This Thanksgiving, we went to my parent’s house, as is dictacted by our switching holidays agreement. (Each year, we swap between my parents and Noelle’s for the two major holidays – Christmas and Thanksgiving). This year was especially fun because the hit movie Twilight came out and my wife was very excited to see it. I’ve heard it’s for 13 year old girls, so I am not excited about it:) But the most exciting part was that a good portion of the movie was filmed in a town where I grew up.

Twilight Bookstore

Twilight Courthouse

Where Bella got attacked

Bella's House

Twilight School

Today was an emotional one. We began the day with our team devotions, and then headed to the Bible school’s morning devotion. Craig spoke, and it was really good. We then went and had tea with the students. It was fun to talk with them and hear their dreams. I really hope that they get to realize their dreams!

We had two open hours up to lunch, so Esther and Angela wanted to try a new market, so I went with them. It was by far the most crazy one yet. Lots of beggars, lots of Coolies, (guys who work in the market who aggressively try to “help” you). Noisy and hot, I really didn’t like it. I prefer the first market we went to at night over all of them.

After lunch, we planned on going to Mother Teresa’s to take the training so that we could work with the Sisters of Charity the next day. First we arrived at the tomb of Mother Teresa, it was so intense. This women loved the people of Kolkata so much, and did so much. It was very overwhelming and humbling. I know that her heart was so in tune with God – she was an amazing woman. I strive to be as humble and compassionate as she was, what an example of Christ.

Then we got to the place where you get the training to find out that they are not open to helpers on Thursdays. It was really a bit frustrating, but then one of the Sisters was kind enough to take us through the orphanage, and let us play with the kids a bit. It was so precious!

After that, we had some more free time before bed, and we went shopping again… just around our place, there is a small market near the hospital, and was pretty fun to go to. You could really tell they rarely have foreigners in this market, almost no one spoke English. It was tough but some of my Hindi numbers that I learned on my trip to Delhi came back to mind, and we made it.

Today was a lot of fun, we spent 3 hours in a bus, went to a clinic in a village north of Kolkata, then spent 3 hours driving back. It really is amazing how draining driving is… The girls brought balloons to the clinic, and everyone wanted one. And I mean everyone, even this man who was in his nineties. Amazing!

Once we returned home, we went to the pediatric ward for a few minutes because a boy with malaria had been asking for me. He had asked my friends the day before, where is your big friend, and then reached as high as he could to show my height. It was pretty cool to know that I actually made a kid happier in his hard circumstance.

After that, the young people of the group (Esther, Angela, and I) along with our new friend Raul, went to a market called Korea Hut. It was a total blast! I was able to pick up Cole a punjabi suit, I was so excited. We also had a chicken roll from a small restaurant there (walk up), it was so good. The girls where able to get some henna, and overall it was one of my favorite times here. I love getting out and experiencing the culture of a city.

We started slow today, introducing ourselves in the morning devotions, and then waiting. We waited several hours, and then got the measuring tape we’d requested so that we could finish the measurements on the building that we had previously measured. Once we got it, we spent about an hour working in the building, and then figured out where we’d messed up the measurements, corrected them, and went to lunch.

After lunch, we went to the new home of the school of nursing down by the docks. It was a pretty cool building, the British had built it when they were in India. Then, we got to clean the top floor, they’ve been doing construction, and are nearly finished, and just needed it cleaned. So, the women swept, and Craig and I mopped. It took us about three hours, and it was soooo much cleaner. I would do one room, and then have to get new water because the water was so black. It was fun, we all sweated and had a good time.

I’m super excited for tomorrow, because we’ll be heading to the garbage dump in town to feed the people who live there, and then we’re going to paint a clinic that they are building. (And I have great experience painting in India, I did it when I visited Delhi for four straight days)

Today was a pretty fun day. It started off by myself and two of the ladies heading on about an hour drive out into a rural area to help with the medical clinic they were holding. The place it was held also happened to be an elementary school, and I took a peek around there as well. It was pretty cool, people would check in to the clinic, then see the doctor, and go to our make shift drug store and pick up the medications they needed. There were around 35 folks who came through. One interesting case that caught my attention was a 19 year old girl who came in with her 5 year old and 12 month old child. The greatest part about all of this is that it was free to the patients. It’s neat to see the Father’s work and love for all people.

They always say that the journey is half the experience, and today was no exception. The two ladies who had accompanied me had not yet known the joy that is Indian driving. More or less, the rules are like this: drive on the left when you have to, and if a bigger car is challenging you, move. I can’t count the number of gasps and nervous laughs I heard today. I spared them riding up front where you get to really see how close you come to other cars. We had our windows down, and I had rested my arm on the window, and at one point, had to bring my arm into the car for fear it would hit the bus next to us. (the rearview mirror had already suffered this fate)

Then, this afternoon we were supposed to go down to the port and help clean a house that the girls in the school of nursing will be moving to. but the driver didn’t return in time, so we worked on cleaning up some drawing for the architect that we took the measurements for. (apparently we don’t know how to make architectural drawings, go figure…) We emailed her some of the work we’d done, and she emailed back how it should have been done, so we just adjusted what we had done.

When time for a break came, we decided to go see the cemetery that is just across the street from us. This cemetery opened in 1776 and was closed near the end of the 1800’s. It’s filled with the graves of many of the British who helped colonize Kolkata. It also has the graves that were moved from the site where the hospital now sits. They were moved when the hospital needed to be built. It’s a cool, eery, fun place. You can see the tops of the trees from the terrace of the hospital, and one odalisque poking out. It was great to see all of the different monuments. I also purchase a book with some of the stories of the folks for rs. 100 (about 2 USD).

Been a great, fun day!