running on empty

i feel like i have a lot of catching up to do! the past 6 days have been busy and if you can't tell from the title of this post i am definitely running on empty at this point.

on the 15th we headed to allepey where we boarded  and lived on houseboats for the next 24 hours. this was amazing. there were 5 other people on my houseboat and we have lunch served to us on the boat as we cruised around the canals of india. it was so relaxing just sitting around and talking and laughing. later in the afternoon our boat driver pulled over and we got to pick out the fish he cooked us for our dinner. we decided on prawn and flounder...and it was SO good. it was a real awesome moment when we were sitting on our boat eating the fish we had picked out on a beautiful canal in india. seriously awesome.

while i wish i could say i wish we stayed longer on the boat, i actually am glad we didn't. there was no ac and at 3 am our electricity went out. meaning no fan. no air circulation. this wasn't the best night i've had in india :)

the next day we headed to trivandrum, the capital of kerala. that day was a day of exploring the city, but the next day was great because we started it off with a city tour. trivandrum definitely has it's beautiful areas! but that afternoon was by far one of the best afternoons of the whole entire time i have been in india.

on our tour that morning we passed the salvation army anti-human trafficking counseling center. 4 of us decided to hop on a tuk tuk that afternoon and head over there to check it out, totally unsure if they would even talk to us. we walked in and talked with a security gaurd who asked us what we were doing there and looked thoroughly consfused when we tried to explain our answer. we followed him around to multiple offices (i guess no one wanted to talk to us??) until we were finally invited in and asked to take a seat. the man we were seated in front of started off by telling us what they do at the counseling center. basically, it is a counseling center where people come after escaping human trafficking. these people are seeking help and need help being integrated back into the community. through conversation and questions we found out SO much about human and sex trafficking.

one of the most surprising things to me is that the government is doing nothing to stop this issue. in fact, many government officials are somehow connected with the trafficking industry and benefit from it. how in the world can we stop what is essentially slavery if the government is doing nothing to protect it's people from it? it was overwhelming. he continued to tell us that another issue is that there are tons of fraudulent advertisements posted all of the city, the state, and the country. there is absolutely no regulation on what is posted and many uneducated people fall for these terrible advertisements for jobs abroad. i asked him what kind of education they are doing to help inform people about this, and he said not much. another scary fact-no one is being educated, therefore nothing can change.

we then started talking about sex trafficking, a very real issue whether in india or the united states. many girls unknowingly take jobs, which lead to sex slavery, or are sold by their parents because they are so poor and uneducated. girls have an extremely hard time escaping from this disgusting industry, and when they do many times they become outcasts from the community. the man said that one of the biggest issues the women they counsel face is shame and depression because they feel dirty. their approach to counseling these women, as well as everyone else, is cool-it's pastoral counseling. basically, they lead them to jesus for healing.

my heart breaks for the girls in this industry, for their families, and for the men who sell them like cattle and use them for disgusting reasons. and the thing is, it is happening everywhere.

i almost don't even want to write about the following days because i was not impacted by anything more than this hour long conversation. and i am still trying to digest a lot of it.

brief overview of the next few days:
-we found a dominos (i think i shed a tear of joy)
-we went to trivandrum international school and did our exhibits there
-we went to a shantiniketah school where we put on exhibits and then looked at what felt like 500 exhibits the kids did. i think i saw at least 10 dealing with an open flame. thank you wake county public school systems for not giving 8 year olds fire to play with.

which brings me to today. we went to the biggest school in asia today. 13000 kids. it was absolute chaos.

and we are exhausted.

and i'll admit, a little annoyed.

i don't like this feeling. feeling like i have nothing left to give to so many children that we will meet tomorrow. when i was sitting there in the middle of the chaos of the hundreds of children we were seeing i kept thinking about how jesus told the children to come to him. if he was dealing with these children would he still want them all to come? of course he would. my prayer for the next day is to love them like jesus. because, like mother teresa said, each one of them is jesus in disguise.

