Sunday, June 28
Leopard noises...
So, last thursday was cell group, so we went over to our pasor's house and just hung out, ate some dinner, and got our butts whooped in a game of Uno. At the end of the night, Caleb, Harry and I started home in the dark. After walking probably a hundred feet down the path, we all here this gutteral, low-pitched growl emerging from the bushes not ten feet to our right. I don't think any of us had any question as to what animal it came from: definitely a leopard. Caleb and I instantly turned our flashlights into the bushes, and Harry took off running down the path. Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), we couldn't actually see the leopard in the dense underbrush. It took about a second for me and Caleb to realize that we were standing about ten feet away from a leopard, but once it sunk in we took off after Harry. Thankfully, the leopard didn't follow us (as far as we know). Looking back, running may not have been the best strategy, but what would you do in that situation? The internet didn't seem to have much info on what to do when a leopard attacks you, either. Anyway, we were quite wired for the rest of the night. What a cool (and somewhat frightening) experience!
Saturday, June 20
A good train story
Wow, it has been over a month since my last post. And I've been busy too, so my apologies for not updating. However, this is my 24th post, so mathematically I'm averaging about a post a week over 6 months. Anyway, I'm back from the project trip down in Mumbai and I would love to share my experience on the train ride down from Delhi.
So, first of all our tickets were wait-listed, which means we have to wait for someone else to cancel their booked ticket in order to get a spot on the train. We had booked over two months in advance, however, and our names were first in line to get passed. Our chances were good. Well, we show up to the train station in Delhi and only four of our six tickets had fully passed. Caleb (one of the other interns) and I would have to share a seat. Oh well.
As it turns out, our 9:30 pm train didn't even reach the station until 11:30, so before we even get on the train we're tired and hot (it was about 95 out, even at night, but luckily we had secured a spot on the platform under a fan, and it was one of the cleanest railway platforms I have seen in India.) Well we get on the train and Caleb and I go to find our seat, and there's a family already sharing it. Mom and Dad sitting on one half, passed-out kid lying on the other. Not being in the mood to try to parley with this Indian family on our bunk (who didn't speak hardly any English either), we decide to help everyone else find there berths, find a spot for our luggage and talk to the ticketmaster. He was no help. When informed of our situation he simply said "go sit in 43" which was the number of our bunk with the family in it. But, a random guy that was in Graham's (one of the engineers) cabin was more that happy to help us. In fact, he literally jumped off his bunk, offered to help, grabbed our ticket and ran down to the end of the car where our bunk with the family on it was. Looking back, I seriously suspect that this guy was on something, seeing as how he and his buddies stayed up most of the night drinking, smoking, and playing music.
Well, we follow him back to the end of the car where he is in a lively conversation with the family in our bunk. Eventually, the family graciously moves over to their relative's berth (which now contains four people), but leave their somnolent son on our bed. As it is already past 12:30 at this point, Caleb and I simply thank everyone involved and promptly sit down. Caleb got the part of the bed where the kid wasn't, and I sat next to his feet. As I couldn't lean against the back of the seat because of the kid's feet, I leaned forward against the wall and tried to fall asleep. Unfortunately, our helping and probably half-baked friend insisted that I shouldn't sleep in that position. So he squeezes past me and tries to rearrange the inert child's position next to me. This looked like quite a difficult task as the kid was quite husky and the guy was a stick. Eventually he succeeded in shoving the child more into the corner of the berth and folded his feet up in such a way as to provide me with a place to lean back against. Fortunately for us all, the comatose child didn't awake. Hence, Caleb and I leaned our backs upright and tried to fall asleep.
Around 1:30ish the ticketmaster comes back. Caleb was already asleep; I was quite near that beautiful stage of repose. He informs us that we are to be moved into different bunks. Not in the mood or having the intellectual/emotional/conscious capacity to argue we follow him down the aisle to another cabin. He shows us our new bunks, and there is a young couple sitting in this one. Fortunately, however, the opposite bunk is empty and so the ticketmaster convinces the young couple to move over to the other side so that Caleb and I can use the opposite bunks. They graciously agree, and Caleb and I ready our partially complete bedding packages (I somehow only received a pillow out of the provided two sheets, towel, pillow, and blanket), and the ticketmaster left. Not two seconds after he leaves, the couple's mother walks into the cabin and sits down on the opposite bunk with her daughter, and the guy comes over and sits at the foot of my bunk. So, I simply resign myself to the fact that I'll be sharing my bunk with a random Indian guy, curl up my feet to give him some sitting room, and go to sleep.
