Tuesday, December 2, 2008
A Scary Step...
Scary indeed! Both this Blog and this trip to India are brand new things to me. I have always wanted to go to India. I have never wanted to create and maintain a Blog. Memories of India will probably stay with me for the rest of my life ... this Blog will not. I love journaling, but there is something about public journaling that seems so strange to me.
Anyway, about this blog: This is intended to update everyone who cares to know about my progress in India. I have been promised internet access while I am there, so I thought a Blog would be the easiest way to tell all about my conquests. Here are some details on the trip:
Where: Auroville, India -- Here's a link to a google map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4DVXK_en___US224&q=auroville+india&safe=active&um=1&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=image
Also, check out http://www.auroville.org/ to learn more about Auroville.
When: January 6th, 2009 to March 8th, 2009
Why: I am on an independent study abroad trip to Auroville, India through the University of Washington, Seattle. I am studying to become a teacher, so I am going to Auroville to learn more about education.
Real Why: God first interested me in India about 8 years ago when I met an Indian man in the airport in Edmonton, Alberta. He was part of the Billy Graham Crusade back then and showed me some pictures of a Christian school he once ran in India (at that time under the care of his daughter). I got really interested in the idea of teaching math in India. I do not know why beyond whatever reasons God may have for me that I am yet to discover. I have continued to think about India on and off for the last 8 years. This opportunity was presented to me through someone in the UW Teacher Education Program that I am in about a year ago. Now here I am, all ready to go.
~
Just a few more details about how I got here and what I'll be doing and then I'll go.
The process of getting to India has been pretty invloved, but now everything is done. I have plane tickets (through Seoul, Korea, how cool is that?!?), I have an Indian visa, I got immunized, I have insurance, and I have the go-ahead from UW. All of that took just over a year to get, and I'm still not quite finished (I have a couple of immunizations to go).
While I am in Auroville, I will be working in two schools. One is a native school called New Creation. Auroville is in the province of Tamil Nadu, so this is called a Tamil school. The other school's name I don't remember right now (I'm sure I will remember when I'm in India). It is a European school. I do not currently know what I'll be doing in these schools, but I assume it will involve observing, teaching and helping one-on-one. I am pretty sure that the schools in India will be unlike anything I have ever experienced before.
Okay, I'll stop talking now ( : I probably won't add anything else until a few days after I'm in India - unless somebody makes some wicked sweet comments that I have to respond to. That's all for now!
-Matt
Prayer Requests: Please pray that God continues to challenge my understanding of the Bible and of my faith. This has been a difficult few months for me in Seattle, and God has not let me forget Him. I have been challenged and have been filled with different doubts which have caused me to grow immensely. Please pray that I will continue to be challenged in India and that God causes me to question my faith and grow as I do. I know that much of what I will experience there will be challenging and uncomfortable, and I'm looking forward to it ( :
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10 comments:
hey mr halpin how are you by the way
great cookies!!!!
hey we all miss you!!
make sure you visit anarocks101.blogspot.com
hey mr halpin is that you taking a picture of a mountain goat?!! because that is cool!!
Thank you for your compliments ( : I have made those cookies dozens of times. They are actually getting really boring to me. I don't really like the way they taste anymore. I'll have to get a new recipe soon.
So, the mountain goat was awesome. That was when my family was camping two summers ago (2007). We were camping at Kootenai lake in Idaho I think, but I'm not sure. My Dad, Sister and I were hiking up a mountain (naturally), and that goat followed us all the way up. He made it really hard for us to take a group picture when we were at the top, because he kept trying to lick the camera while we were waiting for it to take the picture.
I'll post another picture of me feeding the goat...
wow cool!!
yeah i saw your new picture and it is cool!!!
nice picture of you drinking the water of the water fall!
Hello! What's the dog's name?
Oh, I see now. Lily.
Hello Matty. I'm excited to read about your journey over in India. Maybe it'll inspire me to do a missions trip sometime. :)
I'll be praying for you!
Becky
Yay for Becky! I'm so excited you found me. I'll see you soon.
Speaking of mountain goats, here's a story for you. A friend of mine hiked the entire appalacian mountain trail. Along the trail there are shelters every 9 miles or so where you can rest, sleep, eat, whatever. So you often meet other people at the shelters who are hiking too. At this one particular shelter my friend met 3 other guys. And there was a goat running around. They were trying to eat lunch and it kept trying to eat it with them. My friend finally kicked/pushed it away with his foot hard, and then the goat charged him and was trying to head butt him. So the four guys climbed up on the roof and sat eating their lunches with the goat pacing beneath whining. Then, someone said, "You know, that goat would make a fine meal." And that's all that needed to be said before they had a fire going and were eating goat. When you're hiking for so long, food is scarce and you're always looking for some. Gotta fill those primal male urges.
Now that we have that out of the way...
Sounds like you're going to have a blast in India. I look forward to reading about your conquests, which may include goat slaughtering.
-Matt Mulder
Hmmm ... I wonder if the Indian people would look kindly on wild goat slaughtering. They'll require I do it as some sort of hazing ritual.
More likely than that, though, you will read about my conquests which will include much hot pepper slaugtering. Not nearly as exciting, but nonetheless a fine read.
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