Oh those tombs (oh those tombs) lonely tombs (lonely tombs)….

Merry Christmas (last week) and Happy New Year’s (this week)! In this week’s blog we will get to Christmas, to some unique shopping, and some sightseeing (in that section, the Hank William’s lyrics that is the title to this blog entry will make more sense). And (for the last time I hope) medical care in India. It seems to becoming a pattern but I will bat lead-off and Rae will be clean-up.

Tuesday was Christmas Eve but for us it was S-Day – the day I got my stent removed. The plan was to be there at 9:30 (second procedure of the day) get the stent out, be discharged by noon and get on with our day. Well, the first part happened: we were there at 9:30 but things kinda went downhill from there. First, when we reported to the area we had been instructed, nobody knew anything about it or what to do with us. After a few phone calls, they found out they were to show us through their department to the emergency room, which is where outpatients check in. Checking in there, after a few minutes we were told that our procedure had been delayed: it would not be until at least noon, maybe 12:30. They had my cell number so we went to find a more comfortable place to wait.

About 12:00 I got a call from the admin for our surgeon.

“Where are you?”

“We’re here in the hospital.”

“What? At Apollo?”

“Yes, we’ve been here since 9:30”

“Oh, okay.”

She then hung up before I could get any other information. So, we decided to go across the hospital to the doctors’ office area to see what she could tell us. She was on the phone when we got there. She made eye contact with us and held up a finger, as in wait one minute. When she got off the phone, she said, “The procedure is delayed. It will now be at least 3:00. If you want to leave, that’s fine, just be back by 3:00.” We had a few things we wanted to pick up for Christmas so we ran to Lajpat Nagar market to pick those up and have lunch.

We were just wrapping up when we got a call from the hospital asking where we were. We told them we were on our way back; we had been told we could leave as long as we were back by three. The person on the other end of the line seemed none too happy but said we should check in at emergency as soon as possible. We were there before 3:00, checked in; and after 15 or 20 minutes told we should go to the cashier to pay our down-payment. That done we returned to the emergency room; waited another 15 to 20 minutes until we were shown back to a room with a bed, a couch, and a TV. I was told to get into a hospital gown and they would be back. The good news was the gown was large enough. Well the top was, the bottoms were a size too small but compared to the alternatives I experienced the prior week this was at least doable. The bed in this room wasn't any longer but the mattress was quite a bit more comfortable than the one during my last visit. Which makes perfect sense since this was just a temporary room to transition in and out of surgery. Why have a comfortable bed where people are, you know, going to stay for a few days.

And then we started to wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. The good news is after an hour or so, they brought in a remote so we could watch some TV so Rae and I didn’t just have to sit and look at each other. Finally, at about 7:30 pm they came in with size 7 flip flops so I could walk into pre-op and then on to the operating room. They draped me so I couldn’t see what was going on. The doctor gave me some play by play but I won’t go into all the details. I will say, once we actually got started, it took about 10 minutes. The doctor asked me, “How was that? Not too bad?” As I told him, it was not the most fun I ever had, but it wasn’t too bad either.” None of it was particularly comfortable but there was only one point the pain was bad enough I thought maybe a sedative in addition to the topical pain killer wouldn’t have been a bad idea.

Anyway, they cleaned me up and rolled me into post op. Lying there surround by others who were recovering from much more serious operations and the results of the needed anesthesia for those operations, I thought: I need to get out of here. I sat up on my gurney and said to the recovery room nurse, “You know, I feel fine. Can I go back to my room now?” She just smiled and kept writing in the chart she was working on. I am not sure how long I would have been there but Dr. Taneja walked by, saw me sitting up in my gurney and asked the nurse why I hadn’t been taken back to the room. This prompted a bit more action. She brought out the ever popular size 7 slippers and asked me if I could walk. So I walked back to the room. I sat on the bed for a few minutes and said to Rae, “This is crazy. Let’s get out of here.” I went to the restroom and made sure the equipment all worked (a requirement before being discharged); dressed; and walked out to nurses’ station, and asked when I could leave. She said the final bill should be down in 45 minutes and to please wait.

I won’t go into a blow by blow and step by step description of what happened over the next two hours but suffice it to say it took me not only threatening but attempting to leave against medical advice (only Rae kept me there) for them to get their act together and get us discharged. I think they thought, “What’s the hurry? Stay. Have dinner. Relax. We have plenty of time.” I don’t think they had any appreciation how little I wanted to be sitting in the hospital on Christmas Eve. Anyhoo, no harm; no foul. 13.5 hours later the 10 minute procedure was done and we were home.  As I said at the start of this blog entry, I hope that is the end of our interaction with Indian medical care.

We did get home in time to have a wonderful Christmas Eve video conversation with Emily, Kai, Grandma Whyte, and sundry folks that were at the Whyte House. It was not the same as being there but it was fun. We got to see Kai open his present from Nana and Papa, which was fun. It was even more fun to watch him interacting with his cousin Kenneth. Needless to say, after a long day full of adventures (and a few pain killers, in my case) we were ready for bed. Sometime after 1:00 AM we crashed.

