Four Months!

August went by so stinking fast, which is part of the reason it is now Sept 10th and I'm barely getting the blog up! We have now been here four months. At times it feels like four months but at other times it feels just like a few weeks. August has been a good month with a few adventures and great time spent together!

The beginning of the month was a little stressful as we were trying to get money transferred back to the states. It took I think seven trips to finally get the correct forms as well as documents on our end to get it all right. It should be much easier now the next time we have to transfer money though! Kaysi and I are so thankful for a guy at her work named Yashpal, who helped us walk through the steps to get money transferred as well as accompany me to the bank those seven times! We are definitely so thankful for the people who help us to make the everyday tasks much easier! (Side note, I transferred money last week and it took only two trips, one to get forms and one to turn in forms!)

I think a lesson Kaysi and I are both learning is the lesson of patiences. We are both pretty easy going individuals but being here I think you learn that lesson even more. Things that would be fairly easy back in the US take a little more planning and time here and so we have learned to not get upset when things take much longer than expected. As some of you know I tend to like to be in control and I am learning to adjust to the fact that there are few things that I can control here, or in life in general. We are learning to be appreciative of the simpler things in life that we often overlook! 

We were invited to a dinner with one of Kaysi’s patients as well as a couple of Jevene’s patients. who’s home the dinner was at. They have a beautiful home and were such welcoming hosts! One thing that is a little different in India is the timing of dinner. Most of the time we consider if we eat past 7:30pm we are eating late. Here in India most of the time you aren't invited to dinner until 8:30pm or 9:00pm and probably wont sit down for dinner till after 10:00pm. Although dinner was later than we were used to I ate so much I could hardly get to sleep once we arrived home! During the conversation throughout the night I was asked if I played golf. I told them that I did and Jevene’s patient offered to set me up with a set of clubs while I am here as well as to take me to show me a local course or two. About a week later he approached Kaysi at work and had her give me his number to get in contact with him. I was able to contact him and he did set me up with a set of golf clubs and took me to the driving range at the Delhi Golf Club! It was great to get out and hit some golf balls on the range as well as hitting a few chip shots at a chipping green they have as well! Hopefully I will be able to begin playing some during the weeks or at least going to the driving range. 

August 15th is India’s Independence Day, to celebrate the Independence weekend we went on a stay-cation here in Delhi! Our friends Foster and Kristin let us know about a special that The Imperial Hotel was running for the weekend! We were able to check in early on that Friday and not check out till Saturday afternoon! Kaysi and I both think it was the nicest hotel either of us have ever stayed in! The Hotel is absolutely beautiful! It is filled with all sorts of beautiful art as well as tons of historical documents and information! It is almost like going into a museum! The package also included a thirty minute massage for each of us which were awesome! We were also able to eat at one of many restaurants there at the hotel for a nice date on Friday night and a great breakfast Saturday morning! One of Kaysi’s favorite parts of the hotel was the bath tub!! I think she took a couple of baths in the day we were there! It was a great and relaxing weekend for both of us! A break Kaysi definitely deserved!

our beautiful room at the Imperial

Kaysi's favorite part of our room! A bath tub!

We have met a few good friends through church! One couple we met the first weekend is Peter and Eddy. They live out in a nearby city called Gurgaon in a beautiful condo community overlooking a golf course. They invited us out to their house two weekends back and we were abel to enjoy the afternoon and evening with them! We went down and enjoyed the amazing pool and then had a great early dinner with them!

August has brought some different opportunities with the church that we have been attending. I have been able to help lead prayer one Sunday and also helped with a responsive reading a different Sunday. There are also men’s Bible studies and I was able to join one that is at the Pastor’s house that is close by on Thursday mornings! It has been great to get to fellowship and walk through the Bible with others! It begins at 7:00am so I am able to go there and be back at our flat to eat breakfast with Kaysi before she heads off to work! I will also be helping lead a High School bible study twice a month starting in a few weeks. It feels good getting involved in various actives! 

