India!

India oh my gosh…where do I begin. Sorry it's taken me so long to let you know I'm safe. This is the first chance I've had to be on a computer. My first impressionsstarted in the Singapore airport when we were the only white people on ourentire flight to India….we get stared at SO much here…it’s like we’re the onlywhite people around or something..oh… wait….haha I’ve met some pretty nice andinteresting people though who have striked up conversations with me simplybecause they want to know why the heck a white girl is in India. I met a couplepilots from Kuwait tonight at the hotel we’re staying at. Very nice andinteresting people who tried to teach me to speak Arabic..it was prettyentertaining for them I’m sure. Anyways, back to India. It’s definitely morehumid and hot than Singapore and it’s probably worse also becauseTHERE.ARE.PEOPLE.EVERYWHERE. Every square inch is filled with hot, sweaty,(stinky), people. Hahah on the plane I sat next to this Indian manand I about died from the stench. A friend lent me some peppermint oil to putunder my lip—worked like a charm. I feel like in most countries there’s atleast something American-y that you can recognize. Like in Singapore, we wentto Chili’s one day (it was heaven in my mouth) and they played American musicbut in India..no..there is NOTHING remotely similar to home. The poverty isshocking. We went shopping on this little street yesterday and there would belittle skinny boys coming up to us, or women with their scrawny babies beggingfor money..they’d like come up in your face and say “naa”…whatever that means.It’s so sad but we were told to turn them away. Skin and boney people areliterally just taking naps in the middle of the street. We’re staying at aMarriott in downtown Chennai today (and by downtown it’s like no downtownyou’ve ever seen…there are guards at the front gate that stop your car beforeyou can even pull into the parking lot. You have to turn off your car and theyopen your hood and trunk, then search the perimeter with a search dog. Then youpull into the drop off zone and it’s like airport security with a metaldetector and bag screening. CRAZY! This is all before you even step foot in thehotel) The workers at the hotel ARE AMAZING! Today at breakfast they wouldliterally do everything possible to make sure we didn’t have to lift afinger-push in our chairs, move our silverware, fill our glasses, get usanything we wanted-amazing! Generally I have found the Indian people to behonest and kind. For example-me and my friend Kim got lost for a second(scary…don’t get lost in India..no bueno) and this beggar woman with her child cameup to us. Of course, I had to turn her down, but as soon as I was past her shetapped me on the back and pointed me in the direction of the rest of the groupto help us find our way. It was really humbling to me to see that someone who Ijust turned away was still willing to help me. Shopping yesterday was fun butfreaking hot and way overwhelming. The shops here in India are so funny. Oh andthere is no such thing as a toilet…but here’s another cool story. So onemorning at breakfast I drank like 10 glasses of water because I knew that’d bethe most water I got all day. We went out shopping right after that and I hadto pee like a racehorse but I was freaking because there’s no toilets. I wasset on peeing my pants but I said a quick prayer that I’d know how to handlethe situation and I got the impression that I should just ask someone for atoilet. So I did and they led me up to this horribly disgusting toilet, but itwas a toilet and I was stoked to use it [theres a picture on my flickr]. It was a good reminder to me that evenin a city full of constant stimulation, you can still feel and hear the gentlewhisperings of the Spirit. Funny thing is that this toilet was in a dumpy dumpystore we went into-probably the least likely place to have a toilet. Later thatday we went into a nicer store and asked for a toilet and they didn’t have one.It was kind of a bladder miracle. Another fun thing is we get around town inthese thing called “autos”. They are rickshaws but with a motor…basically athree wheel motorized tricycle. The driving here is ridiculous. We were ridinghome one night and I was with my instructor Karen—she said, “how would you everexplain this to mom?” haha, it really is unexplainable. The driving isterrifying and exciting all at the same time. There’s no such thing as lines…it’smore or less squeeze as manycars/bikes/autos/rickshaws/busses/motorcycles/scooters as you can into eachlane. We almost got hit by a huge bus today...another time where I almost peedmy pants. We also saw a family run across the FREEWAY and a man with his wife on the back of the scooter holding her baby on her side....CRAZYNESS!!! Last night we ate dinner at a schwanky (fancy) hotel and it was great.We pretty much only eat 2 meals a day-breakfast and dinner because a) we don’thave time for lunch or b) no one wants lunch because it’s too hot. Oh and atthe salt lake airport they took away my peanut butter because it was in mycarry-on and you’re not allowed to take pastes over 3 ounces. GRRRR…sobasically my lunches for the next 3 weeks will consist of bread and eggs. Ibetter come back with a hot body!

I’m having a good time-this is making me appreciate home SOmuch. I can’t believe how these people live in such horrible conditions. We just got to our volunteer place today. It's 2 hours outside of the busy city. I am happy to be out of the big city-it is pure chaos there. The country life is beautiful with mountains and lakes...and people carrying rice on their heads..and lots of cows and goats just roaming..haha. We went to church today in Chennai and it was awesome, except I had a hard time understanding most of it. It was in english but...their accents are redunkulous. But I got teary eyed when they were blessing the sacrament with their cute little accent though. The church is true!! Momand dad, thank you for being americans and for raising me in America and forteaching me the gospel.  I miss home a lot! But I’vebeen blessed with peace and I feel like I have a purpose in being here. Thank you for giving me the opportunity mom and dad! I love you both so much!! Sorrythis email is so long….but I had to fill ya in on the India madness. Hope y’allare doing well back home—stay away from those tornadoes! And keep those prayers coming. It is definitely culture shock to the max. I feel like I'm in a movie...but it's real!!!

Love you all so very much! Kiss some American soil forme….oh and eat a cheeseburger for me too. I’m about to start my rice, eggs,bread, and cold cereal diet…wooot!

Xoxo-whitney