If Christmas Eve was atypical, Christmas followed that same pattern. I started the day with a pain killer and then we had great Skype sessions with Brendon and Rachel’s and Ben and Becca’s families, who had been together for Christmas Eve dinner. Then we connected through Facetime with Sarah and Jeremy and their family. (Yes, if you are keeping track, three different video calls; three different technologies. That’s just how we roll.) Other than those calls, and exchanging the small presents we gave each other, mostly what we did was rest. Quite exciting, we are!

I have said before (and I think I have written this in the blog too) that we are blessed to be in India at this time. Just a few years ago we would not have had the degree of contact we’ve enjoyed. Being away from family and friends is hard; at times like Christmas it is even harder. But to at least be able to see people, and watch the interaction of everyone while we were talking, was a great blessing. We are planning on being back home next year for Christmas (and Quincy’s baptism). We look forward to that. This year’s Christmas was far from typical but still contained the essential elements: family, gifts (both material and spiritual), good food, love, warmth, laughter, and reconfirmation of the birth of our saviour. That will do.

Here’s Rae.

Well, this really was a far different Christmas than we’ve ever had, but I will say that if I was going to spend Christmas with only one person, Phil would be that person.  That’s as long as I get to at least Skype, Facetime, or Google chat with our other family members.  I won’t say I didn’t miss everyone because I did, but technology certainly does make life so much better.  I’m continually amazed at how much each of our grandchildren have changed and grown since we left.

I know that some of you are on Facebook with me so you got some updates thru the day on Tuesday as we spent our day at the hospital.  For those of you who didn’t have that pleasure, I will just say that after that experience I hope I never have to go to the hospital, and will do whatever I can to avoid it.  I’ve given Phil strict instruction that if my choice was hospital or death, just let me die.  It was a frustrating day to say the least.  A total exercise in dysfunction.

Thankfully the hospital thing is behind us and Phil is feeling much better, so time to get out and see a few of the sites.  Phil had been told about some furniture places that are located by his campus.  They have antique, antique replica and new furniture.  Given my interest in interior design, I’ve been a bit itchy to go there and check it out.  It is far from glamorous, but I really enjoyed it and have my eye on a few things.  This place had at one time been very large and full of shops.  At some point the government stepped in and closed a large part of it and put in a park.  The businesses have managed to cram a large amount of furniture into a very small space.  There are no walls or roofs, (just some tarps) and the stalls are narrow and deep.  I know that I could go back many times and still miss so many of the things that are buried there. 

The government might have thought a park was a good idea, but the furniture businesses had other ideas and now the park looks a lot like a junk yard.  There are piles of trash, but also piles of furniture, and I do mean piles. In the “park” and at the end of each stall there is furniture that is being sanded, refinished and restored.  Just about every direction you look there is someone sanding and restoring something.  Words hardly do it justice, so we are adding a few pictures to help paint the picture.  It is amazing to me how they take these piles of junk and turn them into something that someone wants to pay money for. I know I enjoyed it more than Phil did, but he was a good sport and I had a great time looking at things and envisioning them in different settings.  

After furniture shopping, it was time for lunch at a Punjabi restaurant where we enjoyed some Dahl Mahkhni, Chicken Tikka and naan, some of our favorites. 

Then, it was off to see Lodhi Park which is probably Delhi’s equivalent to New York’s Central park.  It is a large park with walking trails and lovely gardens and open lawn areas.  There are no businesses there, but there are three different tombs.  As we walked thru the park we thought about our daughter Becca and her friend Starla when they went to Europe together.  They came home talking about the ABCs of Europe, “another bloody castle”.  Well, we have the ABTs of India, “another bloody tomb”.   It will be interesting to see how many pictures of tombs we have in our blog by the time we leave India.  We have also included some pictures from the park.  Hope you all enjoy the pictures of our ABTs.  

   

Namaste.

Show me all the rules girl, I just want to get 'em wrong, Show me all the rules girl, I just want to belong....

The last few weeks has been adventures in medical care, this week has provided an up close and personal experience with the Indian legal system. No, don’t worry; this was professional not personal. And actually, bureaucratic/regulatory system might be more accurate than legal system. I am not sure I can do justice to the roller coaster ride we've been on. Honestly, I am not sure I understand it. Anyway, here goes.

On Monday morning, I was in a meeting with our CEO when our director of administration (DK) knocked and came in. Apologizing for interrupting, he said he had just gotten a call from the municipal court. There had been a hearing and the judge had ordered our campus seized and sealed. I was like, “Huh?” Charu seemed annoyed but not shocked. I was gobsmacked. I didn't know where to start my questions. But first things first.

“How soon could this happen?”

                “Two hours to two days.”

“If they do seal the building, how long could it last?”

                “Three days to over two weeks. It would totally depend on the court.”

“When they come, how long will we have to vacate the building?”

                “An hour; two at the most.”

“How could this happen?”

