New journeys

I have been home from Africa and India for 8 months and I am itching to board a jet for my next adventure. In September I get my wish.  I will be heading to England for a week. It is going to be an exciting and rewarding week as I will be serving with a few Pinelake members. My heart is overjoyed because I get to spend the week with CL, Kirsten, Eva, and Selah. It is hard and absolutely no fun being away from my precious kids; however, I know they are called to India. Every parent wants their child to follow their dreams. In my case, I want CL to follow the call on his life.

So while we are in England we will be staying in Lydney. Lydney is on the English/Welsh border. The countryside is beautiful and will provide a setting for rest and relaxation. The last two days will be spent in London. The last time I was in London (other than Heathrow International) I was 19 years old. I remember the feeling and excitement like it was yesterday. I can't wait to again see Big Ben, Parliament, the Tower of London, the London Eye, and all the other famous landmarks.

One of my favorite trips was CL's junior year  in college. We spent 10 days in Italy and Spain. It was special because I knew he was planning to propose to Kirsten and I knew they would be living overseas at some point. It was a great mother/son trip that I will cherish for a lifetime. But, there were even greater adventures in the future. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would travel to Africa and then live in India for almost 2 months. It was an experience that made a lasting impression on my life. 

After returning from England, I have about 6 months to prepare for another life changing experience. In March I am visiting Israel and Jordan. To walk where Jesus walked is unbelievable. I have started reading several books on the Holy Land. In the Steps of Jesus has helped me understand what I will experience. I am referencing scripture as I read. I want this trip to be more than a travel experience. Looking for new/better understanding of the Bible and the Savior.

In 1967, my great aunt and uncle took a trip to the Holy Land. They brought me a beautiful mother of pearl Bible which I still have. Who knew that 46 years later I would have the opportunity to take a similar journey.

So I will be wandering the world again soon. Enjoy the journey with me as I will be blogging as often as possible.

Delhi and Agra with CL

Saying goodbye to Kirsten, Eva, and Selah was awful. I didn't think Eva really understood; but I was wrong. I can't even write about it because it hurts so much.

CL and I left for Delhi on Thursday. We were supposed to have traveled by overnight train; however, our seats were never confirmed so we flew. We landed in Delhi and went straight to dinner at the Hard Rock. Our eyes were much bigger than our stomachs. We started out with nachos and then had 10 oz. hamburgers. I have had some good burgers in my life but this burger was the best ever. I was so hungry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After Hard Rock, we got an auto rickshaw to our hotel. We had 4 nights and it only cost around $100. total. It actually was not bad and it was centrally located. CL and I were tired and we had a busy plan for Friday so we went to bed!

Friday morning we got up and hit the markets of Delhi. Things are cheap in India and I had a really good time shopping for birthday gifts and other fun stuff. Our driver Vijay took us to all the major markets and to lunch at The Big Chill. This Italian cafe was awesome. I saw lettuce for the first time in over 6 weeks. We stayed out all day.

Saturday morning we were up at 4:30 am. We took the fast train to Agra to see the Taj. When we left the train station we had an auto rickshaw driver offer to take us for 80 rupees to the Taj. That was a good deal. While driving there we realized we had found a gem of a driver and guide. We hired him for 400 rupees ($8.00) for the day. Khan took us to the Agra Fort, Baby Taz, the Taz Mahal and all the awesome shopping places including a marble factory and a handmade carpet place. We wanted to see the Taz at sunset. So did everyone else. CRAZY!!!!! We got back to the hotel around 11:30 pm.

Sunday we had a guided tour of Delhi. Rahul was our guide and he was very efficient and nice; however, Khan beat him hands down. Our first stop was Jama Masjid. Completed in 1656, it is the largest mosque in India. It took 6 years to build and cost around a million rupees. It was so interesting to see people going through their prayer ritual. Next we went to Red Fort. It was built in the 1600s and was the home to the emperor. India Gate was built in 1921. The monument was originally known as the All India War Memorial and was built to commemorate the 90,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army killed during World War I. The President's House is magnificent. I especially loved the elephants carved outside and the elephants cut from the bushes. One of my favorite places we went was where Gandhi lost his life. I was so taken by the many things he said (see pictures on FB). Even though he was not talking about God, I found myself reading his quotes and saying I could say this today and know I am talking about the One, true God. The Qutb Minar towers over southern India. It was being renovated so we only saw it from the street.