August ends on a bitter sweet term. Our friend Jevene is leaving India to head back to the US and so although we are excited for what is next in her journey we are sad because have grown close to her. She has been a trailblazer for us and the others who have come here to Indian to work at Vardan. Her work has made so many things easier for us! We were able to attend two different going away celebrations for her! One was on this past Saturday night at Jevene’s friends Kailash and Christina’s house. It was a great time of celebrating here time here in India! Then on Sunday we were able to get go to a going away party for her with everyone from Vardan. It was a great time of visiting as well as lots of great food! 

Jevene's going away lunch with the Vardan Staff

The last friday night out with Jevene (Also welcoming in Mike and Katherine will most more on them next month)

Jevene's last day in Delhi and her birthday cupcakes!!

August was a great month! We are so thankful for all of the blessings we have had so far! We are sad to see good friends like Jevene go but we know that she has great things ahead of her! We are also excited for a few new CFMT’s coming from the US over the next month! Thanks for reading and we hope to have lots of neat things to share in the next blog! 

100 Days in India!

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... 

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!

भारत में दो महीने (Bhārata mēṁ dō mahīnē-Two Months in India)

We have been in India for two months now!! WOW! It is strange to say that! It seems at times like we arrived just a few days ago! Just this morning as I was riding in the car to go work out I thought to myself… “I live in India!?! That’s crazy!!” The month of June has been a full month with many different things happening and us getting more settled into life here in India! This month’s blog is going to focus on some daily things we experience and see as well as a stop off at the Taj Mahal! Join us as we journey!

So the month of June started off much like the month of May ended… HOT!! Im not sure what the hottest day was but I know that it hovered around 115F for the first couple of weeks of June with heat indexes exceeding 120F. The vast amount of concrete and pavement in the city aid the temperatures remaining hi! During this time period overnight lows would dip into the low 90s occasionally falling into the high 80s.. With that being said we are so very thankful for the good working ACs here at our flat as well as those in our divers car and at Kaysi’s work! One thing that would be nice during this time would be a nice cool shower… the only problem is that water for most houses and flats are stored in tanks on the rooftops to help create water pressure in black tanks.. needless to say the water, even with the hot water heaters turned off, can be a little on the HOT side. Kaysi insisted for a week or so that I was just being a baby and not liking hot water in the shower. Her opinion was changed one morning when she too had a rather HOT shower with the hot water heater not even on… although she did admit the water was hot she still claims im just a baby…(I think she may be correct about that!). Most of our activities for this month have been done in places where you can be inside or at the pool which is always a nice break from the heat! 

In mid June the clinic hosted another course for the Indian Physio Therapist taught by Kent Keyser. It was fun for me getting to know him and get to try a few new restaurants while he was in town. One thing we did do that was outside was to go and see the Taj Mahal which is in the city of Agra which is about 200km away (about a three hour drive) with Kent and also Foster one of the other American Therapists at the clinic.  We left at 3:30 am so that we could arrive at the Taj right around sunrise and be back on the road home before it got too hot out. We arrived around 6:30am and were immediately approached by numerous people who wanted to take us on a tour of the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is beautiful! Words cannot fully describe how beautiful it was. So here is a link to a photo album of our trip there! Taj Mahal Photo Album Our tour lasted almost three hours and thankfully we were back on the road before it got to incredibly hot. One thing that was tough was the barrage of people trying to sell you things as we were leaving the Taj walking down to the parking lot where our driver would pick us up. There were kids probably as young as 7 or 8 and many adults trying to sell you magnets or little trinkets. Our friend Foster got the worst of it with two little boys following him for several minutes trying to get him to buy things. One other thing that was interesting as well as stinky.. was the camels that would give you a ride to and from the parking lot. We passed on the ride.. we had no desire to be at the back end of a camel in that hot weather…I’ll just leave it at that! Overall the trip was a great one and something definitely worth seeing if you are ever in India (my suggestion would be to not go during the summer tho… its a wee bit hot!)

