Week #2

Ok, here's week #2.

Mon. we headed up the mountain to Mussoorie to spend the day. We had a blast together! The 1st thing we did was go to Landoor. Landoor is a little "town" up on the highest point of Mussoorie. From there you can see the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas. B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. Dehradun sits in a valley of the Himalayas, so our house is surrounded by beautiful mountains, but they are more like large hills compared to the huge peaks that you can see from Mussoorie. It was pretty cool.
We walked the loop up in Landoor and then found a little hole in the wall shop along the road to eat lunch. I love places like that.
After lunch, we went back down to the main part of Mussoorie. Honestly, Mussoorie is a very touristy area, but thankfully not this time of year. In the summer it's crazyyy…the change in the amount of people up there is pretty drastic. Right now it's pretty peaceful and quiet (for India :))
We walked along the main road and explored all the little shops. After that we searched and searched for a Barista that I knew was up there somewhere, but couldn't seem to find. After walking up, down, up, and back down again…just a little further then before, we finally found it. Had some yummy coffee together (this was actually quite humorous…long story) and then Karina and I attempted to find a bathroom for our bladders that had been full since about 10 min after we left home. Why does that always seem to happen? Karina got her 1st "public bathroom" experience in India. You pay rupees and get the privilege of walking into an almost unbearable stench and disgustingness. Then you walk out and the same people who were there staring at you as you went in, are still standing there staring at you as you walk out.
Anyway, we then headed back up the street to try and find a shop where I could get some passport pics taken for visa stuff that Mel was trying to work on. We found one that looked promising. As I was waiting in line to talk to the shop keeper, I look behind me and see Mom and Karina being asked to take pictures with random people over and over again like they're celebrities. It was funny. I Talked to the guy and he said to wait 5 min. About 15 min later (5 in Indian time) a fairly large crowd had gathered and we had graciously taken many, many pictures with people…all of a sudden I hear Karina say "eeewwww, it's peeing on me!" and Mom say "Well move! Don't just stand there!" I turned around and Karina was in fact, being "watered" by a monkey. Mr monkey knew EXACTLY what he was doing too. He did it on purpose. He was literally sitting up on the roof of this shop laughing at her. I have to admit, it was pretty funny….to everyone except Karina. Poor thing. The whole crowd of people standing there thought it was pretty funny too. Haha oh well…sometimes you have to suffer for the story, right? We got the passport pics taken care of and got on our way.
We walked around for a while and then grabbed a rickshaw back up. Our sweet rickshaw driver was very, very old. He could barely move the thing. I hated it. I know that's how he makes his living, and so by hiring him, we were helping employ him for the day, but I still hated it. I felt like I should get out and help push or something. We were going mighty slow. I was thankful when the down hill stretch came around. In some confusion of languages, he thought we wanted to go to the cable cars. So that's where he dropped us. So, we then decided to indeed, go on the cable cars! That was interesting to say the least. The thought of "are we going to die on a cable car ride in the middle of the mountains in India?" definitely crosses your mind, but knowing that the views are amazing, and it's not that far up the mountain, and more often then not, when you take the little bit of risk involved in things, it pays with excitement and adventure, outweighed the initial thought. By a little bit anyway. I was thinking all of this, as we sat in one of only two cable cars running, and it was becoming fuller and fuller by the second. It was literally crammed with people :) That just adds to the worries. But it was fun. Not too terribly exciting, but definitely an experience. And we met some very nice people on the ride back down.
After the cable car, we wandered back up the street (more of a very long hill) to go try and find some dinner. After shopping along the way a little bit, and asking multiple people where The Tavern is, we found it and settled in for some good food. One of Isaac's buddies from school back in the day, owns this restaurant, so we thought we'd try it out. It was yummy. After a late dinner, we realized that where we were meeting Prem and his taxi, aka our ride home, was on the OTHER END of the main road through Mussoorie. In other words, the very long road that we had walked down, then up, then down, and then finally back up again to find dinner. Oops, didn't plan that one very well. Long story short, Mom apparently decided we were in a hurry and walked (Karina and I were practically running) very, very "briskly" back down again. All the way. By the time we got there I was worrrn out…as was Karina. Nothing like a fast walk to make you feel out of shape.
We found Prem, and enjoyed the very pretty ride with a view of all the lights of the city of Dehradun, back home. It was a good day.

