Cruising through the 3rd week

Greetings from the other side of the world!
Jumping into things, I am going to ramble a bit, hope you’re ready to story travel with me.

 

It has been 3 weeks since Emily and I have arrived here in Kerala, India.
Oh the ups, downs, and spin a rounds we have experienced with the Indian culture…
Jet lag finally flew away. YAY! Language barrier settled in.


INTRO THE NEW LANGUAGE
Here in the state of Kerala, the language is Malayalam. And no, GOOGLE does not have GOOGLE TRANSLATE for Malayalam, stinker, I have to actually learn the old way ;)
I TOOK THAT CHALLENGE! I CAN WRITE MY NAME IN MALAYALAM! (High fives, going all around)


If I didn’t mention before, Emily and I received Indian names: Emily: Minu-meaning fish eyes, which here is the equivalent of “BEAUTIFUL EYES” also, Minu is the name of an Indian goddess.
                                               My name is Kalyani which means one who brings life, joy, and prosperity.  


 GOOD MOOD FOOD
Kerala has many differences than the rest of India, for example, their food… 
Here is my exposé on Keralan food.

SCHOOLS IN SESSION

Some of the Teaching staff at Blue Mount

Hema (the Malayalam teacher) & I on the bus ride home

Can you imagine, in bus #19, there were 19 of us. I feel bad for bus 25.

                                                 

The one song he knows. :)

I knew this would happen, but it still is shocking and flattering at the same time;   the students swarm us and shouting, “good morning ma’am, good morning ma’am!” In one of my classes my name is, “smiley ma’am”, I wonder what inspired THAT NAME (BIG SMILE)

We have been gearing up to teach the preschoolers through fourth graders.  The school we are teaching at is called, “Blue Mount” and there are well over 2,000 students there.


ELEPHANT FRIENDS

Yummy fresh fruit we fed the elephants.... After we sampled a few, he he

ELEPHANT FRIENDS
WE GOT TO FEED AND RIDE ELEPHANTS TODAY! WHAT!

Oh you know, just giving a high five to my new elephant friend.

"Oh, hi, little buddy." Emily Jeanne

Look what we found! ,,, moment of silence please... :)

R&R AKA CHURCH

How encouraging, there are several teachers who have openly talked to me about being Christians, and one teacher invited Emily and I to her church.  Translation was INTENSE, From Tamil to Malayalam to English... INTENSE. ha.  It was very refreshing to be surrounded with people freely singing, shouting praises to the One true God, Jesus.  Again, I am not sure I could stress this enough, there are thousands of gods served here.  I sat in service today and tears ran down my cheeks. How can I explain the sweet presence of God? 
 I was refreshed, encouraged, and loved.  
Best of all, God knows no language barriers, 
Holy Spirit ministered to my heart as they sang worship; so beautiful.

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE ALWAYS WELL RECEIVED, Thank you for you support!

P.S. Emily made us grilled cheese sandwiches today, YUMMY YUMMY IN MY TUMMY!!! Confession, I miss American food...And lastly...

Here's this, just so you don't forget what dinosaurs or Emily and I look like...