"live radiantly by expanding your focus to include ME in ALL your moments. let NOTHING dampen your search for me." (jesus calling)

serve one another

oh my gosh. so the past four days have been CRAZY, but so so fun. monday we went to the first school to do exhibits. the name of the school is chinmaya and it's a private school in cochin. these kids weren't just smart, they were crazy smart. one of the cool things we got to do that day was see some of their science exhibits. while we were teaching them the basics about sound and bone structures, for example, they had exhibits where they made plastic out of potato starch or created a voltage high enough where it could blow up all of kerala. needless to say, it blew my mind. when you asked them what they wanted to be they either answered doctor or engineer without fail. spending time with the kids was amazing. because there english was better than ours we could have lots of conversations with them. i know you aren't supposed to pick favorites, but i did. three little boys had made their own small, battery powered fan. i joked about how hot it was here and how helpful that would be and they offered to give me the fan. not wanting to take their science exhibit i declined. a few hours later than ran up to me and presented me with my own fan they had made. not to mention they were maybe the cutest three kids there.

after a full day at the school and hanging out with the kids during their recess we were challenged to a game of football with some of the boys. to be honest i didn't think they would be that good. but, boy were they good. with only two real soccer players on our team we were basically destroyed. we like to blame it on the heat :)

tuesday we were back in chinmaya doing our exhibits again. that morning we were invited to the assembly where we stood on a balcony with the principal while the kids were in perfect lines below. if you have heard or read that india, specifically kerala, is hospitable then you heard correctly. we were literally treated like guests of honor there. we were presented with roses and recognized in front of the whole school. they were constantly asking us how we were and what they could do for us. each day we had a helper there to help us run our exhibit. that day our helpers name was sayana. i absolutely loved sayana and getting to know her and hear about her dreams. she was such a sweet friend who is now my friend on facebook :)

leaving chinmaya was bittersweet, but what's the cure for that? well, shopping of course. shopping in india is crazy. i still haven't managed to find a sari but i did buy a few pretty tunics! that night we were invited to hear some of the chinmaya students sing at a festival at a temple in the middle of town. everyone should go download malyalam music to their ipod. it was beautiful. we witnessed a sacred flag being raised, which is supposed to bring anyone who sees it a year of good luck. despite the bug bites and the foot pain from standing barefoot on the hard ground for hours we had a great time.

the next morning we packed up early and headed to cheruthuruthy. on the way we stopped at an elephant farm and got to wash the elephants by the river. elephants here are not like elephants in the united states. they are HUGE. so even these "babies" that we were washing were big. i can't wait to put up pictures of this later!

once we got to cheruthuruthy we had the afternoon to lay out by the pool and relax (did y'all say it was snowing there...). it was much needed down time-that's for sure! yesterday we woke up early and headed to our next school. this school was extremely different than the first one. our group was split in two and i was in the group that went to the nicer of the two schools. these students did not speak a lot of english, but we were still able to communicate a little bit. what shocked me the most was the effect our presence had on the school. i went to the bathroom and i had at least 30 kids swarming me, more kids running to see me, a million little hands poking out of the crowd wanted to be shook, and notebooks and pens shoved at me for autographs. i kid you not.

i now know how taylor swift feels.

despite the overwhelming mob that constantly surrounded us, there was something bigger and more important that i will remember about those kids. one of my friends had a helper who said, "at your service" when they first met. my friend was a little taken aback by this because the last thing we wanted them to do was to treat us in some sort of special manner. but what we came to find out is that they, and i quote, "treat their visitors like gods." now i am not saying we need to treat others as a god. but the attitude of service they had for complete strangers was overwhelming. simple things like shifting the position of the computer we brought were interrupted and taken over by a student. they literally served us in every since of the word. how beautiful would our world be if we served every person we encountered as the students served us? those kids who did not know christ displayed him so well. it was beautiful.

today was our last day in the school. we are all exhausted by this point and thankful for some rest! one of my sweet friends, rachel, sent me a message that was amazingly encouraging. in it she put the following scripture:

"since God assured us, "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you," we can boldly quote,
God is there, ready to help;
i'm fearless no matter what.
who or what can get to me?"
[hebrews 13:5-6]

the Lord has not left my side at one moment during this experience. i see Him in the precious children's eyes. i see Him in the way people in this community love one another. i see Him in the beautiful creation he has allowed me to see. He has been ever present and ever faithful. it's easy to think i have deserved this for some reason, and my prayer is humility. i pray that i am constantly brought to my knees in awe of the love of my Savior.

top 10 reasons why i love india

(this list is subject to change/be added to over the next few weeks)

1. instead of nodding their head up and down to signal yes, they move it side to side. but not in the way we do it when we shake our heads "no," it's more like a bobble head action. and i'm obsessed with it.

