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Supachandy
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Birthday: 6/6/1987
Gender: Female
Interests: I love the Lord. I also love to sing, play ball, and on the occasion, change my bedsheets.
Expertise: Singing for strangers who are trying to water their grass.
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  supachandy
Member Since:
11/21/2002
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| So we celebrated Justin, Jacob and my birthday last night.. It was.. memorable =).
Ok, so alllll week, my parents have been planning on hosting a little get-together at our house for our birthday. Per our previous parties, I assumed they were going to invite a couple of their friends (who have kids..).. the usual group. So of course, I've been complaining all week about the fact that I was celebrating MY birthday with my parent's friends.
Anyway, the day comes, I'm finally 21. That morning I did a little MCAT studying.. and then my dad took my little brother (who is 13 by the way.. that's RIDICULOUS) and I to Party City to get a couple things for the party. When we got there, he told me to grab some stuff to decorate the house with and said that Thara would be coming later to help decorate. So, of course, interior-designer-wannabe me decided on a theme and went to work. Well, halfway into our little shopping expedition we get to the row with the birthday cards. My dad looks at me and point to the cards and says.. "Go get one." I'm thinking, "Oh, maybe he hasn't gotten a card for Justin yet.." No. Go get my OWN birthday card. I forgot that my dad never gets us birthday cards. Hahaha... I stood there for a full minute and just looked at him. Choose a birthday card...from you.. for myself? So of course, I started cracking up and giving my dad a hard time. And then I proceeded to find a card that would hold money. Once dad told me to give that idea up, I settled on a card that says.. "What does a parent say when they have a daughter who is kind, generous, attractive, sweet, nice, smart..." And the beautiful (truthful) list goes on =). Hey.. dad liked it. Anyway, Jacob chose his own card too. And I chose Justin's.
Sooo.. we get back home and I look at all we bought and decide that I am going to decorate my house for my own birthday party. So I employed my brothers and dad to help me and .. it was so beautiful. I get teary-eyed looking at it (it's still up because we're indian and my mom wanted to recycle it all for my grandma who's coming home tomorrow, who's birthday is this coming week..).
Later on, Jeane and Janice call and insist on taking Justin, Jacob, Joel and Julie (see a pattern with the "J"s?) and I to bubble tea (a tradition now). So we get there and our cousins are there too and Jaisy.. and it was nice. I kept telling them, though, that we had to be back at 6:30pm to greet guests and stuff. Of course, what I didn't know was that they were stalling us so that our youth group could get to our house and surprise us (they planned a surprise Bible study at our house.. not a party with my parent's friends). How did they stall us, you ask? Julie asked me to go to the bathroom with her... a one-person bathroom. That was wierd.. but it was Julie asking so I didn't think twice. =) Then, Jeane persuaded me to go inside the asian food market and look at the live lobsters and clams. Really? Live lobsters and clams? Hahah.. I look back and laugh because I was the only one pushing everyone to hurry up.. and kinda getting ticked off slightly b/c everyone was so nonchalant. They were all in on it too.. and Justin even suspected something. Why am I so ridiculously gullible and oblivious?
It was a nice surprise. Not having celebrated our birthday for the past 3 or 4 years.. it was nice to finally have a cake and sing happy birthday to my brothers. and get money from my parents. which I really needed. =)
I'm framing my birthday card.
Did I mention we watched home videos afterward the youth meeting? How embarrassing. My ridiculous "Jane Chandy Show" and boy haircuts.. for the world to see.
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| Hi, my name is Jane. It's been 7 months since my last real xanga entry.
I feel inspired so I thought I'd grab onto it since I haven't been inspired for a bit of time. I have a lot to say.. Actually, I don't even know where to begin..
