now doesn't it? Not that I would know since I wasn't really affected by it. So it was +30 again today. It felt a bit cooler though so that was nice. I'm getting LASIK surgery on November 3rd. It's going to be about $200 more than I thought so I will pay Santa the extra when I get back to Canada through a few days of free manual labor okay Daddykins? Today I played football with Serat, Timothy, Simon and Banu. It was so fun. They are my bestest friends in India. We have fun together. Autumn and Andrew will take off with Raja and then I hang out with the other guys. All the pictures I have posted in the last few days have been taken in the last few days. I just like rubbing it in that I am still able to wear capris and flip flops on a daily basis. I'm getting really excited for the Texans to get here next Friday. It will be wonderful to have white people here again and be able to easily understand them. Anyways I almost saw a snake yesterday...It's been kind of disappointing really. I figured I would have seen one already for all the warnings I get to be careful cause there is snakes. The only snake I have seen in India so far is the toy one I got Andrew for his birthday last month. Maybe next time. Not that I am too saddened cause the chances of me being bitten by a snake would be greatly increased by an actual encounter with one. So on Monday afternoon I spent like 5 hours in an Indian eye hospital. I was the only white person in the place. I took an auto rickshaw all by myself (for the first time) back from the hospital. I was kind of nervous but there was really no need for me to be. Yesterday Autumn and I got so scared cause we were sitting on the deck and Andrew came around the side making angry cat noises...(there is a vicious cat that sometimes gets into our house...but mostly it just comes right to the window and makes scary noises)...and we got so freaked out that we screamed and jumped up and ran. We even caught it on video cause we were making a video to post on the blog. I think I'm definately going to edit it before posting. Who knows if it will ever even make it's way on here. Don't worry I'll include the Autumn and Nadine screaming their heads off part if it ever gets on here. Have you read the Shack yet cause you sure haven't posted comments. Makes me wonder if anyone actually reads this thing. But I know a couple do because they email me...Thank you!...Anyways take care and God Bless. I'll write more next time something exciting enough happens that consititutes a writing of a blog. Until then...

~Nadine :)

Picture Time Again

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today Timothy, Serat and I were talking about always wanting more and how we always want to be like someone else or have something else and it's rare to find a truly contented person. So today I am writing a blog about the things I am thankful for...It doesn't hurt that it's also the season of thankfulness too...so without furthur adieu...

Some things I am thankful for...

Opportunities - God has given me so many wonderful opportunities to travel and see and do so many different things and serve Him in many different countries.

Family - I have the most wonderful family in the entire world. Probaby because it is made up of people from all over the world. I love my Peruvian family (The Funks and Pradas), my Indian family (The McMillan's & Salam's) and my Canadian family (The Steiners & Mom, Dad & Mark)

Friends - I am so blessed in this area. Maybe it's why I am spend so much time on that addictive social networking site (Facebook)...It's pretty much impossible to keep up to date with all of my 520 friends. I would definately consider myself to be a fairly social person and am always meeting new people thus I have many wonderful friends from all around the world. I am so grateful for your friendship and each of you has a special place in my heart.

Weather - I live in the best climate ever!!!! It's still +35 :) and it's October. You poor Saskatchewonians must be loving the -4 huh??? My dad sure sounds like he is anyways..Right Dad? :) I love the heat but I must admit I am looking forward to the cooler weather come December and January (+10-25 C :) Just thought I would rub it in a bit more :)

Rice- I am the luckiest girl in the world cause I get to eat rice just about everyday. Sometimes twice a day and sometimes with my fingers. I love rice. Maybe not as much as I did before I moved to India but it's still great. Remember when I told you I bet I could eat rice everyday for a month eating it everyday without getting sick of it Mom? I'm not sure that I actually could :). I love it here and wouldn't trade it for anything but you Canadians should be thankful for the vast variety of food you are able to enjoy.

Ketchup - We have the best ketchup here. It's way better than Canada's. It's called Maggai and it's amazing.

Senses - I am so grateful for the ability to see, hear, touch, feel and smell. There are so many things to experience everywhere we look and God has given me so much by being able to easily be able to enjoy them without handicap. Guwahati is surrounded by beautiful green mountains and tropical vegetation and horns beeping and people walking and rickshaws driving by and it's very busy pace of life but yet so relaxed at the same time.

Kalipani- it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The Bread of Life Academy is on the top of the hill and there is a mountain above it and it's surrounded by a combination of beautiful shades of green vegetation and mountains and a clear blue sky and pure red dirt. It's incredible. And the view from the top of the mountain is amazing. which brings me to the fact that i am thankful i have legs with which to climb and walk and jump and run with.

Skype - despite the bad connection I got to hear my parents and brother's voice for the first time in 5 weeks!


There is so much more I am thankful for but I'm in the middle of writing my email update and thus I will conclude this post with this thought. I changed the comment settings on my blog so now anyone can post comments so feel free to let me know what you think, how you are doing, what you are up to, or any random thing you think i should know...i'd love to hear from ya...plus i have no idea who reads this blog...maybe i only write it to here myself think...and the two or three people who have sent me comments to let me know they read it...so POST COMMENTS and let me know if this blog could use any improvements or changes. I am open to suggestions...plus if you are so interested in my crazy, exciting, adventurous (ya right...well actually it kind of is...at least I think so) life it probably goes to say that i am interested in yours too so ya...POST COMMENTS...I think that's the only point I am trying to make in the midst of this long paragraph of utterly useless information...Take Care & Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Nadine


God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?" ~William A. Ward

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder