We are busy around here. We have the task of inspecting Elders’ and Sisters’ apartments every 6 weeks – in addition to the other duties. They actually do a good job of keeping things orderly, at least when we visit them. Some of them have to deal with cockroaches (really big ones) because they don’t cover their food or take out their garbage often enough. Bugs here in the tropics move quickly and take no prisoners. Also, we have to constantly keep the pigeons off of the balconies, since they love to leave little deposits before they fly away.
We just turned an apartment back to the landlord because he wasn’t keeping the electricity and water flowing on a regular basis. We hired a crew to paint the interior and that turned into a major undertaking because of the age and condition of the building. That took a lot of our time and energy in January.
We have been teaching three Elders (Winston, Sathish, and Nagaraj) -preparing them for the Temple. Two of them (pictured here) have departed for the Philippines MTC and will serve here in India. Winston leaves on March 7 for the Philippines MTC and will also serve in India.
Two families went to Taiwan to receive Temple ordinances in early February, including a live sealing between a couple that were married civilly one week earlier (see photos). Any guesses as to the identity of the father of the bride?
We have spent the last 3 months teaching English to those who are interested (see January 14 post). We advertise free English class every Wednesday night out on front of our Little Mount chapel. We aren’t allowed to prosyletize, since we are offering a free service to the public. We have to pass the “baton” to someone else now, since we will begin splitting our time between Chennai and Coimbatore this week.
Indians who want to increase their English speaking skills come to the class to listen to a native English speaker. The class has become so large, that we have divided it between intermediate/advanced conversation and the beginners. Elder Gibson facilitates the conversational class, Sister Gibson facilitates the beginners. Many of the conversationalists in the intermediate/advanced sessions are either college students from nearby Anna University or labor in the service industry in nighttime hours – communicating with customers in daytime America. We have carried many discussions on Indian history, geography of South India, class members’ native places, Chennai commerce, American and Indian movies/TV, careers and/or school courses – and Elder Gibson’s favorite subject – food.
One evening, we introduced the concept of puns. After 10 minutes and blank expressions on about 10 faces, the experiment ended. Elder Gibson, of course, loves puns and was sorely disappointed. One of our regular students, Rahman (pronounced RAK mon) came up with several good puns — he is an avid fan of American movie fare, so he gets it. Some of our subject matter gets interesting – especially when we discuss American films. Some of the students are curious about certain words that they hear. It is mostly slang, but there is an occasional foul word that creeps in and then we have to explain it. Some of our slang terms really puzzle native Tamil speakers: cool, gotta, wanna, ’cause, cuz, pick up, awesome, ‘dat, rookie, newbie, kind of, kinda….. (well, you get the picture). Indian school children learn English in school – the Queen’s English (British) and they are not encouraged to speak it. They understand and can read English, but have difficulty speaking it.
Occasionally, we will see a cow (Featured image — this one resembles a brahma) pulling a wagon loaded with fruits, vegetables and (in this case) flowers for the local markets. People think nothing of taking a beast driven wagon down a busy artery here in Chennai. This photo was taken adjacent to a modern, US-like shopping mall. If you zoom in on the drivers’ expression – you will see that he wasn’t happy about being photographed. This is unusual – Indians love to photograph and be photographed.
By the way, once we set foot into one of these malls (see February 2 post), we are “transported to the US” – youth “hanging out” – dressed in contemporary US style clothing, people taking “selfies”, broadcast of US rock music (sometimes Elvis or Stevie Wonder), and US/Europe clothing stores. Of course, there is Burger Fling, Taco Bell, Pizza Gut, etc. (Note to Fareed – I have compiled a list and photos of US fast food joints – no CirKle Ks – and will do a separate blog dedicated to these fine eateries and dedicated to you)