Ok... since I ended with the night before India, let's begin there. India was... a lot of little miracles rolled into one huge adventure =). As soon as I stepped off the plane, it was insanity. One of my luggage was lost back in Amsterdam (I think that's where it was).. and of course it was the luggage with all of MY stuff in it, including my brand new camera that my parents got me before leaving.. the one that didn't get lost was the stuff my aunts and mom sent for my grandma.. ziploc bags and old salwars (go figure..). Anyway.. of course I waited almost 2-3 hours by the conveyor belt for it.. I remember there was this other guy there about my age or a bit older who was also waiting there for a long time. Ended up that he had been studying in Boston for a couple years and was on his way back home.. cool guy I remember.. and a gift from God. If it wasn't for him, I would've completely been alone and would've freaked out since I had no idea what the procedure was for lost luggage.. dad always took care of that. That reminds me, I should learn how to change a tire. This guy led me to the lost luggage place and we stood in line together. During that time, this drunk guy from Dubai comes around and completely tries to get in front of me in line. Meanwhile, my other friend was gone and this random (really nice) lady tells me to stand in front of this guy and not let him cut. This drunk guy starts raving to me about how he's going to sue the airport for losing his luggage.. man, he was loud.. an annoying. Anyway.. it took me around 3 hours.. during which time my poor aunt and uncle had no clue where I was or if I was all right.. they were up all night (a fact that plays into my next incident).
Thinking back on it, I kind of wish I was more talkative so that maybe I could've kept them awake. On our drive back to Pune from the Bombay airport I remember passing the largest slum in India.. Dharavi.. I'll never forget it's name. We stopped for coffee somewhere in the middle and as we entered Pune, my uncle must've dozed off for a minute because he hit the guy on the scooter in front of us. I can see in slow motion.. my aunt yelling "Pull over!" and the guy in front of us leaning and falling off the scooter pretty much into oncoming traffic. It's an absolute miracle that he didn't get run over by something.. being that there are no rules on the roads over there and all. It was also a good thing that my aunt and uncle are both licensed doctors so they could at least take care of him.. turns out he was on his way to his last exam of college and about to go back home far away that day.. poor guy. He was put in our car next to me and was bleeding from scrapes. He needed a bit of surgery but nothing serious, praise God.
From there on out, man it was cool. I saw caesareans, normal births, histerctomies, removal of a bunch things you don't really want to know about, surgeries on AIDS patients, orthopedic surgery, cataract surgery.. you name the body part, I saw the inside of it =). Cool, eh? They stuck cameras down the gastrointestinal tract. I saw a guy with elephantitis. Husbands and wives fighting in the doctors office.. quite stressful.
Funny story. Don't judge me.. =). One day I was sitting in Dr. Philip's office (the main family physician there).. I saw this really cute guy walk in.. apparently he was a body builder of some sort but he looked like a movie actor or something. Hah! Anyway.. I hadn't seen any surgeries yet, it was my second or third day at the hospital and I was still feeling my way around (because apparently they didn't understand that an internship meant telling me what to do.. so I was left to fend for myself.. which turned out quite nice). Ok so back to cute guy. Dr. Timothy treated him and I saw him walking out and thought that was probably the last I'd see of the one cute guy in all of Pune. Little did I know I'd be seeing my first surgery the next morning. It was SO exciting getting all gussied up in scrubs.. I felt all important. Anyway, I sat in the operation theater waiting for the patient and lo and behold.. who rolls in? (pun intendend) Mr. Cute Guy. Ok.. no problem.. I can handle this. Dr. Timothy, the surgeon, calls me over and I get to have an up close and personal look at this surgery. Cool! .. (not really) This particular surgery was in the umbilical region of the body. What you need to know about surgeries is that they clear the ENTIRE area around the region they're treating. Long story short.. I saw A LOT more of him that I needed or wanted to see and that was the end of cute guys in India. Lol.. it was like God was playing a practical joke on me.. I was laughing on the inside.
I met really amazing doctors and nurses while I was there. The nurses in the ICU told me about their lives.. one thing I've learned since that trip is that people aren't afraid to share really important parts of their lives to people who are willing to just sit down an listen. I'm amazed at how many remarkable stories I've heard.. on that trip and afterwards.
