"India Lifestyle."

June 22, 2011

my companion's computer shut down on him earlier, so he is restarting his message. in the mean time, i will write what i have learned of india's lifestyle. another bad keyboard. preferably go to 'hello from munirka' first. it is just better.

indians eat rice with their hands. that's what they told me. what they didn't tell me is that the indians mix their rice with various sauces. they're adept at not making a mess of themselves. i am not so experienced. but i will be!

driving has to be the most amazing thing about india.i am not driving on my mission, and for good reason. imagine that no cop will ever pull anyone over. imagine if everyone knew that and abused that. that. is. india. the ratio of vehicles goes like this: 5 cars: 4 autos: 3 motorcycles: 2 buses: 1 bicycle. rickshaws and autos are not the same thing. autos are tricycles with covers on them with motors. they essentially taxis. they're green and yellow. rickshaws have no motor; they're a tricycle in a very real sense. i feel sorry for the drivers. have to ride people around for a living. riding a tricycle to do it. but yeah, people do whatever they want. motorcycles zoom past me down narrow alleyways with just an inch between us. and its normal. its so weird how much i accept the recklessness of driving in india.

it's 1 dollar:about 42 rupees. i got a haircut this morning. it cost me 40 rupees, or about a dollar. the same haircut would cost me 9 dollars in America, or about 360 rupees. i gave the barber a 10 rupee tip; the equivalent of about 25 cents. and he was happy! I was given 500 rupees last wednesday (10 dollars). It lasted until yesterday. 5 days! 2 dollars a day! and im full. im healthy. im good. we spend most of our money on transportation. the starting price of an auto is 19 rupees. a bus fare is either 5 rupees or 10 rupees, depending on the bus.

water is my biggest problem. i was never thirsty in yuma. now im thirsty all of the time. the water here isnt clean, and i do my best not to drink it. we have a purifier in our apartment, so i refill my water bottle every day. its 2 times as large as a normal american water bottle. its huge!!

food. they have a food here that they call roti. its actually a tortilla, but they call it a roti. theyve been deceiving themselves for years. parakta is a roti/tortilla with some kind of oil. ive had chole. ive had daal (which my companion told me has 'pulses' in it. no idea what that means). i eat so much rice. i usually cant finish my meals because im so full. most of the food is spicy, but i get by. im learning to enjoy the spiciness. slowly. oh so slowly.

beverages. rosemilk is soooooo good. it tastes like strawberry horchata. theres also fruit shakes everywhere. i just drank a mango drink shake. very tasty!

the power shuts down for a few seconds after every day or so. makes typing this very interesting. like its a bomb ready to go off. unfortunately it also shuts down air conditioing. which is never fun.

we're teaching a man named Godfirst. hes Nigerian. and amazing. he openly told us that he doesnt care what we say as long as he keeps his relationship with God. we're in the win/win scenario since God will testify of what we teach. he's nervous about baptism but we have set a date for next saturday.he has such amazing faith, it almost makes me cry for joy that he will soon find the true church of Jesus Christ.

love you all!
Elder Montgomery