We don't have television or internet right now. I am sitting on the Webb's patio using their wireless connection right now. It's kind of nice not to have these things running in our house - the fewer distractions the better.
This has become a much quieter place as of late. And knowing that there will be changes to who lives here and who does not, it'll surely be a different Hyderabad next time around. In reality, it was a different Hyderabad this year considering who was here during our first year and who left.
I have decided to continue to take say something about each member of the family during this last week, reflecting on their time in India.
I'll start with Jonah....
Jonah was great while here in India. He had a large number of friends and enjoyed every aspect of life here. Well.... almost every aspect.
Jonah is at the age where he doesn't know enough to guard his words or see things in their proper light. As such, he has often blurted things out that you simply don't say, or think, for that matter.
When we started here, it was a bit traumatic having people tap on our window begging for money. Some had no arms, most had no teeth and very few were well-kempt. We have since gotten very used to this and even have learned to ignore these people for the most part (sad to say, but true). But Jonah very early on declared "I don't like poor people." To him, they were frightening, dirty, scary looking in their various degrees of dismemberment, etc. So, it resulted in that comment.
We explained to him that was not a nice thing to say and that it was our obligation to help these people if we could (although giving them cash out the window was not the means that we should use) and that we would prefer that he not say that again. But, in his young eyes it was very simple - I come from a place where people don't look like that and don't tap on my car window and scare me, so India is a bad place and America is a good place.
As time has passed, he too has learned to let the beggars do their tapping and not be frightened by it..... but it took time.
He has declared that he will miss life here.
Jonah, like all of us, has had a connection back to the mother culture of America as a way of keeping tapped into where we are from. While I was addicted to Stargate Atlantis and Tara spent time on Epicurious.com, Jonah followed High School Musical and Camp Rock. He knows all of the songs and has seen all of the movies.
In summary, Jonah has been a brave little guy during this experience and his perspective has been refreshingly innocent, even raw, at times.
Thank you Jonah, we love you!
