well hello everyone. has been a very long time! firstly, i would like to apologise for my silence, but we havnt had internet acces for the last month. last week was spent traveling to india and satying in bombay, and the three weeks before that we were on the round around Zim for our holiday.
So, theres so much to catch up on!! would like to say a late merry christmas and happy new year to everyone. i was so annoyed as i spent 2& 1/2 hours when i was in mutare before leaving writing everyone christmas emails, then went online to send them and the internet was completely down, and no one in mutare could get online for ages!! thats africa for you.
hope you all did have a good crimbo. we all got up at 5 to go up the mountains and watch the sunrise on christmas morn! was actually so nice, its beautiful up there - my favourite place. then we went to church, where i was roped in (as usual) to some dodgy nativity, having to wear a sheet once again (yes everyone who was at the gift last year can now have a little giggle in rememberance of me as mary, oh my word how embarrasing). crimbo lunch was pretty cool, all the close families in the church got together at this one dudes house for a massive meal. was really nice, was chicken instead of turkey, but still damm good. it was the most bizarre experience spending christmas day out in the blazing sun, by the pool. souldnt really get my head round it! but was so nice to have a christmas which genuinely wasnt driven by presents and all that commercialism. made you able to really appreciate christmas for what it is.
so, moving on, the holiday. it was sooooo much fun, possibly one of the best holidays ive had in my time. was really nice just to wind down after such a busy 4 months. well whn i say wind down, i dont really mean that at all - it was probably the most active holiday ive ever been on!
we started at a place called Hwange, its another game reserve place. that was really cool, we went on game drives and all the usual. then we went to Victoria Falls, which was so amazing. its pretty touristy which was actually quite refreshing after being so isolated for so long. really really busy though, as we were there over new year. on new years eve, we went to this really posh african restaurant. the food was lush and there was just so much! we ate impala, osteriech, warthog, wilderbeast and crocodile! oh and some dodgy worm thing, which i got a cirtificate for, but the dude spelt my name totally wrong. was hilarious, spent ages trying to spell out the letters as clearly as i could, but obviously was making no impact at all. the crocodile was actually really nice but to my surprise the warthog was hte best. so that was a different experience! and there was a group of african drummers dancing around in skimpy bits of cloth which was too funny. they were really good though. so we stayed there till midnight, then went onto a praty that was going on somewhere else. was a really good new year. hope you all had fun too.
new years day was spent white water rafting up the Zambezi, which was so good! i lved every minute of it. theres about 22 rapids, some of which were easy peasy but a lot were absolute mothers. our raft flipped once which was quite good going, but i managed to get blasted into a huge rock as a result. no fret, i was fine, just got stuck in the current for a while til some dude rescued me! how lame. but yeah that was so good, wolud reccomend to anyone. the next day i did the bunjee jump off the bridge. theres a video of it which ive sent home so im sure thatl be circling soon! also another amazing experience. think its 111m drop, i screamed all the way. but would like to add that was out of pure hilarity, not becuase i was petrified. im hardcore. no obviously i was nervous when i was getting harnessed up, but by the time your on the platform and your toes are over the edge you know youre gonna do it nay second so you make the decision to just get over yourself and enjoy it! i really loved it.
after a few more days in vic falls we moved onto this place called antelope park. this is an amazing place where they have vreeding programmes for lions, leopards, etc etc. we did some pretty cool stuff here too. we got to walk with 3 lions round the game park, again, completely sureal. also got to feed little lion cubs which were adorable, go on an elephant ride and swim with elephants! the later being possibly the funniest thing ive ever experienced. you start out of the water on the elephants back, holding onto the guide. theyre actually flippin uncomfortable! roody great spine which sticks out a mile. but yeah, then the ellie walks into the river, and goes about half way. then the guide just started shouting at the thing and it just goes under. you have to stay on hte ellie to obviously oyu go under too, then it comes up so your head is out of the water, but its still submerged. it was the funniest thing knowing that under you was this huge grey mass just mucking around. it would occasionally roll onto its side which was hilarious too. so yeah all in all the holiday was amazing. was good to meet up again with the other half of our team too (the four that had been in Bulawayo when in Zim).
after the holiday we went to harare, the capital, for a few days before we flew out. some of our mates we had made from mutare came up for one of the days as its only a couple hours drive, so it was cool to hang out with them and say our final goodbyes. i really liked harare. its a lot busier than little old mutare, but it was cool.
