My Experiment

My flight to Egypt last December was occupied by Sudoku, sleeping, and reading everything that was in the magazines on the plane. I actually really like plane magazines; you can learn so many interesting, random things.

I read an article on this flight about eyesight. They said that the body is self-healing and when most things go wrong, they correct themselves: like broken bones. However, they argued that many people get glasses all too soon and don't give their eyes a chance to normalize. If one were to go a certain amount of time without glasses, the eyes would naturally correct themselves.

So, I decided I would conduct an experiment myself to see if these people really knew what they were talking about. Since coming to South Asia, I have not been able to wear my contacts due to the dirt, pollution, and climate difference. Therefore, ditching the contacts was already taken care of . I decided to go one month without wearing my glasses to see if there was any change in my eyes.

The first few weeks were rather hard, cause I wanted to see things, obviously! I'm not blind without my glasses, but things are not clear, such as words from afar and whether people are looking at me or not. But, after a month, I became used to it.

Month 2: I decided to keep it up, since it wasn't bothering me all that much anymore. I wanted to see if there was more change over a longer period of time.

Month 3: I forgot to stop the experiment and just got used to not having glasses.

I am now beginning month 4 and have decided to examine my observations about this experiment and thought I might share.

1. I am an observant person. I usually notice everything on the streets as I am passing by, things that both of my partners have told me they never noticed or even thought about. However, now without my glasses, I wasn't noticing much around me. I found myself walking down the street, and instead of being consumed by all the sights and details of things, I was consumed by my own thoughts. Odd. I realized that I don't usually walk anywhere in deep thought, I'm too busy noticing and taking in new things to dwell on something that is not currently present. I began to enjoy my own thoughts and found myself doing a lot more praying for the people around me and meditating on the Scriptures I'd read that morning or other places that my mind wandered. I'm not saying my observing mind is bad; definitely not. Only that I never noticed what thoughts consumed my mind until they weren't there anymore and something else occupied them.
   
2. Going 3 months without glasses does not improve your eye sight. I would probably have to have an eye exam to really conclude for certain that there was no improvement whatsoever in my eyes, but, as things look now, it seems just as blurry as before.

Valentine's Day वैलेंटाइन'स ड

हैप्पी वैलेंटाइन'स डे! Happy Valentine's Day!

The girls and I thought we were going to a piano bar for mocktails for Valentine's Day...we were so excited and I even got spiffied up all nice! Turns out, the piano player was sick, so we went to Baskin Robbins instead and then home to watch a movie. It was a nice night out with the girls.

Even though I am currently without pursuers and in a position which does not encourage it in any way (dating is against company policy and there's no good, single, like-minded fellas in my city), I am still in love. I was reminiscing on old Valentine's Days and just thinking how thankful I am that my Maker is my Husband. He's been so sweet to give me so many good things.

Some of my favorite Valentine's Day memories:

1. My Daddy gave me my first bass guitar for Valentine's Day many years ago. It was from his own band when he was in the 8th grade...my favorite Valentine's gift ever.

2. My junior year of high school this awesome boy I met in a band, whom I really liked, gave me a pink rose (my favorite color at the time) and a package of powdered dough nuts--The weekend he met me, this older guy was totally making fun of me for smelling like powdered dough nuts (the scent of my deodorant at the time).

3. I planned a Valentine's Date Extravaganza for the girls in my hall when I was an RA, along with the guys in a hall of our brother dorm. The girls got 7 dates in one night and we all had a great time with driving to Springfield, an art gallery, dinner at Fazoli's, scavenger hunt at Bass Pro Shop, and desert at Steak-n-Shake.


4. The Valentine's Date Extravaganza was actually a few days before the real holiday. On the actual night of, some of my girls and I went out with some of my guy friends. The fellas took us to a cave in the middle of the woods outside of town. It was so fun! We sat on the riverside in the dark and sang worship songs together...it was completely romantic in a higher kind of way. :) Then, after returning home, the girls and I snuck out on campus and started a mud fight...it had rained all week long and you only had to push your hand into the wet earth to pull out a big clump of squishy mud. We had so much fun and ended up the night creating our own mud slide, which just kept getting longer and longer. So much fun!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

A Train Ride

Sitting on the train back to Delhi from Agra (Taj Mahal), there was an empty seat beside me. Men walked past me down the aisles, selling snacks. The dry heat of northern Delhi had dehydrated me and with no water left, I gave in to my thirst and bought some tea. I paid too much, but it tasted great.

The chip guy walked by with his bucket of salted, fatty potato chips on his head. Several others took their turns, sauntering down the aisles, attempting to persuade everyone in broken Indian English which product they should buy to satisfy their hunger.

One of the vendors suddenly plopped himself down in the seat next to me and his metal bucket on the floor between his feet. As he lifted the newspaper from the opening of his bucket, the smell of his concoction quickly filled my sensory system. "Ooof..." escaped my lips as my eyebrows raised and lips puckered.

The Dutch couple across the aisle immediately glanced my way to read my thoughts of what was beside me. It's interesting how, even though they're from a different continent, we can have that common understanding without speaking. Maybe it's because of our common English language bond. Maybe it's because were from developed countries and our scientific world views are similar...maybe it's just because they're white...

Michelle just turned from the seat ahead of me to ask what I was doing. Brandon answered, "It's like when the kids are quiet and you think, "Uh oh, what's wrong?"

The man beside me began his dealing with another vendor. "What is that?" I questioned. I don't even remember what he said, but it looked like some kind of Indian soup. He also informed me that the other man was selling noodles.

"What? Those don't look like noodles to me..." I speculated. As his friend returned, he scooped up a glob to show me and offered me a taste.

A bit timidly, I extended my hand. He dumped a scoop in my palm and I tried it. Not so bad...kind of like spicy grits. I tilted my head back and tossed the rest in. My hand was all sticky. Yuck.

It's all good, I thought...I live in India. I'm a trooper. I tore some newspaper from my package in front of me and wiped my hand.

Satisfied.
I tried something new.
I talked to someone new.
I did something new...a few new somethings.
I just entertained myself for 10 minutes and avoided boredom on the train.
I live in India.