I think my favorite part of the whole trip was Deep Griha and Pathways. They were two AIDS/HIV NGOs that I visited. Deep Griha (meaning "lighthouse") was in the middle of a slum area. When I got there, they asked me if I wanted to see the slum and a woman took me around and told me stories as we walked. We walked for almost an hour. I got to talk to a woman about her AIDS and how it affected her life and I took pictures and video as we walked. I felt like a journalist. At Pathways, I went on a mobile clinic and we drove to some random town where poor people walked right up to our dinky van and were treated for everything from AIDS to the common cold. There are some amazing people out there.
I also loved talking to my aunt and uncle. My aunt is an eye surgeon.. she's the youngest of all my aunts and looks more like my sister than my aunt. We got everything from mother and daughter to sisters from people. I loved her stories of her younger days.. her adventures during her years of mission work in little tiny villages. My uncle is also a doctor who now runs an organization called Global Health Advocates. Needless to say.. he's a wealth of information and that makes for really interesting conversations. He once got a teacher fired for insulting a girl in one of his classes. He likes to stand up for what he believes in.. another thing I learned from him.
That's a little bit about India. There's more but these were some of the more memorable things.
After that.. there was California, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, a semester of school, the regional retreat, Mexico and at this moment, San Antonio.
Mexico, I can't even describe. I'm grateful I had the privilege of going. The people that went were just the right people that needed to be together at that moment ministering to and be ministered to by those in Mexico. There was a moment in time during that first day I'll never forget.. feeding the ammachi that pizza. I remember carrying around a box of pizza trying to see if anyone wanted any and suddenly Jogy was right next to me and says to no one in particular to feed the ammachi since she was blind. I didn't know up until then that she was blind.. my heart broke for her.. I knelt down and took the plate from her and started breaking it up into little pieces and putting it into her mouth. I felt like I was my mother and she was me only 15 or 16 years back when I was helpless and she was, in complete love, feeding me. It felt nice to do that for someone else. Later on I learned a bit of her story.. how she was left to fend for herself at the age of 14 and has absolutely no family whatsoever. My goodness.
I think about it now and .. A line in the dirt .. separates their poverty and our luxury.
San Antonio. I've been here for a week staying at the house of a family related to a family in our prayer group. Man I love them.. I feel like I'm at home. Anyway, I'm at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) working with a doctor/researcher/professor, Dr. Oyajobi, on some of his research. I can't believe how blessed I am because this guy is doing cancer research.. for real! I'm learning how to do this really crazy assay called the calvarium assay. Yesterday I beheaded 4 day old mice (yea, they were alive..) and took out their calvaria (bone tissue that lies on top of their brain).. I was kinda nervous after seeing Alda (the lab technician who's teaching me everything) doing it but I didn't even flinch when I had to do it. Does that mean my heart's made of stone? I'm not really sure what to think of it.. all I know is that if my little project works, it'll be the start of evidence to create a better medicine for multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of bone. Basically, most people you hear of who die of cancers like breast or lung cancer don't die from the tumor in the breast or lung, but from it spreading to places like the bone.. so that's where we need to find a treatment.
Ok, I'm getting off that tangent.
God's been so good to me. I can't even describe. It's been a long and bumpy road these past 6 months.. and it's not gonna get easier any time soon.
I think that's good enough for now.. I still can't believe it's been so long.. There's so much more I wanted or could have written.. maybe another day that's not 7 months from now =).
I got conjunctivitis yesterday. Just thought I'd add that in since we all saw that one coming.. =).
You know what song I love right now? Storm by Lifehouse.. and the More I Seek You by Kari Jobe.
I leave you with this video that still cracks me up.
Just varm it up! | | |
| haha! somebody beat me..
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21246628/?GT1=10450
I love how I put this up instead of recapping my life for the last 203948233209483 months that I haven't written.
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| So. It's the night before I leave... my last full day in America is over for two whole months. I'm not really sure what to say... goodbye America? =) It's gonna be a looong ride.. and I don't just mean the plane. The longest I've ever been away from home was .. what.. 1 month? And that was with Justin by my side. I have to wake up at 4am to catch the 7am flight.. highly doubt I'll fall asleep.. so I'll write till I do or till I can't write anymore. I'm so tempted to start reading one of the books I bought.. it's one I've been wanting to read for the longest time b/c it finally finishes up a series I read awhile ago.. but I have to force myself to save it for the plane.. or the 6 hours in NY.