                “” Hmm; well; blah, blah, blah, blah;” something about area use plans; requested responses; and possible unpaid taxes and fees.

I needed and wanted answers about how we got into this position but we needed to get plans in motion to deal with the fall out of having our building sealed. I called an immediate meeting of the management team and had DK explain the situation. We detailed the things that needed to happen right away: back up of computer files from the hard drives of anyone who has a desktop computer (files on the system are already backed up daily): identifying the physical files and records that we need to keep operating (these should be prepared so they could be boxed quickly); we needed a place where we could deliver the scheduled classes (fortunately we are at the end of the term; we only had one week of classes left before Winter Break); and where would the staff work if we were locked out? We broke the meeting with our various assignments and the key imperative of keeping staff and students calm.

By the end of the day, we had contingency plans in place, there was more clarity about what had happened and why, we had a plan in place to get a stay on the court order, and best of all, no one had come to seal the building. I was feeling pretty good about things and slept the sleep of the innocent.

Tuesday morning we had our weekly management team meeting scheduled. I started the meeting by asking DK for the latest update. He started to explain our plan for getting the stay and where we were in that process. In the middle of his report, his phone rang and things took a left turn. Our judge was on leave. This was either good news: a copy of the order could not be obtained and thus it could not be carried out; or it was bad news: we could not get a stay because the judge was on leave. New plan. Our attorneys would file a motion with the district court judge and have him issue the stay. If this didn’t work, or if it didn’t work in time, we would be locked out. Or not.

By noon no one had come. I had been told if they didn’t come by noon we were probably safe, so I took that as a good sign and went to have lunch with Rae. I was almost back to the campus when I got the call. They were there to seal the building. We had over 150 students either just starting or scheduled during the day to take their finals. Crap this was really going to happen.

I got to campus and DK was waiting for me at the door. He had convinced them to give us a couple of hours before they sealed the building; explaining we were attempting to get a stay from the district court. We started the process of having employees load the pre-identified files into boxes and get them stacked in the outside break area. We initiated the process of moving students class by class. We had the first classroom of students loaded into cars and we were in full blown crisis mode. Just as I was about to tap on the car and send it off, the word came in: we had the stay. We unloaded the students from the cars, explained that the emergency that had caused us to start to vacate the building was resolved and they could go back to class. 

Crisis averted, but it was a great crisis emergency drill. Everyone remained calm, worked hard, and focused on doing what was best for students. That we could so quickly put together a plan but then didn't actually have to implement it was the best of all possible outcomes.

We now have time to sort things out and after several meetings with our attorneys I know what happened to get us into this situation. The answer is very long and very convoluted. It is a tale of passion, suspense, intrigue, and betrayal. OK, it really isn’t any of those things. We found out our attorneys had ignored a court order to produce information on our compliance with land use regulations. To compound that, the two government agencies with monitoring and enforcing those regulations had not only also ignored the order, they hadn’t apparently done the oversight they were supposed to. The judge had gotten frustrated and basically said, “Fine, if you are not going to voluntarily provide the information I want, I am going to create a crisis so you’ll have to respond.”

The only good news is it is clear that we have been making the tax and fee payments. The bad news is the owner of the building we are renting may in fact not have complied with all the zoning and land use requirements. We have bought some time (we are okay until April) but there may be more problems to solve in the future.

Anyway, that was my excitement for this week. Now here’s Rae.

Ha, ha. Fooled you. It’s really still me. Rae is under the weather so I am going to write her part too this week.

Saturday evening we had our Branch Christmas Party. Once again, I think I will be unable to fully describe the experience. I will say, there is one aspect I can give an insight that Rae might not be able. She doesn’t know the Branch Presidency has been talking about the Christmas Party on and off since Summer. Further, the First Counsellor and I had developed a plan which was to be presented and discussed with the Branch Counsel. I don’t know the degree to which that happened since I was not at the meeting and every time I asked about it, somehow the subject would drift off or be changed.

I could never get a clear answer on what was planned, other than a committee had been formed. So, Saturday morning I texted President Jurial and asked what I could do to help. “Well, could you call all the quorum and auxiliary leaders to see what, if anything they are going to do and create an agenda? Can you conduct? Can you prepare and deliver a welcoming address? Can you get there early and make sure the main hall is set up?” Sure, I can do all that. I have no idea what the desired outcome is but, hey, no problem.

I was unable to reach anyone during the day so I jotted a few ideas about what the agenda might be and hoped I would be able to talk to the Branch leaders about what if anything their quorum or auxiliary was going to do prior to the start of activity.

I needn’t have worried. I have often said about such things as Road Shows and Talent Shows that practice and preparation was overrated. Half of the charm are the mistakes, miscues, and spontaneous jokes that arise. Of course the event was a lot of fun. We had over 110 people who came and, as they say, a good time was had by all.

Rae and I went to a talent show in Blanding, Utah. In the run up to that event, we were told, “It will be as good a show as you will you see anywhere.” Well, this party didn't rise to that exalted level but it was fun. It was like an extended family gathering. Some of the performances were better than others. Some were serious and a bit touching; some were quite off key; some were quite funny (at least based on what little I understood and the level of laughter I heard). Here are a couple of pictures of the Primary performance: a dance to "Jingle Bell Rock."

