Kendra in India: Day 1

Well I'm in India now! We arrived yesterday about eight am after our seven hour lay over in Mumbai. Krishnayya and Nuckolls met us at the airport with lays. The night before it had rained so the weather was relatively cool for our first day (cool being around 95 or so). First, we went to our apartment. It has two bedrooms and two baths with a little living room area. Jamie and I are in one room while Lizzie and now Ashley ( who arrived today) are in the other.There's another bed in the hallway area that will be for Dancer (don't know her name but she's a dance major and isn't coming till the end of this month). But for now her bed is where we just sit and talk since it's night under a ceiling fan.

(From left to right: Lizzie, Weston, Kendra, Oliver, and Jamie - They all flew in on the same flight as Kendra) 

A couple doors down the street is where Durga (cook and mother) Raju (her husband and out launderer), and there two children (Siddhu,4 and Mumakshu, 6 mo today) live. It is also where we eat our meals and pretty much hang out during the hotter hours. One guy that I sat next to on the flight to Mumbai said that even for him, an Indian, the food in Visak is a little to spicy. Luckily we have great cooks and I haven't been overwhelmed at all by spice. (Thanks husband). The guys place is about a block or so away but still fairly close.

After we arrived and were settled in Sidhu, one of the translators and Krishnayya's sister-in-law, and Rajalakshi took us shopping. we were able to get a couple Kurthas and pants to were for a few days.Now that Ashley is here we think we'll go  shopping again and get a few more. That way we have a set for the week and a nice one for Sunday. I think the other girls are going to get Sarees but they  show the stomach so I"m not sure if I'll get one yet until I know that a tailor can make the shirt longer to cover my garments. The clothes are nice and cool. So far I don't feel at all overwhelmed in the heat with them. And yes I am drinking plenty of water.

I'll quickly describe everyone that's here so that you can follow along in my subsequent emails

Translators: 

Sidhu and Madhu (spelling may be off)

House help:

Family mentioned above

Sallaja-21, always around to help and wheres bangle son her feet so we always know when she's around

Gowri, Older lady I'm not quite sure what she does but I think she helps cooks 

Krishnayya- He is pretty much the director here and is very eager to help us with everything

Oliver- in pictures he's the tall one. He's also part of my research group Both he and Weston remind me of very recent RMs ( and by that I mean those that just get off their mission and still overwhelm people with their questions and eagerness to share the gospel) on the flights over they kept getting off and saying that they were sharing the plan of salvation or trying to give a Book of Mormon away. I quickly told them to stop when they were in India since we weren't allowed to and Dr. Nuckolls was quick to confirm when we arrived.

Weston- He is doing research on indigenous medicine and apart from that I don't know specifically what.

Jamie- She is also in my group. She does not like smell of fish so she's never tasted it. She tells people she doesn't like it but everyone else is telling the cooks to make it for her so she'll have to eat it.

Lizzie- Also in my group. She's a vegetarian which is working out well since most the food is vegetarian. Unfortunately I don't think she likes spice so she's struggling a little with that.

Ashley- She's actually Navajo so she tells the people here that she's a red indian (the call themselves brown indians). She is doing research to look at the effects of cross caste marriages in everyday life.

I almost wish that I was living with the guys. You see they are so enthusiastic about everything and constantly wanting to be involved which is nice. But the girls are not enjoying everything yet and often disappear. They're just letting them miss their families a little bit more and talking about it a lot which makes it harder on them and me.

Today has been pretty chill and just letting us do what we want. But starting tomorrow our day will get a little busier. Apparently a group that works on Diabetes here has made a sort of two day conference this coming week for us and wants us to help them with some of their work. Sometime this next week we are going to meet the man over Green Vision and figure out what we are doing with him. We are going to a temple i believe on Tues. There are a few other things they already have planned for this week but I can't remember it all.

Love,

Kendra