One thing you quickly learn here in India is that there is a large portion of the population that is vegetarian. My assumption is that most of this is because of religion but others are by choice. Thankfully we have found good and reputable butchers to purchase meat from, although we have not purchased beef. Anyhow, because of the large vegetarian population almost all food items have a symbol on them that indicates if the product is vegetarian or non-vegetarian (veg or non-veg) The symbol is a box with a solid circle inside the box. Also, menus at restaurants are categorized by these symbols as well. Often the labels can be a little redundant and at other times quite humorous! For instance a bottle of Coca-Cola has the veg symbol on it.. Often times on menus items that are clearly meat as in Beef Tenderloin have the non-veg symbol.. It has been fun for me to look or the different labels. We did realize that snickers are a non-veg product.. this is due to the use of eggs in them. 

Good ole Coca-Cola! (Its made with real sugar and its ohh so good!!)

Menu at Johnny Rockets

Baconater at Smoke House Deli

One other daily site is the numerous Autos (or Auto Rickshaw which is CNG powered three wheeled vehicle). It is amazing how many people they can fit inside an auto!! Also what can be carried in one! The other day I caught a picture of this auto..

There also rickshaws (man powered tricycle) that carry people and then other tricycles that carry a variety of different things (they may also be called rickshaws..) Sometimes you see them carrying refrigerators.. other times huge tanks.. bricks… often I'm not quick enough to pull out my camera to catch the funny sites! I will be more diligent in doing so.

So overall the month of June was great!! We are looking forward to the weather changing and getting a little more rain! It should cool things off a little bit as well! Thanks again for hanging with us to the end of the blog and we look forward to sharing more and more with you all!! Love you all and miss you all back home!

Also here is another link to a photo album of just random pictures around Delhi!

India Photo Album

एक महीना (One Month)

Gosh!! We’ve already been in New Delhi for a month!! It doesn’t seem like that is possible! We have had a great first month here and have just about gotten fully settled here! I’ll try to highlight some of the things we have done over our first month here in New Delhi!

As I posted in the last blog we got into our flat (apartment) two weeks ago! It is great and spacious and a welcome retreat from the heat of Delhi! Believe me when I say it has been hot!! Once you get above 38C or about 100F it doesn't matter if its humid or not, its hot!! Right now as I type it is 12:05pm and it’s 104F but it feels like 112F! Needless to say, I will spend a good portion of my day inside today! But back to the flat! It’s two bedrooms and two bathrooms with a good size living and dining area with a small kitchen, but we are so blessed to have the accommodations that we do! Here are a few pics of the place!

The Living Room

The Dining Area

Our Bedroom

Scott's Closet

Kaysi's Closet

Our Bathroom (Sorry About my Swimming Trunks in the picture)

Guest Bathroom & Clothes Drying Room

Our Kitchen

The Washing Machine and RO Water System

Our Fridge!
I left out the picture of the Guest Bedroom.. its a little disorganized at the moment!

Now on to the rest of the blog!!It took a few weeks, actually it pretty much took a month, but we are now registered x-pats in India!! It took two trips to the FRRO (Foreign Regional Registration Office) but we got it all taken care of! It is quite a task to get all of the forms filled out as well as all of your supporting documents uploaded to their website before you even are able to get an appointment! Setting up our first appointment took Yashpal (one of the workers at VARDAN who is a huge help) and I about 2 hours of combined work to get the files to the appropriate size and uploaded. He also accompanied us to FRRO for our first visit! The second visit wasn’t as complicated! There were fewer documents to upload and it was a much smoother process! The second time Anupam one of the main managers of the clinic accompanied us and we were in and out in about 2 hours! (Thats quicker than getting a license at some DMV’s/MVD’s back in the States!). So yeah! We are registered residents of India now!!

Getting our registration completed also allowed us to get our internet at the flat as well as our sim cards for our phones! They are a little bit more strict on who they allow to have phones here (or at least foreigners who are here). After the sim cards were purchased it took about 5 days before they became activated. Before activating the phones there was a representative from the mobile company who came to our flat to verify we were who we said we were. That process included a guy who came to our flat, took down information from our visa’s, as well as pictures of them to verify we were legally here and entitled to a mobile phone! Much different than going down to your local Walmart and buying a Go Phone or walking into a ATT or Verizon store and then walking out the same day with a new phone and cell phone plan. So after that visit, a trip to a local market to purchase a phone (which I will write about later) and two phone calls to activate the phones after 5 days we had our own cell numbers!! Woohoo!!! 