2. they are so community driven. they truly care about each other and their society is not individualistic like ours is.

3. i think indian children are hands down the most beautiful and precious children ever.

4. they have wild elephants in the mountains. (we didn't see any on our trek, but we saw the poop....)

5. they drink tea. and really, really good tea at that.

6. they serve so, so well.

7. three little boys gave me a homemade fan because they knew i was hot. absolutely precious.

8. they are nice when they kick our butts in football :)

9. naan. so, so good.

10. the arabian sea, which is beautiful and the perfect temperature.

tuk tuk it up

right now i am typing this in cochin (or kochi). this is a city in kerala located on the coast so it is hot and fishy! our first day in cochin was a busy one. we woke up early in the morning and headed to cochin university to practice our science exhibits that we will be doing for the kids in the various schools. cochin university has a science center where children from all over the state come with their school to get an interactive experience with science. it was a hectic experience for us because we had 70 kids go through our exhibits, 5 groups total, and each rotation was 5 minutes. talk about crazy. but needless to say i LOVED it and loved being with the kids. they are seriously the most precious children to ever exist. you can just smile at them and immediately a big smile pops up on their face and they want to shake your hand and know your name. they might be the most joyful children i have ever met. and they laugh a lot. there are times when you'll say "hi" to them and they will turn around and giggle or laugh. sometimes you don't have to do anything and they will laugh at you...which i'm totally okay being laughed at by the precious indian children.

highlight of that day:
- the indian children.
- we went on a tour of fort kochi, the coastline of cochin, and when we were on the tour walking by fishing boats a bunch of old men started yelling at us to come out onto their make shift dock thing and help them pull up their nets. so me and four other people walked onto the dock, were handed a big rope, and told to pull. i  chinese water netted in the arabian sea.

yesterday was our first "independent study" day (aka free day) in india. i woke up really early and headed to a protestant church in fort kochi that we had gone to during our tour the day before. this was an extremely new and different experience. when you walk in the church you take your shoes off. the whole service is memorized by those who go there and there is not much variation in the service from week to week other than what songs are sung and the message from the minister. they flyyyyy through the parts where we would all speak together. it was so fast even i couldn't keep up. that's one thing about the english here, they talk so fast that we can't understand half of what they say. anyways, we took communion there, which was cool, too. we went up front, sat down on a cushion, and the minister gave us the bread and then spooned us the wine. it was an amazing experience to be in a totally different country, half way across the world, worshiping with fellow believers and followers.

the rest of the day was spent exploring fort kochi and cochin. some highlights:
- we found a really cool deli and i had the best grilled cheese and french fries of my life.
- i had to sit up front with a tuk tuk driver (google it...they are awesome and basically the taxis of the town), which at times made me fear for my life because he gave me like 2 inches to put my whole bottom on the seat (didn't work), but he let me drive it! i had no idea what i was doing and there is a good possibility we could have gotten killed, but it was awesome.

later that night we went to go see a local dance performance. we got to see the dancers putting on the makeup before and saw how the productions were made. i'm going to do a little more research on the kind of dance we saw and then write more about that experience, but i will tell you it was hilarious and awesome!

today we are about to go into our first school and do our exhibits. i'm bringing my advil because i'm the sound exhibit. i'm really excited to hang out with the kids today!

tea and spice and everything nice

my first full day in Munnar, Kerala has been an AMAZING one. but let me back track for a minute to the two days of travel....