Tues. we went back to block printing (another monkey went to the bathroom on Karina during this time. That's twice in one week. Maybe the blonde hair that they're not used to? I don't know) and back to Moravian. By the time we walked home again, we were greeted by some very happy people who shared the great news that Dave's tools had arrived!! FINALLY!! We all headed into Dehradun to Pizza Hut for lunch to celebrate. From there, Mel and Mom went and had some coffee and ran some errands together and Karina, Tenzin, and I headed home to lay Levi down for his nap, hang with Micah, and whip up some brownies for that evening. Mom and Mel came home, we (very) quickly cleaned up, and a bunch of friends came over for "tea" so that they could all meet Mom and Karina. It was a fun night filled with lots of music, laughter, and good friends. Can't go wrong with that.

Wed. morning Mel and I went to Hindi lessons, and ran a few errands. That afternoon Mom, Karina, and I walked up to Moravian to grab everything that we had had them making that they were finished with, and stopped by Jojo and Recha's to grab all the fun stuff that had been purchased a few days before. We hung with Micah and Levi while Dave and Mel attended a wedding, and then headed to Prem's house for dinner.
That. Was. So. Much. Fun.
I loved that my mama and sister got a chance to meet his sweet family and spend an evening laughing, eating, dancing, (yes, lots of this) and hanging out with them. Plus, get the cultural experience of eating dinner at a local's home. We all loved it. AND the food was delicious!

Thurs. was filled with b-fast at Chhaya, going out to the Leper colony, lunch at Motti Mahal, shopping for a cute shirt for Mom to remember India by, ice cream at Baskin Robbins, which turned out to be verrryyy odd due to the lovely Eunichs that decided to show up and demand money while we were there…full story on that later. A tuk-tuk home for the last time, trying hard not to think about what I knew the next day held, a very yummy Tibetan meal for dinner made by some of the ZK guys, and awesome friends that came over to enjoy it with us all. The three of us ended the night with hot cups of chai and warm blankets out on the church steps, under a gorgeous view of the stars. It too, was a very good/full day.

Fri. we got up super early. 4:15 to be exact, and headed to the train station with Prem. Jumped on a train and were on our way to Delhi. Mom had a mouse under her seat the entire duration of our train ride, which was a bit humorous. When we got to Delhi, we were greeted by our friendly taxi driver that Will had graciously hooked us up with, Grover. Yes, that is really the name that he introduces himself with. Haha how awesome is that name?! After about 10 min of trying to convince Mr. Grover that we did not want to go and sight-see the temples, but would rather just be dropped at the mall until it was time to head to the airport, we were on our way. We spent about 4 hours at the mall, which consisted of walking around, shopping a tiny bit, and dinner at TGI Fridays. 7:15 came wayyy to fast. Grover picked us back up and took us to the airport. Will Frazer was awesome, and super kind to agree to meet me at the airport at 8:00 and get me back to the train station, make sure I actually made it on the train, make sure I actually made it on the right train etc. Even though I had been trying to prepare myself for the moment that I knew was coming, it didn't help, and 8:00 also came wayyy to fast. Man, it was tough to say goodbye. No matter how many times you do it, I don't think it gets any easier. I kept telling my self "it's alright, you'll see them again in 7 more months"…but that didn't help. At all. It was hard, but God is good and I'm so incredibly thankful for the sweet, sweet time that we were able to spend together. It was such a huge blessing and tons of fun. Memories were made together in those two weeks that will last a life time. For some reason that I can't really explain, it just helps to know that she can actually picture what I'm talking about when I'm telling Mom about my day over skype. She’s been here, met the people I love, experienced a little bit of the life I live, seen the city I've grown so fond of, smelled the smells I smell, tasted the food we eat etc.

Thank you Jesus for the family that I have. Thank you that goodbyes are so stinkin hard. Because they're so hard, I know that I've got something special. Something that's so special, it's hard to let go of. I am blessed.

oops, sorry. Pictures are from bottom to top.