Days Before Christmas

KINGDOM INTERNATIONAL'S "STABLE SYMPHONY"









Kim, the choreographer in green, is a friend of Janis'. They've been spending time discussing art and life. Kim participated in the "Creative Conscience" Consultation in November.

Kim is multitalented having composed and choreographed this routine for KI's Christmas celebration.


EWEF'S CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION & EWLI'S GOING AWAY FOR MOTILAL UPADHAY


Language Institute Staff singing a Hindi Christmas carol.


Students, staff and others assemble on the rooftop for a combined Christmas celebration and going away observance for one of our senior teachers.


A traditional Indian "wrapping" honoring a teacher - Motilal Upadhay, who taught Hindi for seven years in the Language Institute, is moving to Dehra Dun to be with his family and teach in a language institute there.


Current and past directors pray for Motilal.


On a lighter note - Shammi Kapoor, another of our Hindi teachers, was willing to take part in this light-hearted skit about the days before Christmas at East West.



LINDLEY'S CHRISTMAS "OPEN HOUSE" FOR HINDI TEACHERS & NEIGHBORS
[technical difficulties with the blog site interrupted loading these final pictures...will try again later.]

Art in Process

[this blogger site has been having technical difficulties - we've found another way to load pictures and will begin to use that process but it may take a little while.]

ART In PROCESS
We're having difficulty with the blog site. I just added a post from November 26 that never made it up. The first picture is a painting Janis is working on inspired by: 1/ a painting by Vermeer entitled, "Head of a Young Woman," or sometimes known as, "Girl With a Pearl Earring; and 2/ seeing an Indian woman, fully bejewelled, working as a blacksmith along the side of a busy roadway. The first picture below is actually the link to a small album on our Picassa site that shows the painting, the "Brick Baby" painting from the Creative Conscience Workshop, and some work by Janis' friend, Divya.

Art in Process 12/31/07 10:08 AM

Divya

Divya & Her Painting

Divya's Painting

Brick Baby

So This Is What It's Like To Feel Good!

Yes, after almost 3 months of a cycle of illness, both of us are feeling good. The most recent lab results also report we're bug free!

So, as life goes on, many times it's not that things are being done wrong, weird or funny. Rather, just different. It takes some getting used to not to react with the first instinct of wrong, weird or funny.

For example: we went to a shop for the first time Saturday. After selecting what we wanted (there are many shops here where you don't get to do this, the shopkeeper or helper must do that for you), we made the mistake of taking it to the "Pay Here" counter. We found that before paying for an item, you had to take it to a separate counter where they prepared an invoice - in quadruplicate. Here, the invoice was computer generated, though it's not unusual that a shopkeeper doesn't want to give an invoice or receipt, it's also not unusual to have just a handwritten invoice, nor to have both a handwritten invoice and a computer invoice.

At the invoice counter, they also took your items - which you would not see again until you left the shop. We found out later that, while we went to the "Pay Here" counter, our items went to the "Delivery" counter.

After paying, we found our way to the "Delivery" counter...on the other side of the store. Here you presented one of the invoice copies and they would locate your items which were wrapped in brown paper, and had been placed in a bag that was stapled shut. We later opened the bag and found all of our items. However, while at "Delivery," the lady before us was having trouble. She had purchased quite a few things and the system worked for nearly all of them...but not all. The missing item was also the smallest. Have we mentioned it seems to us that everything turns into an adventure in INDIA!

Some of those adventures just seem to have more potential for Kingdom advance than others seem to have. Recently, when Janis was so sick, she had to cancel the Art lessons for our landlady's grandchildren. We found out later the girl cried for three hours because she couldn't have Art with Aunty Janis! She's the same one who has creatively fashioned a Christmas tree, complete with a star and angel decoration, from a large potted plant. She, and the rest of the family, have a strong fascination with Christmas - what it means and how we celebrate it - and are anxious to come to a Christmas Open House we will be having this weekend for them and the staff at the Language Institute.

And as Chuck has had to do some hard things recently with some of the international personnel at the Educational Foundation, we just found out today that those steps, though difficult and uncomfortable, have prepared the way for some significant advances in more effectively delivering education for children of cross-cultural workers - one of the most common reasons cross-cultural workers quit India is the struggles they have in providing a solid educational experience for their children.

