that's my beloved India

"... then the chaos can really begin…

The forthcoming chaos is really just a scramble to fix broken things. In the first 6 months of 2010, most things in the office were broken to some degree. In the following 2 months, before the next internship, we must fix them. It all starts with the fact that to do our design & project work we typically require ‘files’. Indeed, nothing can be done without ‘files’. These ‘files’ are commonly stored on a computer. And a computer requires electricity. Thus, we reach a troublesome set of problems I will outline below:

Problem no.1: Adam (our file server) is dead. We don’t know how to fix it. It must be fixed.
Problem no.2: To fix Adam, we must have electricity. The generator is dead – may it rest in peace.
Problem no.3: In lieu of a generator, we must have electricity supply. This week we received ~21 hours out of the ~45 office hours.
Problem no.4: To stabilize the psychotic* electricity supply, we must have new “earthing”.
Problem no.5: To have this “earthing”, certain fellows must begin working for their money. They have not. One week has passed.
Problem no.6: For these certain fellows to work, it cannot be raining heavily. It is monsoon.

For the sake of tact, I have not touched on problems related to ‘telephone’, ‘mobile phone’ or ‘internet’, because I want to emphasize that we do have water, food, clothing, shelter, in short, everything we need to live. But it is just precisely these frivolous extras (such as electricity & internet) that are demanded by our very unreasonable ‘office’. This is why we pine and fret during 6-hour power cuts instead of sucking our tea to relax.

So, pray for us. We know that the Lord will help us to bring things together in time, and we’re willing to take creative views to get around our circumstances too… So we’ll see whether or not we need to implement the Night Shift (electricity supply is typically excellent between 6pm & 8am)…

In Christ, in India,
XX

*I use the word ‘psychotic’ since the electricity supply has recently had a sort of crazy murderous instinct which is unsettling. If I were a machine at the office, I would be scared. Very scared…"

(an email update from my friend in ministry, the director of the India office that I interned at)

world's fair

I must say, I'm getting pretty excited. There is still so much to do within the next 2 months, and some have deadlines much closer to that. But that's the nature of departure, I suppose.

I received an email this morning from the university (specifically from the program director that I'm in) with a list of those of us who are getting an on-campus flat so that we could check accuracy. It has move-in dates (most being 1 Sept.), surnames, and country of origin.

The country part is the exciting one for me. (And I suppose that fact that I will have more official German address within weeks from now.) Chile, China, El Salvador, Ethopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, & Venezuela. I am the only USA person, though I have already communicated with the other USA guy who has already moved into a place of his own in Stuttgart. But I am thrilled with the opportunity to work & play & live alongside people from so very different backgrounds and cultures. It should be a fascinating experience.