like 1930 that night...

So...I have to apologize to my loyal and numerous readers for not blogging in a long time. Here we go, let's get this started again.

So here's a quick list of what's been going on.
- We're getting settled well here in Canajoharie, NY. Small town life is much different than Jersey but we're digging it.
- Being close to the ADKs is awesome. We've been hiking 10+ times since moving here, not to mention the trails and gorges around our house that we've been discovering and exploring.
- I've been keeping busy substitute teaching which means a little bit of teaching and a lot of reading. I've been devouring books which has been great. Last book finished was "Half Broke Horses" by Jeanette Walls. Really interesting read. A slightly fictional but mostly accurate story of her grandmother who was a rancher, pilot, teacher, and rabble-rouser.
- We went to Michigan a few weeks ago to visit Miriam's family which was a lot of fun.
- We've started composting, sweet and begun making plans for our vegetable garden. We will likely grow some interesting things since we seem to be able to get our staples from a guy around the corner who sells veggies on two card tables out in front of his house. Zucchinis for 10 cents a piece is hard to beat!
- We inherited a mini-van from my parents which has been helpful in moving big stuff around, like the elliptical we also inherited from them. Living close to them again has been great. We invited ourselves over for dinner the other night and plan on doing it a lot in the future.

Ok, plenty more has happened but I need to be off to sub for the afternoon!

everybody say: Mr. Rain Man can we have a rainy day?

We're currently out in Michigan visiting with Miriam's family and getting ready for Miriam's ordination service this coming Sunday. It's been a great week filled with plenty of good food and good beer. I have really grown to appreciate Grand Rapids and would not be opposed to ending up here some day.

That said we move to Canajoharie, NY in t-minus one week. I haven't even begun to let myself think about how close we will be to the Adirondacks and how amazing that will be. We're less than one hour from the park and a little over an hour from camp. It will be nice to (hopefully) be able to get my canoe out more as well.

As of right now I am still jobless but hopeful.

Miriam and I are also super jazzed about being chaplains at camp August 2-8. Miriam got to be a chaplain last year while I took summer Greek but this year I get to join her. A number of our good friends will be up volunteering as well which just makes it all the more exciting. It will be very cool to see the construction progress as well.

stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey...

Now I know I rag on New Jersey all the time, let's be honest who doesn't love poking fun of the Dirty Jerz? But as I reflect on our last few nights in NJ I've been thinking about the things I will miss about Jersey and here they are in no particular order (except for the first one which is the single greatest thing I will miss about NJ)
1. Listening to Bruce Springsteen while driving on Jersey highways. You understand his music on a whole different level when you do this.
- Bent Spoon ice cream
- the Pine Barrens
- downtown Princeton
- the Presbyterian Church of Westfield
- the Jersey section of the Appalachian Trail
- Bearfort Ridge
- Sourland Mountain Preserve
- getting away with driving like a jerk
- the Trenton Farmer's Market
- the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen
- getting to live next to Ben and Emily
- Seminary friends

I am sure I left something off but there it is. So for all you people who like NJ there you go I gave you some things I will miss, are you happy now?

mellow yellow

So the greatest sporting event of the year, the Tour de France, started on Saturday. I find myself in a very weird place this year as I follow the race. When Lance Armstrong was winning like crazy I was rooting for him big time. I would go out and buy up all magazines with his face on the cover, I read his books cover to cover, I even have a Lance Armstrong training book for cycling. Needless to say, I was drinking the Armstrong kool-aid.
Yet this year I find myself rooting against Lance. I do not support post-retirement comebacks with the exception of Jordan’s first comeback (I mean let’s be honest, he was too young to retire). Post-retirement comebacks inevitably cloud the memory of one’s great athletic achievements (see Jordan’s second comeback). Lance’s comeback just seems like a big ego-trip to me wrapped in the neat packaging of his Livestrong, cancer research fundraising. Now don’t get me wrong I am by no means angry that he is trying to raise money and awareness for cancer research, that is awesome. What I don’t like is his ego in this comeback. Lance always had an ego, it’s what made him an exceptional cyclist but this comeback seems to take it a bit too far.
I also don’t approve of the comeback given that I began rooting for one of Lance’s teammates while Lance was retired. Alberto Contador is the future and the present of cycling. He has already won all three Grand Tours and is barely out of the Young Rider’s classification. The man is a beast. He got shafted from defending his ‘07 Tour title for joining the Astana team which was banned from the ‘08 Tour because of the team’s previous doping history (which was turned around after the ‘07 season). It’s his turn to make a triumphant comeback this year, not Lance’s. Come on Lance you won 7 Tours already, really, do you need to prove anything more? Let the young guys have a chance.
It makes me sad to say it but it’s true, as the Tour progresses I will continue to hope that Contador beats Lance and not just beats Lance, trounces him.

if only i hadn't...