Community

A painting of light Janis did during a worship service at Kingdom International, the fellowship we attend on Sunday afternoons. It was also exhibited the next week in a service concentrating on Divali, a Hindu festival of lights.


Art lesson time for Vivan and Kritika, grandchildren of our landlady.



Baby, a local cosmetologist, applies henna to Janis's hand.







Cricket is very big here. Especially when playing Pakistan! Most of the parks have at least one area, if not several, where there a numbers of aspiring young cricketeers. All very passionate about the game.




The ever-present construction in Delhi - if not roads, flyovers, If not flyovers, high capacity bus systems (HCBS). If not HCBS, metro - both aboveground and underground. If not transportation construction, then buildings - a city intent on modernizing and de-centralizing is causing a boom in construction of government buildings, glistening, immaculate and sprawling malls, or something more mundane like sewers. These bricks are for a sewer re-construction in our area. Bricks are everywhere! The favored material of construction seems to be brick and concrete.



Recently we had the privilege of a visit by Sam, Colleen and Chris Yim. We first met the Yim's while we were all Pasadena. They are now serving in Varanasi (also known as Benaris).

Creative Conscience Workshop

Janis participated in this Workshop during the week of November 12-16. The theme of the Workshop was, "Disparity." It drew artists from all over India - Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, and Pune - plus artists from Japan and Tonga. Most of the artists were followers of Christ, although there were two Hindus and one Muslim who attended. One of the artists came from a slum background.

During the week, many of them stayed and ate together at the site of the Workshop - TRACI House in Greater Kailash 2 (GK 2) in New Delhi. The paintings that were produced were used in an outreach community event the next weekend in a slum area of New Delhi. All of the paintings will be exhibited at a new gallery being opened by Stefan Eicher and the SALT Project as a part of the ongoing project to explore ways to use Art in Kingdom purposes.

Janis met Stefan Eicher last fall at the Transform World Consultation in Hyderabad. He has been a sparkplug for many of the artists gatherings in India.


This young artist comes from a Muslim slum background.


Janis met Kim at Kingdom International, the fellowship we attend on Sunday afternoons.


Shakutai Patade, now in her 80's, started painting about 10 years ago. She is self-taught, has a bold style, often painting with her fingers, and concentrates on social justice issues. Her paintings of prostitutes in Mumbai and Kolkata, and images of the Gujarat riot, are emotionally moving pieces.


Aunty and this artist from Japan collaborated on this painting.























Janis and Aunty Shaki. They and two other women artists, one a professor from Chennai, are planning an exhibit together sometime in the next year.

Janis' painting dealt with children in the city. It was inspired by observing a little boy (the child of one of the many construction workercouples who live on job sites - whether buildings or streets) playing in a puddle of water by the side of a very busy street in the midst of construction.

Some Happenings

Interspersed with several more bouts of illness - which seem to be plaguing both of us - here are a few other things that have been happening:

Language Acquisition
Janis has been able to stay even with her classmates and, with her thrice weekly private sessions with Mrs. Pande, is becoming more and more comfortable using Hindi in basic exchanges in the marketplace. Chuck has regained some of the momentum interrupted by illness and is starting to advance again in his four tutoring sessions per week.

Relationships
The Pande family have become dear to us in many ways. In addition to the crucial assistance in health matters, the private tutoring for Janis with Mrs. Pande, and the weekly art lessons by Janis for Kritika and Vivan, Mrs. Pande's grandchildren, they frequently share with us the various family celebrations. Below are pictures of some of the family before they all attended a wedding.

Kritika

Kritika and her mother, Nina (Nina is Mrs. Pande's daughter)

Vivan (Vivan's father, Vivek, is Mrs. Pande's son)


Teaching & Mentoring
Numerous opportunties in these areas are opening up. Janis is now informally mentoring two young artists, one a Christ-follower and one not. We are exploring the possibilities of an intensive, week-long training session in early June in which we would focus on, "The Kingdom of God: The Big Picture." This is a part of an intensive, month-long training for between 40 and 50 college-age and young professionals sponsored by Touch India Trust, the sponsoring organization of Kingdom International which is the fellowship we attend on Sunday nights.

A Week In Our Lives

Saturday (10/13)
This is Chris' Birthday. Our landlady, Mrs. Pande brings us flowers for Chris' birthday...even though Chris, Nicole and Esther are in Lucknow, a 6-hour train ride away!



