The girl who sold flowers

You are bound to meet some interesting people when you travel, it's just a fact. This past weekend I travelled to Mumbai and met someone who captured my heart instantly. 


While walking to the Gateway of India a young teen girl approached my friend and I with several strings of flowers. These flowers are meant to be strung from your hair. (Side note, they are really great because they make you smell quite lovely even though you probably smell really bad from constantly sweating.) 


Her main goal was to try and sell us flowers. My main goals was to get to know who she really was. She was friendly and kind. She greeted us with a smile. She was very intelligent. I discovered that her English was very good after asking her a series of simple and more complex questions. She insisted that the flowers were a gift and asked us to give her money to feed both her and her sister. She was patient and very persistent. She had a sparkle in her eye that made me even more intrigued.


During this 10 minute interaction with the young girl there were a stream of questions running through my head. I wanted to know if she was educated. Where did she learn her English from? What is her family like? Did they encourage her to go to school? Did she go to school? What will her future look like? Will she have many opportunities for success ahead of her? All I really wanted to do was sit down with her for some chi and dig deep into her soul to reveal her true story.


This bright young girl opened up my eyes on that rainy Sunday afternoon. She reminded me why I am so interested in and passionate about the empowerment of women. The women and girls here in India fascinate me. They are so similar to me, yet so completely different. Each girl has her own story. Some are being told while others are being kept secret.

Love is patient and ever so kind.

Weddings, no matter what kind, are precious. It's the bond of two people to make a new family. Love is patient and love is kind. Weddings are the best and love is amazing.

While in India I was fortunate enough to attend an Indian wedding. Now the thing to know about Indian weddings is that they are so extravagant, detailed and beautiful. The wedding was for the nephew of my friend from the USA. Before the wedding we spent about a week or so in Chennai, which is where all of his family is from. I had the pleasure of meeting the entire family and becoming an ‘adopted’ cousin.

Before the wedding even happened there were so many things to do and prepare. The first event that I attended in preparation for the wedding was a ceremony that served as a blessing to the marriage. It started at 5 o’clock in the morning and members from the groom’s family attended at his parent’s house.

The mehndi on one of my hands

Another thing we did was have a gathering for mehndi. This is where intricate designs are applied onto your hands and lower arms. It is said that the darker the mehndi, the deeper the love is from your husband. For this gathering, all the aunties and women from the groom’s side came over to one house. Two women from the local community came and did all of the designs. When I had mine done, I sat on the floor and one woman did one hand and the other woman did the other. Both women did separate and remarkable designs. They started out with the designs on my palms and the underside of my arm. After that dried for a bit they did the top sides of my arm and hands. The mehndi comes in a little tube and is usually a paste from the leaves of a Henna plant. The whole process is truly incredible and the women are true artisans. After my design was completely done, I had the task of trying not to mess it up or touch anything until it was completely dry.

The morning of the first day of the wedding, the whole family traveled from Chennai to Mumbai. All 20 of us took the same airplane and it was a blast. People gave us funny looks because there were so many of us, but that’s quite alright. We arrived in Mumbai in the morning and was greeted with some rainy weather (which wasn’t very surprising because they are in monsoon season here and it had been raining all week before we arrived). We then loaded up a big bus and traveled to the apartments we would be staying at. It was a giant sleepover because we all shared rooms.

The first day of the wedding there are two things that happen, an engagement ceremony and a sangeet. From what I understand, the engagement ceremony was meant for the bride and groom’s parents to exchange gifts and for the festivities to start. The priest did some special things with both the bride’s parents and the groom’s parents. All of the dialogue between the priest and the families were done in a different language, so I didn’t always understand what was going on. After this was done, all of the cousins and aunties went to change for the sangeet. The sangeet is basically an evening of music and dance. The groom and bride’s side of the family prepared a dance for the sangeet. The dance that the cousin’s prepared was the story of how the bride and groom met. Various bits of songs were strung together to create the ultimate dance performance. We rocked the stage and I had a blast. We even had a giant cardboard cut out of the groom for one of the songs. After both sides presented their feature performance, the bride and groom did a little dance for everyone. Then it was time to kick off your shoes and dance the night away! Songs were blasted in the reception hall and everyone was dancing. If I were to describe the dance party, I would say it would be pretty close to a synchronized dance from a Bollywood film. During most songs everyone was dancing with the same moves, and if there were not specific dance moves, then someone made them up and the rest followed along.

