I am sure there will be many more lessons that I will learn while I am here, but here are a few learned so far.
Lesson #1: Don't take the little things for granted.
On our visit to Solapur, we were driven around by a father/son team. The father is in his early 70s, but he always jumped into the very back of the small SUV. At some point during the weekend, I thought I heard him tell Mike that this was the first time he had ever been in a car. Now I don't always understand Indian English (Vinglish), so I look over at Mike. "What did he say?" Yep, I heard him correctly. This was the first time he had ever been in a car. Needless to say, I had to mark the occasion with a picture!
The next morning, Mike met them in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. When Mike came back to the room, he told me that not only was this the first time that the older man had ridden in a car, but breakfast was the first time he had ever been in a restaurant.
Lesson #2:
Never assume.
When we order Dominoes (at least once a week because it's one of the few easy things to do here), we order enough for the guard, our driver and whoever else may be here at the time. They are always very appreciative, but I never thought about how it is a luxury for them. The last time we ordered, we ended up with 4 large pizzas because of a glitch in the system. (I said it was easy ordering online. I didn't say it always worked perfectly.) We gave the guard some and put the leftovers in the fridge. Next day, I heated it up for lunch for our driver, the guard on duty and our new housekeeper. She doesn't speak hardly any English and I speak even less Telegu, but I could tell she wasn't sure about all this. In my best slow English and hand signals, I tried to explain that this was for lunch if she wanted it. She smiled, nodded and looked at the pizza tentatively. In the car later, I told our driver that I thought she may never have eaten pizza before. He said, "No, madam, she not before and the guards either before they came here."
Lesson #3: There is always someone who is having a worse day than me.
It is starting to get hot here. May is the hottest month. The temperature will soar as high as 110-115F during the day and cool down to a balmy 86F at night. Sounds a lot like Memphis, except most of the people here don't even have a fan, much less air conditioning.
Lesson #4: Never lose the ability to laugh at myself.
I made a pot of fresh green beans for dinner. They looked delicious in the store! I brought them home, washed them, snapped the ends and slow-cooked them for a couple of hours or so in chicken broth and lots of salt and pepper. Bit into a spoonful and BAM! They were green chili peppers! Can you say, "AQUAFINA"??
Lesson #5: Buy only what you need and then eat it. This reinforces lessons #1 and #2 also.
The other night, I put 2 boxes of very stale cereal out for the trash. They had gotten pushed to the back of the cabinet. When I say stale, that is an understatement. They were actually more like cereal blocks. Ten minutes later, there is a knock on the door. I open it to the guard asking if he can have them. (Yes, I am tearing up writing this one.)
Lesson #6: Indian kids may just be the cutest kids on the planet.
Other things I've learned so far from living in India (in no particular order):
*I am blessed beyond belief.
*I have the best husband in the world!
*Not to take my children for granted.
*Not to take my church and my pastor for granted.
*Not to take my family and friends for granted.
*Not to take my freedom as a woman for granted.
*Not to take my country for granted.
*The importance of a daily prayer time and quiet time.
*I can't fix everything.
*Forty nine is not too old to make new friends.
*Cheerios that come in a $13 box taste pretty awesome!
*I can actually cook and I kind of enjoy it.
*Never complain again about the traffic in the US.
*Not to take city garbage pickup for granted.
*It's okay to cry.
*As messed up as my US government is, it is still the the best.
*The meaning of "hair fall".
*How mangoes should really taste.
*It's okay to ask people for help. Not only does it bless me, but it blesses them too.
*How much influence the USA has on the rest of the world and a lot of it isn't good.
Most importantly, I've learned first hand what these bible verses mean:
Matthew 22:36-40 (NASB)
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
