India | Cultural - Personal Post

So, I had the pleasure of going to India this past March. The reason for the trip was to not only explore India and the beauty there, but to meet people and learn about their culture. It was really cool to be able to do this!

One of the girls that I spent much time with had polio. She spoke no English, but Hindi, and we were able to sit with her a few times and pray for her. She was actually a beggar, and spent most of her day begging. Most people wouldn't even give her any attention. But we decided, if Jesus were here today, He would be sitting right next to her and would love her. I know that sounds radical - and it was! Jesus was radical, and as a follower of Him, if I am actually following His teaching, I do these sort of things. That's what He did - prayed for the sick and healed them. He also did many other things, but, I won't go into all of that right now! :)

We met so many beautiful people and I loved the time I spent there. I wish I could go back to meet with them again, just to chat and see how they are doing.

These are a small few of the pictures I took on the trip. I hope you enjoy them! It was a lot of fun for me to visit another culture. I tried not to take all the 'tourist-y' type pictures, but, I slipped in a few. :) I tried to look at India from a different pair of eyes. Hopefully you see that in the following pictures.

We're ready to go! :) A few of my homies on the plane.

My view outside the plane. I can't remember if this was in Phoenix or in England. Probably England.

Traffic is so lovely in India. :) You have all sorts of transportation - autorickshaws, rickshaws, cars, bikes, the metro (train), etc. 

So this is the girl that we met that had polio. She has the most beautiful smile. I am so glad we were able to meet her. I really liked her very much. :)

A few men who decided that the steps at the Masjid were comfy to sleep on. :)

So the picture to the left, are different people washing for prayers. 

These men were praying. I didn't realize it until after I took the picture and got home, but all of these men are in a different position praying. I thought it was very cool.

This masjid was beautiful!

And this is BY FAR my favorite picture of the trip. This man was praying. 

Some cute street kids in the masjid! They were a lot of fun. :) They like gum (which I ran out of because I kept giving them what I had! ha! Note to self: bring LOTS of gum/candy to give out!) 

The picture on the left is of Old Delhi at night. It's crazy the amount of people there! To the right is Old Delhi in the daytime. The wires everywhere astound me. I just hope and pray they never have an electrical fire or something.

I caught the glimpse of the rickshaw driver. :)

Some friends in the doorway of some beautiful ruins we saw - and me to the right. I actually managed to have a few pictures of myself from this trip! You know, that's always the photographer's problem. Since I am always taking pictures I never have any of myself there at the event. Now there is proof I was actually there. :)

Okay - who can tell me what movie this picture above looks like? There is a particular scene - we began acting it out. :) (Johanna was really into it!) If you know comment below!! :)

So I really love the above picture, but I have to be honest. I didn't take it! My talented friend Johanna did. :)

Okay, so, I wasn't planning on showing any food pictures, but I had to slip this one in at the end. These are called "Chili Fries". And YUMMY they are! :) We discovered them whenever we were eating at this restaurant and people next to us ordered them. We asked them what it was and we decided to order the same thing. They do taste as spicy as they look, but they are SOOOOOO good! I was pregnant when I was in India and I think I ate some form of potato (mostly french fries) every night for dinner. I think I was obsessed. :)

That was my trip to India. Would love to hear your comments below about your experiences in other cultures! Thanks for reading!
-Ashley

Whoops! Let me try this again... | Personal

This phrase, "Whoops! Let me try this again..." was constantly said a few days ago when I was trying to figure out how to make good Chai Tea. 

Why???

We were having a guest from South Asia coming to our home, and I wanted to give him a good cup of Chai. As most people know, South Asians, in particular those from Pakistan/India, LOVE chai tea. On our trip to South Asia, one of the families we met drank 10 cups of tea A DAY! Sick! Well, not to them, but that is a lot of tea, milk and sugar!!!

Anyways, so Josh and I went to the store and I strategically (as much as I knew to be) picked out two boxes of tea and some milk (I already had sugar at home).

Batch #1: So my first batch (using two tea bags) turned out okay...lol Josh was my taste tester (poor guy!). The first batch lacked the taste of tea.

