my first alone adventure

Today i went on some adventures all by myself. I stayed pretty close to home, but i've been out walking along the river (the Ganges, i think), and then to set up an account at the Internet cafe. Kyle and i also went on an errand to the "chemist" (kind of like a pharmacy) to get some stuff for Jesse (he's not feeling too good right now...) Crossing the street can be scarry at times, and the crowds can be overwhelming. It was rather quite and peaceful by the river (comparitivly!)

As far as i can tell there aren't too many rules to the roads, except "what's biggest gets to go first." As in most foreign countries, there's a lot of horn honking, swerving, and tight sqeezes! Sometimes busses just drive with their horn honking the whole time. and sometimes the honking is really ear piercing (when its right in your ear!) At night, its surprisingly quite. my first night here when i was awake in the middle of the night, it was pretty much silent, and i was surprised.

Indians are very clean people. They all bathe everyday. For many that means bathing in the river, or along the road side at water pumps. They're also very modest, so they bathe with their clothes on (a sari for women, and a little waist wrap for the men). As we were walking yesterday Beth mentioned that there was a woman named Gita who she really wanted Karli and I to stay with. (Gita is a young believer, she works at Sari Bari). BUT beth said there were two problems with staying with Gita. First, she lives far away, so we'd have to spend a lot of time traveling, and second, Gita's shower is outside...so we would have had to bathe with our clothes on for 4 months, and that since i'm white it would have drawn a ton of attention. I didn't come here with too many expectations, but i do have to admit that i was expecting an indoor shower. As it is, we take bucket showers. There isn't any hot water, so we warm it up in a bucket, and have a little pitcher that we dump over our heads to shower. I was a little taken aback at first, but its not so bad at all...it sure uses a lot less water than our showers do.

There is a family that lives in the courtyard of the apartment building, and the mother told beth that she goes down to the river every day and has a 1 hour punja (i think thats the word, its a "worship service") to her god. The devotion to the gods is amazing, and in some ways humbling. how is it that her actions show more devotion to an idol than mine do to the Living God? and its also heart breaking. such devotions and care to a god that cannot save...

i'll try to post come pics soon. Its a bit complicated cause my camera is dumb, but i'll work on it. Also, i haven't really taken too many yet...i'll see what i can do.

thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
love yous!