sjamesho.v3

new year’s eve started with a good workout of rooftop painting. actually so will new year’s day till the end of this week. so from now on i’m going to refrain from blogging about rooftop painting unless something different happens.

instead of painting this afternoon like we did on friday, we organized the gifts that were brought for the kids. it wasn’t so much “we” since its was Barry who brought the gifts… and a lot of gifts did he bring. there were some members of his church that put together a small bounty of treasure for us to unbox and sort.

there were a lot of different kinds of things which went into three different piles: girls, boys, and non-gender specific.

after sorting through the gifts, we took a break. i used about 30 minutes to take a short nap before the next big event… playing with the kids.

all kids regardless of ethnicity and culture seems to have limitless energy. so we attempted to burn some of it by having the girls and boys jump rope (one of the gifts) and play duck duck goose respectively. this time i joined in the game and almost busted my gut running around after being “goosed”. them kids are FAST! we then had them switch so that the boys could have a turn with the ropes.

another session of “on the bank, in the pond” was played. this time i think they got better because it was much more difficult to trip them up but eventually they started to fall for my trickery. the boys lasted about 75% of the way with about a third of the girls left. so i intensified my calls till only two very bright girls were left. they held out strong and at last there wasn’t a sole winner because they both were tripped at the last call.

the last game we played was “Jacob and Rachel”. its like “Marco Polo” except its two player and “Jacob” is blindfolded calling for Rachel who does her best not to get caught. after several players, they came and blindfolded me. i didn’t do very good for i had the constant sensation that i would run into the wall if i lunged for Rachel or hurt the kids in the process.

we had some time to kill between playing with the kids and dinner so some of us sang some songs while i played my fluke ukelele. it was nice to sing fun interactive songs like “We Are Soldiers”, “Oh How I Love Jesus”, and classics like “Everybody Ought to Know”.

being that it was new year’s eve, there was a special evening program than the usual worship which included a special time where people got the chance to reflect in testimony how awesome God has been this past year. at the end we were given some special snacks and then some fireworks were launched just outside the hall. it didn’t seem all that spectacular compared to what we experience in the states, but it was a real treat for the kids who enjoyed the sight.

its 10:15p and time for me to get to bed. i think i’m beginning to like this sleeping-early business.

last night i surprised myself by sleeping at 8:30p. yeah… for those of you who know me, that is a very atypical behavior. however, in the place that i’m at the community turns in early. so i guess i followed the “when in Rome” idiom.

i awoke this morning at 7:00a, if i remember correctly. so that’s about 10.5 hours of sleep. i don’t remember ever sleeping that much unless i was sick.

we went had Sabbath School with the kids at 9:15a and i once again led out in song service. this time i had four girls help me out leading since they know their favorite songs. it was easier that way. as it turns out, they know quite a bit of songs that i already know. i’m sure by the weeks end i’ll be able to learn their reportaire but for now they’re very happy to sing anything. after song service, i was the “special feature” so i ended up telling them my testimony… the one when God allowed me to get bad grades in college because i had presumed a direction that He wanted me to go. for church, Barry had prayer, Daniel called for offering, Lea read the scripture, and my dad gave the sermon.

after a delicious lunch, most of us (maybe all of us) took a nap and at 3:30p all of us except my dad went on a walk to a nearby reservoir that was about 40 minutes away for vespers with the kids. we learned that God woke my dad up at 2:00a so that he can work on the sermon. so my dad continued his nap.

once at the reservoir, Lea, Garalynn, Holly, and i lead out in song service. since we were outdoors we did songs with a lot of action. it was there that i learned that “stand freely” is equivalent of “spread out” since that’s what we were trying to get the kids to do before we started the action songs.

after singing, Benita told the story about Zaccheus. and after the story, she had everybody participate in recreating that event dramatically. the kids of course had a wonderful time.

later that evening after everybody had dinner, we joined the kids in the boys dorm for some fun and games. the headmaster put us in charge of the games which we lead out in Simon Says, On the Bank-In the Pond, Fire Around the Mountain, Duck Duck Goose, Shark/Minnow, Charades, Freeze Tag.
Charades didn’t go as well as we had hoped. the girls acted out “dog” for the boys to guess but as soon as the girls started the boys did it right back at them and advance toward the girls so the girls quickly ran away.

