The Week After

So we have started to get down to work on the engineering and architectural design for our project. We hope to publish a conceptual design report to the client by the beginning of November.

My Work This Week
I have been working on refining our base-map of the site from our survey data. I have also completed estimates of the water usage and wastewater generation and have begun to size and place the various water/wastewater systems on the site. In the meantime the architects have been working on the floor plans of all the buildings.

Sewah School
This past Saturday we had the opportunity to do a brief program with some school children at their small village school. The school consists entirely of Hindu children, grades K-8. It is run by a christian family who run a group of village schools. We got to sing songs with them, share a bible story, and play simon says with them. It was a great ministry opportunity and it also allowed us to see some more of the surrounding hills and villages near Mussoorie.









Kids at the Sewah School




























The Indian Minute -- Food
So this got skipped last week just because of the length of last week's post. So this week's topic is food. The food here is absolutely wonderful as nothing is bland, everything has a spice to it. As with most countries food is extremely regionally dependent in India, my experience has been largely with north Indian food. The two major divisions are vegetarian and non-vegetarian since most hindus will not eat meat of any sort. Also when meat is offered it is most likely going to be chicken since muslims do not eat pork and cows are considered holy by hindus. The other division is between bread and rice, in south India they rely much more on rice to be served with dishes, where as in north India breads are more common. The most common bread in our area is chapati, it is basically a wheat flour version of a tortilla, but a little different. The typical Indian meal consists of rice and dal. Dal is a lentil stew prepared with garlic, onions, tomatoes, and spices. This is usually supplimented with subjee(vegetables) which can include potato, califlower, pepper,onion, tomato and cabbage cooked with spices, in our locality this is eaten with chapati. Other foods that I have experienced here:

Bhindi - Okra cooked with tomatoes and spices

Paneer: This is a type of cheese curd, it comes in cubes and when eaten uncooked may remind you of tofu. Paneer can be cooked,grilled, or fried. When cooked it comes in many forms including paneer palak(spinach).

Chicken or Aloo(Potato) Pakora: Pakora means fried

Parantha: This is kind of like a stuffed chapati, potatoes or paneer are usually used as a filling.

Chicken Kofta: This is chicken that has been ground or minced and then formed into a meatball, it is cooked and served with a curry sauce.

Dahi- Yogurt, sometimes prepared with thinly minced cucumber, it is served with spicy foods to provide a "cooling" food.

Aloo(potato)-this is prepared in a variety of ways also in different types of sauces, and served with rice or chipati

Momos- Tibetan dumplings, also probably the best food I've had here.

I can't do a section on Indian food without mentioning chai. Chai is the type of tea drank at all hours of the day by everybody in India. It is a black tea that is served with milk and a lot of sugar. It can be flavored with any/all of the following: caradamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, fennel, and even pepper. On the train the chai wallahs(a wallah is someone who sells stuff) would begin at 6 AM and walk up and down the aisle of train yelling "chai"; they continued well into the evening.

Also I should say a brief word about curry. Curry simply refers to a flavored gravy of stew that meat or vegetables are cooked in, it doesn't actually refer to a specific spice.

Fun Food Fact: Potatoes are widely eaten throughout India, but where not available here until there discovery in the "New World" and their subsequent immigration to India via the British colonialists.







View from the lawn at the office









"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
-Romans 1:20

Monsoon has finally ceased here in Mussoorie and everyday this week I have been able to see the 20,000 foot tall peaks of the Himalayans to the north. God's creation has always spoken powerfully to me throughout my christian journey and here it is certainly no different.

Prayer Requests:
-We have one team that is traveling back from south India this weekend so you can be praying for their safety.
-We have another intern joining us so you can be praying for her transition to the office
-Pray that we would diligently and humbly serve here at eMi and engage in the local community


--Nate