I woke up halfway through the night to notice that the man sharing my bunk had somehow acquired a sheet and moved to the floor. I offered him my pillow and then turned over on the bunk with no bedding and resumed my hibernation. I actually did sleep fairly well that night, but I awoke with a strained back muscle that bother me for a few days. Good times on the Indian railway system!
So, first of all our tickets were wait-listed, which means we have to wait for someone else to cancel their booked ticket in order to get a spot on the train. We had booked over two months in advance, however, and our names were first in line to get passed. Our chances were good. Well, we show up to the train station in Delhi and only four of our six tickets had fully passed. Caleb (one of the other interns) and I would have to share a seat. Oh well.
As it turns out, our 9:30 pm train didn't even reach the station until 11:30, so before we even get on the train we're tired and hot (it was about 95 out, even at night, but luckily we had secured a spot on the platform under a fan, and it was one of the cleanest railway platforms I have seen in India.) Well we get on the train and Caleb and I go to find our seat, and there's a family already sharing it. Mom and Dad sitting on one half, passed-out kid lying on the other. Not being in the mood to try to parley with this Indian family on our bunk (who didn't speak hardly any English either), we decide to help everyone else find there berths, find a spot for our luggage and talk to the ticketmaster. He was no help. When informed of our situation he simply said "go sit in 43" which was the number of our bunk with the family in it. But, a random guy that was in Graham's (one of the engineers) cabin was more that happy to help us. In fact, he literally jumped off his bunk, offered to help, grabbed our ticket and ran down to the end of the car where our bunk with the family on it was. Looking back, I seriously suspect that this guy was on something, seeing as how he and his buddies stayed up most of the night drinking, smoking, and playing music.
Well, we follow him back to the end of the car where he is in a lively conversation with the family in our bunk. Eventually, the family graciously moves over to their relative's berth (which now contains four people), but leave their somnolent son on our bed. As it is already past 12:30 at this point, Caleb and I simply thank everyone involved and promptly sit down. Caleb got the part of the bed where the kid wasn't, and I sat next to his feet. As I couldn't lean against the back of the seat because of the kid's feet, I leaned forward against the wall and tried to fall asleep. Unfortunately, our helping and probably half-baked friend insisted that I shouldn't sleep in that position. So he squeezes past me and tries to rearrange the inert child's position next to me. This looked like quite a difficult task as the kid was quite husky and the guy was a stick. Eventually he succeeded in shoving the child more into the corner of the berth and folded his feet up in such a way as to provide me with a place to lean back against. Fortunately for us all, the comatose child didn't awake. Hence, Caleb and I leaned our backs upright and tried to fall asleep.
Around 1:30ish the ticketmaster comes back. Caleb was already asleep; I was quite near that beautiful stage of repose. He informs us that we are to be moved into different bunks. Not in the mood or having the intellectual/emotional/conscious capacity to argue we follow him down the aisle to another cabin. He shows us our new bunks, and there is a young couple sitting in this one. Fortunately, however, the opposite bunk is empty and so the ticketmaster convinces the young couple to move over to the other side so that Caleb and I can use the opposite bunks. They graciously agree, and Caleb and I ready our partially complete bedding packages (I somehow only received a pillow out of the provided two sheets, towel, pillow, and blanket), and the ticketmaster left. Not two seconds after he leaves, the couple's mother walks into the cabin and sits down on the opposite bunk with her daughter, and the guy comes over and sits at the foot of my bunk. So, I simply resign myself to the fact that I'll be sharing my bunk with a random Indian guy, curl up my feet to give him some sitting room, and go to sleep.
I woke up halfway through the night to notice that the man sharing my bunk had somehow acquired a sheet and moved to the floor. I offered him my pillow and then turned over on the bunk with no bedding and resumed my hibernation. I actually did sleep fairly well that night, but I awoke with a strained back muscle that bother me for a few days. Good times on the Indian railway system!
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