So, the trip to the market to buy a mobile phone was an interesting one. I had went earlier in the week to one of the big chain electronics stores and just couldn't bring myself to pay what they wanted for the phones. Granted it was less expensive than what you would pay in the States. So after asking my driver as well as Yashpal at the clinic where to buy a phone I was directed to the Central Market (a market I hadn’t been to prior). When I arrived our driver, Rakhesh, dropped me off and told me to call when I was ready. I asked him where to buy a mobile phone and he directed me to a few stores. On approaching the first store I was greeted by the security guard who pointed at my backpack and then pointed at a chair sitting outside the store … Its common for security guards to look through your bags before going in so I unzipped it so he could look in. He then again pointed the chair and said something in Hindi, so I sat in the chair.. He was a little puzzled so I stood up and asked if I could not take my bag inside. Luckily a man inside the store came to the door and allowed me in with my backpack. I guess my driver witnessed me struggling to understand the security guard so as I was being shown phones he tapped me on the shoulder and then became my translator! Which I was so appreciative of! I decided that all of the phones in that store were more than I wanted to pay so Rakhesh directed me down the street to a different store where he accompanied me in and helped me in finding a phone! I think I got a fairly good deal on it and it seems to work good and should do just fine for the next year! Now the craziest part of the trip to that market was as we were walking back to the clinic. I am getting pretty confident in crossing streets and even walking along side them. (Mom, you dont have to read this part!) As we were walking, I hear and then look up and see a car coming towards us quite fast.. I am very close to the cement divider so I am not concerned.. as the car gets closer I realize he is going to be very close to me. I had to slightly dodge the oncoming car and felt a good whoosh of air as it zoomed by! Rhakesh then turned around and stared down the car and said crazy driver in his broken english! Rhakesh also told Kaysi about the car almost hitting me the next day! 

So a little about our driver Rakhesh. He’s a very nice guy and speaks some english and knows his way around Delhi great!! The couple before us Peter and Katie Rumford affectionately named his car the Ghetto-Mobile which I think is a fitting name. Unlike most of the other drivers the car is actually his personal car and although it may be a little older than some he is very proud of it! Unfortunately the gear box (transmission) had some issues but hopefully it will be repaired and back up and running soon! Until then he is driving us in his father’s car. Update on that, his car is now fixed and was able to drive us this weekend but the company he works for sent us a new driver today. He speaks very little english so we shall see how this arrangement works! 

This past Friday there was quite a wind storm! It was on the same level as those I often experienced growing up as well as in my time in New Mexico. There were lots of tree branches that were broken off and unfortunately it knocked out our electricity for almost 5 hours! It made for a slightly uncomfortable Friday night but thankfully the power came back on about 30 minutes after we had decided to go to sleep! Things like this help to make you more appreciative of those luxuries when you do have them! We can see how throughout this year God will teach us patience in a variety of ways! 

Kaysi is getting accustomed to work, although it may take a few more weeks to become fully adjusted! She is enjoying the variety of patients she is getting to treat as well as the freedom to treat that areas in which she sees disfunction! She is getting mentoring time throughout the week where she is able to mentor the Indian Physical Therapists(IPT’s) who are working at the clinic. They have also just hired on a new group of IPT’s and she is excited to see how they will progress and grow as they are introduced to Functional Manual Therapy! It is a joy and a blessing from my side to see her passion and excitement about the work she is able to do! It is even more interesting and fun to get to hear her ‘talk shop’ with the other CFMT’s that are here! 

