The end of October found us missing home as we thought of fall, pumpkins, and Halloween treats back in the US. However, our last weekend in October was special in a way we didn’t expect. On Saturday morning we went to church and were greeted by three Americans, Sue, Nancy, and Jack. They sponsor children at the school and have been involved with it since the beginning so they visit every year. These were the first white faces we had seen in a month. The sponsors were pretty busy that day talking with their kids and catching up with people at the school but Sue invited us over the guesthouse that night to talk with them. It was extremely interesting to hear about the history of the school and how much progress the kids really have made since first coming from their villages to the school.
The next day we had scheduled a shopping tip to Kadapa to stock up on groceries at the More store that we can’t get here in town. We invited Sue to come along and since this was her seventh trip to India, she had no lack of wisdom, stories, and information to share with us on the car ride. One such interesting bit of information was that one of the villages we drive through on our way to Kadapa recently was a terrorist town and home to a terrorist leader. The road had to be paved on either side of the town but not through because of the violence towards the construction crews. The road is now finished but lets just say we won’t be stopping in that town for tea anytime soon.
The last time we had gone to the More store in Kadpa had been our second say in India so we didn’t really know what to buy. This trip found us walking every aisle with a magnifying glass. An hour later found the van loaded with cereal boxes, ramen like noodles, jelly, and ketchup. The highlight of our trip was when Sue treated us to dinner at the Kadapa Café. Although the food had a slight Indian twist, we enjoyed sandwiches, pizza, ice cream, and we even got some cakes to take home. On our final stop in town, Sid and I each bought a lungie, which is one of the traditionally pieces of clothing men in this area wear.
Mom I know you’re not going to want to hear this but Sunday night was a bit exciting when the principle’s daughter found a cobra by her house and beat it to death with a stick. We joined the circle of kids peering at the snake as it still twitched and of course took some pictures with the snake on the end of the stick.
After school on Monday Brooke and Sid went into Vempalli to hopefully find pumpkins for us to carve. They came back with green pumpkins, or at least relatives to them and we spent the night sitting on our floor carving pumpkins. The kids and teachers got quite the kick out of them when we lit them the next night.
We would like to thank Sue Smith for everything. The love that Sue has for India and its people is so apparent and definitely inspiring to us. She treated us like her own children for the weekend and even brought us some peanut m&ms on Halloween. Her advice, wisdom, and support were all much needed and helped make the conclusion of our first full month in India a special one.-T
No comments:
Post a Comment