This post is dedicated to something I've seen a lot of lately: Bad idea tattoos. Now defining bad idea tattoos can be a bit problematic since one person's trash is another person's treasure but I think this list of tattoos I've compiled should be no one's treasure. Ever.
1. Neck tattoos. These are always a bad idea. At some point you are sure to regret them and unfortunately turtlenecks will never be cool. Ever.
2. Tattoos that reference money. I've seen in the last month a tattoo on the back of someone's hand saying "Get Money" and another one on someone's forearm that said "Money" with a bunch of bills around it. These are an even worse idea if you are in fact not getting any money.
3. Getting a tattoo when you are 16. If you are a parent and your kid asks for your permission to get a forearm tattoo tell them no and ground them for even thinking that was a good idea.
4. Insert your own. You know you've seen a bad idea tattoos recently one that made you cringe and think "was that really the best idea?"

If I know you and you have a tattoo similar to something like one of these I of course think it's great and will tell you so. Sike!

But seriously I've always wanted a tattoo of some sort but have never been able to decide on one. The more and more tattoos I see the more I think I will not get one for fear of regretting it in 20 years.

the best view of new jersey is in the rear view mirror...

- the Barnes are heading to Upstate New York! Miriam received and accepted a call to be the next pastor of Canajoharie Reformed Church this past Sunday. It's been a long process but in the end we're both excited about heading up there and beginning this next part of our life.
- I've been quite mum on the blog as of late because of this process. It's been consuming a lot of our thinking and besides wanting to keep you all on the edge of your seats we needed to keep it all off of the internet. Expect posts to continue more now...or at the same rate, who knows
- we'll likely move towards the end of July. My first order of business once we move is to get the New Jersey plates off of the Subaru and get NY plates back on it. That will be one of the greatest days of my life.
- I am currently in Michigan taking an RCA History course. This is last intensive I have to take which is exciting. I've enjoyed good brews at New Holland while I am here, taking advantage of the location.
- That's all I'm up for writing right now, word.

sleep in thin tents, caked with dirt...

- We've been busy. I've not posted. Oops.
- I graduated this past Saturday. It was a nice ceremony, a bit boring but not as boring as it was hyped up to be. It was quite warm, I sweat a lot which turned out to be the story of the weekend. My parents, great Aunt Bobbie, and Miriam's parents all came for the ceremony which was really great. We grilled Saturday afternoon before the ceremony and had an overall good time.
- We left right after my graduation to drive up to my parent's house because Jane was graduating Sunday morning at 10am. Her ceremony was nice as well though a number of people were incredibly rude. Once they started announcing names people decided to get up whenever they wanted and talk as though they were the only people in the room. It's one thing to shout for your graduate, as I did for Jane, it's another to act as though your graduate is the only one who matters. I sweat through my shirt there something fierce, it was a bit gross. It was good for Miriam to see Hamilton as well.
- I found myself a bit nostalgic for Jane as she was leaving Hamilton given that I've had some good times there when she's been there. One of my favorite times was skipping half a week of class last year to go to a show at Hamilton and hang out for five days.
- We're planning on heading down to the Pine Barrens today for a hike which should be fun.
- I've been a bit hush-hush on the blog as we try to figure out what comes next. I can't say anything right now about where we're going to be but big news should be coming out soon, so get ready, check the blog frequently.

little bit of gold and pager...

