Creative Ways to Dispose of Chai

You are offered chai (tea with milk and sugar and sometimes spices) at nearly every house you visit in India. The easiest and most logical way to empty your cup is to just drink it...but when you dislike it as much as I do, you search for alternate ways to dispose of this steaming hot drink. Here are some of the ways I discovered:

1) Take small sips and/or pretend you are drinking it and then either switch cups with or pour it into the cup of a VERY kind team member. This was my most common way to drain my cup.

2) Pour it off the side of the porch when the host steps inside or looks away. There are already flies swarming everywhere anyway, so fear of attracting them is lessened. This only works if you happen to be visiting outside.

3) Have a little kid kick it over. This actually happened, and I was elated...until the man of the house thumped the little kid for knocking it over and then proceeded to fill my empty cup with chai from the cup he had been drinking from. I quickly found myself claiming Phil. 4:13... "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."

While I was visiting a house one evening, I was actually the only team member in the house because there wasn't room for everyone to watch the Jesus film. I was served chai and I was so excited because I actually drank the whole cup by myself. It was the tastiest of all I had been served thankfully. Unfortunately Round 2 came out at 10 p.m., so I actually doubled my top "score." Even more unfortunately, I wasn't able to sleep that night because of all the caffeine!

Unfortunately, not all homes strain the tea like the man in the above picture!