many exciting things happened in my travels. 1) i rode on an airplane alone for the first time in my life!! it was actually a lot of fun and i felt so grown up. 2) i spent 5 hours alone in the jfk airport waiting for my class to get there. this was boring at times, but good thing jfk has the most interesting assortment of people ever. 3) i hopped on a plane for a casual 11 and a half hours. no biggie, right? wrong. big, big, biggie. i was incredibly nervous because i have the attention span of a five year old at times and my last international flight only allowed me 3 hours of sleep. i didn't get a ton of sleep, but i did make a friend on the plane and watched some great movies. when i got on the plane and saw they had "the social network" i kind of freaked out a little. so we arrived in dubai around 8:30 pm their time. the airport was HUGE and beautiful....they had a 3 story water wall for crying out loud! it was awesome...but the layover not so much. our next flight wouldn't depart until 2:45 am. needless to say we were all pooped by the travel and a little bummed it was dark outside so we couldn't see dubai. the next flight was only 4 1/2 hours, which seemed like a breeze compared to the other flights. and i really liked the breakfast they served. yum yum. so we arrived in cochin, kerala at 8:30 am kerala time, hopped on a van, and started one of the most life-threatening bus rides i have ever been on in my life.

one thing i learned extremely quickly is indians seem to not see road lines and they love to honk. for such a sweet, peaceful people i was shocked at how much honking they did. when i think of excessive honking i think of an angry new yorker. but nope. when i looked at our drivers face he was just as peaceful as can be. so i concluded that this was some kind of communication between the drivers and pedestrians. from what i can tell one honk means "warning-i'm here and i'm bigger than you," two means "move it...i'm coming through and i'm faster than you" and multiple honks is leaning more towards the i'm-not-playing-around-get-out-of-my-way end. not only was the driving crazy, the roads we drove to get to the town of munnar were extremely curvy. it was a blessing that i was exhausted and slept off and on the whole ride. at one point we stopped on the side of the road to go look at a waterfall and purchase some bottles of water. the waterfall was amazing, but it was nothing compared to what we were about to see.

continuing our drive to munnar we started seeing mountains covered with tea plantations. this is literally an amazingly beautiful thing to see (i'll post pics when i get the chance!). we passed a couple more HUGE waterfalls and cinnamon trees, which made me so excited for the tea and spice plantation tour. after four hours we arrived in munnar, a small mountain town, generally geared toward tourists. the hotel we are staying in, east end munnar, is a beautiful hotel nestled in the middle of downtown. when we arrived we had lunch and then headed up to our rooms to rest. maggie and i were only going to take a two hour nap, but whoops...i turned my alarm off and we ended up sleeping until dinner. the food is challenging for me (surprise, surprise) but i am finding some good stuff to eat :) we headed back up for bed and woke up, wide awake at 4 am. awesome. i managed to drift back asleep.

yesterday morning we woke up, put on our hiking gear and prepared for our 4-5 hour hike. well...at least that's how long the guide told us it would be. for the next six hours i went on one of the most challenging hikes of my life. nothing says, "you're out of shape. maybe you shouldn't have eaten those christmas cookies" like a six hour hike. but it was absolutely amazing. while it was challenging at times, it was breathtaking at others. just when i thought we had climbed the highest peak we would walk down to a small valley and start our trek upwards towards a higher and inevitably more magnificent mountain top. the mountains we were climbing had tea plantations on them, which were absolutely beautiful. i really can't even explain it here except by saying that God is the most amazing artist ever. end of story.

after about 4 hours of hiking we entered a rain forest type area where the spices and coffee plants are. it was a quick environmental change from the breezy, grassy mountain tops, but it was beautiful just the same. we stopped on a rock and ate a packaged lunch. the remainder of our hike was walking through the paths of the tea plantations. 6 hours later we were absolutely exhausted. we headed back to the hotel, rested and showered and then ventured out on our own for the first time to have dinner. we found the best little restaurant in the middle of town and for the first time since i've been here i had an awesome meal that i ate every single bit of!

this morning we are packing up and heading to the tea and spice plantation! i couldn't be more excited (rachael and mom, get pumped about the tea i'm buying you!). then we are making the four hour drive back to cochin. i am missing my friends and family back in burlington and raleigh, but i am so thankful for all of your love and support throughout this whole process!

once i get a computer, i will update y'all again :)

munnar, kerala

so, we FINALLY made it! after two total days of travel we are finally in munnar, a beautiful mountain town in kerala.we are about to go on a four hour hike and then go to a tea and spice factory, but I thought I would give you a quick update that I finally am here! thank you for your support and I will write more tonight or tomorrow!