Then, after we had the closing prayer and blessing on the food in came Santa Claus. I can’t begin to describe that event so I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

We’ll see you all on the other side of our first Christmas in India and away from our family. We love and miss you all so much!

Namaste.

Stones would play inside [his] head, And where [he] slept, They made [their] bed....

I was torn about the lyrical title for today’s blog entry. I was thinking about using Bob Dylan’s “Everybody Must Get Stoned” and changing stoned to stones. But after the last six months, capped off by this week, I couldn't wish stones on anyone. So, I thought with a couple of changes "Stones" by Neil Diamond would work.

So, how are you all doing? If you are ever bored and looking for something fun to do and having a stone removed is suggested, I recommend giving it a pass. It really isn't as much fun as you hear. Oh, and if you have the choice, especially avoid catheters. During a time I got to experience variety of not so fun things, the catheter earned a special place.

I won’t go through the details of the procedure; I actually have no recollection of the procedure. I will say the doctor told us the stone ended up being over 1 cm and after they blasted it there were still six good size pieces plus some crumbs that they gave to us in a plastic vial. I have a stent in my kidney so that it can drain more effectively (it had gotten quite swollen). Getting it removed will be this year’s Christmas present (removal on the 24^th).

In general I will say this about my hospital stay. People seem to be much more advanced clinically and procedurally than they are in terms of palliative care or customer service. From what I could tell from blood draws, to injections, to the anesthesia, and the procedure itself everyone I dealt with seemed very competent and professional. In terms of general patient comfort, the experience was quite different from my experience in US hospitals.

A typical joke is that in US hospitals, a staff member is waking you every couple of hours, including to tell you it’s time to go to sleep. Here, there wasn't nearly that kind of attention. It is typical, if not expected, for a family member to stay with the patient 24 hours a day and see to their needs. During the night I spent in the hospital, I could have died and no one would have known for at least five hours. It might have been longer if I hadn't used the nurse call to get an injection for pain.

It might be at least to some measure a comfort with English, but there was also much less information provided to the patient when anything was done. If I hadn't asked, “What is this for?”, on several occasions I would have been given shots, had blood drawn, etc. with no idea of the purpose.

Finally a word on the facility itself and the equipment. I had gotten the impression, as we had made our way in, out, and through outpatient services, that a new addition had been grafted onto an older hospital. Having now been into the heart of the hospital, I know my perception was right. The patient rooms, pre-op, and post-op areas were all a little long in the tooth. I would guess the hospital itself was built in the 70s and has had only minor updating since. The equipment (outside of the OR and diagnostic which seemed modern) was even older vintage. The patient beds were narrow, hard, and only adjusted manually. I am sure my size didn't help but I am not sure anyone would have been comfortable on that bed. Things like gurneys and wheel chairs all seemed about the same vintage and in some degree of disrepair.

All in all, I am grateful to have had the procedure; grateful to have the stone removed; grateful to those whose generosity made the financial challenges moot. I am more than willing to have this be our last significant interaction with the Indian medical system.

That’s enough whining from me. Here’s Rae.

Wait. Wait. I almost forgot the hospital clothing! So, not unexpectedly, I had to wear the gown they provided. The first set was something. Modesty prevents showing pictures (or taking of the same for that matter). The pants were like a cotton speedo with legs. The top was like they brought me one for Rae by mistake. I somehow made it out of the bathroom to the bed without being arrested for indecent exposure. I convinced them I needed a larger set. The second set was exactly the same. One more time. Finally they must have gone to the bariatric ward and brought me a set that fit. Now for the slippers.  When they came to take me to the OR, they told me I couldn't use my own and they brought me a pair of size, oh say, “8” plastic sandals; I wear “13s”. It was a good thing I only had to walk from my bed to the wheelchair and from the wheelchair to the gurney in pre-p. Oh, yeah, I also had to walk from the pre-op to the surgical suite, which I thought was a bit weird.

NOW, here’s Rae.

My turn hmmm. I obviously didn't have any adventures this week other than hospital adventures.  I will try to share a few of my impressions and experiences.

The morning that we checked in, our helper Christina wanted to come to the hospital to be with us.  We felt bad having her take her time for that and also felt that we were big kids and could handle things on our own.  She did come and I have to say that there were times that I really appreciated having her there.  When we’d gone in for all the pre-op testing the week before, they had not given us hard copies of Phil’s cat-scan and ex-ray.  Once we got into his room, they told me that I had to go to the 3^rd floor and collect those two items.  Christina went with me and really was a help in getting them collected.  Even with her help we were sent to 5 different places to finally accomplish our mission. Left to my own devices I might still be there trying to get them. 

I know that their system is what they are used to and they think it makes perfect sense, so they seem to think there shouldn't be any confusion to us foreigners.  I still find it hard to put into words how amazing it is to me that everything comes with its own form, paper, or hard copy, and they are able to keep track of things in that format.  Somehow in that mountain of papers they can fumble through and find the ones that are needed for their purposes.  Continually amazes me.