the day was very full and now i’m going to get some sleep and its just now 10:30p. hmm… if i can get to sleep before midnight every night when i get back to the US, i’d be very very happy.

today and for the next week and a half, i woke up sometime between 6:30-7:00a. it is quite uncharacteristic for me but also it is quite refreshing… both literally and figuratively. i wonder if i would be able to do this once i get back to the States.

i walked around the school campus to get an idea of where everything is since last evening we arrived when it was dark. the morning light against the clouds greeted me with its glow right outside our room which at home i sometimes see as i go to bed (a most unhealthy habit and not advised). the building is the cafeteria/hall.

i was, and still am, humbled by their expression of welcome in this banner. i’m sure this wasn’t inexpensive. however this token, to me, showed their greatfulness and appreciation of our presence even before we even started work.

today we started to paint. here are some of the boys who helped with supplying the paint and/or shadowed us with paint trays and buckets as we painted. the one in the blue plaid shirt helped me most of the time. i’ve never met a group of young people so willing to help… even to move my water bottle. truly their willingness and attitude of service is deeply rooted in the character of Christ. i wonder if they are helping me more than i am there to help them.

we were grouped in two teams of four and it so happened that the groups divided themselves by gender since there was an even number of men and women. here my dad and Daniel are the last painters on the roof as they paint themselves out. the process we typically followed was to paint the 12 vents first (you can see three of them in the picture), paint the edge, and then roll paint on the flat surface of the roof. certain steps may be overlapped obviously. for example, if two vents have yet to be painted and two people are painting them, then the other two will start edging or rolling. if i remember correctly, we average about two hours per roof.

it was a good day and i hope to have a very good rest tonight.

we didn’t sleep very long last night… maybe about six hours or so. but even though we slept a little less than we would have liked, my dad and i felt quite rested.

this was the view of the sunrise from our hotel window. it is 6:40a and already there was traffic. oh yippee. we were supposed to leave for the airport at 7:00a, but since a buffet breakfast was included we had to get some of that action. the hotel cafe opens at 7:00a but they said that they would wait for us.

lobby atrium

on the way to the elevator i quickly took pictures of the lobby atrium. i think that’s what they call it. i’m not sure. anyways, it looked better in the day since its naturally lit from the top. you can see the cafe on the lower left portion of the picture where we had breakfast.

indian food for breakfast

papaya

i wished i knew the names of the various Indian foods. i wished i had simply taken the pictures of the labels that had names of the food them. but since we were pressed for time we ate until the concierge told us that our shuttle was ready.

when we got to Chennai’s domestic terminal we immediately noticed how much “nicer” it was than the international terminal. you would think that a city would want a nicer international terminal to make a good impression to its international travelers. if there’s a reason, i’m not seeing it.

we were fortunate to be one of the first people in line when the counter opened. but when we it was our turn at the counter they said that our luggage wasn’t ready to be checked in because it hadn’t been x-rayed and machine-strapped. oh… i’m sorry, if only there were clear signs and directions telling us to do so. so we got out of line and waited in the luggage security line to have it x-rayed and machine-strapped. then we had to get back in line, which was now longer, to check our bags.

it was 8:50a when i took this picture. our flight was scheduled at 10:00a so we would have been boarding soon. but 9:30a came and there was no boarding call. you can’t see Holly to my left but as it turns out my dad and i sat right next to another Maranatha volunteer going on the same project. i thought that there might be some volunteers on this flight, so i peeked at the book she was reading for some sort of clue but didn’t recognize it. so i thought if she is a volunteer she might recognize a book a little more obvious so i pulled out my Acts of the Apostles and started reading. though my dad didn’t know what i was doing, he pulled out his Sabbath School lesson quarterly and moments later Holly inquired whether we were on the Maranatha project. how wonderful it is that God places people together. out of all the seats that were available in the waiting area that we sat next to each other.

