Towers, Ankles & Indian Dresses

I am sitting in India right now, writing this. Hard to get pictures put on at an Internet cafe - so you will just have to be satisfied with words for now!

We had our first adventure on the way here. After getting up in the middle of the night to go to the airport, our plane from Oslo was late in landing at Paris, so we ended up with an unexpected 12 hours in Paris. Boom! Trip to a place I hadn't even planned on! We headed into the city and saw Notre Dame, then began to walk to the Eiffel Tower... on the way I tripped on a curb and fell hard! Twisted my ankle pretty good - but I did fight my way to the tower since I was blessed with a sudden visit to Paris!
I heard music I would describe as typical Paris, saw many couples holding hands and some making out. (The city of "love" - what can you expect?) I loved the look and feel of the city! French people are nicer than I expected, but I knew that my cultural biases were not really true. I didn't remember much french from school, though. Every time I heard it on announcements I would think I was in Canada!

Anyway... from Paris they sent us to Singapore instead of India, and then they eventually got us to India. The fun thing was that as my foot got worse I had to be pushed around the airports in a wheelchair. I never had to wait in line and I didn't have to stand up to go through the metal detectors! It felt really funny, and a bit out of control. Especially when they would push me so fast to my gate, and my team had to almost run behind me to catch up. I had to ride with my head backwards to see if the were with me!
I learned that although it is fun to be the first person on the plane, being the LAST takes a lot of patience, I mean, some people just aren't in a hurry to get out of there!
I also learned just how much a sprained ankle can swell on a 12 hour flight!

We arrived in India to meet our pastor in a dizzy swirl of days of traveling without much sleep and a wheelchair moving at top speed! We had a bit of luggage problems (damaged guitar, one lost bag but are persevering.)

The 4 (or 5 or ? hours - I have lost track of time) it took us to drive to where we will be living was an adventure! They pretty much honk the horn the whole time and make a lot of noise and driven wherever they want (even off road) and the horn had such a fun noise to it! There were people awake and around the whole time we travelled from maybe 12 or 1 at night to the early morning. We passed trucks crammed full of Water Buffalos and many more exciting things!

Today we have been shopping. If you know me REALLY well, you know how I feel about shopping. I like the idea of getting new and wonderful clothes, but when I am finished being patient or I feel like I have done enough... I check out. Just picture the most crowded store you can (small store now, we are in India) with 6 white girls getting a lot of attention and trying to pick out things to wear from the most beautiful fabrics! My legs are tired and I am happy to be done - but I wish i could show right now what I got! Oh well, pictures will come eventually. Tonight we will have the fashion show - at least with the clothes that are already finished. Our shirts to wear under our sari's must be sewn to exact measurements. The really nice thing is that it is so cheap here compared to Norway, so we are able to buy the really lovely ones and feel like we are getting a great deal! It will be nice not to be dressed "crappy" while I am here.