So it has been quite some time since I've posted here. Severe lack of motivation combined with a busy April meant no posting. But here's what's happened/is happening
- I finished seminary. Blam. Done. All I need to do now is graduate. It feels good but has yet to sink in really. I think the fact that Miriam is the one looking for jobs right now and I'm waiting until she gets one to look makes it feel like I'm not graduating.
- April was an incredibly busy month. We went to the Smokies for a week, were back in Princeton a week, Miriam went to Michigan for a week, then Texas two days later for an interview, then back here, then it was May.
- We cooked last night for the first time since before we left for the Smokies. When I say cooked I mean more than a meal that we could open some cans and put together in 5 minutes. We were a little rusty but the food turned out good.
- I was finally able to attend the Youth Ministry Forum that the seminary puts on each year. The past two years it has been during finals which made it difficult to have any interest in it. It was refreshing to attend some seminars that dealt with real practical issues.
- My time at Westfield Presbyterian Church is coming to an end soon which is sad. I have been there all 3 years of seminary and have really grown into myself there and developed a lot of really great relationships which I will be sad to say goodbye to, but life moves on forward and I suppose it's the nature of the beast.

tennessee river and a mountain man...

- We're currently in the Smoky Mountains on vacation with Miriam's family. We left after work on Friday, stayed halfway in Virginia and got into Gatlinburg about 1pm Saturday afternoon, quickly dropping our stuff off at the cabin and heading out to meet the fam on a hike. The wildflowers are out here like crazy, quite beautiful. Sunday we headed up Mt. LaConte, one of the biggies in the Smokies. It was a really pretty hike and a great way to spend Palm Sunday. Yesterday we went on a hike with Miriam's sister Rachel and her husband Mark along a ridge to Charlie's Bunion (a sweet rock outcropping). Sunday was filled with sun and was nearly 80. When we left the car Monday it had just started snowing and was 31 pre-wind chill, gotta love how mountain weather can shift so quickly. We got pelted with snow the whole hike and by the time we were coming down New Found Gap Road they had closed the lane going up because it was getting so icy. Currently we can't see the mountains because it is snowing and blowing like crazy. They are predicting nearly a foot for high elevations, pretty wild.

- Some things I've noticed about the Smokies in comparison to the mountains I know best (The Adirondacks)
- You see a lot more people on the trail who look like they have no idea what they are doing. We saw one woman Saturday in a blouse, dress vest, dress pants, and dress shoes out on the trail! We had another guy ask us at 5:45 pm if he could take his kids up a 4 mile round trip trail that is mostly up! I suppose that happens in the most visited national park in the US, but it still is pretty wild.
- Gatlinburg is a mix of Lake George and Lake Placid. The boutique shops of Lake Placid mixed in with the hokey touristy things of Lake George.
- It's cool getting to talk with thru-hikers since the AT doesn't come into the 'Dacks.
- The roads to the trails take you up a lot higher in elevation so some hikes just involve a hike along the ridge to the peak of the mountain.

- The trip has been fantastic overall, so nice to be in the mountains and on vacation. Miriam's family asked if it was a hard sell for me to come here and miss a week of school. My response was "Miriam said, 'hey want to get out of NJ for a week and skip school?' and I responded with an emphatic, 'yes! So no, it wasn't a hard sell!" We head out Thursday morning and it will definitely be a bummer to leave the mountains.

moonlight spills on comic books

- Jane has been in town since Tuesday night, that's been great. I took her with me to the soup kitchen yesterday which she enjoyed. It was good to show her how I spend my Wednesdays. I had a meeting at New Brunswick Seminary in the morning and we ran into a camp friend Kyle, who we had lunch with. It was a nice unexpected surprise. We intended on going rock climbing this afternoon but it's raining here which put a damper (pun intended) on those plans, so we went to the movies instead. We saw "Watchmen." I am still trying to figure out if I liked it or not. It was depressing yet also thought provoking. I can see why it has gotten mixed reviews though.
- We're heading to Upstate for the weekend since Miriam is preaching at Bellevue. Unfortunately I will not get to hear her since I am heading back on a train Saturday night. It's confirmation Sunday at Westfield and I really need to be there. If the trains run on schedule the trip should only take about 30 minutes longer than driving and I'll be able to get some good work done.