Because we didn't have insurance for this surgery, we felt it was best to have a semi-private room.  Overall it was an okay thing.  We don’t know what was wrong with Phil’s roommate, but initially I was thinking it was something that was terribly contagious.  He was continually coughing, trying to clear his throat and spitting into a container.  Thank heaven for the, I’m sure, germ blocking curtain that divided the room.  As it turned out I don’t think he was contagious, but that curtain didn't make him any less noisy.  According to Phil he was a lot more comfortable in his bed than Phil was because Phil said he was a VERY loud snorer.  I won’t mention the very long and loud fart that he did during the night. 

Because the hospital was located just a couple of miles down the road from our house we decided I should just come home and sleep and then go back the next morning.  If I’d stayed overnight, the chair that I sat on during the day was made up of 3 foam pads stacked on top of each other.  They were intended to be separated and laid out to create my bed.  Toward evening, they came in and handed me a cotton sheet and told me it was for me for my bed.  No pillow or blanket.  After hearing Phil report on his night, I was thankful to have come home for a good night’s sleep, (I know, sounds selfish).  

Phil has talked about his clothing, and the small bed so I have taken a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure.  His initial outfit was pretty comical and I know would have been pretty uncomfortable if he’d had to try to wear it for his entire stay.  The nurse didn’t seem to believe us that he needed something bigger until she walked behind him, to show us what we were doing wrong, and saw that the bottoms really did fit like a speedo with legs. Here are a couple of pictures that I took that CAN be published without violating decency laws.

It was my intention to take a picture of the hospital from the outside, but always seemed to forget when I arrived there and as we were leaving.  Another thing that I wanted to get a picture of was the man who directed the traffic in front of the hospital.  The first time I saw him he was inside the hospital.  I thought he was some kind of Royal Guard.  He was a very large man, even next to Phil and was wearing a knee length robe and an elaborate head dress.  When I commented on him Phil informed me that he was the guy who directed the traffic in front of the hospital.  Really pretty impressive.  That’s the thing with India, some things look so elaborate, dignified and even regal while other things right next to that are shoddy and pathetic.  India is a country of many contrasts.

In any case, we are glad to have this behind us and hope that it is a once in a life time experience.  We know that his overall care was good and he is on the road to recovery.  With this behind us, hopefully some of our future blogs will be filled with another sort of adventure. Thanks again though to all those who have sent prayers, well wishes and many other forms of support.  We are blessed to have you all in our lives.  

Namaste.

Get the decorations, Hang them on the tree, Christmas decorations….

No news on the stone front. Surgery on Tuesday.

With that out of the way, I want to start this week’s blog where Rae ended hers last week, writing about the Dalai Lama. I have always been intrigued by His Holiness (that’s what we who are his close friends call him) and quite looked forward to what I anticipated is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Kind of like a convocation, all of the miscellaneous speech, comments and folderol were mostly useless. However, unlike most convocations the Dalai Lama’s speech was quite good. There was nothing really profound or earth shattering. His humanity, goodness, intelligence, and sense of humor were all evident. I enjoyed hearing from him very much.

His speech was followed by a question and answer period in which he answered pre-screened questions from the audience. The Q&A session made it clear that although he is a holy and spiritual man he has spent the majority of his life also as a political leader.He gave few direct answers; usually using the questions as more of a general topic area in which he could talk about what he wanted. Surprisingly, the most direct answer he gave related to the issue of a free and independent Tibet. He made it clear that he was no longer a political leader, having relinquished that title and responsibility. That he supported the solution supported by the vast majority of world leaders in which Tibet would be part of China but allowed to carry on its unique culture, tradition and language. The one place I thought he might prevaricate, he spoke directly.

Also this week I had my first birthday in India. Given how generally bad I felt, plus work and teaching seminary, we didn't do much to mark the occasion. I had birthday messages and/or conversations from all the immediate family. Additionally, despite the challenges of no real oven and having to use a small, table top toaster oven that produces uneven heat, Rae made me a delicious apple birthday pie. It won’t come a surprise to many of you that a birthday pie was more welcome than a birthday cake would have been. I have often said Rae can do anything. Overcoming the challenges of our kitchen has just reinforced that belief.

The rest of my week was made up of the usual: work, Church service, and kidney stones. In order to avoid having to be admitted to the hospital a day ahead of time,  I spent three different trips and in total much longer time than I would have if I had just gone into the hospital today. In any case I am now medically cleared for surgery; cleared by the anaesthesiologist, had a CAT scan so the last known location of that little sucker is clear; and cleared with administration. All that is waiting now is the procedure itself. Woohoo.

Also last week we mentioned buying a few Christmas decorations. Adding those things with the few items we brought with us, Rae has made our flat look as much like Christmas as possible. At the bottom are some pictures to share the mood. With that, I am going to turn it over to Rae to wrap things up.

