So much has happened in the short week and a half that we have been here – some planned and some surprises.

One of the women in our group spent last weekend in the hospital because she had had a fever for the whole first week we were here. After the doctor’s initial assessment at the hospital, they immediately diagnosed her with Meningitis. I was pretty angry that they scared us like that because after a CT scan and blood tests, she didn’t have any diseases and they changed their diagnosis to “viral fever,” meaning they didn’t really know what was wrong. The hospital was clean and comfortable (her room had air conditioning!) but it was still very different and frightening. The doctors did not take a medical history and they were treating her with a lot of meds that we did not recognize for symptoms that she wasn’t experiencing. One of us stayed with her each of the three nights she spent there and on the forth day she got to come home. It was a bit of a shock at first to come out into the dirty, hot city after the clean, cool hospital but she is adapting and starting to feel much better!

Yesterday was our friend who works in the shop, Sunil’s, birthday… or at least we think it was. He was having a little bit of trouble communicating this point but eventually we reached the consensus that yesterday was the day! We went out and got a couple of small cakes from a near by bakery and after dinner we surprised Sunil with the cakes, sang happy birthday, and gave him a U of M shirt as a birthday present. It seems that birthdays aren’t as big of a deal here as we make them at home but he really enjoyed the surprise and was so happy! And we’re so happy to be making friends already!

After leaving the bakery I had the very haunting experience of having a child follow me all the way back down the street begging. He followed pretty close behind us and would periodically come up and touch my arm. We have not experienced a lot of this yet because beggars often have more luck with tourists so they are more common in the big cities where they are many more foreigners. Begging is very different in India than in the US where it is usually people who cannot work for whatever reason – drug use, injury, mental illness, etc. In India, it is much more common for people to take on begging as a profession instead of working. It is much easier to get work here or self-employ, but some people find begging to be easier. Most of the children who are begging are put up to it by their parents and giving them money only encourages their parents to keep them out of school to continue the practice. This is definitely something that is going to be hard for me to get used to.

 Another thing that has been hard for us is the realization that we will never be able to totally fit in (or even fake it) here. We have been having clothing made and we are starting to pick up a little bit of the language but that doesn’t stop people from starring at us in the street or ripping us off at the shops. I can’t blame them though – I even have the urge to stare at foreigners whenever we see them, wondering where they are from and what they are doing here! We will keep trying to integrate into the society but mostly I am just concentrating on absorbing the culture and customs and becoming a part of it that way.

It has also been interesting to see what things I really miss when I am without most things that I am used to. While I would love a milkshake and French-fries or a warm shower these are definitely things I can live without. I have already started to realize that the only aspect of my life at home that I truly cannot live without are the people that I am close to, and along with that, who really is important. This makes my family happy, knowing that I could never move away too far forever… So stay in touch! If you’re reading this that probably means I am missing you!

Trying to entertain Amy at the hospital by wrapping their scarves
like the Indian women do, but instead looking like ninjas.

Happy Birthday Sunil!

The boys got frosting everywhere of course

Madee and I in our Indian clothing
strait from the tailor!