And oh it's gonna drop, gonna fill your cup

I've gotten on this kick of only updating once a week but life has been fairly normal as of late, nothing much to report beyond the daily grind. March is that type of month, huh? I remember back in grade school March was a supper lame month because you got one day off during the whole month for staff development but the month dragged on forever. March meant spring break in college but in seminary it means reading week which means midterms. And above all that March is a pretty gray month. So it's not surprising that March becomes a basic, simple, day in day out, daily grind type of month. That said, here's what's been going on:
- Good week. Sun was out a lot. I like the sun. The beer I brewed for the Smokey Mountain trip was bottled on Monday, hopefully it turns out good.
- Good weekend. We went to a preaching event on Friday night called "You Say I Preach Like a Woman?" featuring three sermons from my female classmates. It was good and a nice affirming event that women are indeed called just the same as men. Saturday was Miriam's bosses dad's memorial service. It was a very good service, really a good time of remembering the life he lead and the people he influenced. Sunday was church stuff as usual which is always fun and as spring rolls around becomes more and more exciting and energetic.
- That said, I am nearing the end of my time at the Presbyterian Church of Westfield and trying not to think about it too much because it's sad to think about leaving. I've put in 3 years with the youth of this church and I've grown so much because of my time there, it will surely be a place I'll never forget. So let's stop talking about it because it makes me sad.

took it to the chop shop, got the dang top dropped

- Miriam was in DC this weekend which means I got very little accomplished. For example, this blog post about Miriam being gone and me getting nothing done was meant to be published yesterday. I did get some reading done which was good and finished up a paper. Having this whole week off and doing school work the entire time meant that I was pretty drained and loath to do any work but I did.
- I am getting really pumped for the trip to the Smokies with Miriam's family coming up in a couple weeks. I brewed a batch of beer for the trip and will bottle either tomorrow or Tuesday. Hopefully it turns out as good as my first batch!
- This week starts my final 5 weeks of seminary, one of which will be spent hiking (sweet!). It's really hard to believe I'm nearly done. Pretty soon I will be a Master of Divinity and will prefer to be called Master of Divinity Barnes much like Ph.D's go by Dr. So-and-So (I think Master of Divinity sounds cooler, kind of like He-man, Master of the Universe).
- I finally purchased the new TV on the Radio album yesterday. I really enjoyed their first two albums but the iTunes samples for the new album didn't sound that great when I first listened to them. I went back and listened to them yesterday and bought the album right away. I've listened to it 3 times already, it's really good.

the harrowing adventures of...

- We had a great weekend. Saturday's weather was marvelous. I had an ultimate frisbee game in the morning complete with a muddy field. I rode my bike back and forth from the game since it was so nice. It was my first time on the bike in a month, probably and it showed. It's amazing how in riding a lot you get so comfortable on the bike and how you lose that a bit when you don't ride. In the afternoon we checked out a collegiate bike race over at the University, it was a lot of fun. In the Men's A race, a Princeton Senior Nick Frey dominated the field. We find out from someone in the group we were hanging out with that he is basically a professional and went to the world championships this year representing the USA under-23 team. He's beast. We rode our bikes back and forth from the race, taking advantage of the sunlight and nice weather.
- Sunday brought its normal routine with a little bit of tiredness from the springing ahead but I managed.
- No classes this week but lots of work to do. I am preaching at Westfield tomorrow evening for a lenten service and I've got two paper due early next week. Needless to say I'll be busy this week!

ghost under rocks

I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Princeton listening to Sigur Ros and trying to sermonize. How's it going you ask? I'm blogging right now...you tell me. I have to preach for a lenten service at Westfield on Tuesday. Normally I'd be practically done with my sermon by now but alas, I am not.
This week has been a lot less busy that the last. Nothing too exciting this week other than the half snow day on Monday. It allowed me to get caught up on some work even if I still had class in the afternoon. Pretty laid back weekend this weekend, first one in a while. The weather should be pretty nice which is a plus. We're hoping to catch a few of the bike races going on over at the university on Saturday which should be fun. Their doing a criterium race (read: short course, lots of turns, lots of laps) on the university campus which should be pretty fun to watch.
That is all for now.

