by Missie Hills | Jul 27, 2016 | Asia, International Adventures
I admit it, I LOVE weddings. The romance, the tears, the cake, and, most of all, the dancing! So, when our friend, Jit, invited us to his Hindu wedding in India, I was ecstatic! I had no idea what to expect really. My knowledge of Hindu weddings was pretty scarce. Ok, so maybe it was non-existent. Something about red wedding dresses and the groom riding an elephant… Right? Well, that all changed, kind of… Our experience enlighten my view of Southern Indian customs. Although, I’m still a little fuzzy on the details. Due to the language barrier, most of the time, Jason and I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Our wedding experience started in Trivandrum with a quick shopping trip to find wedding cloths for Jason and I. We needed to look like we fit in (well as much as two Americans in a sea of Indians can fit in). Jit had arranged for an artist to come to my hotel and decorate my hands and arms with mehndi. I sat for a couple hours while the artist hand painted intricate details on my arms. I loved the delicate mandala design.
Then, Jason and I put on our first set of Indian attire for the rehearsal dinner. I felt like a princess in my ivory and gold dress, and Jason looked sharp in his matching tunic.
The rehearsal dinner was full of laughter and joy. Family and friends gathered and spread love throughout the party hall. The bride, Pooja, was gorgeous in her beautiful red dress. There was singing and dancing… speeches and cheers… and traditional Kerala cuisine. We were asked to say a few words, which was rather funny… Me speaking in front of hundreds of strangers who couldn’t understand a word I was saying. They smiled and cheered for me nonetheless. Bless my heart.
The children were very curious about Jason and I. They had never seen Americans before, and my pale skin and blond hair was intriguing them. They stared and giggled at us and would shyly run away when we tried to talk to them.
The next day, we dressed for the wedding in traditional Indian flare. I wore a beautiful white and gold sari that reminded me of an American bride’s wedding dress. I was worried about wearing white, but Jit assured me that it didn’t matter. Jason wore the traditional mundu. Jit’s mom wrapped flowers in my hair and blessed us with some ash on our foreheads. I thought we fit in pretty well, even if everyone was staring at us all the time.
The wedding hall was decorated with flowers and bright colors everywhere. We found a seat and waited for events to begin. People started pouring in.There were over 1000 guests! It was hard for us to tell what exactly was going on. We weren’t sure what marked the start of the ceremony. However, at last, the bride’s party came out in a procession, led by trumpeters, to meet the groom’s party arrival. We frantically followed the commotion outside and watched the crowd greet and bless the groom and his family.
Then, back inside, the bride made her appearance, looking absolutely stunning in a beautiful red sari and draped in gold.
Then we watched the ceremony, having no idea what was going on. Some walking in circles, tossing of flower petals, lighting of candles… And finally, lots and lots of photos. Because there was no kiss to mark the point that the two were officially married, Jason and I had a hard time knowing when the ceremony had ended. And the fact that the guests never really settled down and were constantly up walking around and socializing made it even harder to understand the process. However, at some point we were ushered up to the stage to have photos taken with the couple and then whisked away to the dinning hall for a traditional banana leaf meal.
Everything happened in quite a rush. It was definitely the experience of a lifetime. Watching friends join hands is already such a special, sacred bonding moment. But watching in another country brings this experience to a whole other level of spirituality. We are grateful to have been apart of it.
We wish and pray for a lifetime of happiness for this wonderful couple. May God bless you, Jit and Pudja, with a joyful life!
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Jun 8, 2016 | Asia, International Adventures
After our warm welcome in India while on the backwaters of Kerala, we were rested and ready for what the country had in store for us. Through all of our travels, on only one other occasion did we get the opportunity to spend our time with a local family truly immersing ourselves in the culture surrounding us. Now that we have done it twice, we agree, this is definitely the way to travel. Yeah, you might miss out on the resort style luxury where the staff caters to your every whim. And you might miss out the privacy of having your own hotel room stocked with a mini fridge of beer. But in exchange, you gain a deep relationship with your hosts, the generosity of strangers treating you like family, and personal exposure to the local lifestyle. Yes, this is the way we like to travel.
We were invited to Kerala by our friend, Jit. Jit moved to the States to work as an engineer, which is how he and Jason first met. We spent a lot of time with him eating Indian food in Mississippi while we chatted about how different our two countries are. He promised me that once he was ready to get married, he would invite us to attend his wedding in India. A few years later, he upheld that promise. So, despite our pre-planned trip to Europe at the same time, how could we say no? We shortened our Europe trip and made time to visit Jit and his family for his upcoming nuptials.
