OUR NEW HOME - HYDERABAD

We safely arrived in Hyderabad on July 31. The contrast between the postings of other ELCA new missionaries who arrived at their new homes and ourselves is rather stark. We have more jetlag. More bureaucracy to get things done. Way more people everywhere. Cows on the road. Peacock sounds and snakes in the garden. No cute medieval, renaissance, or baroque architecture. Not even an apartment with a fully-equipped kitchen that's waiting for us nearby. Big contrast between hi-tech palaces, humungous private villas, and shopping malls on the one hand and roadside slums and roadside stalls for household items and food on the other.

Everything takes MUCH longer than in the US. It took virtually all day to visit our new home, eat lunch, and visit 3 furniture stores. I was told by two of Kumar's nephews that in order to get to an appointment elsewhere in the city one has to leave 2 3/4 hours before (!) to get there on time. They said one can manage to run one big errand a day. No more.

At the same time, though, we have survived thus far because of the kindness of relatives and their friends who drove us around, arranged "post-paid" cell phone service, and because of the delicious food at the HMI hostel and the hostel rooms that were waiting for us. The really scary part will still come when all the relatives and friends are gone and Anna and I will stay at the house by ourselves, ready to begin work at Henry Martyn Institute and school at the International School of Hyderabad.