The second day started early with the festivities beginning at five o’clock in the morning. Throughout the morning there were various ceremonies that both the bride and groom went through together and separately. The big and main event of the day was when the thread was tied. This signified the official marriage between the man and wife. Prior to this event, people were moving about through the wedding hall, sitting to watch the events, going down to get breakfast, taking pictures, and having side conversations. When the thread was to be tied at about 9:30am, everyone stopped what he or she was doing to witness this event. Then after it was tied, people went back to what they were doing before. Later that morning there were more and different little rituals that took place. Some were to bless the newlywed couple and others were to educate the couple on what it means to be husband and wife.

All of the meals were served on a banana leaf

During most of the day I was a fly on the wall, just taking everything in and observing all that was going on around me. I enjoyed just sitting back and silently viewing the festivities. I did not understand everything that was going on, because like I mentioned before none of the ceremony was in English, but you could just sense the joy and love radiating out of everyone in attendance.

All in all my first Indian wedding experience was amazing. I am so appreciative of all who included me in this special occasion. I loved having the chance to dress up in traditional Indian wear. I got so many compliments on my beautiful pink sari. I am thankful for friends who took the time to explain the meaning behind each part of the ceremony. The bride and groom were absolutely adorable. The way that the bride looked at her groom throughout all of the ceremonies was enough to melt anyone’s heart. Love is so sweet and so kind. 

So this is India...

This summer I committed myself to an adventure of a lifetime. Traveling to four countries, taking seven flights, and having one heck of a time. I have never been to this side of the world before, but have always been fascinated by it's people and culture. I have spent months planning this trip and making sure all the details were sorted out. It didn't really sink in with me that I was actually going to India until my parents hugged me when they dropped me off at the airport.

Many people have been asking me, "What is it like in India? Are you having a good time? Can you post more pictures? Is it really as hot as they say it is?" So I wanted to answer all these questions and share some stories about my time so far in India.

Our first stop in India was Delhi, which is the capitol. We took a very long (like very super long) fourteen hour flight from Chicago directly to Delhi. The moment we stepped out of the airport we were both greeted by open arms of family and a raining downpour. We stayed in an apartment flat in Delhi with a few family members. While in Delhi we took the Metro (a train) into another part of the city, walked around some markets in the community, bought fruit from street vendors and explore HUGE malls. We went to a few of the local markets and even stopped at a fruit stand on the side of the road. I tried a new fruit on the side of the road that day. It's called Lichi. It's hard to explain what it tastes like (trust me, it's amazing), but the closest thing I could associate it with would be grapes.

During our stay in Delhi we had the chance to take a day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The drive was about 3 and a half hours from Delhi, but it was completely worth it. You always hear about the Taj and how amazing it is. He built it for the love of his life. Now that's dedication and hard work right there. {{I'll post another blog post about my experience at the Taj Mahal. You will (eventually) be able to find it here}}

On our way back home we stopped at a really famous, historical and holy temple. I've had many chances to learn more about the Hindu religion and culture while I've been here in India. It is a beautiful way of life and does in fact share many similarities with Christianity. I am slowly learning about the traditions and stories found in this religion. They are fascinating and so interesting to learn about.

India is very similar to the States in many ways, but in so many other ways it is completely different. The hospitality that is given to guests here is so genuine and pure. I am very much a foreigner to the culture and way of life here, but I have felt nothing but kindness from my hosts and the other people that I have met.

