Mr. Bubbles

Elijah's First Toothbrush Experience

While brushing his teeth one night, Neal realized Elijah was watching him very intently, so, he decided to let him join in. Watch and see! So cute!

We then decided the next night to let Elijah try out his own toothbrush!

Market Videos

Here's two videos of us walking through our market, which is a minute from our flat. I'm excited for you to enjoy the great thrills that we get to see whenever we go out. The van in the second video is such a common sight...it's really way too big for the little street, but it's determined to fit. Therefore, they blow their horn until things move out of the way so they can pass. It's now become a common sound that doesn't seem to phase us much. Normal life here.

India IT Troubleshooting

So about one week after we arrived, they came and hooked up the internet. A guy came by and left a long telephone line, a telephone and a router/modem was installed. And the internet worked fine... for a while.

Then suddenly one day, it went out. So me (Neal) and our roommate Kyle went out to investigate. By following the line we realized that it had been cut off at the other end where it goes into the wall on the other side of the street. At first we suspected fowl play... Did the neighbors disconnect us so that they could  steal our internet?

                                  (A view of our phone line from the other side of the street.)

No we further investigated and agreed that it was the wind. But now we had a choice to make... wait another 4-5 days for the internet guy to come back, or just do it ourselves and be done today. We chose the latter. So we strung out the line and I threw it to Kyle. He then found out that the line was originally connected to a dark corner spot in a catacomb where all the wires connected to the main line.

 At first one may assume that we were in great danger. There is a giant power line nearby. The wires all come together at this one spot with a big hub. But actually they all were phone lines, which are only 24 volts (enough power to feel like a small battery on your tongue).

Now this is when things got interesting. Our investigation now came to a point where we had to decide which spot on this crazy mother board was our spot for our internet and phone line. The board was the biggest joke, a bunch  of random wires going everywhere. And actually the corner where it was located is the spot where all the local men decide to take a whiz.

            (This is the corner space where the main connecting board was, the perfect spot to take a leak.)

So imagine this, we are leaning on this dirty wall, covering our faces, and staring at the biggest knot of a phone line board that you have ever seen. I have to leave ever minute or so because the smell of urine is so strong. Random Indians are walking by us in this dark spot and going to get their bikes from the spot where they parked it in the "dungeon of doom". Yet we stayed focused....


After further investigating we found that our line had probably pulled free from a spot where the copper wires were very short  and yet looked very shiny and fresh. So we stripped the wires, re-secured the line and reconnected them.

            

         (This confusing web of intricacy is actually where our internet line connected.)

So you already know the result... We ran up stairs and looked at the modem. SUCCESS! We were so excited. We felt like super geniuses. I jumped up and down. We beat the system. Still connected to the world. This is how you survive in India. Small victories= great success. So we celebrated with ice cream.

(Oh did I mention that it went out again the next day. We found out it wasn't the wind that had cut our line, but big tall giant trucks coming from the car shop next door had clipped our line. So we just hopped up on the wall again and tied the line up higher around another line. Once you experience something new here, you find a way to adjust the next time.)

The Market

Most of our shopping is done at a market right down the street from where we live. It's really nice to be able to get all your everyday necessities within walking distance. Although this market is not the biggest or best, it still has so much to offer.

This was our first day and first purchase in the market - corn flake cereal, which is one of the only India priced cereals and not imported priced, and diapers, which are a must. I was very excited to see some Pampers diapers!

This first day in the market was actually very emotional for me. It was my first full day in India, and therefore my first day out. The air seemed so dense with pollution and the roads filled with dust, trash, rubble, poop, and everything that is was a sensory overload. Also, Elijah was coughing so bad (he'd been coughing with his cold, but it just seemed worse), especially when we went into the produce section of the market because it has the strongest smell. His eyes were also bloodshot and watering to the point where tears were running down his face. My mother's heart wanted to weep and I said to myself, "why did I bring him here?" I just prayed so much for God to guard his little respiratory system.

The next day, however, I went back to the market with two of my friends while Neal stayed home with Elijah. The Lord graciously gave me a new perspective while I was walking. The air didn't seem as terrible and although the roads were the same, it wasn't as bad to me (Kristen) as it was the day before. The Lord just quietly spoke to my heart and let me know that He's just as much in control, just as much a protector, just as much a loving father who cares for His children in India as He does in America, and I had no need to fear even such things as Elijah's respiratory system being junked up. 

What a precious God I serve! Thank you Lord!