We are continuing to enjoy the church we have found and look forward to going each week! We have met some nice people through the church as well! This Sunday we had lunch with a couple we met who sat in front of us the first day we were there. I was able to have lunch with the husband and the pastor of the church this past week which was a good experience! We had amazing hamburgers that to my best knowledge was actually beef..It’s always nice to get out and about during the day and meet new people and also to help me from going stir crazy while Kaysi is at work! One place I have frequented often is Starbucks (sorry Rob) in the nearby M-Block market and where some of the baristas already know my name! I’ve also found a small grocery store that I can get some of the basics we might need during the week. Most of our main shopping for food is done in the Defense Colony Market which is just a couple km away! 

One of our staple items we buy at the market! Creamy Peanut Butt!

Overall we have had a great first month in New Delhi! I have found that it is hard to recapture our experience in a few words so thanks for sticking with it to the end of the blog! We hope to get out to do more exploring here soon and when that does happen we will get some more pictures up and posted!! I am toying around with the idea of doing a whole post of simply pictures that remind me of people back home.. I'll see if that idea grows wings and takes flight! Anyhoo.. We love you all and thank you for taking time to join us in reading about our adventure here in India!!!

Our First Few Weeks in New Delhi!!

We have been in New Delhi for 2 weeks now! It seems crazy! Many of you are asking for pictures and so I am trying to be very diligent in taking pictures while at the same time not acting like too much of a tourist since we do actually live here. So I will post a few pictures here and there but it may take a few weeks before I get a good amount of pictures up on the blog. I’ll try to give you a little insight into what New Delhi is like as well as telling you a few fun stories of our first two weeks! Here goes!!!

To start things off the best way I have heard India described is complete sensory overload! Where I am used to things being organized and orderly this is not always the case here. Things are crowded almost everywhere you go especially when driving. I have tried taking some pictures but they don’t quite do it justice. The driving is at best ordered chaos and at worse absolute chaos. It humors me at times to imagine what my mom’s reactions to traffic would be.. On that note we had two very interesting things happen to us on our first Saturday. Foster, one of the other CFMT’s here offered to take Kaysi and I to ACSA (American Community Support Association, which is at the American Embassy)  where there is a pool and you can get some American food. It is an awesome getaway from the craziness that is New Delhi. 

Pool Side at ACSA

On our way there we ran out of gas in the middle of the afternoon in probably one of the busiest streets in New Delhi. We heard a beeping noise when we got in the car.. and soon we figured out what it was trying to tell our driver. Then after leaving the ACSA we were making a u-turn (which are always a fun adventure in India) and came within a few feet of getting t-boned (something Foster assured us was not a common occurrence).

Our driver trying to figure out something after we ran out of gas...

So the driving is always an adventure, I am learning how to not tense up when riding. The good news is although it looks like chaos the drivers are very aware and know exactly how much space they need to fit their vehicle into an open spot in traffic! 

It is also fun seeing the autos, even got to ride in one a week ago!

 the occasional cow! 

Your sense of smell and taste are also overwhelmed. When we first arrived we both asked each other what that smell was, apparently it is just simply what it smells like here and which we have now become accustomed to. (Kinda like not noticing the refinery in Artesia). Tastes and food is one area we are still working on adjusting to. Most everything you will order will have some sort of spice to it. We are blessed to be in a guest house where our meals are prepared for us but even the conti (or continental) food has a little kick to it. Kaysi is having a harder time adjusting to this than I am. The guest house also just serves vegetarian food so that too has been an adjustment. Pray for our stomachs and bodies to quickly adjust to this.

Your sense of sight is also overwhelmed as well. There is always so many things to look at I feel that I need time to slow down so that I can take it all in. When on the streets there are always tons of cars, as well as people walking. At the metro station near Kaysi’s work there always tons of people there. In most stores there are items stacked floor to ceiling in about a 10 foot wide store. Luckily there are always tons of employees at these stores to help you out, you never have to wander around looking for someone to help you they are just right there! The stores are usually located in neighborhood markets which at first can be overwhelming but are very interesting! You can get almost anything you need within the markets, you just may have to go to 15 different stores! I soon will be having to go and purchase our groceries and other goods there so I have been tagging along with a couple of the other spouses of CFMT’s to get the layouts down. You also are overwhelmed just by the sheer number of people as well as the variety of different people you encounter.

