Marriage in India

Mike and I had our reservations about spending our first year of marriage in a different country, facing new and weird issues while getting used to being married. I’m thankful it has been a wonderful decision so far. It has been a really creative and splendid way to start things off. Most certainly we are dealing with things most newly married couples don’t deal with:
-figuring out how to explore a city without any transportation
-living with other people
-living on a budget with no income-volunteering in challenging situations
-being removed (at least physically) from our families and friends-and much more…
Regardless, Mike and I have grown immensely as a couple through our experience so far. We are much more vulnerable with each other than I think we would be normally. We have to challenge and support each other spiritually because of our lack of a church community. We have been asking more pressing questions about the things and people we’ve experienced. It has also been great to see Mike shine in this new situation. So I’ll take a second to be proud of Mike and put up a lot of pictures of him. He jumps at the opportunity to be helpful, whether by plunging our backed up plumbing (and weeks of rice and tea scraps), putting in time at Sahara House, or cleaning up the apartment. I love seeing him be so eager to try new things. He was absolutely radiating when we were in Old Goa or when we were running into the ocean (where unfortunately he smashed his foot on the rocky bottom that was unseen to us). As anyone that is familiar with Mike knows, he is a great person to have fun with. We have had a wonderful picnic on the ocean and we play Frisbee at the park frequently, explore the area on foot often, and laugh a lot. I’ll be the first to admit that Pune has its difficulties and frustrations. It has brought on emotions more than once and Mike has been a great support, even when he is tired...and it’s been great. I know we are not even half way done with our trip and maybe my attitude will change tomorrow, but so far we’ve been really glad we’ve chosen this as our first step. It hopefully will develop a perspective and understanding about life, God, people, and the world that can be a solid foundation for the rest of our lives, no matter where we are.