represent queens but raised up in brooklyn

- We went to the city twice this week, oh my! It's funny, prior to going to India I was overwhelmed by the city and it made my anxious as all get out. Since going to India, NYC seems like Wyoming, needless to say these trips were actually fun and not too intense.
- Miriam had to go into the city for work on Thursday so I met up with her in the afternoon. We met up on the Upper West Side and went to the RCA offices on Riverside, right on the Hudson. The woman we were meeting had a corner office on the 18th floor staring down the Hudson towards downtown, it was awesome! We met up with one of Miriam's friends for dinner and had some good Thai in the Hell's Kitchen area. We then headed to the Lower East Side to The National Underground to hear one of our favorite bands play (Basement Band). They were supposed to go on sometime between 8:30 and 9 but didn't go on until 9:40. Miriam was exhausted from getting the 7:30 train into the city so we only stayed for about 6 songs and then headed back to Princeton.
- Saturday we headed in to meet up with Jane, who had extra tickets to Will Ferrell's one man show "You're Welcome America." We hung out before the show, walked around visited Central Park, had lunch and then caught the show. The show was hilarious, a bit raunchy at times but so funny. Ferrell did a fantastic job and we had seats in the front row of the balcony which was sweet.
- I helped in worship today and totally messed up the call to the offering, it was embarrassing. I finished the prayers of the people and turned around to Tina saying, "you need to do the call to offering." I completely blanked and just said "And now...the offering." It was absurd but I recovered a little. On a better note though we went to an Indian restaurant for lunch and had Dosa's which were one of my favorite things from India. Very good.

new horizons

So I am embarking on two new projects that you all should know about:
1. I have started blogging for Matthew25.org. Matthew25 is a community of progressive Christians trying to think about what it means to follow the passage in Matthew 25(v.40-"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these you did for me") in our modern world and in relation especially to the Obama administration. It's a cool site and you should all check it out.
2. I have started a new personal blog that will not replace Where There's A Road but go in a different direction. I have really been inspired lately by a number of blogs that just post pictures of various things with no words attached. I am embarking on a blog project that follows that method to allow me to a) post more frequently because I will need to spend less time writing what I am feeling and can post pictures and b) will allow me to show others things I find super cool visually. For those of you waiting with baited breath for the web address here it is One Thouzand Wordz

fit it all, fit in the doldrums

Been a while!
- Was on a ski trip with the youth group this weekend. It was great. Went up to Bromley, VT. It will be my only time skiing this year but I got some great turns in. I thought I would spend the first half of Saturday getting used to skiing again but by the second run I was off into the woods making crazy turns, I couldn't resist. The trip reminded me just how much I love skiing.
- This semester is going to be a lot busier than last semester but should be really good. I really enjoy my classes so far and it should be a good close to my seminary time. It is hard to believe I am in the second week of my last semester but here it is!
- On Feb. 28 I get to go see Will Ferrell's one man show "You're Welcome America" where he played George Bush. Jane's school has an extra ticket and I am super excited. Will Ferrell's impersonation of Bush is so good.
- We had a bluegrass service today at chapel that rocked. I played the mandolin and we had a banjo, guitar, dobro, and fiddle. Only thing missing was a upright bass. There were a good number of people there too which added the awesome-ness of the acoustics of the chapel.

don't let 'em pass you by...glory days

Kindergarten style picture of the first day of my last semester of seminary...holler!

i put on for my city...

I found this photo this morning and I had to admire the cleverness of this sign

...i just want to knit a hat for it

- It snowed last night here and we got probably 3 inches. In typical NJ fashion these things happened in reaction to the snow:
a) All schools and non-essential businesses closed
b) Once the snow fell it started sleeting and is now raining and will be over 40 degrees by mid-afternoon
One of these days we'll get an honest to goodness snow storm...maybe
- In a weird way I am ready for classes to start. I need something to do. There are only so many things I can do around the house and errands I can run. I also tend to get a lot less done when I have lots of time to do it, it's a little absurd. I am also just ready to get this last semester started and get it over with. I am ready to be done with seminary, not so much the learning part but the paper-writing, having things due part.
- In another snow related thing: when the snow is fluffy here they use leaf blowers to clear the sidewalks, it makes no sense. I honestly think that at some point they tried to ban shovel-use in NJ and nearly all of the population backed the banning. I bet the leaf-blower lobby in the state capital is huge, almost as big as the military-arms dealer lobby in Washington.

they'll have 5,000 branches, but you'll have 5,000 leaves

With temperatures pushing over 50 degrees and the sun shining brightly I decided to take the old two wheeler out for a spin. It was a good idea. I haven't been on it since October and had all sorts of trouble with keeping air in my tires, no such problem this time. It was all in all a great ride until the last .5 mile when a women insisted on honking at me to make a left hand turn quicker. I don't think she realized that bikes move slower than cars and it just wasn't possible. I decided not to give her the ol' one finger salute because I am trying to be a better person.
Snow tubing trip this weekend with the middle schoolers. Hopefully all the snow didn't melt today.

there's snow way...

