A little bit about the projects I'm working on at EMI

We just wrapped up my first project at EMI. The project's for Maharashtra Bible College, which is an 8 hour train ride east of Mumbai. The school was founded by the grandfather of one of our neighbors in Mussoorie. The campus is in really rough shape. Most of the roofs are leaking (few are caving in), the girl's dorm's overcrowded (some even share twin size beds). There's mosquito problems in the boy's dorm, the power supply's unreliable, and they run out of water almost every day. The college's short on finances. They charge tuition, but many of them can't pay it. Nevertheless, the principal feels burdened to take them, especially for many girls from a nearby Mukti Mission's orphanage (if you get a chance, check out the link, they do some amazing work among children and women in India, and the story behind the founder is amazing, too). We basically made recommendations to their existing buildings and infrastructure and designed future plans for their campus, including new dorms, new classrooms, and a dining hall.

The team I got to work with (4 from EMI's office, the grandson of the school's founder, 2 volunteers - from San Diego and Dehli, and the principal of the school)

View of the campus a rooftop.


some of the team members visiting the students.


wash basin for the students to wash their clothes.


The toilet situation for the married students and their kids.


Old dining room that's being used to cram in students.


The campus plan that we developed.
Rendering of the new girl's dorm and married student's housing.


Site of my next project. It's out in a crazy remote area that's closed off to the rest of the world 7 months of the year (too much snow). We're doing some civil engineering stuff, and I'm designing the K-10 school for about 120 students. I'm excited!

मेरा home

So here's a little bit about the my Indian home. Before I came here, I was warned that us India interns would "be roughing it". So... when I got here, I was quite surprised at how nice our place is. Granted, it's not exactly luxurious living, but compared to the average home here, it's quite nice, even to a point where I'd say it's too nice (I just want to live and eat like the average Joe here... but that's not acceptable for a foreigner)

This is our home, you get here by one of the million trails that wind up, down, and across the mountains. Many houses, like mine, are accessed off of rugged foot paths, not roads.

Our sitting room/foyer.


Our kitchen. I don't do much cooking, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I'm trying to learn some Indian dishes, mmmm.


Our living room.

Our toilet. Since we could run out of water at any second, the motto's "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down." But our toilets (like most Indian ones I've experiences) don't like to flush the brown stuff, there's one bright side to having diarrhea... And no toilet paper in the toilet, either, so you have to put it in the poop can. TP is kinda a luxury item...


Our bathroom. When I first came here, I wondered how long it'd take me to get used to the dirty (in a different way) bathroom. I'm quite used to it, and even like it, if only the the toilet would flush!

This is my room an my roomie, Satbir Singh. He's been with eMi for almost 10 years and is currently teaching at a local village. After becoming a Christian about 15 years ago, his family threatened to kill him, but somehow he ended up in Mussoorie. He has since reconciled with his family, but unfortunately this is a common occurance among Indians who choose a different faith from the rest of the family.

View out our front window

Night shot from around the corner.

My failed attempt to go see the Taj Mahal and some thoughts/observations:

So... I was planning on posting about my trip to Agra to see the Taj and fort and stuff, but I somehow managed to book the wrong tickets... at least we hadn't taken the long taxi ride to the train station before I noticed that the tickets were for 12:15 AM, as in the morning of and not the night of. Anyways, we just had our first good rain since getting here, so I'm just sitting inside reflecting on the past two months and what i've learned and observed. Here are some thoughts on religion in India:

People here are very religious. There are lots of Hindus, a considerable Muslim minority, some Sikhs, some Christians, some Jains, and some others. It seems like almost everyone puts their faith in some sort of religion. My guess is that everyone has been praying for rain the last couple months, and now that it's come, everyone's praising their gods. Religions not a taboo, but a part of everyday life. The Hindus have so many gods, idols, and little temples/shrines. Something interesting I've learned is that when many Hindus hear of the gospel, many simply acknowledge Jesus as another one of their gods. One women said "I go to that statue of Jesus and pray to IT everyday." It's so different from the US where most people either don't believe in any god or they believe in one true God.

I just saw a movie called Amu, it's about the 1984 riots that led to the killing of thousands of Sikhs. Sikhs have a history of persecution. Their holy book is holy in itself, I've heard of Sikhs being turned away from Christianity because they see how poorly we treat our bible - throwing it, putting it on the ground, etc. - again, very different from anything I've experienced in the US. Anyways, I strongly recommend the movie.

The beliefs and actions of the Jains seem most foreign to me. They don't kill anything, and some will wear masks as to not accidentally inhale a fly. Their diet is very strict, and when they die, their bodies are left to be eaten by vultures. I'd just like to say thank you God for your word that blesses us to eat meat. mmmm.

But, I'll have to say some people take it to an extreme... People joke around about how there's nothing living in Manipoor (a province next to Myammar) because they eat everything. Dogs, cats, lizards, spiders... There were some construction workers who were working at the nearby hospital, and there are lots of monkeys here. Let's just say they went home with lots of monkey jerkey...

And religion has a huge implication on the social structure here, but i'll leave that for another time. Good morning and good night.

YESSSS!!!!

We just got "broadband" in our office after almost a year of trying!! I put broadband in quotes, cause it's still pretty slow, but so much better than 28.8k... There still are some quirks that need to be fixed, but it's a cause for celebration! धन्यवाद परमेश्वर ! Thank you God!

On a side note, I smell like Indian spices, I even though took a shower yesterday...

Toilets in India... (warning, this gets a little dirty...)

Last night, I had my first bad experience on the toilet. I'll just say it was dirty and smelly, but considering that I've been in India for 6 weeks, I think I've been fortunate. Anyways, to commemorate my first day of the runs, I've decided to post on the various toilets I've experienced.


On one end of the spectrum, we have the fancy, high-tech toilets from Japan with a nice heated seat, a bidet, a butt-washer, and a dryer:



Then we have what most of us are use to, nothing special, but comfy:



Here's what my toilet looks like. It's made so you can squat on it, eastern style, but you have to be careful because if you slip, you'll probably be left hurt and in an embarrassing situation...



And here's one of the toilets on an Indian train. It gets the job done, and no indirect butt-to-butt contact, but it's still kinda dirty. Notice the small bucket for cleaning yourself (no TP here). Also, everything goes straight onto the train tracks, which I thought was nasty, but have realized is a good thing considering most of the toilets I've used here don't flush well, leaving poop in the bowl and your bathroom stinking...