The picture on the left is the first look at the market when you come around the corner from the road we live on. As you can see, vehicles, people riding and pushing bikes, and people walking are all together on every road. I love all the different colors of fabric that you can buy and have made into whatever you want. They're all so bright! I learned yesterday that certain colors are for winter and certain ones for summer, much like in the states. I haven't had anything made yet, but I'm sure I will sometime soon.

There's my two new friends. The girl on the far left is the wife of the couple we live with during language school. The girl in the middle lives across the street and knew our roommates. She and her husband have two kids, and the youngest is the one she's carrying.

 Welcome to the produce part of our market! It's awesome how many fresh foods you can buy! I've learned how to clean and prepare the food so that it's safe for us to eat and not get sick. Therefore, most of the produce sold is okay for us to buy.

Later in the week Neal, Elijah, and I went to get some bread from our new favorite bread shop (also one of the only shops that sells bread:)

Everyone Loves to see and touch Elijah! They always come over to us and talk to the baby and stroke his little cheek and hold his hands. He's a great way to meet people!

Arrival in India!

We arrived in India at 6 pm on Monday, February 20th! Wow, it's hard to believe that we are actually here in India!! Our friend picked us up from the airport and got a taxi van for all of us. I wish so much that we had a picture of the van, but surprisingly we didn't (shocking I know).  I'll paint the picture for you. The taxi van is a little smaller than the average mini van, however it did have a rack on time, thankfully. The driver just looked at us and the bags, and then he counted them all, thought for a minute, and then said yes.  Three big bags on top, two big suitcases in the back, three carry-on bags, Neal, Elijah, and myself in the middle seat with the stroller and two carry-on bags, and Josiah and the driver up front with Elijah's carry-on. Praise the Lord it all fit! I was very shocked, but this is India, which means more things/people in smaller places.

The ride was fun to say the least! There were lines on the road which stand for...um, I'm not actually sure...maybe suggestions...maybe. The main roads had four "lanes" with lines, but there were actually five to six lanes of cars, vans, buses, rickshaws, and the craziest part was all the people also included who were walking on the big 'interstate' road. Later we learned from a friend who's lived here a while the proper way to drive "nose ahead goes ahead", which means you're not being cute off, you just assume your place in traffic depending on where your nose of the vehicle is. This is also the reason why cars are always inching forward even when there seems to be no room.

We arrived at our flat and met the other couple whom we will be living with the whole time while we are in language school in Delhi. They are very sweet and they have lived here a month already and been taught where to buy things and how to prepare them, so they are very helpful! What a blessing! Here are some pictures of our flat.

Our flat is right above the sign to the automotive place. It's the second floor of balconies with the black metal fencing in front on the far right side. 

 This is our bedroom. Our flat has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room/dinning room, and a kitchen. We are all three in this one bedroom and the share the flat with another couple. It was all furnished and 'decorated' when we got there, except for the flowers which I brought from home, and aren't they beautiful! They've been commented on by four people so far asking where I got them. We have our own bathroom, which is nice. You can see the sun starting to set through the window in the bathroom. The shower, by the way, is in the middle of the small bathroom with no curtain. You just turn it on, get everything wet, and then you use a squeegy to scrap all the water into the drain under the sink. Welcome to India!

 This is obviously our little kitchen, and no the picture is not just showing half of the kitchen. The picture of our living/dinning room was taken from our front door so that you can see a little bit of both sides. Look how ornate the doors are - so beautiful! 

So there's our place until we move to our new city after language. We're thankful we have our own place to sleep and cook, etc. 

    

The Long Plane Ride

The plane ride from Huntsville to Chicago was only around an hour, give or take a little, so that wasn't bad at all. Obviously, the plane ride from Chicago to Delhi was much longer - fifteen hours! We had good seats in the front of the economy class, which was nice. Each seat had it's own TV in the back of the seat in front of it, which was also very nice. I'm thankful we didn't have the big TVs in the middle of the walkway where everyone had to watch the same movie. It was nice to change it up, turn on music, or just turn it off to sleep. Although the trip was good, it was still just really long. I (Kristen) tend to not do so good on long trips. My head and stomach usually start feeling weird, and then the rest of my body follows. Thankfully I just had a little bit of that this trip, and when I did Neal was very sweet (like usual) to take Elijah and hold him. Elijah did so good! He slept a lot and enjoyed watching the TV. The only part that was the hardest with him was his cold, which seemed to get worse the longer we were on the plane. However, all-in-all it was a good trip. God is good to us!

The first picture is Elijah and I listening to a kid movie through the headphones. The video is Elijah getting so excited while watching the same kid movie with Neal. The cutest part is when Neal turns him toward the camera to look at me and he turns his head back toward the TV and starts shacking his arms because he's so excited. Too cute!