Typical Trip to Village (Journal Entry)

“But I trust in you, O Lord. I say, You are my God, my times are in your hands.”
~ Psalm 31:14-15a
“Be strong and take heart- all you who hope in the Lord.” ~Psalm 31:24

We arrived back in the village a few hours ago. Golu, Diksha and Latta were thrilled that we were back and were running around like crazy for a little while. We showed them pictures and such- they were so happy to see us again. It was nice to see them too.

Our trip was pretty much uneventful, which is good, but now there isn’t a fun story to tell! And then again, the trip that we took today would have been considered VERY eventful by just the ‘normal’ person in America probably. I told Robin, “You know, sometimes when people say, ‘wow I can’t believe you are over there, doing that work, and in those conditions,’ I want to reply, “it’s really not bad, we’re used to it, it’s no big deal’ and then sometimes I think, ‘you know what, it is a big deal- I can’t believe how much we put up with!”

What does our trip to the village look like? At least, what did today’s trip look like? Today, we ate lunch, and hiked up the stairs to the road, walked to Joshi’s store and waited for a jeep. We were there about 10 minutes standing waiting. Joshi came out and gave us two stools to sit on and wait. I asked him if a jeep would come and he said yes. So we waited. Jeeps came, but they were all going the opposite direction.

Finally, after about 40 minutes, one came. It’s very unusual to wait that long for a jeep. We asked him how far he was going and he was going to B town, so we went with him that far. That jeep ride consisted of Robin’s chair falling down while she was sitting on it, Robin getting sick, and us going through a herd of cows and goats. Once in B town, we asked for another jeep going to M town. The shortest path to the village is between B town and M town. There was a jeep going (we didn’t ask when, but just got in). I asked if he knew the path to the village, and could tell us on the way. He asked someone else and they knew. We said okay, but realized the guy who knew the way wasn’t going with us…so how would that help us? Anyway, by the time the jeep left, another older man had gotten in and the driver pointed to him and simply said, “Jogda” – the name of the village. I asked him if he was going there, he said yes and that he would lead us. After a short jeep ride, we got out of the jeep at a different place than where we have gotten out with Anju, but the path we took down ended up meeting with the path we knew. So, we took it and arrived here- approximately 3 hours after we left- no too bad!

We sat outside with the kids resting and cooling off- we were both hot and sweaty from the hike, but didn’t dare ask for hot water for a bath, because you just don’t do that at this time of day- it's just weird :)

Now, we’re sitting here typing and it’s as if we never left. Aunty came in and talked to us for a little while. We sat by the fire for a short time and washed our faces…There was a spider (sill is a spider) in our room when we got here- just like last time. It really feels like we never left at all- except that I’m wearing clothes that I didn’t have before- that honestly feels a little strange!!! Haha!!!