Me in the middle

Regarding the photo on Monday, asking which teen was me...


You are all correct... that is me sitting in the middle, white T-shirt, sitting on my knees with arms stretched to knees.


And thanks for the compliment, Cousin Donny, I am happy to be compared with Phillip.

Alissa might come back...

Alissa came to visit recently. Her friend Shaina gave an excellent escort. They are both nurses. They spent quite a few days hanging out with me, getting tours of Hospitals, hanging out on their own in ICU's and Birthing Rooms and so on.

At the top is one of the Nepali nurses they worked with at one Hospital. Alissa expressed some interest in returning to Our Fair City to work some more. Hey, that's cool.

The bottom photo is Alissa, Martha and Shaina, out to eat. Martha for sure misses them.

Training in India

Alissa and Shaina, two nurses, came to visit and check out what we do. They traveled around mostly by train. Being cooler weather, that means fog. And that meant train delays. We were 13 hours late into Varanasi.

But a good time was had by all.

Moharram

Moharram was a couple of weeks ago now, but just getting the photos up.

In front of our house is a road that is slightly wider than most in Our Fair City, and thus gets used for holidays such as this. Moharram is celebrated in different ways around the world, and in our city it is much more festive than most places. Hence the flame throwers.

Sam and Alissa had a good time.

Can you find me in this picture? Hint: I had hair.

In the summer of 1985, I was 18, and went to Nepal for the first time with a youth group. ONe of the members of that group recently scanned a bunch of photos from that trip and posted them on Facebook.
I am somewhere in this group... can you find 18 year old me?

Controversy Abounds

When I first came to Our Fair City, a Burka was a Burka. Plain, black, with no fancy anything. The Burka had one job, that is to cover up a woman.

In the past several years, "Fancy" Burkas have been making inroads. Burkas with fancy stitching, Burkas that let the woman's hair out in back, Burkas that have embroidery and rhinestones and so on.

And controversy abounds. Some say that as long as it covers up as a woman as intended, it doesn't matter what the outside looks like. Others say the purpose is to NOT draw attention to a woman, therefore, it should be plain.

I have been trying to get a photo of such for some time now, but as Muslim women are not fond of photography, I have to be careful. So I did get this one recently, showing several Muslim women...one with a plain Burka, one with a fancy Burka, and two with no Burkas at all, just their usual indoor Shalwar Kamis'.

My favorite was a full, plain Burka clad woman who whipped by me on her pink scooter, and the wind caught the lower edge and revealed underneath some very tight, very stylish blue jeans.

Controversy abounds.

"Oh No, my Brothers, Lowell Never Sings..."

Anyone who knows me very well, knows that I love to sing. I sing old hymns, modern stuff, choruses, kids songs, Psalms, and even the occasional Ausbund.

So why would a Muslim friend of mine here say this to his friends? Why would he say that I never sing?

Words, words, words, and how to translate them can be so tricky sometimes.

Local Muslims have a dozen words or phrases for things that we would call "singing" that they very clearly say is NOT singing.

Chanting from a Holy Book is not singing, that is a different word. And I do that.

"Singing" a song that worships God is NOT singing, it is a different word. And I do that.

"Singing" about Jesus is NOT singing, it is a different word. And I do that.

"Singing" a love song about your wife is NOT singing, it is a different word. I will let you guess if I do that.

"Singing" a Psalm is NOT singing, it is a different word. And I do that.

When a local Muslim thinks about "singing", he is thinking about Bollywood songs and other trite stuff, but not poetry, and not godly things.

So my Muslim assures those around him, "Oh, no, Lowell does not sing." I do a lot of verbs, (that I would call singing), but none of these verbs would called singing by his standards.

The Sons of Korah

It is not often these days that I hear some music that really "grabs" me, but The Sons of Korah have done just that.

An Australian group who sing only The Psalms, they have an amazing acoustical style and have brought The Psalms to life for me like few others have.

