EricRowell.net

Blogging is something I enjoy, and I've decided to take up it notch. I just started EricRowell.net , and so I'll be retiring this blog. It's been good to me, but I want something with a little more freedom for customization.Plus having my own domain name is pretty cool.

I'll be leaving this blog up for a while (at least until I get back to the good ol' USA), but go ahead and subscribe to my new blog to stay up to date with everything that's going on.

Thanks for reading,

-एरिक

Check out the first post on my new blog.

Cooking Kimchi in India?

This post has moved! Check it out at EricRowell.net!

김치 

Mustache March?

To read about my decision to participate in Mustache March head over to EricRowell.net!

Halloween 1992

Septemberish 2007

Halloween 2008

-एरिक 

Fast and Slow

This past week my friends and I got to play tour guide to a few guys from the good ol’ USA. They were wide eyed and fresh off the plane when they arrived, and we kept them running their whole week in India. We took them to the Ganga River (Ganges), through busy bazaars, to Hindu and Buddhist temples, to the Himalayas, treated them to great Indian food, and let them experience about a million different things in just a few short days. They got their money’s worth out of this trip.

At the end of the week we were hanging out and talking about what they had learned over the course of their time here.  One of the comments the guys said something that really struck me. I don’t know that it was really “new to me,” but when he said it I thought yep, that’s exactly right. We were talking about the differences in people here and in the US when he said something to the extent of, “things here are really busy, but the people aren’t. The traffic is crazy and everything is overwhelming, but when you stop and talk to someone they make time for you. They want to get to know you and build a relationship. They ask you to sit down for tea and want to learn about you. Starting conversations is easy. It’s pretty much the opposite in America. Things don’t seem as busy outwardly, but people are always in a hurry. Starting a conversation with a strange is nearly impossible.” So true.

It’s things like this that get me thinking about what I’ll be like when I get back to the States. In almost exactly 5 months I’ll be home. I know that in a lot of ways I’m a different person than when I came here a year and a half ago. There are some things from this culture I hope to take home with me, too. The emphasis on family and relationships is one of those. I don’t want to catch myself being “too busy” to invest in the lives of those around me. Whether at school, at my job (whatever that ends up being), in my house, or on the street I need to live intentionally to build relationships with the people He puts near me. I need to remember to always slow down my seemingly fast life and reprioritize things. Relationships come first.

-एरिक

Jesus the Evangelist

Go to EricRowell.net to read my review of Jesus the Evangelist by Richard Phillips

Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Ranthambore National Park

To read about my family's trip through Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, and Ranthambore go to my new website, EricRowell.net

As close as we got to seeing a tiger

Justified By Faith Alone

To read my review of R.C. Sproul's Justified By Faith Alone visit it at EricRowell.net by clicking here

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Sun Stand Still

To read my review of Steven Furtick's Sun Stand Still click here to visit my new website at EricRowell.net

I'm Getting Married!

To read how Ashley and I went from strangers to engaged click here to visit EricRowell.net

2011 Book Challenge

In a follow up to my last blog post (the one about books I read in 2010), I’d like to write about books I plan to read in 2011.

I don’t have a list of specific books, but I am going to present myself with a challenge. I took this idea from a friend, Tessa, who is going to read 52 books in the next 52 weeks.  I read 36 last year (if my math is right), and I’m up for a challenge this year.

To keep track of my progress I’m using goodreads It’s a virtual bookshelf that lets you keep track of the books you’ve read, are currently reading, and want to read. You can create custom bookshelves, and they have a 2011 book reading challenge. I’ve gone in and set my goal to 52. You can follow my reading progress by clicking here, and if you’re a member of the site be sure to add me as a friend.

What’s your reading goal for 2011?

How many books do you want to read?

Are there any specific books you really want to knock out this year?

-एरिक 

A Year in Books

Check out my reading list from 2010 at EricRowell.net

-एरिक 

Chasing Snow

It doesn't snow in my city. We're at about 2100 ft elevation, and although the low temperature will occasionally dip just below the freezing mark the most we get is really cold rain. Just above us, however, are the foothills of the Himalayas. During the summer it's easy to become accustomed to their size and think they're not that big, (they're over 8000 ft) but when they get a little snow on them they begin to resemble their gigantic brothers and sisters that are just a little farther north. It snowed up in the mountains New Year's Eve, and this is the view I was given from my balcony:

We had some friends over for lunch on New Years Day and they decided it would be a good idea if we went up into the mountains to play in the snow. We called Prem to take us up there, we all ate lunch, and then headed out.

It was a long way. Usually it takes about 2 hours to get there, but because everyone else in Northern India had the same idea the roads were packed! It ended up taking over 3 hours to get there. The guys in the backseat took advantage of the time by napping.

On the way we got a great view of the big Himalayas. They're the ones that are covered with snow year round. It's still about an 8 or 9 hour drive get there from where I took this picture:

 

When we finally made it up to where the snow was it was crowded.

 

 

Really, really crowded.

 

And the crowd stretched on wrapping all the way around the mountain.

 

We got out of the car to explore right as the sun was beginning to go down  behind the mountains, and the snow was deceivingly sparse

 

We got out to explore and find some snow of our own:

And eventually we did.

 

There may not have been a lot of snow, but we were blessed with a really pretty sunset.

 

We made it back to the taxi after dark, and we headed home. On the way we stopped in a village that didn't have electricity to get chai (hot, sweet milkly tea) and the Indian equivalent of ramen noodles.

I've never seen as many stars as I saw last night in that little mountain village. With no lights at to hide them the stars were absolutely uncountable. We couldn't even find any constellations because there were too many other stars that are usually hidden. It was beautiful.

We went looking for snow and found some, but we were also surprised by a few more of nature's gifts.

-एरिक 

looking back on 2010

2010 didn’t turn out the way I planned. If you had asked me on Dec 31, 2009 to write out 2010 for you the story would have been pretty different from the one that played out. Not that different is a bad thing. It still amazes me how God can take my plans, shake them around and make them something new. Something better. And so today I give you my unexpected blessings of 2010:

•  I started the year of celebrating my first Holidays overseas with friends in the mountains a few hours from here. What a gift it was to spend that first season with a group of people who have become my family away from home.

•  January and part of February were spent in full-time language class. It was a challenge, but it has paid off so much this year. I’ve also been blessed with some great friendships with several of the married couples who study or have studied there this year.
• I made a lot of new friends as I began to explore this city and meet lots and lots of college students. It’s funny how we can be so much the same and so different at the same time.
• THE Josh Zylks came to visit in April and May. What a blessing to have a friend from my “old world” come experience a part of my new one.
•  I went trekking in the Himalayas and hiked to the top of the Ganges River’s glacier. Who gets to do that?!?!
• I experienced a real life monsoon for the first time… and lasted 2 ½ months! Okay, so this one was unexpected (it was the worst monsoon in 40 years), but I don’t know that I’d call it a blessing.
• EasyDay, the Indian Walmart opened up just down the road from my house.
• We got a KFC and a Subway.
•  I spent almost 2 months in Thailand. Who would have thought that’d happen?
• I got to meet up with old friends and make new ones. It amazes how living overseas can be such a connecting bond.
• I held a white tiger (and I have a picture to prove it).
• I went “flying” through the rain forest on a zip line.

Talk about an improvement over my plans. I think it’s easy for me to get discouraged sometimes when things don’t go the way I think they should, but if they had I wouldn’t have experienced a lot of things on this list.

I’ve got big plans for 2011, but I’m willing to bet that God shows me one more time that my plans are little compared to what He has in store.

- एरिक