Traffic here is quite literally insane. As you may or may not know, they drive on the other side of the road and the steering wheel is also on the opposite side. It's not the side of the road that they drive on that makes it crazy... Rather it's the way that traffic flows from street to street and the means of transportation that you find on that one road. On any given road you will likely find the following... Big and small cars. Busses. Scooters and motorcycles. Auto-rickshaws. Bikes. People walking. Cows wandering about. Street dogs just chillin'. So all of these people (and animals) use the same road to get from place to place. Here in the States I am used to having designated lanes that you stay in, unless you want to pass someone or change lanes. Here in India, it's not really like that. There are kind of lanes to stay in, but it's not always followed... Everyone kind of fluidly moves throughout. If you drive a smaller car or bike you can weave through traffic. If you drive a bigger car or are a bus, you just honk at people to get out of the way. Surprisingly everything just works. People get to their destinations safely and the controlled chaos continues on. Upon arriving to India I was very shocked (and a little scared) about how this traffic was, but now I am getting used to it. I am now mastering the art of crossing the street... But that is another story for another day... :)

So what is India like? Beautiful. Am I having fun here? YES! Is it really as hot as they say it is? Oh, definitely. Will I post more pictures? I'm working on that... Sometimes I'm having so much fun that I forget to actually stop and take pictures.... Eeek.

Paging Jenny... It's me, God.

So I hate to go all Jesus loving on everyone, but I'm going there. Get ready. Buckle your seat belts kids. Let's go. It's going to be a great ride, I promise. 

The Lord and I are typically on one accord. He's a pretty cool dude, with an amazingly, overwhelmingly great job. Not only does He have children all over the world, but all of his precious children are living their life to glorify Him. Woah. I feel honored that He loves me unconditionally with no questions asked. He is always proud of me. He's the one to encourage me when no one else is around. He is one of my personal cheerleaders when I feel that I cannot finish the race that is set before me. How cool is that? I'd say it's pretty rad. 

I would say that I have a very open and casual way of communicating with the Lord. I'm not one for big and long formal words in prayers. That's confusing sometimes and not really who I am... So I follow the philosophy of 'You do you'. That philosophy is one on a list of life mottos of mine (which includes, "Haters are my motivators", but we will get to that another day). I'm more of the type of person who starts a prayer off with something like this... "Hey God..."

I will admit, sometimes life snatches me up and gets busy. Sometimes I get snatched up in a random memory and other times it's by a tidal wave that knocks me over. I won't lie, life can get overwhelming sometimes, more often than I would like in fact. It is in these times that I start to feel alone and lost. 

I can't help but smile because whenever I find life starting to get overwhelming, the Lord sends me small blessings to remind me that everything's gonna be a-okay. One of his latest blessings that He has been sending my way is sunrises and sunsets. You might be thinking, "Well Jenny, those happen every day. If it's light outside than the sun probably rose. And when it gets dark, that is likely due to the sun setting." YES. This is all true. 

But it is in these times of stress and me being overwhelmed that the Lord is saying, "Paging, Jenny. Going once... Twice... It's me, God. The big man upstairs" But the way that He is paging me or contacting me is through the sun. It's on the roughest days or the days that I don't think that things are going to go right, that I see the most beautiful sky. I can't help but pause my day and the thoughts consuming my brain to look up at the sky in awe. All words escape me and I feel fresh air filling my lungs. Sometimes the sky stays pretty for a long period of time and other times it is just for a few minutes. It fills that void that I am feeling and reassures me that with the Lord by my side I can do anything. 

So what is it that makes you stop and count your blessings? Or calms you down in the times of doubt and struggle? Whether you are a religious person or not, life gets hard sometimes. It's important to have some way to calm down and stop to admire the beauty that we call life. 

Hakuna Masquata - It means nice booty.

I've never really been the very physically active type or the one to run 5Ks. Let alone even the thought of going to the gym made my skin crawl. If I am being honest, gyms totally scare me. My stereotypical view of the gym is that they are made up of two types of people. 1. The big, buff (and scary) bros. 2. The pretty girls/women that are already physically fit. So that basically means, those are the two types of people that I had no desire to hang out with while I look like a fool trying to be 'physically active'.

