November 12, 2008

Hey, I have a couple more mins so I thought I would tell you a little more.  It  is not too hot outside right now, its like 70 degrees, so pretty nice.  The food is pretty spicy and really weird looking and you eat it on a banana leaf.  Really weird not being able to drink the water.  The flight was pretty long but I survived.  We landed at like 1am in the morning and only got to sleep for like an hour.  Still does not feel real that we are actually here.  You really have no idea what it is like.  The culture here is really weird and a lot different than the US.  The traffic is a lot like NYC but I think even more crazy.  I have not seen any elephants or monkeys but I have seen tons and tons of dogs everywhere.  I will find out where I am going tomorrow and have to take another flight.  There are no white people here and there are people everywhere!  There were 14 of us who traveled to India.  Its pretty humid but not too bad.  I have not seen too many mosquitoes which is good but i guess it depends on where you are.  There is a lot of poverty.  There are a lot of people who have weird jobs and a lot of beggars that come up to you and ask for money.  There are no street signs here so its really weird to get around.  I had a coconut with the milk and the meat and that was really weird.  Here in Bangalore we cannot really wear our name tags around unless we are in a big group and we usually take our ties off.  Its really hard to understand what a lot of the people are saying which will take some adjusting. Some places have toilet paper other places just have like a little hose.  i just had a meal that was like all you can eat on a banana leaf for like 75 rupees which is equivalent to $1.50 so its really cheap here.  The people here are all really nice even though they stare at you even more than the people in the states.  They are all very curious also so if you just start staring like at the sky like 200 of them will come and just stare with you.  It's really funny but the people here are just awesome.  Well everything is going well.  I think I will survive.  It really is a jungle here.  It's crazy.  I'll send pics.  Well I love you all!!  Hope you guys are all doing well.  It's amazing the way the church blesses peoples lives.  I have already seen it here.  Love you all so very, very much!!! Love, Elder Jeppesen