One sense that has been awesomely overwhelmed, is the sense of welcome we have received! First and foremost the people here have been great! The staff here at the guest house are very accommodating and always very friendly! We also attended Delhi International Christian Fellowship the last two Sundays for church! It was awesome to get to worship with such a diverse group of people while there! Even met someone who knows someone I know back in the States. (What a small world after all, haha the song is in your head now!). 

Kaysi had a full first two weeks at VARDAN the first week! They have a day of training one week a month and that was the week she started so she worked six days last week. She worked the regular 5 days this past week. After returning to the guest house after the first day at work she was crazy excited about the clinic! She was like a kid on Christmas morning! She is so excited about all the opportunities for treatment she will have over this next year!! There are also numerous Indian Physio Therapists and Kaysi was given a cake for her birthday on Wednesday!! Their tradition is to cake people which is what the pictures are below! They allowed me to be the first to cake her! 

One other great bonus is the other CFMT’s that are here from the States as well! They have been so gracious in including Kaysi and I in weekend outings to the pool and to a movie and one couple (Pete and Katie) had Kaysi and I over last Sunday night for a Birthday Supper for Kaysi which was amazing!! 

Kaysi Birthday Meal

Kaysi's Birthday Snickers!!

We have felt so welcomed everywhere we have been! One last blessing this week is that we were able to move into our apartment on Friday which has been awesome to have our own space now! We were able to go to the market today and did our first bit of shopping!! We look forward to sharing more with you all as we continue on the great adventure that has just begun! Thanks for all of your support and prayers for Kaysi and I as we have began our adventure of a life time!!!

We Are in New Delhi

I am sure by now that most of you heard the news or rumors about Kaysi and I. No, we are not pregnant (Although I am sure that was the news our parents were hoping to hear back in January when we told them) but yes we have moved to New Delhi, India. We arrived last night at about 11:30pm. Thats 1:00pm central time in the States. Everyone we have met so far has been very hospitable! Katie, the wife of one of the CFMT’s here took us around some this morning which was nice to get an idea of where a few places to go to the market are. It was a nice and cool 42°C which is around 107°F! There are lots of city noises that I am sure we will have to get used to but at this point we have seen what we sort of expected. I will post next week sometime on our experiences during the first week!

So, why New Delhi, India. As some of you know Kaysi is a Certified Functional Manual Therapist. Through that certification she has been offered a job with the innovative clinic in India VARDĀN. There she will be able treat patients as well as train Indian Physical Therapist. Kaysi is super excited about this opportunity and the stretching and growing she will experience through the process! I will be able to continue in my seminary classes online which will allow me to possibly take more than one class a semester. I have a few leads of places I might be able to volunteer with so I am excited about that as well. 

Overall we are excited about the opportunity God has blessed us with to live in a foreign country for a year and experience living in a culture completely different from where we grew up and what we are used to! We know that the next year will be a time of stretching for us in so many ways! We know that it will be stretching for us emotionally as we move to a place where neither of us know anyone, apart from a few colleagues Kaysi has met throughout some of her training and some friends of friends who live in India. We know that it will be stretching spiritually as God moves us out of our comfort zones and grows us! It will be physically stretching as well. Lubbock, Texas is the biggest place I have ever lived and New Dehli is just almost 100 times bigger in population… It may take me a little while to adjust to the amount of people. I am sure that will be an adjustment for Kaysi as well. Also the food will be an adjustment. I can be adventurous in what I eat so it will stretch me a little bit but I am excited, Kaysi is a little bit apprehensive about the change in diet, but I am sure that she will adjust just fine! 

So as we begin this journey we hope that you all would keep us in your prayers as we begin this Gray’t adventure! (sorry for the play on words that is super corny)! I  hope that I am able to keep up this blog regularly while we are here in India to keep all of you informed on the things going on as we will be half way around the world! We love you all and thanks for reading!

-the Grays