Week 2

Sophia and I are through week 2 and so much has happened this week! We have finally begun working more in depth on our project and have also visited many different places. It has been a good week 🙂

Influential people

This week I met several different people and everyone has been so incredibly kind. We have had dinner and snacks and so so so much chai – Sophia and I are usually giving each other side looks during meals because just when we think we have cleared our plates someone comes from behind and fills them up again! There are two people from this week that have really stuck out in my mind though, and I want to introduce you to them.

The first person is Sister Flora. I might have written about her last week, but I don’t think I really captured just how much she has done for me. From taking me sight-seeing to holding my hand after Mass to always greeting me with a smile, she has really brought me so much joy. She is kind of like my Indian grandmother, and reminds me a bit of my Mimi back home! I am so grateful to be living in community with her.

The second person is Angel. I don’t have a picture of her, but our meeting was unexpected and also really inspiring. Angel is a young woman about my age who works at a cancer hospital just down the road from the compound. I met her at the church while waiting for daily Mass, and when she found out I hadn’t been in the city yet she simply took my arm and all of a sudden we were riding around town and she was showing me everything. We went to the hospital where she works and there were people lying on the floor everywhere waiting for treatment. If you know me, you know I don’t do well with medical situations but this was totally different and incredibly eye opening. And yet here was this young woman, who walked nonchalantly through it all, only stopping once to instruct some men about fixing a water leak. Not only was she clearly powerful in her profession but she also made time to go to daily Mass and to show me around the city in the blink of an eye. And she has promised to take Sophia and I to the zoo at some point!

Travel!

I was able to explore a bit outside the compound this week – a lot of that thanks to Sister Flora 🙂 She took me to the Gandhi Sepku bridge, which is the longest bridge in India. There I was able to look out at the Ganges River, which was a lot clearer than I expected it to be.

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Sister Flora also took us to the Queen of the Apostle’s Church, and we were able to meet several people and explore a Catholic gift shop. The church was beautiful.

We also got to experience the Bihar museum with Fr. Jesu (the other priest that lives at the compound) and some of his friends this weekend, and that was both exciting and overwhelming. The museum was similar to what you would expect of a typical museum, except that we were the only white people in the entire place and everyone knew it. We sort of acquired a gathering of followers, and several people stopped us and asked for pictures or would just jump into ours. At first it was fun, but then it began to feel like we were one of the museum attractions, and it was hard for me to enjoy the museum without feeling like I was being watched.  

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Fr. Jesu’s friends were very kind to us the whole day, and the woman of the house (whose name escapes me… names are so incredibly hard to pronounce and remember here) was so excited to take us to the market and buy us clothes. We went into a shop after leaving the museum and she kept pulling things off the racks for us to try. It was like we were her own children! I have been adopted into so many families just within this week and it is awesome.

Project

Sophia and I finally began working on our project! For right now, we are working on a solar oven. Long story short, the refrigerator has been a bit dismantled amidst the move (after this summer the Jesuits won’t be at this particular compound anymore) and would require a lot more work to get the ball rolling on the project. We were able to complete some initial tests on the oven, and have already redesigned a few of the components to increase the heat transfer (nerd alert!).

Mostly my days consist of incredibly important meetings…

…with my boss supervising our work

And of course, taking measurements, making calculations, and drawing out our designs so we can communicate with the workers, who don’t really speak English. We have found that pointing and drawing is the best way to communicate.

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Other Good Things/Observations

• It is really hard for people to pronounce my name, which I find ironic because I think that everyone’s names here are a mouthful. I have been telling some people that my name is Mary, because that seems to be more palatable – I think the double L’s are difficult for this culture. Everyone seems to be able to understand the name Sophia, though!
• I have been asked to do readings at Mass throughout the week, and I am grateful that everyone is willing to let me be a part of their community. The daily Masses have usually been said in English, and so it is easier for me to follow along.
• In the evenings, I sit on the roof and watch the cricket games that are played in my backyard by some of the young boys in the community. They are very excited that a white girl wants to watch them! I have also watched several Bollywood movies with Niraj, who is another intern here. He speaks both English and Hindi and it is nice to have someone who can sort of act as a translator for us. We have also listened to Justin Bieber a few times with him 🙂
• You can see in the pictures above – Sophia and I were able to get henna! We made a new friend named Insha who lives next door to the compound, and she was very happy to try her new patterns on us. I think we will be seeing a lot of her throughout the summer.

That’s all for now. Until next week!