On December 29th we left for India. Our great friends, Jesse and Shanee and their new precious daughter Joya had just returned to South Asia after being stateside for almost a year so of course we wanted to visit them and meet Joya and we also wanted to visit some of our other friends who live in Dharmsala, India and see that place and learn a lot about it. Dharamsala is where the Dalai Lama is in exile (the leader of the Tibetan Buddhist people we work with) and many Tibetan people have migrated to Dharamsala because of his presence there and so there is a large community of Tibetan people there (more about our time there in my next post). Anyway, for the first part of our trip we traveled to Madhya Pradesh which a state in the middle of India. We first flew from Kathmandu to Delhi (which took less than 2 hours) and then we got a connecting flight to Indore (the city in Madhya Pradesh where Jesse and Shanee live). While we were waiting for our flight in Kathmandu our plane was delayed for 3 hours. Thankfully Keane and Gracie did really well and we entertained them with coloring, sticker books, eating and toys. When we arrived in Delhi we were pretty hungry. We didn't know what wold be available in the airport but to our surprise a McDonald's was there with a play area too! We were so excited and so were K and G of course. They had a blast playing at the play area while I ordered french fries and some chicken nuggets (they don't serve beef in most places in India (yes that means no cheeseburgers at McDonald's) because the majority religion is Hindu and Hindu's worship the cow). Anyway, it was delicious and we didn't have much time to wait before our next flight which was nice. That flight was just about an hour and we were in Indore. It was so great to be with Jesse and Shanee again and to meet Joya. We had a nice time together catching up and seeing a little of their city. We were so thankful for the opportunity to go to India!
The play area at the airport.
Gracie loves ice cream cones and LOVES to eat them bottom first...which usually makes for quite a mess!
A house they were building near J and S's house. Isn't it funny how they hold the floors up with sticks? They do this in Nepal too.
We tried a coffee shop in their town that they had never been to before and the hot mugs were served with candles underneath to keep the drinks warm.
Jesse, Shanee and Joya
Keane and Gracie "reading"one morning..it was in the 70-80's most days that we were there which was a nice break from the cold for us!
Me and Gracie and Shanee with Joya at a mall in their town.
Keane enjoying his ice cream!
Our best attempts at a group picture with 2 22 month olds and a 5 month old... (and poor Keane had a lot of bug bites on his face...he was in the same room as Gracie and she got NONE and he got them all. Ryan and I are the same way...I get them all and he gets none...)
I think Joya looks so cute in this one..
One afternoon Jesse and Shanee had a meeting in a different part of town and we went with them and "explored" for a little while to keep the kids busy.
I love this picture.
I felt like this part of the town looked like an abandoned movie set (although there were people in the streets)...it was so strange.
A man and his daughter that we met on our little walk.
A girl who yelled to us and asked us in English if we wanted to come up for dinner. We didn't have time but it was sweet of her of course!
A group of kids who wanted their picture taken.
Jesse, Ryan and Keane as we were getting ready to leave at the airport.
All of us right before we were about to leave. It was a wonderful time and we are so thanful for it!
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