Rae here.  This week has not been as exciting and event filled as last week, but I guess that is to be expected.  Kidney stones have pretty much been the theme of the week.  Poor Phil has mostly felt crumby and so we have had a quiet week when it was allowed.  He has still soldiered on and other than the multiple trips to the hospital for tests and more tests, he has gone to work each day and carried on business as usual. 

We are sending a few pictures of our little tree and our nativity.  If you remember in last weeks’ blog I mentioned all the gold cord I was able to buy.  I tried to take a couple of close ups of the tree to capture some of the ornaments.  The bows I made from all that cord, and the elephants you see came in a long strand that I had to figure out how to separate and make into separate ornaments. The other night the branch president and his counselor came over to see how Phil was doing.  They liked our tree, but seemed to think it was rather strange that I would hang elephants on it.  I love my elephants and will be putting them on my tree for years to come. I’m going to keep watching for other things that will reflect our time in India, and continue to add to the collection.   

The next challenge is how to hang them with no hooks.  Can we say twist ties cut into pieces and paper clips that can be bent, so glad I brought paper clips?  Some of these tasks were a bit tricky since I don’t have my usual supplies and miscellaneous stuff that I’m so famous for with all my grand kids.  I can’t tell you the number of times I would get a late evening call from one grandchild or another who needed to do something for school and would call to see if I had what they needed, and usually I did.  Those days are over for now but I find myself hanging on to some random and rather strange things, just in case.  I never knew it would be such a challenge to find wire and other things that I just had at home.

Last week I got brave, (for me) and went to Lajpat Nagar market by myself.  I had quite a good time going back to the fabric stores and buying the fabric that you see at the bottom of the tree.   I was quite surprised when I heard someone saying “that’s the lady from the church” and saw a mother and her two kids that I had met at our branch Halloween party.  They are not members, but their grandmother is and they had come with her.  The market is a very busy place, and it was extra busy that day because the it had been closed the day before and was going to be closed the next day, because of elections. So, I was shocked to run into someone that I sort of knew. 

One thing that I always dread about going there is that I always seem to be targeted by beggars, particularly mothers with babies.  They don’t take NO for an answer and continue to dog me and sometimes even tug on my sleeve.  They have been known to follow me across the market, out to my car and even after I’ve gotten into my car.  I HATE THIS.  I hate not giving to them, but we have been counselled by numerous people that we should not give them money.  This is something that I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to. Our driver Robinson advised us to carry some packages of nutritios biscuits in the car, which we give to beggars. They won’t all take them, and some are not very happy not to receive money, but we believe those who really are in need will appreciate them

The picture looking out the window is to show the stars that we got, also hung with the famous gold cord. They are made of paper and collapse down flat.  They are available in a large variety of sizes from a few inches to a few feet and also come in many colors and prints. Ours are all the same size. I know they are a bit hard to see, but since so many of you have been posting pictures of your snowy landscapes, I thought you'd be interested to see our dusty landscape.   

Well. I’m sure you've had enough of my ramblings, so I’ll close for now.  Next week we’ll be able to tell you about our hospital experience. 

Namaste.

Above, the city of the evening star Behind its walls, the Grand Bazaar....

For those of you paying close attention to the dates these blogs are published, our apologies for the delay. I (Phil) have still been dealing with a kidney stone. It has pretty much taken all of my strength and energy to deal with the day to day issues I have to cover. I haven’t had the moxi to deal with the blog too. Rae was supporting me in my sloth, so the blog didn’t get itself written. Anyway today, the 4^th, is a holiday of sorts in India and so we are going to try to get last week’s blog done before next week’s is due.

I said today was a holiday of sorts: it is Election Day and all businesses are required by law to close so their employees can vote. So, that sounds like a holiday. However, to make up for today being an off, Saturday is a regular work day. Hence, a holiday of sorts.

Speaking of holidays, in the US last Thursday was Thanksgiving. That is a holiday that is of no interest here in India. It is even almost impossible to find turkey so if one wanted to celebrate finding the traditional centrepiece of the meal would be missing. Rae and I had thought we would go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal for our Thanksgiving. I have about a week of leave days I need to use by the end of the year or I will lose them. So I took off Thursday and Friday so we could finally see Taj.

Because of my kidney stone issues, we decided we didn't want to be off even a couple of hours away from home. We decided to go with Elder and Sister Slocombe to Old Delhi and look for Christmas decoration items. I have mentioned Old Delhi before. There has been a bazaar in the same location for over 2000 years. Some of the stalls, like the ones which sell Christmas decorations, are more modern in what they stock. Some of the stalls, like those for spices and dried fruit, are probably essentially unchanged over that time. Here are a few pictures we took in Old Delhi.

After we got the Christmas tree and other decorative objects, we decided we should celebrate Thanksgiving with the Slocombes by having chips, salsa, and hamburgers – nearly as iconic as Turkey with all the trimmings! It was a fun day but it was a good thing we didn't go to Agra because by about half way through dinner I was done in. I had to white knuckle it through the rest of dinner and the ride home. When the pain really hits, the pain pills take the edge off but don’t really take care of the issue.