CL and I went back to the hotel. I showered and got ready to leave for the airport. I hated saying goodbye to my son. It was truly awful. I cried all the way to the airport. I arrived around 11:00 pm Sunday night. My flight was at 3:30 am Monday morning (5:00 pm Sunday here). I flew to London sandwiched in between 2 very large men. They never spoke a word to me. Boring! From London, I flew to Dallas sandwiched in between 2 men who spoke no English. Boring! I actually slept 5 hours on the 26 hour journey. From Dallas I flew into Jackson where my best buddy, Sara Snowden, was waiting on me with Diet Mt. Dew and fresh flowers.

Arriving at home was so special. The yard was beautiful. Thank you, Collin! You did a great job. I actually did kiss my front yard this morning. I am so blessed.

I weighed! I lost 12 lbs. I will never become a vegetarian. I love meat.

Now I am in the midst of two months of mail and dirty laundry; but I am happily going about getting things back in order.

I have already been asked if I would do it all again. YES! I was so sick for 2 weeks; but once I got over that I enjoyed the crazy life I lived in India. I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you to CL and Kirsten for all the love and grace they showed me early on. Kirsten is the picture of strength! I am so proud of her. No one will ever understand how they live until you experience it. My son goes shopping every day. With the power off so much you basically go and buy what you need for the day. It is a huge job considering you go to many stores and walk in 90+ degree temps with high humidity.

I know I have said this over and over; however, once again....I am blessed beyond measure. My life will never be the same. I am thankful for the opportunity. Thank you, Charlie for supporting me in this journey.

So what is next? Sleep, family, friends, food, Pinelake, Alabama/LSU football, and dreaming of my next adventure to Turkey and Greece.

Love you guys. Can't wait to visit with you all!

Reflections from India

I am sitting in the quiet stillness of my little room that I share with a Indian believer. The babies are napping and Kirsten has gone out to do her daily shopping. As I sit, I am reflecting on my time here in India. I have learned so much. One of the things I have learned is that I am not called to live my life in India as my son and daughter-in-law are; however, I am called to shine His light to the world no matter where I am.

As I counted down days for this journey to start, now I am counting down days until it ends. As I was walking up the 50 stairs to our apartment carrying Selah who was fast asleep, I thought “I only have one more trip up these stairs carrying this child.” It made me very sad. As I ate rice and dal at lunch, I was thankful I only have one more lunch left.

I have met so many nice people who have been kind to me. The Aussies who oversee the ashram, the other two American couples at the school, the Indians, the school leader and his wife...amazing people with even more amazing stories.

My first two weeks here were filled with sickness and even a bit of depression. I was not ready to live like I have lived for the past almost 7 weeks. There are not words to express the living conditions. Every day you walk into the streets and try to avoid cow poop. My feet are literally rotting on the bottom. I need a pedicure so bad, but would be so embarrassed for anyone to see the condition of my feet. The smells, the noise, everything was overwhelming. It took almost 3 weeks for me to get the hang of living in India. CL and Kirsten gave me so much grace. I was able to take care of the children; but everything else was too much. There were nights I cried myself to sleep. I was exhausted.

Another thing I learned is that as Americans we are so fortunate. We have so much that we take for granted. I can’t wait to sleep in the king size bed on clean sheets and a ceiling fan or air if needed. I long for a warm shower with water that is fine to drink if it gets in my mouth. I look forward to opening the refrigerator and grabbing Yoplait yogurt ( knowing that no flies have been sitting on top of it). I look forward to putting my glass under the ice maker and knowing crushed ice is coming out and then pouring Diet Mt. Dew over that ice.

I look forward to seeing my family and my friends. My sweet husband gave me his support for this journey. It had to be harder on him than me. After all, I was with the kids. I miss talking to my mother-in-law. I’ve missed phone calls with my sister-in-law during Alabama football. I’ve missed my nieces and have felt terrible that I have not been in Mississippi to support them as they take care of their dad who has cancer. I have missed my friend Sara. She would have jerked a knot in me and helped me though this time. I have missed my friend JJ who I know has prayed for me every day. There are too many people to name that I have missed; but I can’t wait to see you all.