Jit had a whole agenda ready for us. We were just along for the ride. Most of the time we had no idea where that ride was taking us. The ride started by Jit’s brother, Jipin, and cousin, Manu, picking us up at the houseboat dock and taking us to see the ocean. Technically, we saw the Laccadive Sea, but we thought it was the Indian Ocean, and we were ecstatic to mark another ocean off our bucket lists.
We then took a long scenic ride through the jungle to Jit’s summer home in Pathanamthitta where his family was waiting for us with lunch. After meeting the family and settling into our cozy room, Mom had lunch waiting for us on the table. Dad sat with us while we ate and the ladies served us. The conversation was quiet, probably due to the language barrier. Also, it was a little awkward to have everyone watch us as we ate. But the food was delicious! And it just kept coming. As we finished up our meals, the men in the house begin to eat. This is when we first noticed that we were the only ones eating with utensils. The rest of the family ate with their right hand. Suddenly, I understood why everyone was watching us eat. We must have looked so strange eating with forks, and I know they went through a lot of effort to find forks for us in the first place. Once we (as the guests) were done and the men of the house were done, the women ate last. It was very traditional and very different then dinners back home. Jason and I were stuffed.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the house before Jit and Manu took us on a drive of the country side. We drove through the jungle keeping our eyes out for wild elephants. We stopped for a short hike to a waterfall where we met some more locals that we followed up to the top. A nice dip in the water was refreshing and worth the steep hike up.
We then visited Manu’s home and met some of his family including his pet cows. His family was so happy to see us. They fed us snacks and tea, and I even got a beautiful necklace as a gift.
We never spotted any wild elephants. So, Jit and Manu took us to an elephant sanctuary that next morning. Once again, I came face to face with these massive lovable beasts.
Then, Jit and Manu took us to visit his mom’s family home. We visited with her parents, sisters, and nieces. They showed us the massive garden they kept in the neighborhood. It wasn’t the type of garden I am used to seeing here in the states. This garden was wild, thick and full of every fruit and vegetable we had tried in India so far. Mangoes, bananas, coconuts, peppercorn, even coffee beans! And of course rubber trees. They showed us how the rubber was gathered from the trees and processed right there in the backyard. We had a wonderful traditional lunch served on a banana leaf before we headed out for the next stop on the agenda.
Next, we stopped at a local stream where we rode a little round boat through the jungle. The ride was serene and perfect for the nice weather outside.
After more driving through the jungle-side, we ended up at Jit’s dad’s family home. We saw the house that Dad was born in. Then we walked to a local Hindu temple while the family attended church. We watched as they prayed to their gods. That next day Jit would be married to a beautiful woman who was waiting for him in Trivadrum. Two families would join. They had a lot to be blessed for. And as I watched this beautiful family gather under the temple roof and pray to gods I did not know, I couldn’t help but be amazed. I thought of my own family back home, my mom, my dad, my sisters and brothers. I thought about Jason’s family and how they are now mine too. And I thought about the family that Jason and I were creating at that moment, the baby growing inside my womb. In that moment, I whispered a prayer to my god, thanking him for reminding me of the faith we can find in family.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | May 30, 2016 | Asia, International Adventures
Getting to Southern India is no easy task, even if you leave from Vienna. An 8 hour flight, 6 hour layover, and 4 hour flight all in the middle of the night proved to be a bit more than I could handle. At least a bit more than pregnant Missie could handle. So by the time we landed in Cochin, I was shot. Thankfully, we had a houseboat waiting to float us through the beautiful backwaters of Kerala in Indian luxury fashion.
We arrived to the backwaters just in time for the start of houseboat season. So, the normally crowded canals were wide open and peaceful. As we boarded our private houseboat, we were in awe of the luxury they had waiting for us. Our room was decked out with flowers, fresh fruit, and chocolate. The king sized bed was calling my name. But I knew better then to snuggle in and waste our entire time in the beautiful country side tucked inside. A cold beer for Jason and a short nap for me on the roof top lounge was just what we needed to reboot our systems.
We stopped for fresh seafood at a local market mid-afternoon. During this stop, we shopped for some local woodworking souvenirs and visited a Catholic church. This turned out to be the oldest church we have ever explored, being built in 427 AD!
Then as it begin to rain, we boarded our houseboat and waited patiently for the dinner we just bought at the market to be cooked. We ate our wonderful dinner as the rain pitter-pattered around us. When we were through and after the rain passed, we took a canoe out into the smaller canals and watched as the locals continued on through their daily lives washing their cloths, their dishes, themselves, (pretty much anything) in the water as we floated by. We saw families dressed in bright colors and draped in gold as they walked the banks to the Hindu temple for the night. Their lives were fascinating and so different from our own.