I've learned in life that in order to be honest with others, I have to be honest with myself first. I was not in a good spot with my health for a long time. I knew deep down that there needed to be a change, but I honestly had no idea where to begin. How does one who has never really stepped foot into a gym go from none to fun? The 'fun' being the idea that you're supposed to enjoy going to the gym... Well maybe it's a stretch, but eventually that would be my view.

I recently moved back to my hometown and found out that there was a new gym that opened up a few miles away. I initially rolled my eyes at the thought of becoming a part of one of those huge gyms where 'gymtimidation' is the real deal. To my surprise, this gym was totally the opposite. It is nice, clean, friendly (where people actually smile at you, what a concept) and not intimidating at all.

I had no idea that my life would be changed that day that I walked into the gym to check it out. It's been several months and I can confidently say that I am a different person. I have learned so much about myself during this "journey to fitness", as cliche as it sounds... I have learned about my mental and physical capabilities. Working out is about 75% physical and 25% mental. I learned that I am able to do much more than I thought I was able to do and that my body allows me to do this. I've learned that in order to survive a 60 minute Zumba class you need to throw your cares to the wind so you can have the ability to laugh at how ridiculous you might look. I've learned that having a personal trainer is a such a blessing. He is the one to push me, encourage me and make sure that I am holding myself accountable. He also is able to handle the sassiness and sarcastic comments that I say when I'm in the zone working out.

But most of all I have learned that it is okay to sweat. I used to think that sweating was a sign of weakness. In reality though, it is a sign of strength and hard work. You sweat when you work hard and working hard allows you to have the capability of being successful and meeting your goals. I'm not as self conscious while I'm spending time working out at the gym. I'm not as worried about other people looking at me or wondering if they are judging me. I'm more focused on doing what I gotta do and achieving becoming a master bro.

And with that, I say: Hakuna Masquata... It means nice booty.

Selah - Stop and listen

I graduate in 56 days. It's been a few months now that I've been trying to sort out my life for what is in store for me after graduation. While so many things are going right, there has been something that has tethered me down and has prevented me from feeling free. It's been a process trying to put all the pieces of my life into the right boxes, all neat and tidy. I've been pondering about what the future has in store for me.

Most of all I am learning how to wait and be patient. I sure have a lot of questions about a wide variety of things. I am the type of person who likes to have everything figured out. I like to have a plan of what I'm going to do each day and what my life will look like for the next 3-5 years. Unfortunately, life doesn't always work out that way. I am learning how to place my whole trust in the Lord that He will reveal the answers to all of them when the time is right. 

In all of the craziness of life and with me trying to make sense of everything the Lord has been very patient with me. For a while now he has been trying to comfort me by placing His hands on my tense shoulders and saying "Calm my child." While I have heard this request from Him, I haven't really heard it or let it sink in. Instead, I let my flesh take over and get caught up in the daily shuffle of life.

I personally think that God is up there giggling at me and shaking His head while saying, "You silly goose. I've got it all figured out for you. There is no need to fret or frown." So being the loving God that He is, instead of giving up on me or being frustrated, He just presented the information in a different way. This came in the way of friends, music lyrics, strangers and daily blessings. And this is how it has happened... 

My friends recently have come to my rescue in helping to calm me down and give me hope. I've had the chance to have some really honest and real life conversations had with some close friends recently. These have helped gain a sense of peace. Late night sleeping bag star circles and open ears has helped me to put my fears, frustrations, hopes and dreams out into the open. Having a friend who intentionally takes the time to ask questions about things going on in my life to get down to the root of things, instead of staying on the surface level. 

This month I started being pen pals with this lovely individual I met through some mutual Jesus loving friends. We are practically strangers (as of now, but the friendship that is in store for us is going to be amazing) but decided that it would be fun to start writing letters. In her first letter to me she said in these exact words, "I felt Jesus wanted me to tell you to be still in Him." WOAH. This is exactly what I needed to hear and the Lord laid it on her heart to be another person to say this to me. 

