Bury my heart at Shillong

Bury my heart at Shillong

Sunday: not much happened it was a day of rest for us. We did however go to the Indian version of KFC and it was oky then we went to the theater to see The Prince of Persia. First of all jake Gyllenhall does not make a good Persian. Secondly the writing of this movie was so bad it was funny.
Monday: Today Dr. Rudobock and I were to meet Jessica to go to some place and talk about mirco loans the next morning. The plan was to go the day before stay the night get up the next morning to meet with some guy. I was kinda along for the trip because I had nothing better to do and Brian had nothing form me to do. So we wake up and find out from Brian that we are to meet the driver outside CBCNEI (the place we are staying at) at exactly 12:30. Knowing nationals and their way of keeping time I did not expect them to be one time. So Rich and I go eat lunch and we go back and get everything ready and we are waiting outside CBCNEI. Lets just say I love nationals don’t get me wrong. But exactly an hour and thirty minuets later our driver arrives. So we get in and head to pick up a girl that works for the company who is in charge of this trip. What should have taken about twenty minuets to her enclave was about forty-five minuets including the turning around he had to do because he passed her place. Not only is our national driver good at being late he has a bit of a speeding issue. We are driving in the hill that is so curvy that you go on one curve you hit another then another and another. Imagine driving through the mountain passes of Colorado at breakneck speed dodging truck, animals, small children and what ever happened to be one the road. Needless to say I was ready to get out of the vehicle. BUT it was well worth it because I have found the place I want to live for the rest of my life. Shillong, . This place is called the Scotland of the east. Apparently the British used to inhabit this area with offices and stuff. But here it is beautiful. The streets do not have trash all over them, you cannot see the sewage, the air is clean and the best part is IT IS COLD! This is the first in India where I wanted to wear a jacket. Needless to say I will bury my heart here.
Tuesday: I woke up expecting to have hot water to take a shower like our hotel people said we would. Unfortunately it was another cold shower for us. We got up and had breakfast and went to our meeting. We met our driver outside our hotel and he was the coolest guy ever. He was about 5 foot 6 inches and has the voice of a elf. But he is from Nepal and can speak 7 different languages. We met with Mr. Decruz the founder/owner of SoFMEAD a micro-loan lending place. The meeting started at 10:30 and did not end until about 1:30. But they fed us so I was good! We then, sadly, had to leave Shillong… I decided my future wife and I will be living there. So I will be back. The drive back took 3 hours when really it should only be about 2 hours.
Wednesday: Today Connor and I planned to meet our friend from the village who goes to school in Guwahati. So Connor called him and made plans to meet him exactly at Guwahati Baptist church at one. So we are sitting on the side of the road under a tree getting wet from the rain waiting. Connor and I decided we would give him thirty minuets to get there. So we waited, waited, and waited and he was a no show. But we were the a feast for all the eyes of nationals walking by. One old guy with a silly yellow umbrella stood and stared at us for at lest 5 minuets and we stared at him back and he finally left. We then decided to just go and hang out in the city. We went to Dona Planet 9 a shopping mall) with Diane and Ginny and we ate at Pizza Hut (our favorite place to eat at.) so after we ate Connor and I went shopping and every store we went into the guys working would stand maybe a foot away and watch us talk and shop. So we did not stay long. One of the stores we went into the guy stood really close to connor and I and connor started talking to him. one of the questions he asked him was “ what size shirt do you wear” I was embarrassed and awked out. So we left. We went into this store that had tons of odd t-shirts and I was looking through them for a Beatles shirt and I found this shirt that said “I survived india” and I said “Connor this shirt is just for you “ as I turned around saying this I realized Connor left the store and I was by myself with a bunch of nationals. They all stared at me laughing. Connor and I then went to Big Bazzar (Walmart of india) and got some traditional Indian shirts. While we were looking one of the guys working decided to help me out. So he brought me several shirts that are long and huge. The first one was maroon striped and could fit myself and about 7 of my friends inside comfortably. I tried to explain to him I was not that big and I did not like the color red. He still brought me about 5 different ones where the bottom of the shirt hit my knees and they were to big and the colors were odd. So we left and sat outside waiting for Diane and Ginny to come by and we met our friend Jitu. As Connor and I were sitting in front of big Bazaar he just started talking to us. So we took him to Café Coffee day and got him a drink and tried talking to him. his English was oky we had the hardest time figuring out what he was saying. But it was a good surprise. One thing I noticed was that he had a bunch of burn marks on his hands and his foot. So I was really worried about him. as much as I could gather was that he wants to learn English and go to the states (a common goal of all Indians) and he is in school and his class are at night I think. He was real nice and informative but his English was so hard to understand. So pray from him. we are planning to met with him this Saturday and I hope that we get to so we can find out more about him.
Thursday: Today was the day the Newspaper said we would have a monsoon. It rained quite a lot. Rich and I went and had a day together because we had to go to a meeting with some guys from CBCNEI. Sadly I got so sick I was projectile vomiting to the point I could not even hold water. I have been in pain I just wanna cry I think I mentioned my mother a few times. I have no idea if I got a bug or if I got food poisoning. Just kidding I was not sick but this is how I felt during the meeting. I sat for two straight hours listening to a guy with a very thick Assamese accent and I could hardly understand him or the intentions of this meeting. I was intimidated and sick out of my mind from boredom. Thankfully God knew how to keep me entertained because there were two lizards in the room hanging out by the window so I watched them the entire time praying and cheering them on to get the flies. We then ate a Silk Route, which is the best Tai place I have ever eaten at! It was wonderful and spicy and so good! There was not enough to fill me up but I had Ice cream from New Zealand, which made me happy. I also found that my reverse culture shock has hit me early. I ended up sitting outside for quite some time watching the rain pour. I feel so useless here because there are so many people in need and I have to sit in a air conditioned room eating cookies and drinking chi while they are out there huddling in the rain on the streets with nothing to keep them warm. I know I cannot solve India’s problems but I have had such a hard time dealing with the poverty here. I have always felt a need to help people who are not able to enjoy the comforts of life. When we are on the streets and a kid comes up looking so ragged and poor and they touch me asking for money I have to look away and avoid looking at them in the eyes because I know that if I just give them ten rupees it wont do much and they could be working for someone and they wont even get the money to be feed and it makes me want to start crying my heart out that there is nothing I can do. Most of them will not take anything but money so that means they are hired to beg. then while connor and I went out walking I saw something I will never forget. I saw a man who was laying on the road with no arms and no legs. Someone left him there laying on the street with something that resembled shorts and no shirt on the dirty, muddy ground with a silver bowl in front of him left to beg for money. When I saw this man my heart dropped like a thousand pounds of solid rock into the bottom of the sea. I could not talk because I was so heart broken that someone has to resort to this. I know that someone is using him to gain money but this is still horrible for any human being to resort to this