unfortunately though, i got really sick the day before we had to fly. puking big time, think i got some kind of bug. but the oasis guys seriously didnt htink id be flying, which was quite a worry. couldnt actually keep anything down, was vomming even after a sip of water, so we got down to some serious praying, and after some docotr came and helped me out, i felt like 100 times better. was so good. so, had no problems flying the next day. all was good. however, we were yet to find out when we arrived in bombay, that all of our luggage had not come with us after our connnection flight. we flew from harare to kenya, then changed from kenya to fly over to bombay. but our luggage hadnt changed with us. so, first night in bombay with absolutely nothing! we had to trek an hour to the airport the next day to collect it all, praise god it was all there, and an hour back. so was a real pain as we were supposed to start our orientation that day, but least we got every bag back without anything being lost or stolen. so we spent a few days in bombay. i have to admit, i got really bad culture shock. zim is so laid back, and chilled, things get down but its relaxed, and i loved it. then we were suddenly dropped into this culture which is SO loud, busy, intense, smelly, brash and crazy. found it flippin hard on the first day, but god has really been looking after me. we travelled down to Bangalore, where ill be staying for the next 4 months, a few days later. it was a 24 train journey, which was nice and interesting! wasnt half as bad as i imagined, especially as we pretty much slept for all of it, after being so knackered form the plane. the loos however were not the most pleasant. actually so unpleassant that it became hilarious. it was your regular squatty, but it went straight onto the track. its actually really hard to pee when you can see the ground moving so fast underneath you!! crazy.
so we finally arrive in bangalore, and i praise god that he has placed me here. its still busy and loud and all of that, but it is generally sooooo much nicer than bombay. its cleaner (apart form in the slums), and just a little less intense. i hated bombay but love bangalore. we spent the first few days settling in, getting to know the area, and buying all our Sawa Kamis. this is the name of the clothes we have to wear. loving the indian styley. me an jennifer are staying with this family from the church. they are so so nice but so flippin strict. as soon as we arrived the list of rules came out! probably good to have some discipline for a few months though. but yeah allowed hot water twice a week, so cold showers most of the time, but im getting used to it. its actually not half as bad as you think after a while. all part of the service ay. oh and me and jennifer have to share a pretty small bed which is interesting! good job we get on really well. bit of a probl;em though becuase i seriously sleep talk and laugh every night (which i have learnt since being away and having to share a room!), but jennifer is a heavy sleeper so not too much of an issue. apparently i just giggle and say random things like 'awesome' and 'hey girl!!'. better than shouting obscenities though i spose.
so it was our first day at work today. were based at the oasis offices, the team are so lovely. theres one woman from england who is like a permanent missionary, who is our coordinator. shes so lovely, so i know we'll be fine. she looks really like you though mum, which is pretty weird!!
we visited all the different projects in the slums that we'll be involved in over the next four months. im really excited about whats to come, some real potential. oasis india are just initiating a project dealing with child trafiking, which has recently been highlighted due to the Tsunami. so that is so intersting, and its cool to be involved with the initiation of that. by the way, to those who were asking, our placement hasnt changed due to the disaster, were still in bangalore as scheduled.
so yeah, loads has passed in the last month, has been really hectic. but i have been thinking of you all all the time, was sad being away from you guys at christmas and new year. i wish you all the best for 2005.
erm i have a new mobile number now, had to get an indian sim card. dont have the number on me right now, but if you would like it, ask my folks or josh or steph or someone. theyve got it. i also have an address you can send post to. i know this isnt subtle but PLEASE SEND CHOCOLATE IMMEDIATELY, AM FADING RAPPIDLY. really, the choc in zim was horrific, and is equally as bad here. no pressure though.
just realised that i dont have the address on me either, how organised. ill get it and post it on here within the next couple of days. oops.

so, just a few prayer points:
1) thank god that our plane journey accross was safe, and that i could actually fly and our baggage was all fine.
2) for our team, adjusting to india, culture shock etc.
3) me and jennifer in our host family, that we have the right attiuted towards the way that they work
4) ive been ill since the day we got here - really bad stomach and was sick today after lunch in some slum. so if you could pray that the food starts liking me that would be great! its so annoying as i love the food so much. feel 4 months of curry for breakfast lunch and dinner is going to become a little tiresome though. may have to really entirely on chocolate supplies. shame.
5) the oasis india team, that we'll be able to get along side them and work effectively and to the best we can, as to serve god 100% in this place.
6) for my brother and his girlfriend who are due to have a little bambino feb 8th!

thanks so much guys, sorry, was a bit of a novel. so ill come on again and give you my address in a few days. hope you are all well, miss you all sooooooooooooooooo much.
take care
loads and loads of love
me x x x x x x

ps. dont have time to spell check, so sorry about the words that dont make sense!!!!