I come back and it's actually snowing in New Jersey. Weird.

dorothy we ain't in bangalore anymore...

I'm sitting in our living room sipping my attempt at Indian coffee reflecting continuing to reflect on my excursion to India. I brought back Indian coffee, a filter, and authentic coffee cups (small and stainless steel) in an attempt to be able to replicate one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had. So far I've been mildly successful. I made some for Miriam on Saturday morning that took a couple tries but managed to turn out pretty good. This morning's cup I would place at a 6 on the 1-10 Indian coffee attempt scale. In attempting to make Indian coffee I've realized how impossible it is to replicate the exact moments and experiences you've had in the past, no matter how hard you try. Making Indian coffee in my kitchen will never be the same as drinking Indian coffee at a roadside stand in the middle of nowhere India or in a 3500 year old city, it just won't be. But that's okay. I want that experience to continue to hold a special place in my memory and I fear that if I was super good at making Indian coffee and could magically conjure up a roadside stand to drink it in whenever I wanted then it wouldn't hold that special place anymore.
So that's my random reflection for the morning. Quite different than the bullet point account of what we did on the trip I wrote yesterday!

Back in the USSR...well more like the USA but it works

I got back from India Thursday night and this blog post is a long time in the making. Attempting to sum up my excursion to India is a daunting task and one I have been putting off for sometime because of its daunting nature. I think what I will do is give a day by day brief synopsis and hope that works. Just know that it is hard to condense and organize all the thoughts in my mind after this trip! (If you want to skip the synopsis and just see pics from the trip go here: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=258393580/a=159080799_159080799/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink)
Wednesday January 7:
- Breakfast at JP's parents house (JP was our trip leader, he is Indian and lives in Holland, Michigan with his wife and daughter)
- Tour of the World Cassette Outreach of India headquarters conveniently located right next door to JP's parents (since JP's dad runs the outreach it makes sense). They record the Bible or parts of the Bible in many different languages to give out to people (they've recorded in 200 languages and India has over 1600 languages!)
- Lunch at the best Indian restaurant I've ever been to (which makes sense given that it's in India!).
- Our first exposure to shopping in Indian markets (one word: chaos)
- taking on ride on the back of JP's motorcycle through crazy Indian traffic (one word: chaos and then another word: awesome)
Thursday January 8:
- up early to head out on a bus at 530am
- breakfast at a road side stand called the "Dosa Camp" located at the Shark Food Court. Dosa's are an Indian breakfast that are a lot like a crepe filled with potatoes, peas, celery, and spices. It also came with tomato and coconut chutneys to dip in. It was awesome.
- we went to 3 temples during the day. 1 Jainist temple (which we had to hike barefoot up 627 stairs on an exposed rock to get to. In the temple was a 58 foot statue that is the largest monolithic (single stone) statue in the world. It was impressive). The other two temples were Hindu temples that were about 1000 years old. The carving on the outside of them was incredible.
- We had dinner at the Shark Food Court and feasted for about $2 a person. It is cheap to travel inside India (it just takes a small fortune to actually get there!)
Friday January 9
- The day started out by calling Miriam at an STD (not what an STD is in the US! STD's are phone booths in India. Needless to say, they make for good jokes)
- We met in the morning with 10 Indian pastors who had been persecuted for their beliefs. It was one of the most powerful things we experienced there. It was amazing to hear how they stood by their beliefs and the sense of urgency their faith held for them.
- Another trip to the markets. A couple of us walked through the vegetable and fruit market which was unbelievable. So many fruits/veggies to enjoy and in back they had chickens in cages and goats tied up that you could buy to have slaughtered (no frozen chicken isle here!)
- We shipped out on a bus @ 9pm for Kerala. We were supposed to take a train but they were all booked because of the harvest festivals in Kerala. The bus ride was a trip, to say the least. About 2 hrs in they turned on a very loud Indian movie which jarred a lot of us from sleep. We would later find out that they turned the movie on so loud to cover up the fact that they were running out of gas! (There was a gas shortage in India as a result of a strike and the first station we stopped at was all out of gas.) We spent about 1.5 hrs on the side of the road waiting for the driver to catch a ride to get gas and come back. We then drove about 4 miles up the road to a gas station only to wait 2.5 hrs to fill up the tank! Orderly lines are not really a strong suit of the India, watching tour buses jockeying for position in line has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen.
