Scaffolding
The banging has finally stopped, and the workers have finished nailing sheets of tin around the eaves of our house. The space under the roof had been open, and a community of pigeons had made their homes in our landlord’s attic. Now the birds have been evicted, and it is usable storage space.
Outside the right window, can you see the legs of the worker?
Instead of using ladders on the outside of the house, the workers erected a type of scaffolding we had never seen before. In each room of our upstairs apartment, they placed thick beams sticking out the windows and stacked them together in the center of the room, bracing them from floor to ceiling. They then added beams on the outside, across the ends, providing a place to stand for work at roof level. Watching this being set up, it looked crazy, but it’s normal construction practice here. In fact, the whole process was relatively efficient, and the work was done with no injuries!
As I watched these guys climbing out on the beams, that familiar feeling surfaced again in my heart—it’s risky. In the last few weeks I’ve faced some new challenges that feel something like climbing out a window on a wobbly piece of wood with a long drop beneath me. Is my scaffolding put together right? Did I use sturdy wood? Did I brace it strongly enough in the center? I’m deeply grateful for the thoughts and prayers of my family and friends; they make up the spiritual and emotional scaffolding under my feet.
Posted in Uncategorized by Lisa
Water from the Source
I enjoyed an experience of beauty today, exploring one of the Mughal gardens that our area is famous for. Walking through the gate is like passing into a parallel dimension—from the dirty, crowded street full of noisy Indian traffic, we suddenly found ourselves in a cool, leafy space with the sounds of bird calls and waterfalls around us. The Mughal emperors built these gardens in the 17th Century and planned them so that one would never be out of earshot of falling water. 
Pavilions with carved marble pillars stand like islands surrounded by pools and fountains. Even in the heat of mid-summer, these gardens are an invitation to rest and peace.
Just as lovely as the gardens, to me, were the people I saw enjoying them. The Mughal gardens are a tourist destination for Indians, especially for honeymooners, and we saw young couples posing among the flowers for Bollywood-style photos. There were families gathered for picnics in the shade. And the shallow pools and gentle fountains seemed designed with children in mind—their laughter as they waded and splashed harmonized with the sound of the falling water.
From the garden entrance, I looked up and noticed the mountains in the distance, still holding the winter’s supply of snow. The glacier visible thousands of feet higher up is the source of the water that keeps these fountains splashing. It’s that uninterrupted connection to the source that nourishes the garden’s life, beauty, and peace.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged Garden by Lisa
Finger Food
Since our arrival six weeks ago, we’ve been enjoying meals prepared by our landlord’s wife. (We don’t quite have our kitchen set up yet, and even if we did, we’re too busy with language lessons to do much shopping or cooking.) Lunches and dinners are generally rice with dal (lentil or bean sauce) and cooked vegetables. We’re grateful that she has diminished the quantity of chili she uses, in order to accommodate our wimpy palates!
Our landlord explained to us early on that they normally eat with their right hands, but that they would provide spoons for us. For the first month or so we used the spoons, but then decided to make the switch to “manual” eating. Eating with our hands is certainly not a new experience for us, as this was normal where we used to live, in West Africa. But we didn’t want to assume that the same technique was used here, so we got some coaching from our landlord’s family. 
We’ve been practicing at each meal, scooping food up with our fingers together, and slurping it into our mouths, with less and less mess. Another important question: At the end of the meal, am I being impolite if I lick my fingers? Answer: No, in fact, licking off my fingers will signal that I really appreciated the meal!
Our landlord’s wife beamed with delight the first time we told her we didn’t need spoons. They say here that food tastes better when eaten with the hands, so she probably thought we hadn’t truly been appreciating her food! Now we get the full sensory experience! Afterwards, despite licking my fingers and then washing my hands with soap, I noticed that my fingernails retained the turmeric-yellow color of the dal. After lunch yesterday we were walking on the main street of our “village” and met our friend Shahaz’s husband in front of his shop. He greeted us warmly and reached out his hand to shake Brad’s. I noticed that his fingers were also yellow, and I laughed and showed him mine. He smiled and said, “It looks like we both had a good lunch!” Dal-stained fingernails… one small way of getting closer to our food, and to the people and culture it represents.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged Manual Eating by Lisa