Batch #2: So I tried a similar but different method, using two tea bags again. And AGAIN, it didn't taste like tea. Mostly milk and sugar. I guess if people like the weak (very weak) taste of tea, then this is perfect for you.

Batch #3: By this time, I realized that I needed to follow the directions on the box (GO FIGURE! Sometimes I amaze myself). :) This time I used 10 tea bags, 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of sugar, and boiled it all together. It wasn't too shabby. Josh said it tasted pretty good. I felt pretty good about that.

Batch #4: This was the real batch that I needed to care about, because, our South Asian friend was at our house, expecting some decent tea. Whew. Talk about pressure! So, I prepare everything like I did for Batch #3, and then went to make sure everyone wanted tea. I walked in the room, and said, "I'm assuming everyone wants tea, right?" And our South Asian friend, with a surprised face says, "Yes, I would love tea. Can I have mine with no sugar?" 

Oh Crap. I thought in my mind. All I know is to make this tea with sugar. "Sure!" I replied enthusiastically, trying not to let on that his comment threw a wrench in my perfect plan.

After thinking for like 5 seconds, I decided to do his cup of tea the more "traditional" way (boil water, put the tea bag in the cup, pour the water over the tea bag, add milk, done). Everyone else got what I originally planned and all was well. At least I think. My husband affirmed me (thank you hun hun) and so did another one of our guests, but as for our guest from South Asia - I'll never know. lol

So, after my 4 batches of tea, I used 26 bags of tea. That is a lot of tea.

Now, if you come over to my home, you can have decent tea - hopefully this newfound skill will improve :) - and this time, I won't go through 26 bags of tea!

Have a great day!

Abstract

Typically, when I session, I love to photograph people - their expressions, their cultures, their love, etc. The pictures you're about to see, I randomly shot while around different cities. It's very different than what I normally shoot, but I think it is good to branch out from what you're comfortable with.

Going on this trip was way out of my comfort zone. The culture being completely different, I didn't know what was down or up. I couldn't speak the official language, I didn't know what any of the dishes were (except one or two), I didn't even know how to get around the city! It was a mess, but what a growth opportunity!!

I feel that in order for me to grow in any aspect, I have to push myself beyond my normal limits - beyond my normal comfort zones. Hopefully, you've seen different things that I've never produced before on my site in the past month or so.

There is much more to come after these pictures - two senior portraits and many more pictures from my trip explaining the culture that I experienced for the past three months. I hope that you've enjoyed these.

Hope you enjoy your weekend. :)

Making Chapati!

The staple here in this country is rice and a bread called, "Chapati". Theoretically it's easy to make, but a girl like me has some trouble. :) I'll one day refine my skills to become a great Chapati maker.

The dough consists of flour, water and salt. Once you knead it into the correct consistency, you make little balls, roll them out, slap them in your hands a few times and then throw them on the skillet. Once one side has spent some time cooking, flip it, and let it cook some more. Then at some point, you put it on the open flame (like she is doing in the picture above). Once it gets some brown on it, it's finished. :) 

Before and after shots of the Chapati!

It looks difficult, but it's not that difficult. And it's tasty with curries and other meals. Yum! :)

Off to go work on my chapati-making skills! ;)

Shrines

As we walked into the building of the first shrine we had ever visited in our lives, we were amazed at the details of every tile and carving. The beauty of it was so enrapturing - you could never take it all in. It was simply too much.

Shrines like this one cover this city like churches do here in the Southern U.S. There are too many to visit, but all are so beautiful in their own way. We had the privilege to visit two of the many to see the culture and experience what people living here do day-to-day. It was said to us that 70% of the people in the city visit the shrine at least once each week.

The inside was just as detailed. The left picture is looking directly up at the ceiling. It went so high. It makes you wonder, since it is so old, how long it took to create this magnificent structure with all its detail. The right picture is of one of the graves. Men and women come here weekly to pray. They rub the cloth on their faces that lays over the tomb and throw flowers on the grave - the reason they do it is to not only show respect, but to also gain favor. They believe that these pirs, or saints, are the 'gateway' if you will to praying to God. Almost like an intercessor. 

These are pictures that were taken looking over the city. It seems that these shrines are in the center for all to go to them.

This was another shrine nearby the other one. It was just as beautiful in its' details.