Weird.. I feel like a chapter of my life is ending and a new is beginning.. but I don't know why or where that transition began. I mean, I'll be turning 20 in India.. but I don't really know if that means anything. I went on this retreat on Monday and Tuesday where I really learned a lot when I wasn't expecting to.. I love it when that happens =). This program that's funding my trip to India is much more interesting and important than I thought. The reason they fund these internships is for one purpose: a theological exploration of vocation. Although they don't completely focus on the "theological" part with a Christian outlook, the whole spiritual aspect is really cool. We went through this booklet that helps us reflect on our strengths and finding our calling. The professor who's directing this project is also amazing.. one of those profs that looks like a clown with the top of his head balding and a big bushy beard with bright red cheeks.. chubby and kinda tall. Now that I think about it, he reminds me of Santa Claus. He's also one of those people who can take a lecture that could be extremely boring and turn it into something that captures your attention for hours. He said something that I'll never forget.. he said, "Your calling is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.. and in order to do this, you need to know yourself, you strengths and talents and be able to tell [or narrate] your story." We talked about what the difference between what a pleasant life, a good life and a meaningful life meant.. "the whole purpose of developing your gifts is to give them away.. to use them in the service of something larger than yourself." It's amazing how God works, huh? This stuff is exactly what's been in the back of my mind since Urbana challenged me to "live a life worthy of the calling." I've been struggling with the question of how?.. and what? [not in that order] And here's a step in the right direction. Not sure what God has in store for me.. but I pray that I'll learn something about what I'm called to do.. or even what I'm not called to do. Another interesting we did for this retreat was to take what's called a Strengths Quest survey.. a survey that this company came up with after hundreds and hundreds of hours of research etc. We learned about each others' strengths and the fact that it's not good enough just to have these strengths, but we need to develop them.. mine were belief, responsibility, discipline, arranger, and maximizer. I thought it was interesting that I got Belief for number one because no else did out of the 60 or 70 people that were there.. and I took this survey while I was half asleep. I think there were like 34 strengths that they applied to people. It says that belief means that I have certain core values that are enduring.. to be family-oriented, altruistic, even spiritual, and to value responsibility and high ethics - both in yourself and others. Lol.. and maximizer.. Maleeha started calling me Jane, the Maximizer..
We're also supposed to keep a journal for this trip and take a class that reflects on the things we did over the summer next Fall term. It's gonna be so interesting to hear about the experiences of the two girls working at an orphanage in Ethiopia or the girl implementing remediation programs at a prison.. and so many more cool internships. What a cool opportunity we're getting to do this..
I'm trying to rack my brain as to whether I forgot to pack something.. I know I did.. I'm just trying to figure out what. Lol.. my mom keeps telling me to just go there with nothing and buy everything when I get there.. really though? Is that a good idea? And my dad keeps warning me about those crazy Indians.. they all have "ten eyes that are watching your every move".. goodness, I'm gonna be so paranoid when I get there. I've devised a plan if anyone tries to help me move my bags for money.. I've decided to throw a crazy fit and start talking incessantly in English to myself really loudly. And if that doesn't work, I'll cry.. loudly. But I'm sure nothing of that sort will happen, God willing.. I'll be fine.
Ummm.. what else.. Jaisy, Ankita, and Ritika came over today and we tried to bake a cake.. and it was gross. Lol.. something went seriously wrong.. but we had fun making it! Lol.. we'll have fun as roomies next year. Ritika told me to write a long entry.. so this is in part for you Seasons.
Maannn.. I'm bummed out about missing the tournament and VBS.. something I look forward to every summer. But I can't complain.. how many people get the opportunity to go to India like this? Besides, two whole months of monsoon season.. should be pure joy.
I think I'm sleepy now.. I'll write when I get to India.. if I have the means and the time.
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| aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand done. Halfway over.. | | |
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