itinerary
flights
devotional
photos
blogs...
Ansley Chambliss
Thelma Cheetham
Becca Childers
Cathy Crosland
Mel Dunlap
Steve Hellier
William Hellier
Katherine McClellan
Sharon McClellan
John Miller
Jimmy Mitchell
Keely Naughton
Francesca Pefianco
Iain Robins
Marijane Robins
Amy Seefeldt
Matt Simpson
Brittany Stokes
Janek Witharana
Matt Wright
francesca pefianco blog...
wednesday, march 19, 2008
Hey all, these past two days have been wonderful. As one of our girls said, "It seems like each day can't get any better than the last, but it does." I completely agree with her.
Yesterday, some of us woke up at 5:30 AM to join Mr. Hellier for a hike to see the sunrise. However, our calculations were a bit off, so we missed the exact rise, but we still enjoyed traveling the along the road while watching the sky light up in beautiful oranges and blues. After this, we took taxis to visit Manoj's second school which is located in the most breathtaking mountainside village that I've ever seen. We toured the small, concrete classrooms and then prayed and sang songs for the kids.
After the introductions, we were finally allowed to play with the kids. Some of them taught the children the hokey pokey and others played soccer with them. A few of us, including myself, stayed inside one of the classrooms with the younger children and gave them candy and helped them color. It was so fun watching these tiny children make beautiful art. I was thrilled when they'd tap on my leg and ask me to look at what they'd done. Several of them would even point to parts of their coloring book outlines and ask me what color it was supposed to be.Despite the language barrier I was able to tell them "red" or "blue" or "pink". It's a wonderful feeling being able to help people even when you don't speak the same language.
After this, we tried to round them up for a game of duck-duck-goose, but the children had their own games in mind. Several boys in particular immediatley began rearranging how we held hands and then ran onto the center of the circle. They seemed very adamant so we let them do their thing, and within seconds the entire circle was chanting and spinning around. It was so hilarious! We tried our best to join in even though we didn't know the words, and we just danced like crazy.
After this, we walked through the village nearby, and I'll be honest I've never seen anything so beauitful in my life. Every tiny house was a different vibrant color dotted with patches of grass and exotic flowers. A small manmade stream acted as their washing machine and their source of water. As we walked along and got a view of the enormous mountains and the serene village, it was hard not to feel as if we were in heaven.
After this, we spent the day walking around the Mussoorie bazaar and shopped. The highlight of the trip was riding on the ferris wheel that was powered by an acrobatic Inidan man who swung across the metal bars to create momentum. It was an unbelievable (and very firghtening) experience.
After the long day, we went to Manoj's home and had a delcious Indian dinner made by Manoj's beauitful wife, Nasreen. With food in our bellies and Mussoorie dust on our feet, we went to sleep.
Today, we woke up and put on our nice clothes in preparation to visit Ms. Seefeldt's school, Woodstock. First, we attended an assembly where Matt gave a spirited speech about being visually impaired. Next, we all shadowed a journalism class that wound up being a day of interviews (both verbal and televised) by the Woodstock students. We were questioned about our school, to our hobbies, to our dating life. After this, I attended an art class and asked several of the students what it was like to attend an international school. Most of the students were interested in our trip and why we came to Mussoorie. Others just wanted to know whether Ms. Seefeldt was a good teacher (don't worry I put in a good word ;]).
It was a good experience talking to kids who have lived all over the world and had plenty of stories to share. After this, we walked around the bazaar again, and this time I was able to buy several Indian pieces of clothing and jewelry (what every girl needs!). Now, I feel extremely tired so I think I'll take a nap!
monday, march 17, 2008
Ahh, access to the outside world. I feel like I've been very out of touch with my daily life without my phone beeping every few minutes to alert me of a text or being able to log on to facebook at least 5 times a day. But, honestly, the freedom has been glorious.
However, I have been teeming to talk about all of the extraordinary and often absurd events that we've experienced. After spending a total of 16 hours on planes and 3 hours in the Amsterdam airport, we slunked our way into the YMCA tourist hostel in Delhi. We spent the first day touring Delhi, first experiencing Indian culture in Humayan's tomb and then learning to bargain with rupees in the market (and I'm pretty skilled, if I do say so myself).
Sunday we spent 11 hours on a bus making our way through the countryside to the mountainous Mussoorie. This ride was interesting, mostly due to the insane Indian driving (which is based on the concept that lanes and medians are completely optional). Other interesting events included one particular girl recieving a radish as a proposal offering (cough, cough::BECCA::cough, cough), counting the number of monkeys we could spot, and running right into a Tibetan protest while taking a pit stop at an Indian McDonald's.
However, the true essence of this trip came to my realization when we finally reached the beautiful hills of Mussoorie. As we visted Ms. Seefeldts parents home and met Minoz and listened to the story of his vision, I realized what a wonderful opportunity this truly was. This came into an even clearer view today as we hiked for close to two hours to one of Minoz's schools deep in the mountainside. Getting to sing songs and play with the children was miraculous. Seeing their tiny faces light up at something as simple as taking their picture or letting them paint made me realize how big God truly is. He existed even there in that tiny concrete school building on the side of an Indian mountain.
After this, Minoz walked us back along the long path across the hillside and we visted two homes and prayed for those who were sick. Along the way, we also ran to a group of around thirty men working together to carry a car-sized transformer down the path. It was quite a scene as we all frantically clambered up the mountainside to get out of their way. All-in-all, the past three days have been full of lots of hilarious adventures.
Quoting William Hellier: "I thought this trip would be boring, but you guys are crazy."