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| My hardest goodbye - we both just couldn't stop crying. I love and dearly miss my little Geeta (7). |
INDIA was one of the best things that has ever happened to me.
The people were my favorite.
And I grew to love Delhi as my home...
Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I have ever done...
I love each and every person I met there as my own family.
My last week there was spent with the ones I love, moseying around the city of Delhi. I cherished every second.
As one of our last GNI's (Girls Night In) with our dear and bestest Indian friend, Anita-ji, we made some American-India dinner: Anita made mutter paneer (yum! yum!) and Sarah-ji made Bruschetta. Then, Anita brought us each some sweet, very thoughtful presents...
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| Our yummy GNI dinner! |
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| Anita with our presents. She's wearing Sarah's shirt - yes, Sarah's a Ute and a traitor. |
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| Then we made some caramel apples for dessert. |
We took a last-minute trip to Old Delhi to see the famous Red Fort, India's largest mosque, the Jama Masjid, on Friday Muslim prayer day - so cool - and Rajghat, Gandhi-ji's "grave," where his cremated remains are buried. This is the
EXTRAORDINARY day I was speaking of a couple of weeks ago.
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| Red Fort |
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| Jama Masjid and the onslaught of devoted Muslim men, women, and children as they approached God in weekly prayer at the mosque. |
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| The coolest sight as we walked out of the mosque and into Old Delhi - we saw dozens of men with their taqiyah, or Muslim caps, proceeding into the city... |
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| Gandhi's burial place. |
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| A very peaceful resting place...it's in a large, very beautiful park in Old Delhi. It was a bright day. |
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| Saying goodbye to Mintu-ji, our favorite baiyyah at the office - he gave me a ride on his motorcycle one day :) |
I had a spontaneous family party with my Laxmi-ji's (housekeeper) big family! We took lots of pictures. It was a warm day.
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| Laxmi's sister and new little nephew. |
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| SOME of the children in her family :) Love them ALL! |
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| My little Geeta and Ritika, Laxmi's children... |
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| We celebrated Christmas in style with Santa Clause at the Branch Christmas party - too fun! I love all of our branch members. |
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| I saw Elder Randall one last time and we bid adieu. |
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| We stopped by the Lotus temple for a quick run through...it was very spiritual and a great place for meditation! I quite enjoyed it...except for the fact that my passport and wallet were stolen here this day... |
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| LOVE THIS. |
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| We finished Sarah's last day in Delhi with a rooftop lunch at our sweet Sister Asha's home...all with great friends - the Dhanpals, the Cleggs and the Maynards. It was so fun! I literally felt like I was on top of the world. |
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| Love these little girls :) Anna and Mia Clegg. |
And, we attended Laxmi's and her brother's baby shower on Sunday evening! It was a real party there in the slums of RK Puram Sector 12!
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| Dancing with my Geeta :) |
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| WE LOVE OUR LAXMI-JI!!! She's the best momma! |
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| Geeta and her little cousin - love these little girls. |
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| Perfect. Laxmi is wearing her husband's jacket...when we pointed it out, she had the biggest grin on her face and she was blushing like crazy! She has a love marriage and considers herself the happiest woman in the world :) You don't find such an affectionate gesture very often among the Indians... |
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| Laxmi and her husband's best friend...Laxmi gave me that pretty yellow dupatta (scarf) - Laxmi looks scared but I promise she loves me! |
Because I was fortunate enough to lose my wallet and passport (I wasn't always so enthusiastic but, I made the best of it), I got to spend lots of extra time with my little Geeta! I had 3 extra days :) Monday morning, we played and drew some pictures.
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| We drew hearts on her hand with the names "Liz, Erika, Geeta, Katie, & Sarah" inside the hearts...her idea! And I have THE cutest video of her. Miss her. |
I got to spend more time with my dear friend, Shyam. He invited me over to his home for Breakfast...his sister made parathas - yum! Can you send me some more?!
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| His sweet sister cooking breakfast. |
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| Shyam's sweet mom - she has the sweetest spirit of nearly everyone I've met (I say that a lot too but...there's a lot of good people in the world!) |
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| And, on Wednesday before I left, I got to say goodbye to Shyam one last time on the famous bridge that connects Sector 12 & 13...I'm gonna miss this guy... |
HENNA
with my favorite girls, the Masseys.
They got me a "good deal" (common phrase in India) at the Sector 8 Market!
Henna, mehendi, anyone? I loved it. Perfect way to come home.
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| Carolin and Sherlin Massey - love these two. |
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| My amazing hand artwork. |
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| I love my Simmy! :) |
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| And, we spent a Christmas evening with the Massey family. Seriously, I LOVE our LDS branch! |
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| I got to say a real goodbye to Anita-ji at the Maitri office on Wednesday...both nearly crying. |
On Wednesday, I went to Akshardam temple with the Maynards, the Cleggs, and our sweet Simmy - I love all of these guys!
Then, I came back again later Wednesday evening to say my final goodbye to Geeta, Laxmi-ji, and her little family...as I walked in, Geeta hid her face in her hair and her hands...she wouldn't even look at me. Finally, after a few torturous minutes, I tickled her into my lap and we just held each other. Laxmi said something about me leaving and I just started crying softly...and then Geeta let go. We just held each other and cried. It was so hard to leave her. Will I see her again?
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| We were both sobbing. |
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| My favorite little kids - Himanshu and Geeta. |
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| Laxmi's family. |
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| Laxmi was sad to see me go, too...we grew so close while I was there. She kept saying "Liz, don't cry! It's okay! We'll talk on computer." But I saw her crying a little bit too. |
India will always be dear to my heart. I will never forget each of these incredible people that have changed my life forever.
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