well, 10:00a came and left. so did 11:00a. my dad went to investigate the matter and returned telling us that it was because of the fog that our flight was delayed. it was nearing lunch time and still our flight time was undetermined so my dad started to go to find some food. it was about 11:45a that i got inspired to pray about the situation so Holly and i had a prayer session about the fog and about five minutes later my dad came back. he received an impression that if the plane arrived while he was eating lunch, he would have forfeited the flight for food like Esau forfeited his birthright. it was shortly after he returned that it was announced on the PA system as well as on the flight status board that our plane had landed and our flight will resume at 12:30p.

the plane! the plane! it had finally arrived thank God! now we were able to continue on our journey with an hour flight to Visahkapatnam or Vizag (VTZ).

one hour later we arrive at Vizag which was about 2:00p or so. after getting our luggage and meeting up with Tom Lloyd, our Maranatha project coordinator, we learned that we were the first group to arrive at the airport. all the other flights that the other volunteers were on were also delayed. crazy fog!

one hour later we are now altogether and loading up the SUVs to head to Jeypore. the guy in the center of the photo wanted to “help” but Tom discouraged him because it will only lead to more and more people wanting to “help” and we just didn’t have expense for that.

5.75 hours later after traveling on a mountain road that wound back and forth we arrived in Jeypore at the Immanuel English School of Seventh-day Adventists. some of the girls waited for us to arrive and then came out to welcome us with flowers. i would have said leis but i don’t think they call them leis in India. though it was about 8:45p, we were very carsick which made us very tired. so we looked forward to a bath and bedtime since we will be starting bright and early tomorrow morning.

our journey to India was over but we still had more traveling yet to do the next day. i didn’t know what to expect when we landed in Chennai (MAA). however i was a little surprised that it wasn’t nearly as humid as it was in Malaysia even though people told me it would be warm. of course it could be latitude thing.

as my dad is looking for our luggage, i quickly take a few shots of myself in the Chennai International baggage claim area. after all the luggage had been transferred and the luggage belt stopped, my dad and i were quite worried because we didn’t see his checked suitcase. of course, we couldn’t see his suitcase because it had already been taken off the belt and had several Indian men standing near it blocking our view. it was only when they started to disperse that i saw it and signaled my dad to its location to which we were both relieved.

when we walked out of the international terminal, i was quite amazed at the amount of people that come out to receive whoever they are waiting for. i’m so used to how we do things in the states because we’re too cheap to park and wait that we’d circle the arrival terminal until we eventually see who we are picking up.

my dad and i didn’t make arrangements for a place to stay the evening that we arrived. but there was this hotel “agent” in his rather ghetto-like office that was just outside the terminal. i took the previous picture from the same place that i took this one of my dad “negotiating” a price for a hotel that the agent “claimed” to be only 15 minutes away from the airport. at first i didn’t know what my dad was doing. in his silence, i thought he was just thinking it over so i told him that US$90 is a decent price for a hotel since some motels go for US$80 in some places… and that’s just for a single. but in his silence, he was able to get the price to come to US$90 since US$120 was what was offered in the beginning. i’m sure it still could have come down a little more but we were tired and looking forward to getting some rest soon before having to leave early in the morning the next day.

the first life experience lesson in India that we learned was that people who help you out expect tips. everywhere you go people will help you with your bags even though you can perfectly carry them yourself and then turn around and hit you up for a tip. so if you are fully able and can carry your own stuff, be adamant and refuse help even to the point of grabbing your bags from them unless you want to start giving money away.

we learned this by the shuttle to our hotel. obviously we didn’t know which shuttle would take us to the hotel so there were two guys that pushed our luggage cart to the parking lot where the shuttle was and loaded them. after that we were a little wiser and a little more prepared in what to expect.

our US$90 room

we arrive at the hotel 40 minutes after leaving the airport. okay… bad traffic aside… i doubt that anyone could have made it to the hotel in 15 minutes in good traffic. seems time is flexible in India. anyways… after checking in and entering the marble-floored room both my dad and i were very impressed. this was our first night in India and a clean room and comfortable bed is just what’s needed after 30 hours of traveling and transits.