From: Scott and Melanie Smith [melscofam@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 2:32 PM
To: Scott
and Melanie Smith
Subject: 7d Mel's Musing July 2007
On the Way Back to India, July 2007
(Informal letter from Scott and Melanie
Smith, address below)
It does not seem long since my last Mel’s Musing in April about the shootings in Blacksburg.
The event made us more aware of life and especially of the beauty of Spring in the hills of Virginia
and how fortunate we are to have a house in this part of the country. We have
really enjoyed being part of the Cohousing at Shadowlake Village.
But at the same time, news events and documentaries make us more aware of the
inequality in the standards of living around the world, and so, move us toward
going back to our work in India.
Once again we were packing and moving in June (three times
in four years). We were very happy to find a family to rent our house in Blacksburg
for two years. We managed to visit Daniel and Kelli on our way to Dallas
where we met with more Smith family members before getting on the plane.
British Airways is more generous with luggage and allows us to stop in England
on our way to India
at no extra cost.
Kelli has finished her studies in Boston
and is back in Iowa City looking
for a job. After the Smith family reunion in Dallas,
just before we left, Kelli and Dave were driving a 20 year old car 14 hours
back to Iowa City. After about 4
hours, it shuddered, smoked, and died. It was on a Sunday evening, and not much
was open. Her granddad had put in a new radiator and water pump and it had
brand new tires! It was towed and after a night in Muskogee,
Oklahoma was diagnosed with a seized
crankshaft. She was offered $300 by the local scrap dealer. They took the
money, rented a car, and drove the rest of the way home. Her great sense of
humor and years overseas may have helped put the experience in perspective, but
they are still a bit “vehicle-challenged” in Iowa.
Daniel has entered a painting in a recent art show and
continues performing in and managing a local Improv
Drama group in Louisville.
Timothy is doing a semester abroad in Bangkok
taking courses such as Into. to
Thai Performing Arts and Thai Architecture. A
left-brain challenge to a more right-brain guy. Hilary patiently follows
her parents traveling schedule and is looking forward to being back in boarding
at Woodstock School.
She recruited one friend from Blacksburg
High School to do her final year at
Woodstock, a brave move.
In England,
we have packed many visits and events into our time here, such as Wimbledon
tennis, Salisbury Cathedral, cream teas, a dip in the sea in Devon
(only Hilary), Twelfth Night performed outside at Guildford
Castle, Surkhet
Reunion with 30 friends from Nepal,
all in the rain, being the wettest summer for 40 years.
We have been asked over and over again if we are looking
forward to going back to India.
We have mixed feelings, we are happy to be going back to the same house in the
same community and seeing friends and neighbors but the work side of things
will be different and is as yet loosely defined. When invited to work with a
partner organization overseas, in our case Emmanuel Hospital Association, there
are added problems of not knowing what the job description will contain. This
is often worked out face to face, not long distance over email. So there is
uncertainty. Also there will be new responsibilities working directly for the
PC (USA) as the Health and Development Consultant for the area.
Our immediate personal concern in the next week (we are
still in the UK)
is to pack our bags and reduce to one piece of hand luggage, new rule. We need
to take lots paper work, files etc, in our hand luggage. Then, in Delhi, to get
our 9 bags on to the train and off in Dehradun, into
two taxis, and up the hill (1 hour) to our house in Mussoorie.
It is the compulsory haggling over porter fees that Scott dreads. I stand by
looking helpless as Scott makes every effort, in Hindi, to persuade them that
we know the fair rates and will not pay 5 times
the price just because we are foreigners. This also may be done in the rain.
Still, the adventure is ahead and we are happy to be on it.
Scott and Melanie Smith
melscofam@sbcglobal.net
Sisters Bazaar, Mussoorie,
UA 248179 India.