We spent the night on the water as the boat swayed softly and the crickets chirped sweet music outside. And when we woke up at sunrise to the sound of kingfishers singing their morning songs, we couldn’t help but to feel the warm welcome India had given us.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Apr 29, 2016 | Europe, International Adventures
After the quite somber stop in Poland, it was nice to find ourselves in another bright city full of amazing architecture. We didn’t have a lot of time in Vienna, but it was enough to learn how special this city was. The beautiful buildings filled with art and history were a perfect backdrop to the laid back, café-lounging attitude the city possessed. And laid back is exactly what we needed by that point.
There are many things to do and see in Vienna. Between the art museums, the opera house, and the classical music, you could find yourself spending days here wrapping yourself up in the culture. We had one afternoon. So, saying we had the true Vienna experience would be a major stretch. We could have done our usual plan of stuffing in as much as possible in the shortest time frame imaginable. But, the first thing I really wanted to do was find a café and relax. So, that is exactly what we did. And it never really got much more exciting than that.
We roamed the streets and parks, popped in to a few museums and churches, and then had a nice dinner before turning in for the night. It was actually a quite pleasant visit and a nice end to our European adventure.
We were anxious and excited to completely switch gears and head to India the following morning. After exploring 5 bustling European cities, the Indian jungle was calling our names.
Until next time,
by Missie Hills | Mar 5, 2016 | Europe, International Adventures
After a long night train, we arrived bright and early in Krakow ready to explore a city full of history. For once on this trip, we planned on venturing away from the city to explore the infamous WW2 concentration camp, Auschwitz. We set a full day aside for the somber depressing walk through the one of the world’s most tragic events in history, thinking we were fully prepared to handle the emotions we knew would arise. But first, we had a day to spare and time to burn before we could check into our hotel.
We boarded a train and took a short 20 minute ride to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. I guess I knew what a salt mine was. I knew I’d be underground, and I knew there would be some walking. What I didn’t know was that we would be trekking down over a thousand feet deep into the ground through a labyrinth of dark tunnels filled with marvelous carvings made from the surrounding salt deposits. A thousand feet! Just think, that’s about the height of New York’s Chrysler Building. I had no idea I was capable of walking that much. I also didn’t know I would feel a slight sense of panic when I realized that there was a thousand feet of dirt between me and fresh air. However, the wondrous surrounding salt statues and beautiful sparkling caverns kept my mind occupied. And my love for salt (seriously, I really love salt!) was brought to a new appreciation, especially when we walked into the huge Salt Cathedral made completely from salt down to the beautiful chandeliers.
The salt mines took a lot of energy out of us, especially since my body was busy producing another human. So we spent the rest of the day relaxing in an underground pub eating pirogis (Polish dumplings) and preparing for our morning trip to Auschwitz.
The following morning, we loaded up in a decently comfortable van and took a two hour drive out of the city. Our guide prepared us for the trip by playing a documentary in the van. The documentary did the trick. There was no laughing, no friendly banter between guests, no jittering from anticipation. It was solemn and quiet when we pulled up the foggy barbed wired camp. I could feel my chest tightening, knowing what my hormones were about to put me through.
Turns out, the weather also helped set the mood. It was a dreary, drizzling, foggy day. As we walked slowly through the camp, we could feel the presence of suffering, pain, and sadness. It took over me like being dunked in ice water. I did my best to keep my emotions in check. But I broke, many times. And as I tried to hide the tears running down my cheaks, I realized, I wasn’t the only one struggling to keep it together.
You might be wondering why we would spend our much needed vacation in such a depression place. The truth is, I welcomed it. I needed a dose of compassion for human kind. I needed to be reminded what we are capable of. For those of us that have been blessed with cushiony, plush, lives, sometimes it can be easy to forget about the suffering others must endure. Some perspective will bring you back to realty quickly.
By the time we arrived back in Krakow, my emotions had drained me of energy. So, Jason and I sat down to a quiet dinner and discussed how we felt about the experience. It was very different from our average conversations where we would recap the adventures of the day. In a way, the sentiment was so deep that it brought us closer to have shared the moment together.
The next day, we brushed the sad emotions aside and headed out to see what made Krakow such a delightful city. We spent the day touring churches and castles, eating the local street food, and strolling the town square. We ended the night with a romantic ride in a horse-drawn carriage before saying our goodbyes to the beautiful city.
Through all the sad history Poland has endured, we were still able to experience the wonder and amazement this magical city contained. I like to think we left Poland as better, more mature people, ready to make a difference in the world our child would grow up in. We slept that night on the cramped train dreaming of a world in which our future child would never have to experience such pain.
Until next time,
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