Saturday January 10:
- We arrived at our destination 6 hrs late as a result of the bus situation. It was not a big deal. Not like the US where the bus company would have had to give everyone their money back or face lawsuits. Indians deal with it, it's pretty awesome.
- We stayed with the Bishop of the East Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India. I didn't realize it upon arriving but this was a big deal. People kiss the Bishop's ring when they see him, though we didn't have to.
- The Bishop's wife Betty took us around to some local churches in the mountains after lunch. The views were amazing. At the second church we were given fresh coconuts with straws to drink the milk (it's not actually as good as it sounds). We also saw rubber trees and the first steps in the rubber making process. The church housed a boys school so we got to meet the boys which was fun, they ran up and excitedly shook our hands and even a few got so excited they hugged us!
Sunday January 11:
- We were up early for our first church service at 7am. This service was in English and about 1.5 hrs long. Men and Women sat on separate sides and women had their heads covered and the service followed the Anglican tradition.
- The next service was at 10 and was not in English and lasted for 2:45 hrs! It was also 90 degrees inside the church. Surprisingly though it didn't feel as long as one would think.
- After some naps in the afternoon we walked down to a boys school down the street in search of a cricket game. We were unsuccessful but did play an hour long pick up game of soccer with some males from the village ranging from age 15 to 25 (there were a couple 40 year olds I think too). When we arrived we said "game, game" hoping to get one going since there were a handful of guys kicking the ball around. Well, a call went out to the village and they all came running. It was a blast.
Monday January 12:
- We shipped out early again to head over the mountains to Bodi and Madurai. Driving over the mountains was incredible. The views were beautiful especially the tea plantations in the upper parts of the mountains. And there is nothing quite like driving on a road that is only 1.5 cars wide in a small bus with steep drops on the side of the road. It's something everyone should experience at least once!
- We met with some RCA missionaries in Bodi. Bruce is a doctor in the village providing inexpensive medical care to those in the surrounding areas. Tamar runs a income generation company for women in the area. They make jewelry and sew various things as well, many of which get sold to Ten Thousand Villages and other fair trades organizations. The women get free childcare, lunch, and have the ability for a pension. Meeting with them was one of the top highlights of the trip.
- We shipped out from there to Madurai to stay in a hotel for the night.
Tuesday January 13:
- Morning coffee at a small roadside stand near the hotel was another big highlight of the trip. Drinking coffee that cost 5 rupees (about 10 cents) in a 3500 year old city surrounded by Indians was unreal.
- We visited the Hindu temple in the city where the inner sanctum (Hindu-only) is 3500 years old and the outer area (where we visited) was 1400 years old or so.
- We left in the evening for an overnight train ride back to Bangalore. I've never been on a overnight train and the experience was great. The train was way smoother than any train I've ridden in the States and I slept like a baby in my upper bunk.
Wednesday January 14:
- This day was mostly some last minute shopping and Bangalore experiencing and a walk through the big park in the city.
Thursday January 15:
- We flew out bright and early at 2:15 am and after 33 hours of traveling I got back to Princeton!

If you read through all of this, you win.
So there it is, in a nutshell my trip to India. I'm sure I will post more thoughts about the trip but this will do for now. If you have more questions about the trip feel free to contact me I'd love to talk about it!

and I'm holding all the tickets...

- We had a sweet time out here in Michigan (Miriam went back yesterday but I am still here for another day waiting to head to India!).
- Highlights of the trip include:
- spending lots of time hanging out with the nieces and nephews and other family members
- New Years Eve party at Dustyn and Brandon's
- going to Founder's Brewery twice
- going to New Holland Brewery once
- family Christmas parties
- worshipping at Trinity twice
- having nothing to do

Overall it has been a really nice trip, though I did manage to get sick yesterday. I am feeling better today but still not 100%. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be close to 100% since I am heading to India! I leave tomorrow afternoon on a bus to Detroit, catch a flight at 6:50 to Bangalore, India via Paris. I'll only be there 8 full days but it will surely be sweet. I am heading with a group from Miriam's seminary. I'll hopefully be able to blog some when I am there since Bangalore is the technology capital of India (1,500 software companies in the city!). But if I can't I will be sure to post when I get back.