Aden Baby Tate blog

Hey everyone. India’s cool. I was not really looking forward to blogging, I was more planning on telling everyone about it at home and showing everything i’ve bought and all the pictures i’ve taken ( yes mom im taking a lot of pictures) but India really is cool. My mom said no matter how much i love planes i was going to hate the 10 hour flights, she was wrong i loved it. When we touched down in New Delhi I was shocked by how nice the airport was. I kind of thought it would be a trash dump, but it was nice, even better than the airport in Amsterdam. Everyone said I would get stopped and questioned because of how big I am compared to literally every person in India. Surprisingly I did not and got through customs easily. Once leaving the airport the first thing I noticed of India was the smell. It does not smell very good, especially when near sewage pipes. That only took about 10 minutes to get used to though. We arrived in Delhi about 2 or 3 am where we got onto a bus that took us to Kullu. I think it’s the nicest bus I have ever been on and it was in India. The seats reclined like a AMC movie theater seat and had a foot rest, and the air conditioning was freezing cold. I love the cold so it was like heaven in there. The Whole bus ride was 15 hours, from leaving the airport we drove till around 5 am to fill up with gas. From there we drove another 4 hours before stopping at a subway for lunch, a subway in india. It was awesome, the food was very similar but so different at the same time. Instead of turkey, they had sliced chicken and things like that. About 3 hours after that we started our climb into the himalayas, they are so big, we just started climbing and we never stopped, with civilization all around and never spaces between towns even in the mountains. Like in Utah once you get below Utah county it can get 10, 20, 30, anywhere up to 100 miles in between towns. Not in  India.

We Stopped for lunch at this Indian restaurant somewhere in the mountains and it was very good. They served curry, rice, nan, and other indian food. Just so much better than anything you could find in America. Except maybe this place I like called Bombay house, I’m not sure if that’s how it’s spelled but it’s really good Indian food in America. After we ate at the restaurant we drove about two more hours before we got to Kullu. There truly are no words to describe how beautiful and different and cool and just amazing it is. It’s like being in an entirely different world here. I absolutely love it and I’m not looking forward to leaving in a week and a half. We are in a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the valley is not at all wide. It is not much wider than a little cottonwood canyon or that freeway you take up to park city. From head to toe on the mountains it’s covered in houses, and at night, the mountains light up. It’s as if the mountains have their own star constellations on them. It’s its own kind of beauty here, and not just the place but the people here too. We get so many weird looks, especially me, Ty and Alema. I don’t think they have ever seen people as tall as us before. Even with the word looks, Indian people are for the most part very kind people. One thing I’ve come to learn in my dealings with them in the streets or in shops or restaurants, if you tell them to keep the change after you’ve paid for something , they refuse, they absolutely will not keep your change. They will not accept free money. In their culture it’s lazy, and they work for everything they get in life     they dont want short cuts. Would be nice if America could be like that.

Teaching i have come to find has been a very very interesting experience. With the kids at the school me and my group teach at, it is either we love these kids, or they are little devil spawns and we are ready to strangle them. Thankfully it hasn’t gotten to that because these kids really are something else, and in a good way. Back home kids on screens, screens are their entire life, and if you take away a tablet from an addicted kid, oh boy your ears are in for one. But here with these children, they have no screens, no tablets, no technology advanced like ours, no nice clothes, nice cars or toys. And you can see them as they actually are, happy kids who don’t need all of that. They have nothing like what we do and you can see how truly bright the light of Christ is with them. Brighter than most kids or even people for that matter in America and most of the world. It truly has been an amazing experience teaching them. I’m relieved, but also a little sad that we are done teaching now. It’s amazing how smart some of these kids are, they don’t speak english and some of them can count to 100 and can understand prepositions and even understand very simple conversation phrases. Here in India, and especially at our school, the little rascals like to fight, no matter the gender, boys will hit girls and girls will slap boys across the face. Then we will have to go smack them on the back of the head and tell them to behave. One thing these kids love more than anything is games, no matter the kind. They absolutely love red light green light, sharks and minnows, tag and other games. What I think they love more is the music and dances we do. We taught these kids how to do baby sharks, the cha cha slide, the chicken dance. Their absolute favorite had to be freeze dance, where we play a song and they have to freeze when the song is paused. This past week i’ve had a great time at the schools with the kids and outside of it in Kullu going to restaurants and checking out markets and getting to bargain and hanging out with people in YMAD and doing all the fun things we have been doing here in India. That’s all I have for now until next time. ( mom you and dad better read this your the only reason i spent 2 hours writing all of this )

5 Responses to “Aden Baby Tate blog”

1. Emily Tate, on June 14th, 2024 at 8:34 pm Said:

   Thanks for the great blog post, Aden! So glad you loved the plane rides, lol! We read this entire blog post together with your siblings. They laughed about the tablet reference. Seems like you’ve really enjoyed your time there so far, and have gained some great insights. Can’t wait to hear all about them in person! (Wes says he misses you like crazy 🤪. We all do!)

2. Tyler;'s mom, on June 14th, 2024 at 9:26 pm Said:

   Love this blog! love to the they pictures! Glad to see Tyler with you. Tell him Hi from home

3. Stephanie Chamberlain, on June 14th, 2024 at 9:58 pm Said:

   Aden!
   That was a great blog! It sounds pretty amazing. Especially what you are learning about what one truly needs to be happy. Sometimes less truly is more.
   On the flip side:I think it would be amazing to hear you guys haggle-I am curious, what was your best deal?

4. LaRee Ann VanderToolen, on June 16th, 2024 at 6:14 am Said:

   I am glad you spent 2 hours writing this for your parents. It was very interesting and helped all of us parents at home to know what it has been like for many of the teens that are there with you. It was fun to hear about all the parts of travel and the kids. It was a great blog!

5. McKell Scanlan, on June 17th, 2024 at 4:25 am Said:

   I appreciate the detail in your descriptions. I really do.