Amazing Race

“It’s not polite to stare” is not a phrase well versed in Indian culture. As we ran around the city today wearing neon orange shirts we were gawked at. It is probably the first time I’ve ever felt uncomfortable with everything I did. I know the people didn’t mean harm in their staring, but everything I move I made I felt them watching, seeing, starrrrrrring.

I was in a group of 5 for the Amazing Race. We had a list of things we had to see all over the city with a limited amount of money. With each place or item, we had to take creative pictures. We drank from coconuts, put jasmine flowers in our hair, saw museums of the Hindu gods, henna tattoos and most interesting to me was the Attukal BhagavathyTemple. Here I watched as people waited in line until the temple was open. Men and woman in their traditional garbs. Everyone had to wash their feet before they went in. All I could find out was you had to be Hindu to go in and there is lots of Gold inside. Quite interesting. And beautiful temple on the outside. It is nice to see other religions, see how other people worship. I think it helps me understand my beliefs better.

The reason we did this today was to build the bond with the Indians. This gave us the opportunity to work on communication, learn more about each other and begin to trust. We all had to give positive and negative feedback, many of the Indians said they learned where places were in their city. I think this was a great learning opportunity for them to see where things are on a map, get comfortable with asking a stranger for directions (not being shy or ashamed of their Deafness), use money and develop critical thinking skills when we were down to the wire on time. My group members showed all of those qualities. Whooop!

The smells of India are starting to get to me. The trash burning, pollution from cars, incense and some of the foods. Like I said before, it is hard to get a breath of fresh air. There are so many other things I could talk about, but I’m tired so I’ll leave you with this:

“For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability… But just as you excel in everything- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us, see that you also excel in this grace of giving… Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed but there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.”
2 Corinthians 8:3,7,13-14

Rebecca Poehling