Named after the group of Biblical singers who wrote a number of The Psalms, they do not write songs, only music. The words to the songs are directly out of The Psalms, just put to music.

And the music is a delight to the ears.

So this is a product endorsement. Has anyone else heard of them or likes them?

To Amy

Hi Amy, not sure if you will get this. Our internet has been out most of the week. I think BSNL is out for most of the district.

Couple of things...
1. Asha is having a birthday party on Saturday afternoon, so Martha is taking the three kids down, and they may not be there when you get back.
2. With Sam sleeping, I likely will not be to the airport, :(
3. We really miss you. I think Miriam especially. She has had a few moments. I think she is a worry wart.
4. Sam got into the Petrolium Jelly on Monday, and gave himself a Mohawk. Took three washes to get it all out.
5. The Nurses got off fine.
6. I gave Sam and myself haircuts yesterday.
7. Martha wishes you to know that she had nothing to do with Sam's haircut.
8. I really miss you, and am looking forword to Saturday. Love you!!

Comments on the PHotos Below...Monkeys at Christmas

Once a week, I help out an NGO that takes care of children who live at the Train Station. Each year, they put on a Christmas program for the 50 to 100 children who show up.

The photos below are from the program, pictures of some of the children. In the top picture, toward the right, you can see Miriams curly head sticking out. I took our kids along to enjoy also.

This year, in addition to the Christmas story and some practicle gifts (shoes, shawls, rice, etc), they also had a fellow bring in some performing monkeys, much to the kids enjoyment.

Not sure how much Monkeys are associated with Christmas story, but I think in my kids minds, monkeys will be in indelible part from here on out.

Station Children Christmas Program

Jewish Hanukkah, Buddhist Monks, Hindu City, and Miriam

See the Photo Below.

Just before Christmas, Jewish people world over celebrated the holiday of Hanukkah. We got invited to a Hanukkah party, here in Varanasi, a Hindu Holy city, where we mostly hang out with Muslims.

There is a Fullbright scholar here, a Wisconsin Buddhist (Wisconsin being the hotbed of Buddhism that it it), along with his delightful Jewish wife and two kids, close to our two eldest in age. It was this young Mom who decided to have a Hanukkah party.

So she invited those she knew in This Fair City, which mostly included Buddhist Monks (as that is what her husband is researching) and us.

So in this Hindu holy city where we hang out with Muslims, we attended a Jewish Holiday party, with mostly Buddhist monks and some Australian hippy Christians.

It gets more convoluted.

So we find out that one popular game to play at Hanukkah is called "Dreidel", similar to a single die (singular of dice), in commemoration of the Jewish people who would pretend to be gambling with The Dreidel, when they were actually studying the Scriptures, during a time when this was forbidden (the studying, that is, not the gambling).

So the guests at the party gambled for peanuts with the Dreidel. Most were quickly out of the game, until it was just our four year old Miriam and three Tibetan monks. The Tibetan monks were totally into the game, talking furiously in Tibetan and spinning the Dreidel, watching intently to see where it would land, and shouting out who had won what.

Miriam sat very calmly and completely silently, spinning the Dreidel when it was her turn, to much acclamation from the Tibetan monks. While the monks were cut-throat with each other, they may have occasionally helped Miriam out a bit.

So now our friend just calls her "Miriam the Dreidel Shark".

It was an image I will not easily forget. I wish you could hear it.

Miriam the Dreidel Shark... see explanation above

I'll try not to let Alissa forget this

Today, I got back to Our Fair City with two Nurses who are here to check things out for a few weeks. Our train was running quite late, so I was text messaging Amy to let her know what was up.

Alissa saw me and said she was impressed, because many older people do not know how to text message.

I text-messaged Amy about this quote, and Amy said to tell her that it helps to fight off Alzheimers.

Alissa continues to be embarrassed.

Nora Grace

Miriam

Samuel

Elijah