eat. pray. love.

it is finally here. the day that i hop on a plane to kerala, india. well, actually i'll be getting on 3 planes and i will endure 2 days of travel, which is a small price to pay (dad, i'm sure you're laughing at that) to experience one of the most fascinating places in the world. 

i have successfully fit enough clothes and shoes for a month in one suitcase, i have downloaded 5 episodes of modern family to my iphone, my dark chocolate is packed, my camera is charged, and i am ready to go. except for one thing- i kind of figured i should start a blog so friends and family could keep up with my adventures and travels in india. one night my friend, rachael, stayed up until the wee hours of the morning making a blog. she told me she didn't have anything to write about so i asked her why she made it. she said, "in case i travel or for when i have kids or something." a) she will be holding down the fort at elon this january and b) she is 20 years old and at least a good 7 years away from having her first child. needless to say, i have never seen this blog of hers (but i'm sure it's adorable). but, i figured since i am traveling somewhere i should start one! 

there are a few things you need to know/might have already figured out. i read somewhere once that capitalizing letters was a waste of time. you can probably guess that i agree. i many better things to do than worry about getting my grammar and spelling correct, so i apologize in advance. 

the big question i have been asked over the past few months is this: why india? this is a very good question. one i actually don't have a solid answer for. but i can tell you this- india has been put on my heart and i was given a desire to travel there. i am fascinated by the people, the cities, the slums, the colors, the lifestyles, the food, the stories, and lands. i am absolutely in awe of india. so when i was given the opportunity to go there i jumped on it (thank you mom & dad...i'm more thankful than you'll ever know). 

the other big question i am asked is what in the world will you be doing in india for a month?? i am traveling with 23ish other elon students plus two professors to kerala, india. it's a service based study abroad program and we will be putting on science exhibits for elementary schools throughout kerala. some of the schools will be in urban areas, while others will be in rural. some kids will be able to speak english, while others we will not be able to communicate with at all. this will be a challenging experience, but i am looking forward to it. i am not much of a science person so i decided to do the sound exhibit. it's a good thing i packed lots of advil. when we are not in the schools with the kids we will be traveling. the first two days we will be in munnar hiking and visiting a tea farm, which i literally could not be more excited about. at some point we are hanging out with elephants (hence the background) and one weekend we are living on a houseboat. i have been so encouraged by all the wonderful things i have heard about kerala and the people in kerala from friends and random strangers who have traveled there. fingers crossed i will be able to upload pictures while i'm there to share with y'all. if not be expecting them as soon as i get back! (i just got a new camera and i'm slightly obsessed.)

this is such a long post and i apologize and totally understand if you can't finish it. take a break. go to the bathroom. get some coffee....

which brings me to the most important part of this whole post (don't you hate it when you read for a long time to come to find out i saved the best for last?). the title of the blog! to be honest i would have started one weeks ago if i could've figured out a title then. i have had multiple conversations with friends about what i think i am going to be challenged with the most over the next month. foreign country, no close friends, no family, half way across the world....it is easy to say my greatest challenge will be learning to depend and trust the Lord completely and totally with everything. control has been a struggle for me in my relationship with Christ and he has slowly been revealing the ways in which i try to control aspects of my life without even knowing it. well, this is one of those times. 

one of my good, sweet friends meg gave a college life talk one night at elon about one simple question: is Jesus enough? she compared God to a cup of coffee. personally, my favorite drink at starbucks is a tall light cinnamon dolce latte with light foam. i mean, let's be real. is there even a lick of coffee in that? anyways, meg challenged me by asking if the sugar was taken away, the cream gone, if i stopped pouring in the milk, would i still like the taste of the coffee? this challenged my faith, too, and made me ask some hard questions. if my family was gone, if i didn't have my friends, if i didn't go to elon, if i didn't have the material possessions i have, if i wasn't a young life leader, if i didn't have my health, would Jesus still be enough? on instinct my answer is of course. the Creator of the universe, the King of kings, the Prince of peace...of course he's enough. but this is the first time my faith is being challenged to this magnitude. all comfort zones are being torn down and all immediate support is being stripped away. and he's asking me, "do you still like the taste of me?"