Have a Great week!

Place of Prayer

In every city you can count on hearing a hazan, which is the call to prayer, five times a day. It is beautifully sung and loud - so loud you can hear it in your home most of the time. There are countless number of mosques everywhere. It would be very hard to miss this aspect of this country.

Some of the architecture is unreal and absolutely beautiful. I have never seen such beauty in architecture infront of me.

I just happened to be walking by this mosque as the sun was setting.

Hope that you enjoy your day today!

The Food

So one of the big differences between home and here, is definitely the food. Everything is eaten with a type of bread such as chapati or roti(which looks like a tortilla), naan, paratha or rice. If you eat rice you don't eat chapati, if you eat chapati you don't eat rice. You never mix the two.

Everything is cooked in a lot of oil. Foods are never dry here. Having a vegetable not in some kind of sauce would be weird. So like steamed vegetables don't exist - or at least I haven't had them here with any family or restaurant!!

Another crazy thing about the food is that it is crazily fresh. In the US I feel like I have pay so much for fresh foods and here that's all you get.

Here are a few pictures of typical food:

This is the Father of the home and he's actually making butter. I have never seen this in the US before!!!! Have you?! The crazy thing is that it tastes TOTALLY different than processed butter. If I had to choose between butter here or home, I think I'd choose here.

These dishes are all good. Wish I could remember the names of them! ha! :) Chapati is the bread in the upper right corner of this picture. 

This is Naan. Naan is much more puffier than chapati.

This food has been amazing to eat here, but I am ready to eat some Mexican food. :) I can guarantee you that will be the first meal I have when we get back! :) ha!

Have a good one!

Rural Life & Education

Most major cities in this country have education systems and fairly good schools to send your children to. But, the villages that surround these cities, some of them don't have schools at all.

One of the families we have visited, one of the men own a NGO called, LWCO - Little World Community Organization. They focus on bringing education to children who do not have access and bringing skills to women that will make income for their families (like stitching).

We had the privlilege of going to these schools and seeing everything. The children were SO adorable! I just wanted to hug them all. :)

I took many pictures, so here are a few that I want you to see.

This was on our way out to the more rural areas.

It is very common to see many people working in the fields. I'm unsure what exactly they were working with in this picture.

This woman was working with sugar cane. We actually tried sugar cane from this field. Our friend stopped the vehicle, asked us if we wanted to try it and we did! You first peel back the outer layer which is really thick and hard. The inside is sweet and juicy. You break off a piece, bite off a piece and suck all the juice out. Then you spit out the remains. It was surprisingly good. :)

In case you don't know what fruit this is, it is guava. Quite yummy too. Sometimes what people do is cut it up and put masala on it. Masala is a spice that is spicy. I don't like it on guava. Yuck! It's a hit here though!

Yes, there are two men, sitting in dirty water with carrots. They are actually cleaning these carrots by moving their legs back and forth. It looks pretty yucky and when we ate them that night, it was hard to not think about their feet. But, nonetheless, they were tasty. :)

And now we're to the schools. This picture here is a woman embroidering a piece of cloth. They do all sorts of designs. They are absolutely beautiful and these women really have talent. They have such an eagerness to learn and help provide for their family.

The children are no different than the older women. I've never seen children want to learn as much as these kids do. They highly value education and can't wait to come to school every day.

I think this little girl was a little scared of my camera. :) How cute she is though!

Some of the students were so excited to meet us, some of them were really shy. All in all, there was so much joy that filled our hearts when they wanted to show us what they had been learning. Most of the time when we visited the school, they had a small presentation which involved singing or a drama. Everytime we came to a different school, they would all stand and say "Assalam Alaikum," which basically means "Hello". It was sweet.

When the children would stand, they would fold their arms across their chest. At first we wondered why and asked, and it is basically to show respect to their elders when they talk to them. After I noticed when this little girl did it, I noticed every child did it to me when they spoke to me.

This family was interested in what was going on, but was too shy to come over.    

 

Not sure if you notice this, but there are three men standing on a cart with a donkey pulling it. I don't think I could ever do that on the roads here. I would fall off as soon as the donkey began to move!!

Thanks again for looking! Hope to post more soon!