I finally broke down and went to the doctor. We spent Friday at the doctor’s office and getting a CT scan. I met with the same physician I met with in June. It turns out that when I thought he said I had lots of stones that what he actually said was I had a very large stone. It has moved but he thinks there is little chance it will pass on its own (around 20%). He wanted to do surgery right away as in that day or on Tuesday the 3rd. He did say I could wait a week and see if it resolved itself but he wouldn’t wait longer than that.

Most of you know that we decided to wait to see if we could beat the odds. Family and friends joined us in fasting and prayer on Sunday the 1^st. As of this writing I have not yet delivered thee bouncing little kidney stone. On the other hand, I have been blessed that the pain and nausea have been tolerable. We have also been blessed with real, tangible expressions of love and support from family. It is a lesson I seem to have to keep learning. The Lord answers prayers. It may not be in the timing we want or the way we anticipate. He rarely does so with overt miracles that defy explanation (though that happens too). Usually he touches the hearts of people, inspires them to act, and through them blesses lives and answers prayers.

We have had other interesting experiences this week. I will turn the blog over to Rae to talk about some of those things.

Hi all,

I will start by talking a bit about Old Delhi.  Because we were hoping to find some specific items, like a tree and some decoration, we mostly went to a certain area in search of those items.  I know that we barely scratched the surface and there is a ton more to see on future visits. 

To say that it is a bit mind blowing is an understatement.  Some streets are closed to cars, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t packed with motorcycles, bikes, carts, pack animals, pack people, and tons of people.  You might get some idea when you see one of the pictures we are including. 

Shopping for Christmas items was a bit comical as it seemed that every stall pretty much had the same items and at the same prices.  Most of which were not so nice, cheaply made stuff from China no less.  We did buy a little 5ft tree, some lights, and a few ornaments.  I then spend almost all day Monday trying to get our little tree decorated.  One of my best purchases was a huge bundle of gold cording.  It cost 110 rupees which is about $1.70.  I hung ornaments with it (because they don’t seem to have little metal hooks here), hung stars in my windows and made lots and lots of bows to put on the tree, and I still have a lot left.  Anyway, while we may have a rather little and cheaply decorated Christmas tree, we do at least have a Christmas tree and that makes us happy.

One thing that I had sent over in our shipment was my Willow Tree Nativity, a tapestry Nativity, and our Christmas stockings.  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  I will say that decorating for Christmas was a lot easier this year that it has ever been. It doesn’t take much to make us happy these days.

As you look thru the pictures, you will see two that are of an ox pulling a cart.  In the one you can see the cart moving down the road next to the car and the other is a close up of the cart.  Sharing the road with animals is so common place around here.  One picture that we were not able to get was one of an elephant that we passed along the freeway on our ride back from Old Delhi.  That is my second elephant I’ve seen.  Usually they are used as pack animals and this one that we saw was carrying a large stack of something that looked a bit like palm fronds.  It just seems so strange to be traveling down a wide freeway along with elephants, horses, other miscellaneous animals, and let’s not forget the ever popular cows.   

Another picture that we took was of a place to get you dentures.  We took a picture of one person selling them, but there were probably about a dozen on them, one right after the other.  Even their signs were the same.  It is always amazing to me how these people make a living when there are so many of them, right by each other, selling exactly the same things.  I can’t imagine going to some place like that for my dentures, but maybe they’re great (kind of like the shoe repair guy along the road).

Sunday was another interesting day.  We went to Noida, which is about an hour out of Delhi, to hear the Dalai Lama speak.  Because of our connection with the University, we were considered some of the special guests.  The auditorium was set up with white couches for the first four rows, and then regular chairs behind those.  We happened to have a couch in the second row and just to the left of the podium.  I guess I’m saying we had pretty great seats.  After the Dalai Lama spoke and put white prayer scarves on all the people on the stand he came down into the audience and placed a white prayer scarf on an elderly man who had been setting directly in front of us.  While we did not get a prayer scarf, he did look at Phil and ask him where we were from.  I guess the fact that we were white faces and Phil is 6’4” tall made us stand out a bit.  Anyway, it was a very special thing to be able to see the Dalai Lama, and something that will always be a fond memory.  We were invited to High Tea after, but Phil was feeling pretty bad and so we didn’t stay for that. 

Namaste.

Stones that I carry around, Every stone’s a story….

They’re baacck! As of Friday night, I am in the throws of a kidney stone attack. I am high on pain killer and pain induced endorphins. It’s taken me 15 minutes to write these three sentences. I am going to let Rae handle the blog this week. I’ll just sit here and drool.

Well, we didn’t post our blog yesterday. I am feeling better so I guess I can’t leave it just to Rae to write.

