It doesn't seem possible but today marks 100 days for us here in India! That is crazy!! We have been here just over three months now! The days and weeks just keep flying by! It seems like only a couple days ago I was writing the 2 month blog! We are a quarter way through our year here! Seems crazy! We had a great July here in Delhi with lots of things to share. This may be a long blog so you might want to grab a good cup of chai or coffee as you settle in!
July begins the monsoon season. The monsoon brings some rain (although they say this year is a dry year) which helps to cool down the temperatures a bit but adds a good bit of humidity! Most days the humidity has stayed above 50% and even up to 80% at times which makes it pretty hot but still more bearable than those 115 degree days back in June!. Here are a few pictures of some flooded streets this past weekend as we were heading to the mall to watch a movie!
Before we get into the full month of July, I forgot to add something in the blog for last month. One of our first weekends we were here we met the India National Basketball coach at the Defense Colony Market. He had given us his business card and told us to contact him and maybe we could do dinner some time. We contacted him and were able to join he and his wife at their house back in the month of June. We enjoyed a great meal and great conversation! They are just one example of the many neat people you meet as you are abroad!
Now back to July. We started the month of July with a great Fourth of July weekend! On July 5th we were able to go and walk around Lodi Gardens which is a large park here in Delhi. There are old ruins throughout the park and it provides lots of green space, which is always a great sight! The vast amounts of trees also provide some insulation from all of the honking and noise we have grown more accustomed to.
We attended the Fourth of July celebration at the American Embassy on July 5th as well! We went along with some friends Chad and Brenda who we met that have moved here from Oregon and live across the street. The celebration was great! They had a wide variety of American food to choose! I had a nice Philly Cheesesteak and Kaysi had a pulled pork sandwich! Both were awesome! They also had a cover band for the night as well! They were probably one of the best cover bands I have ever heard perform! They performed everything from Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World to Oasis’s Wonderwall! And each song they matched the voice of each band! It was such a great time!
With the weather being downright hot Kaysi decided to get a hair cut. She got her hair cut back in June and just got a little cut off. She was glad to have it a little bit shorter to help with it not being so hot, but she decided in July to do a little bit more of a hair cut and cut probably six or seven inches off. The guy at the salon wasn’t too keen on the idea and Kaysi actually had to tell him to go shorter. Women here in India definitely cherish having long hair and so her wanting to cut some of her beautiful hair off was hard for him to stomach. Also, she had some of the girls at the clinic be a little bit sad because of her choice to trim her hair. Her hair looks great and she is super happy that she can keep it up and off her neck! Here is a picture of her beautiful shorter hair!!
One pastime we have gotten to enjoy more often than when we were in the US is going to movies! There are a couple movie theaters fairly close to our flat so we often go watch a movie on Saturday afternoon. There are a few things that are different in going to the movies here in India! First of all the cost is a little bit less than back home, which is great! Also the snacks are much cheaper here! You can also get service at your seat in the movie where they will bring you whatever you want! There is also intermission in the movie for a quick potty break or getting snacks halfway through the movie! One other thing that happens in movies as well as on TV is when someone is smoking there are always ads that pop up on the screen that say “Smoking Is Injurious to Your Health” or “Smoking Kills”. We also have started hosting a movie night here at our flat and having friends over on the weekends which has been fun for us!
I had a great adventure in July as well! The pastor at the church we have been attending invited me to go on a bike ride with him during the morning. He had told me about it right after I met him and at that point I wasn’t 100% sure that it was a good idea. He invited me to join him on a Monday morning and I was still a little bit nervous about it but decided that I could at least give it a try. We left his house about 6:30am and rode around 20km. It was a great time and I hope that I get to go again soon!
Work is going great for Kaysi and she is getting ready to transition to be the most tenured CFMT here in New Delhi in the middle of September. She is a little bit nervous about that transition, but I know that she will do great! With that said we have just a little over a month with some of the great friends we have met here in New Delhi. Jevene, one of the therapist here at Vardan from the beginning, will be leaving towards the end of August beginning of September. Also Foster and Kristin who have been here for almost a year will be leaving in the middle of September. Its a little sad for us since we have formed great friendships with them all, but we know that we have made friendships that will last long after our time here in India! We were also able to attend a celebration with some of the Indian Physio Therapists a few Sundays ago. We had a great time getting to hang out with the IPT's as well even get a little bit of dancing in. Here is a picture of the dance club the party was at.. The dancing was fun (Kaysi and I even showed them a few of our moves...reluctantly...) We also are pretty sure we lost some of our hearing...
July begins the monsoon season. The monsoon brings some rain (although they say this year is a dry year) which helps to cool down the temperatures a bit but adds a good bit of humidity! Most days the humidity has stayed above 50% and even up to 80% at times which makes it pretty hot but still more bearable than those 115 degree days back in June!. Here are a few pictures of some flooded streets this past weekend as we were heading to the mall to watch a movie!
Before we get into the full month of July, I forgot to add something in the blog for last month. One of our first weekends we were here we met the India National Basketball coach at the Defense Colony Market. He had given us his business card and told us to contact him and maybe we could do dinner some time. We contacted him and were able to join he and his wife at their house back in the month of June. We enjoyed a great meal and great conversation! They are just one example of the many neat people you meet as you are abroad!
Now back to July. We started the month of July with a great Fourth of July weekend! On July 5th we were able to go and walk around Lodi Gardens which is a large park here in Delhi. There are old ruins throughout the park and it provides lots of green space, which is always a great sight! The vast amounts of trees also provide some insulation from all of the honking and noise we have grown more accustomed to.
We attended the Fourth of July celebration at the American Embassy on July 5th as well! We went along with some friends Chad and Brenda who we met that have moved here from Oregon and live across the street. The celebration was great! They had a wide variety of American food to choose! I had a nice Philly Cheesesteak and Kaysi had a pulled pork sandwich! Both were awesome! They also had a cover band for the night as well! They were probably one of the best cover bands I have ever heard perform! They performed everything from Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World to Oasis’s Wonderwall! And each song they matched the voice of each band! It was such a great time!
Work is going great for Kaysi and she is getting ready to transition to be the most tenured CFMT here in New Delhi in the middle of September. She is a little bit nervous about that transition, but I know that she will do great! With that said we have just a little over a month with some of the great friends we have met here in New Delhi. Jevene, one of the therapist here at Vardan from the beginning, will be leaving towards the end of August beginning of September. Also Foster and Kristin who have been here for almost a year will be leaving in the middle of September. Its a little sad for us since we have formed great friendships with them all, but we know that we have made friendships that will last long after our time here in India! We were also able to attend a celebration with some of the Indian Physio Therapists a few Sundays ago. We had a great time getting to hang out with the IPT's as well even get a little bit of dancing in. Here is a picture of the dance club the party was at.. The dancing was fun (Kaysi and I even showed them a few of our moves...reluctantly...) We also are pretty sure we lost some of our hearing...
Overall, we have been so blessed over these three months we have been here in New Delhi! We look forward to what God has in store for us in the coming months! I hope you have enjoyed the blog and thanks for sticking with us! We will add some more pictures to our India photo album soon as well!! Love you all!
