oops we did it again

Teresa and I both said we were done with India after we visited 4 years ago. We explored much of the country and did enjoy what India had to offer: we saw rainforest, Himalayas, desert, a Wonder of the World, cities, slums, regular Indian life and we volunteered at Mother Teresa's homes. Our trip was good. We were okay when it was over. This clearly begs the question: why are we here again? We have spent the last little while asking ourselves the same thing. We just plain are. We both felt convicted (I'm not a fan of the term "called"). It just seemed right. Then when the idea presented itself and things kept "falling" into place I, for one, could not come up with a valid reason not to go. Believe me, I tried. I could stay in Ontario and camp, work for my brothers, hang out, work on my yard, visit folks etc...but (and I do not mean to offend nor sound pious) but others can do that, making money seemed selfish and I can do that later in life when I don't have the chutzpah to go to India and volunteer. I felt like if I could, I should. Every reason I came up with afterwards to not go seemed...selfish. I am single, an adult, working full time with the gift of summers off with nothing/no one in Canada needing me, so how could I not?

This reminded me of one of my classes at Regent (a theological school in Vancouver: if you want an incredible educational experience: GO!). I was in a seminar with 6 male students. They were all 3rd or 4th year Masters students: I was the gong show high school teacher with a Kinesiology degree who showed up for a semester and took this high-end seminar course. At one point we had to introduce ourselves. I explained that I lived my life through the lens of, "why not?" This freaked out most of these über-intelligent, book-lovin', big-word-using, sport-hating, tie-wearing guys. They could not fathom how to live life in such a way. Well, two years later, I apparently continue to live life this way. Teresa presented a 6 week, almost exclusively volunteering trip to India and all I came up with was, "why not?"

The idea first presented itself in May but I didn't think it would be real. We booked flights on June 15. We left on Tuesday evening, July 4. Somewhat spontaneous 'eh? On Tuesday I got picked up by a friend just after 8p.m. after spending every minute I could on making my yard neat for my absence (because that makes sense). Terminal 2. Air Canada. Yuck (for the record I strongly dislike flying with Air Canada).

I'll spare you the stupid details that made our first flight to London a gong show. I had an aisle seat, dinner on the plane was decent and the entertainment choices were good. I watched "New Girl" and laughed out loud in every episode. It's extra funny because the main character is Hundo-p my sister, Kelsey.

Here's the scoop:

• 3 flights to get here: 6 hours to London, 9+ hours to Mumbai, 2.5 hours to Kolkata. We had aisle seats to London and front row for the other two flights. We were comfortable.
• We had four airplane meals. The last one, an Indian breakfast, was hard to swallow, literally. Thankfully we had fresh fruit and water to help. What was it that we ate you ask? We have no idea. But we know it wasn't beef.
• Travellers are often ignorant and think they're the most important people in the world. T (Teresa) and I can't handle that and aren't afraid to do our part in teaching people lessons. This may or may not include passive aggressive comments and strategically using body positioning to etch people out.
• I left my house at 8ish on Tuesday evening and we were sitting in our hotel by Thursday morning at lunchtime. All in all we were travelling in some form (car, feet, plane, taxi) for 30+ hours. I was exhausted.

On the flight from London to Mumbai, I chose to watch two movies. First I watched "Fences" with Denzel Washington. It tells the story about an African American family in 1950s Pittsburgh. The, I daresay, iconic line is, "Some people build fences to keep people out...and other people build fences to keep people in." I can tell you that after being in India for a few days at this point, I have built a fence to keep people out. More on that later. I then watched Lion which is a good refresher on some aspects of Indian culture. Both were good prep choices, I think. Both spoke to the importance of community and truth. I love the idea of community and need to work on truth. In both films the main characters have love and support around them and, for different reasons, seek new communities for "additional" support/love/connection. To be frank, this seems to be my story. Somehow whatever I have in front of me doesn't seem to be enough. Is that why I'm in India? I suppose that's why I'm anywhere doing anything. 

We arrived in Kolkata and settled into our air conditioned hotel. We slept a lot on Thursday. Actually, other than eating Gobi Aloo, rice, naan and some boiled vegetables, this is all we did. 

Tomorrow afternoon is registration at the Mother House where we will choose/be told which home we'll be volunteering at for nearly 6 weeks.