There are a few things I will not miss: cows who head butt you, cow poop, walking in the dark without a flash light, rice and dal, cold showers (even though they feel good when you are hot), hearing the Muslim call to prayer every day at 1:00 pm, stray dogs, the constant honking of horns.

So my journey here in Varanasi ends on Thursday. CL and I will leave school at 1:00 pm and head to the airport. We are heading to Delhi where I will still dodge cows and cow poop and it will still be noisy; however, there is a TGIFridays and other American chain restaurants and I can’t wait to taste something that tastes like it is from home.

Friday we will go to some of the markets, see a few places that are not on our Sunday tour and eat. Saturday we will be leaving by train at 6:00 am for Agra. The Taj Mahal is our first destination and then the Agra Fort. We will have time to shop for beautiful marble elephants before returning to Delhi. Sunday we have an all day tour arranged with a driver and an air conditioned car. I will be able to go back to the hotel and shower before I head to the airport for my 3:30 am Monday morning flight. I fly to London and then on to Dallas. Home around 7:15 pm Monday night. That is about a 26 hour time span.

I want you all to know that living in the USA we are blessed beyond measure. All it took was turning into the little gully in Varanasi for me to know my life will be forever changed.

Love from Varanasi!

Varanasi walk

The Pearce family has had a really good weekend. We started off on Saturday having lunch at I:ba, a nice Japanese owned cafe. While the food was not great, the atmosphere was so nice. It was clean, comfortable, and cold. Lots of restaurants are not air conditioned so being in one with AC was nice.

We came home, got the kids down for naps, took a short rest ourselves, and then CL and I went to Gadolia. Gadolia is the main shopping area in Varanasi. It has all the practical household stuff and then all the touristy stuff too. We went by public auto rickshaw. Better be sure your life insurance is paid up. These guys drive like NY City cabbies. I really wanted to find a cool Indian ring. I have rings from Greece and Italy. They are unique; therefore, I wanted this ring to be really special. My sweet son sat for more than an hour in the jewelry store and poured over rings with me until we found just the right one. The sales person brought us orange sodas. He must have thought we were rich Americans. ;-)

CL and I went to find someone who made dolaks. A dolak is a drum you beat on both ends. They are really fun instruments. We found a shop and actually watched a man as he was making one. We mainly wanted to see them being made and find out what they cost. It is amazing to think they can make a dolak for 1000 rupees or roughly $20.00.

After leaving the dolak shop, we wandered the streets of Gadolia. It reminded me of Chinatown. People everywhere. We got a much calmer rickshaw driver on our way home.

Kirsten had made a wonderful soup for dinner. It was full of veggies and she made toasted cheese sandwiches. Kirsten is amazing in the kitchen. She has so little to work with but every meal is really good.

I went to bed early sine I had to get up at 5:00 am for the walk and boat ride through Varanasi. Of course the first thing I did when I got up was check the score of the AL/Ole Miss game. It was half time and I was disappointed to see the score was 17 - 7. By the time we left for our walk Alabama had put up another 14 points on the score board. CL texted us the final score and I was really happy to see those Black Bears fall. (Sorry Ole Miss friends. That’s just the way I roll!!!!)
We met our guide, Garima by the Assi Ghat. We got on a boat and began our journey to the burning ghat. The sun was just coming up and it was cool. The view from the river was great. Varanasi is the oldest city in India. Not only is it old, it is quite dirty; however, the view from the water is a different story. It was simply amazing to see people bathing in the Ganga. They come to cleanse their bodies and pray to their gods. They also wash their clothes in the river. Young, old, male, female, skinny, fat...doesn’t matter. They believe by bathing in the river they are made pure. They even brush their teeth with the river water.

We finally got to the burning ghat. We were able to take pictures from a distance; however, there were 6 families giving their loved one up to the gods, so we had to be discreet. So, as I understand it, the dead body is transported to the river. It is carried through the streets draped in cloths. The son of the dead person shaves his head and touches no one for 13 days. If you are a widow, pregnant, been bitten by a snake, or have a skin disease you may not be burned and have your ashes placed in the Ganga. According to our guide, each fire is started with a coal that has been burning for a 1000 years. They first unwrap the body down to the white cloths. Then they dip the body in the river. Then they place it in the fire. We watched this process with many other tourists. I guess they are accustomed to having people watch; but I felt a little awkward.

