Merry Christmas!!!

As a Christmas present to you all I am uploading the two videos I have been working on to show you a bit about my life at Buchanan. A more detailed post is on the way about Christmas and all the joy it has brought me here in  Kerala!

Joyful and Triumphant

After our lovely Christmas program at Buchanan on Tuesday, all of the schools in the area began exams before Christmas break. In other words, I have no work to do. At first I was anxious about this fact, but my schedule filled up quickly with choir practices with the Speechly College Choir and other Christmas programs to attend. I am teaching them 3 carols that we will sing on Thursday of this week. They have been really fun to work with. I practice with them every afternoon starting at 2 o clock, but until 2 my plan is pretty much just lounging around. On Wednesday I hung out with an 8 year old named Richa. She had a study break from exams in the morning, so I helped her study English and she helped me study Malayalam in the staff room. Later she came to my room and drew me some pictures and wrote really sweet things like “Curtis I love you” and “Rachel I love you” but my favorite part was one drawing that says “Them I vill kum for your house breakfast or lunch.” I asked her what she meant and she said “I am coming to your house someday to meet your brother.” It was one of those “Zaccheus” moments. Haha. I knew I was being ministered to by her energetic and thoughtful presence. She also explored my 90s pop music as she played Chess Titans on my computer.  She asked for a few of my markers, which she called pens, and I gave them to her freely. Sure enough, she has come to visit my room each day last week. I am happy to have a new friend.

Laughing With God

In my last post I referenced that the people I am surrounded by make me laugh. This is often true, but a better way to put it is that I am constantly surrounded by laughter. Sometimes it is positive laughter, but often it feels different.  So many moments have passed in which I have asked myself this question. Am I being laughed at, or laughed with? 

The Bear Necessities

The title of this post is not “The Bare Necessities” for a reason. I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine.

His name is Mr. Bear. I am admitting to the world that at age 22 I still sleep with a stuffed animal. Think what you like, but I couldn’t imagine being in India without him. He was sitting on my dresser the day that I was born. He was a gift from my grandmother. He is the only one here who has known me my whole life.  He is pretty special to me. He is especially a comfort to me when I am sick. And guess what? I’m sick again.  I found out that the Malayalam word for cold is “jelladoshum”, which means “water curse” when translated literally. The word curse seems appropriate for the amount of illness I have been dealing with here. So the beginning of this week was difficult. I found myself being really negative about my health which made me a little negative about my surroundings.  In other words, I got very very homesick.  Luckily, these past few days have helped me remain positive.

Beautiful Beauty

I think I have a permanent hang up on the concept of beauty. During my studies at Austin College I had a few courses on feminist studies, but one class called Feminist Thought with professor Mark Hebert sticks in my mind when I think of beauty. We had a few weeks in the class in which we focused specifically on advertising.  I think I can speak for the whole class when I say, our eyes were opened to how much power advertising holds not just on capital, but on ideas. Ads captivate even our faintest notions of a concept.  In the U.S. the beauty market’s arms spread incredibly wide. Because of this ever spreading influence, our perception of beauty has changed throughout the years. We have slowly shifted from the Marilyn Monroe years into what I like to call “the starved years.”  Models must give off an air of perfection because they are selling the perfect teeth, the perfect hair, the perfect skin, the perfect body. Yet the women other women see in advertising are emaciated and unnaturally thin for developed adults. Is this really perfection?