It REALLY is a small world...

There are no pictures this time, but I just had to blog about this while it was fresh in my mind.

Mike and I went out yesterday to try and find a pretty wooden screen/room divider.  We were at this small store talking to this young man who was asking a lot of questions about the US.  (Most of the time this is a sales technique used to entrust you.)  Anyway, he asked if people from the US had different accents.  We said yes, depending on where one lives.  He said he asked because he was having a hard time understanding ME!  Okay, I may have a slight southern accent, but is it THAT bad??  It must be, because he is the second Indian to tell me that. 

Then he says,  "You sound like that actress. What's her name? Sandra Bullock. You know, from the Blind Side."  Yes, I know several of you are laughing uncontrollably right now.  Great! So I sound like Sandra Bullock acting as Leigh Anne Tuohy???  Well, she did win an Oscar so I guess it's a compliment?  

Here is the small world part of this story.  We are from Memphis, TN.  Our children went to the same school as Michael Oher and and the Tuohy kids.  Michael and Collins were a few years ahead of our oldest son and "S.J." was in our youngest son's class.  

Who would have imagined I would be standing in a small store in Hyderabad, India talking about the Tuohy family from Memphis, TN?

The young muslim man we were talking to said it was one of his favorite movies...even quoted the Bible verse on the school:

"With men, this is impossible; but with God, all things are possible."  Matthew 19:26

Mike and I don't believe in coincidences.  This movie opened up a dialogue with this young man so we could share a little about our faith with him.  I will see him again later this week when he delivers the screen. Maybe we can talk more.  

Agra

I made a quick trip up to Agra this week with some friends that were here from the US.  We flew to Delhi and then made the 3.5-hour drive down to Agra.  One of the best things about the trip was being in the car with them while we were driving through Agra at night!  It is a small town with narrow streets, cars, tuk tuks, scooters, dogs, cows, pigs, tons of people walking in the street and the occasional monkey darting past!  Our driver drove like a typical Indian driver: fast (to us anyway) and not necessarily staying on his side of the road. I was proud of them, though. There were no screams…just the occasional “oh my gosh!”  Here are some highlights of the trip:

Rickshaw ride from the hotel to the Taj Mahal

View through the gate

The Taj Mahal is an architectural wonder!  Construction began on the marble mausoleum around 1632
and was completed around 1653.

 

Part of one of the walls on the outside of the Taj Mahal detailing
the marble inlay work.

The pieces are all cut, shaped, smoothed and placed into
the marble by hand.

The design is made up of lots of separate pieces.
One flower could have 100 parts to it.  Some
tale tops take over a week to make.

It's very detailed work.  Some table tops have thousands of pieces of gemstones such as mother of pearl, lapis,
onyx, malachite, ruby and amethyst.

Creative Beggars

This sure is a unique way to beg. (Unique to me, anyway!) These men are standing outside people's houses and playing music until someone gives them something.   Accompanying them is a cow dressed in it's finest! 

On the road again...

I said earlier that there would be lots of posts on traffic.  An Indian friend told us that there is only one traffic rule...you can do anything...drive on the sidewalk, drive on the wrong side of the road, cut someone off, fail to yield to oncoming traffic...but just don't hit anyone!  So with that being said, here are some pictures from a typical day on the road:

This is one of the unfortunate realities of life in India...children begging in the traffic.  That will
be a blog post of it's own at some point.

Not sure what they were protesting, but it totally screwed up the traffic.  I'm
sure that was their intent.

To the US and Back...

Well, it’s been a while since my last blog post.  I’m going to try and be more consistent.

We had a great trip home for Christmas and then Weston came back to Hyderabad with us.  It was a quick trip over here for him, but we packed a lot into it.  I asked him what he thought about India and he said that he couldn’t quite put it into words.  That is so true!  I know I’ve said it before, but you have to experience it for yourself.  No one can describe how it really is with words!

I did get to see some family and friends while I was in the US, but not nearly enough of you!  I just want all of you to know how much a love and value you!  You really don’t realize what you have until it’s far away. 

One of the highlights over the holiday was wedding dress shopping with Matthew’s fiancé, Sarah!  She was so sweet to wait until I could go with them.  It was a special day with Sarah, Vanessa (her maid of honor), Anita (Sarah’s mom) and Pam (my mother-in-law).   Unless I was specifically asked, I kept my opinions to myself.  Yes, I am going to be the BEST mother-in-law!!  J  I can’t wait until Matthew sees her on their wedding day!  She looks like a princess!

Weston left this morning.  We had a great week.  We did all the touristy things while he was here:

7 Tombs of the Qutb Shahi rulers:

       

 Golconda Fort (near our house), where these guys wanted their picture taken with Weston:

We were trying to decide

which "celebrity" he should be.  I think he's too cute to be Justin Bieber!

Golconda Fort

Chowmahalla Palace in the Old City

On our morning walk, these guys wanted us to take their picture.
I have no idea what those are on their backs.

There is more to write, but Mike and I are getting up early in the morning and driving to Solapur about 300km from Hyderabad.  We are going to meet up with some friends from Collierville and then head back on Monday.  I'll post more this week!  I still have to tell you about our deer head (mis)Adventure!  :)