Janis paints a border and trim in the staircase of our flat; Chuck works on his painting of St. Francis & the Sultan for Chris' website, Negashi.













We take a walk over to the "J" Block Market to pick up a few more household items from one of our favorite storekeepers.


Sunday (10/14)
Even though we had planned to attend Delhi Bible Fellowship this morning, Janis is not feeling well, so she sleeps, Chuck works on the St. Francis & the Sultan painting.

After lunch, Ankit drops by. Ankit is a young man Janis met at a local coffee shop while studying Hindi. He's been staying in touch through some transitions he gone through and visits us occasionally. He is now in training for a position in reception at Max Med Hospital.


At 4:00 pm we leave for evening worship at Kingdom International (KI), which meets at 4:30 in the same building in Nizamuddin where Chuck's office is and Janis' language classes are. This is a very young congregation and reminds us a lot of Mosaic in Pasadena. They've asked Chuck to bring a devotional on Tuesday morning to the full time (11) and student (8) staff of KI's parent organization, Touch India Trust.



Monday (10/15)
Chuck has an early morning meeting at Metro Delhi International School (MDIS) in Greater Noida. He's supposed to catch 1 of the 2 buses that picks up students and staff in Delhi. At 7:05 am, our autorickshaw driver, who was supposed to pick him up at 7:00 am to go to the bus stop, calls to say he can't make it today - "Ghari (Hindi for, "vehicle") trouble." Chuck has trouble finding another auto- but finally gets one. The only problem is when they arrive at the destination, the driver insists on 2-3 times the reasonable price!

The meeting concludes about 12:30 pm, and Chuck catches a ride back into Delhi with one of the others who attended the meeting and returns to the EWEF office where he works until about 5:00 pm.

Janis usually teaches art from 4:00-5:00 pm to Vivan, our landlady's 5-year old grandson, but he is out of town this week with his family.

Janis meets from 5:00-6:30 pm with Divya, an art student here in Delhi who shares many of Janis' interests in the role of art in a culture.

Tuesday (10/16)
Janis has Hindi Conversation from 8:00-9:00 am, then Hindi Class from 9:00-10:30 am. She returns to our flat to study Hindi and art.

Chuck brings the devotional to the KI staff from 9:30-10:30 am. He returns to the EWEF office after the devotional. Usually he has Hindi Conversation from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm and Hindi Tutoring from 12:00-12:55 pm.

Janis meets with Mrs Pande for informal Hindi tutoring in the evening. The original arrangement was 7:00-8:00 pm, but is now stretching from 7:00-9:15 pm! [Mrs. Pande refers to Janis as her friend. On the days when they don't do tutoring, she usually comes up for an hour or two for unannounced visits.]

Wednesday (10/17)
Chuck usually leaves every morning for the office at 7:15 am, but today is another exception. He's scheduled to arrive at 8:00 am for an all-day physical as a pre-requisite for the In Patient Medical Coverage we're applying for. This is the same physical that was postponed earlier due to the illness that led to hospitalization [notice the irony of the timing!].

Janis has Hindi Conversation from 8:00-9:00 am, and Hindi Class from 9:00-10:30 am; art lessons with Kritika, Mrs. Pande's granddaughter, from 4:00-5:00 pm; and informal Hindi tutoring with Mrs. Pande from 7:00 to whenever!

Thursday (10/18)
Janis & Chuck travel together to EWEF/EWLI offices where Janis has Hindi Conversation and Class from 8:00-10:30 am.

Chuck gives the devotional at the weekly EWLI Staff meeting at 10:30. Staff meeting lasts until noon.

Janis meets with Mrs Pande again tonight.

Friday (10/19)
Janis stays home today to catch up on Hindi study, art study, and any household errands that have piled up during the week.

Chuck goes into the office at the usual time. He is scheduled for Hindi Conversation from 10:30-noon, and Hindi Tutoring from noon - 12:55 pm. Today he is also supposed to meet with the Finance Subcommittee from MDIS at one of the member's flats who is a block away from the EWEF offices. The time for this meeting is still pending, though it is a very important meeting!

Hopefully, that about wraps up a week in our lives. Can't say it's usual, because there doesn't seem to be anything "usual" about our time here in Delhi - there always seems to be a surprise lurking in the wings somewhere!