We left the burning ghat and began a walk through the alleys of Varanasi. I am not kidding when I say alleys. Trees were growing through the sidewalks and they would touch both sides of the buildings in the alleys. We saw several temples. We witnessed people bathing in a pool that was supposed to cleanse. We watched people pray to their gods at make shift temples. This place is amazing. Speaking of amazing, The Amazing Race shot an episode here last season. A guy CL spoke to regularly and practiced his Hindi was in the episode. Kirsten pointed out all the places we went that were on tv. I love the Amazing Race so I was quite excited to see all the places.

I got way more information than I could ever process. By the time we finished walking we were in Gadolia. I had no idea we had walked that far. We took a public auto rickshaw back home. After being out almost 5 hours, showers were in order. Dominoes delivered our Chicken Golden Delight pizza for lunch. At this point everyone is resting. It has been a really good weekend filled with fun and relaxation. It is hard to believe I only have one more weekend in Varanasi. Now that i finally feel good, I am beginning to like the place. Headed home in 15 days! Awe, America! How i love you!

Until later! Have a good week.

Food for Thought

I am dreaming of all the places I want to eat when I get home. I am going to list them and if you want to go eat with me, let me know.

Newks - Newk’s Q
Ruby Tuesday’s - salad bar
Logans - steak
Fresh Market - meatloaf and vegetables
McAlisters - Spud Max
Cheddars - fried chicken salad
Mexican
Fannin Mart - fried chicken and vegetables
Mugshots - hamburger
Chinese - after about 2 good weeks with no rice
Newks - grilled chicken caesar salad


Can you tell I am starving? I see rice and dal everyday. Please help me eat my way down Lakeland Drive.

Last night I got some earplugs and found a cold towel to wrap around my neck so that I could sleep. After a good night's sleep, I woke up thinking about how it would feel to take my shoes off and walk across my lawn. I have seen a total of two pieces of grass since arriving in India. Grass is rare. When I get home, I plan to kick off my shoes and walk across my yard. I might even stretch out on it. Oh, to see grass.

CL took Eva back to the doctor for her follow up visit. The doctor was pleased with her progress. We all met for lunch at a place called Shimlahs. Now most of you know by now that Indian food and I are not agreeing. This place had some grilled chicken that was out of this world good. I told Kirsten to order for me and she made a great choice. Our waiter did not understand our order and actually doubled it so we have left overs.

It was awesome to wake up and find that Northwest Rankin had won the homecoming game and crowned a lovely young lady as queen. It really made my heart swell with pride for the student body of NWRHS.

CL and I are looking forward to waking in the morning to football scores from around the SEC. Roll Tide Roll!

Hope you all have a good Saturday!

Dr. Pearce on call

It seems we are running an infirmary here in India. Eva is much better today after not eating for 3 days. She has a cough; however, all other issues seem to be better. This morning she got up, walked straight to her mother and took food right off her plate. She was soooooooo hungry! We laughed out loud.

Now baby Selah is running fever...100.6. She has gone to school with mom and dad. I expect she will visit the doctor this afternoon.

Eva and I are cuddled up on the bed watching The Flizbins on dvd. If you have never heard of the Flizbins, please google.

We have been inside for 3 days now. Cabin fever is beginning to set in. I am thankful I am here so the kids can go to school and keep life somewhat normal.

Last night was the last night of a festival for Hindus. Very loud music was played and idols were taken to the river to be dumped. Also last night, we had dogs fighting outside. I would not be surprised if the streets are covered in blood or dead dogs. It was a loud, crazy, hot night.

Every night when I go to bed I pray that a cool breeze will blow through the windows. Unfortunately, last night just wasn't a night for cool breezes.

I have been away from home almost a month now. I have never appreciated home like I do now. I never want to lose this feeling. All I will have to do is look at the pictures I have taken. My life will forever be changed.

Hopefully, my next blog will be full of fun and excitement.