Languages and Tea Rooms

My apologies for not having posted in a while. My more-or-less decent excuse is that last week was the intense unit of language acquisition training. Basically, we learned how to learn languages. Going from session about how important of language learning is for effective m*nistry... to speech drills on sounds that the English language doesn't use...and everything in between, by the end of the week, my mind was fried. BUT I am more convinced than ever that I need to find a way to dedicate myself to Hindi language study. My team hasn't required me to do language study because many people in the Children's Home speak English. Although it is true that many do speak some level of English, the general fluency varies widely and daily life is conducted in Hindi. So it is difficult to be independent or develop deep relationships without knowing Hindi. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find language school that will be compatible with other m*nstry demands, but this past week of training also equipped us with helpful tools for self-study. So I definitely have some renewed energy and inspiration to return to the field to try them out.

Since all of us here were brain dead from the week of practicing how to say "phee, phi, pho, phum" using only our lips (literally!), and also stir-crazy from not being outside, on Saturday most of us hopped the train to get wasted (no, not literally! ..although we did tour a brewry) in the nearby city of Brugge. Definitely a fairy-tale city! More than once I wished my mom or gal-friends could visit one of the beautiful tea rooms with me. See pics below!