So, one of the things I think is interesting is the reaction they have and the advice people give me. I will say that I am often surprised by the basic lack of understanding about the human body and how it functions, even among people that are quite educated. This is more than a belief in traditional medicine because I also have found people who believe in and follow traditional medicine who are not uniformed about how the body functions. At first I thought it was just a language thing; even among the most educated, English is still a second or third language. So, I thought confusing comments were probably related to language differences. Now, over time, I have decided that, no, it’s just a lack of understanding about how the body actually works.

Here’s one example. I was told today that rice is the primary cause of kidney stones. According to this person, (well educated; family in the medical profession) rice is the culprit because the grains of rice get stuck in the kidney. I am not exactly sure what causes kidney stones. I have heard just about everything now but in the States and here, but I am pretty sure it is not because grains of rice have gotten stuck in the kidney.

Aside from my adventures in stone passing, this week has been fairly uneventful from my perspective. Progress continues to mostly be two steps forward one step back and one step sideways. Yes, Larry, I did curse myself when I said we had turned the corner. The corner appears to have a fairly long trajectory. One of the things I have noted is how difficult it is for many of our team members to be truly happy for the success of others. It is as though, somehow, there is a limited amount of good that can happen. If someone has a good thing happen to them, it decreases the pool of good they can hopefully draw from.

An Indian friend of mine said, too often his countrymen are like a bucket of crabs. It they can’t climb out of the bucket themselves, they for sure are going to pull back any other crab that seems about to make it out.

This post sounds much more pessimistic than I really feel. Yes, there are challenges, new ones arise nearly every day, but Rae and I believe we are here for a purpose. If we continue to move forward with faith and positive intention, everything will work out.

Now, the person you’ve been waiting for… here’s Rae!

The first of this week was pretty routine, but a friend came into Delhi on Friday and I spent the day with her.  We went to a place that I have been before called Nature Bazaar.  It features some of the same vendors, but they do change a good number of the merchants and feature different things for a period of time and then change after a while.  This one featured winter weaves.  One thing about India that you can always count on is that nothing is quite what you think it will be and that was the case with Nature Bazaar on Friday.  Their website said it was open from 11 am until 8 pm so McArthur and I met up there just after 11 only to discover that only some of the vendors were open and the actual hours were 3-8 that particular day.  The vendors that were there were more than happy to show us things and sell us things even if they weren’t officially open.

McArthur is married to an Indian man and lives in a village a few hours out of Lucknow (about five hours East of Delhi).  Her husband runs a factory there.  Because living in a village is different than living in Delhi, western apparel is not something she gets to wear often.  November-March is the heavy wedding season and she has many weddings to attend so she is always looking for things to wear to weddings and events.  Weddings in India are VERY different from ones in the US.  Everyone who attends is dressed in the most elaborate gowns.  I’m talking bold colors, elaborate beading, beautiful silks, brocades, velvets; the more colorful and beaded the better.  So, we spent some time looking at gowns and then ended up at Lajpat Nagar (a market I’ve talked about in previous blogs) looking at booth after booth of fabrics and trims. 

McArthur has a tailor in her town that makes her gowns and then someone else who will do all this elaborate embroidery and bead work.  Needless to say, it was fun and educational going with her to shop for fabrics and trims.  I’m going to post a few pictures of some of the fabric stalls.  You don’t find fabric on rolls or bolts like we’re used to, but rather folded and stacked from floor to ceiling.  None of the picture show this, but almost every stall has a large section of white fabrics that can be died the color or combinations of colors you could want.  These white fabrics are laces, embroidered, appliqued, you name it you can find it. I’ve done a very poor job of explaining how amazing it all was.  There are beautiful fabrics and trims and McArthur and I spent many hours there being awed and inspired.

All over the market there are men setting at sewing machines and you can take things to them and they will sew it while you wait.  You can have sleeves added to something, hems put in, kurta sets cut and sewn into the kurta style you want.  If you are wanting them to make something more elaborate then you would probably need to leave it for a day or two.    I’m hoping to find a tailor that I can have a few things made. I think I would like to have one person that I could continue to go to rather than just anyone I find sitting around the market.  (Something I still need to sort out.)

Phil has a couple of employees that are getting married and we are being invited to those weddings, so I need to find a happy alternative that I can wear to their weddings without being too plain and western, but something that I would ever consider wearing anywhere but to one Indian wedding.

There is woman who started working for the people upstairs just a few weeks ago.  I’ve never spoken to her, but she did say Namaste to me through my kitchen window one day.  Well, about a week ago she came to my door and gave Christina (my helper) and me each invitations to her daughter’s wedding.  The invitation is quite elaborate and I’m thinking “ this women is cleaning our driveway and front step and dusting the outside of my windows and, where do they get the money for something so elaborate”.  Anyway, I found it strange that I would be invited to a strangers daughters wedding, but I’ve been told it would be considered a great honor to them if we were to attend.  And, that 1000-1500 rupees would be an appropriate gift.  I forgot to tell you that the invitations was entirely in Hindi and so we had to have parts of it translated.  We aren’t going to attend this wedding, but will be going to the ones from Phil’s work.  Guess I better get going on what to wear since it is clearly a very big deal. 

Well enough of my ramblings.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.              

Namaste.