I have also been finding that blessings come in big and small packages. I have also come to realize that they are a daily thing. One of my favorite daily blessing is the morning sunrise that I get to see on my commute to work. It reminds me that each day is a clean, yet beautiful slate and that no day (or sunrise) is ever the same. It challenges me to make the most of each moment in the day no matter what is planned. 

It is rare that such a simple song can move me to tears or give me so much peace. The song called "I shall not want" by Audrey Assad played on my radio while I was driving home from school recently and it put everything into great perspective for me. The lyrics are so humble and inspiring. Let these lyrics soak deep into your soul. 

"From the love of my own comfort.

From the fear of having nothing.

From a life of worldly passions.

From the need to be understood.

From the need to be accepted.

From the fear of being lonely.

From the fear of death or trial.

From the fear of humility. 

When I taste Your goodness I shall not want."

A word that has stuck out to me and that have been clinging onto is SELAH. It is a Hebrew word with a few different meanings. My favorite is that it means to 'stop and listen'. I need to do more of this. I need to stop to hear what the Lord (and others) are doing in my life and listen to what they have to say. 

Scouting is...

Girl Scouts is something that has been a big part of my life ever since I was a small child and will continue to be with me until the day I die. Some of my favorite memories in my life have a direct link to Scouting. To me, scouting is so many different things and has had such an impact on my life.

Scouting is...

FRIENDSHIP:

I have had the chance to travel to some really cool places and have been fortunate enough to meet some amazing people along the way. In all of this, I have found that Scouting is an invisible yet bold bond that links you to people that you've never met. The minute Scouting comes into the conversation, there is an instant connection and spark of friendship. I have become penpals with Scouts overseas who have taught me bits and pieces of their cultures. I am positive that the girls that I have met in Scouting over the years will be my friends until the end. They will be the girls that continue to encourage and support me. They may also be some of the girls that stand up in my wedding one day.

ADVENTURE:
My Scout friends and I have gone on some pretty great adventures over the years. For example, staying in a youth hostel in Madison, Wisconsin. Or that time when we got to learn how to fly private airplanes (and the fact that the pilot actually let us be in control of the steering controls. Eek). And that one time in high school that we created and led this huge scavenger hunt in the mall for younger girls, all while wearing crazy colored tutus. Or the summers that I've spent in Nebraska at a business-leadership camp for high school girls.

LEADERSHIP:

Girl Scouts and Girl Guides aim to build girls up to be confident leaders. My leadership skills have been shaped and enhanced as a result of doing my Gold Award project. It was with this project that I really learned how to plan, delegate, and follow through with a plan to help meet a need in my community. I also learned good leadership skills when I was a camp counselor at summer camp. I have learned how to speak up for myself and how to encourage others to do the same too.

TRAVEL: 

It's crazy to imagine that there are Girl Scouts literally ALL over the world. They are in countries that you've heard of and in those that you couldn't locate on the map. If it wasn't for Scouting, I wouldn't have had the chance to live in Kansas City, Missouri for two summers while serving as a camp counselor. It was through Scouts that I was able to be a chaperone for a group of high school girls and to be able to take them to an International Youth Conference in Chicago as well as the National Girl Scout Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is because of this amazing organization that I am going to India this summer to serve in local communities while soaking in the culture. 

We as Girl Scouts are more than just those yummy cookies that you get once a year. We are an organization that is looking to make an impact on the world by empowering and encouraging girls to be the best that they can be. We are teaching girls to have the courage, character and confidence to be who they want to be and not to conform to society's standard of 'normal' or 'beautiful'.

So on this "World Thinking Day" I am here to express my gratitude and appreciation for this amazing global movement. I am thankful for the change it has made in my life, the people it's connected me with, and the lasting impact it has and will have on my sisters worldwide. I am thankful that my wonderful mom stepped up to be my Girl Scout leader so many years ago and stuck with it until our troop graduated from high school. It's on days like these that I can't imagine the kind of woman I would be today if Girl Scouts was not such an important part of my life.