Live from Guwahati

We arrived in Guwahati on Saturday. The journey was relatively smooth, minus Tammy's missing luggage (which arrived today). Our first day and a half here has been excellent. I love taking in everything about India- it is always a full-on experience. Guwahati is as I remembered- dirty and smelly. Dust covers the trees on the sides of the road, and the small ditches along the sidewalk are filled with black sewage. Sick. And smelly. The women are dressed in their saris of many colors, many men and women are seen walking down the street carrying just about anything on their heads. Bicycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws are common. Trucks are adorned with gawdy paint jobs, that usually say something like "Blow Horn", or "Good Luck".

It is fun to see my friends' reactions to this place. Ashley had a good laugh over a gang of sheep that were sitting comfortably in the back of a truck, as if they were paying customers. Wenny was a little taken by the adventurous driving (no, the center line does not matter here). Today all four ate Indian style for the first time, using their hands. We ate at the village school in Kalapani. The food was so good, minus the part where I accidently ate a chili.

But the best part about my trip so far was being here to see Autumn baptized today. What a special day!!! I'm so glad I was able to be here to see it. I did take some video, so at some point I'll try to post it. After church, a group of us went on a hike. It was great fun! Apparently they often see leopards on this hike...luckily we were spared that experience.

Tomorrow is both India's National Day, and a declared "bund". This means that all shops will be closed, and everyone will be forced to stay inside. It is because of the insurgency here. It's a sad thought, to have a city locked up on the day of the country's celebration. (But I do hear firecrackers at the moment, or I hope they are firecrackers, ha ha!) Anyway, we will stay at home tomorrow! On Tuesday we will start up our VBS in the village school. Today I taught the kids at church...sooooo cute!! I'm sure we'll have a great time with them at the VBS.

Time for bed! Good night from Guwahati!