Purple potatoes and lots of tea

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01-03-JAN-2008

On New Year's Day I first woke up at exactly the time corresponing to midnight at home- I must have subconsciously realized what I was missing. Because everyone at reception knows me by now, I was granted the permission to sleep well past check out time to when I felt comfortable enough to function.

I head to my new host family for absolutely AMAZING daal bhaat- no lie. They asked me my preference on spiciness and the baa (father) even brought home pizza for the New Year, making me eat a couple slices. PIZZA! The baa is eager to advance his English, and has offered to have their 10yr old daughter teach me more Nepali. He also offers to treat me to beer the following night, but I try to let him down softly as we're not 'supposed' to drink on assignment. But such a sweet gesture! They don't treat me like I'm a guest at their hotel as my previous family had, rather a part of their family. They are perfect- I couldn't ask for a better situation.

The first evening, I am introduced to the cutest puppy I have ever seen in a cardboard box in the shed. However, I am convinced that I see rats scurry down the side of the structure when we were attempting to open the door. (Shudder.) The remainder of the evening, we watch the most cheesy Hindi soaps you could ever imagine. So hilariously awful.

The first night I am absolutely freezing so I cinch my sleeping bag around my face but it ends up caught around my neck, partially strangling me. I also unknowingly loose the blanket they'd provided me. I wake up to discover two of my windows wide open, so no wonder. I hunker down in my bag until I am greeted with milk tea and a biscuit at my door, as will be the custom every morning from here on out. I move very very slowly because even electronics do in the cold. I am treated to tasty tasty daal bhaat once again- I simply can't get enough of these people.

I give a bit of an overview/introduction of the health program to the new volunteers back at the office. I guess I'm a bit of a veteran now... these people might actually look up to me, which is weird. After a bit of last minute shopping with Kieran before he heads back to NZ, we say our goodbyes; another one leaving me. There has been entirely too many goodbyes on this trip already. Even though it doesn't affect me at the time, I think there may be some kind of cumulative effect to it. Part of me wants to distance myself from everyone so I don't have to do it anymore. But I tell that part of me to be realistic.

There is a huge disadvantage to heading home between 5 and 630. It is nearly impossible to get a ride home on the bus. So it's either shove your way through and hang out the door the whole way home, or splurge on a taxi. And I like adventure. So a few times on my way home, I hang out of the microbus with my feet in the wheelwell, one arm inside, and the rest of my body outside. Everyone else is doing it too, and it's a huge rush. And it is probably less dangerous than throwing yourself down a mountain with long narrow strips of polymer, wood, and metal strapped to your feet.

I find that I've been having to go to the bathroom a lot recently, so I convice myself that I have diabetes insipidus. I do a bit of research in my trusty Merck manual only to conclude a few days later that it's due to all of the tea I've been drinking. I am just not accustomed to all this hospitality!

I experience a daal bhaat with purple potatoes and I am not sure what to make of them. They are certainly not as tasty as regular potatoes, but still much better than everything I'd eaten at my old home. I can't help but wonder why they are purple. The cauliflower and potato daal bhaat just may be my favorite.

I ask how they make this tasty tea they've been providing me- it consists of adding a bit of water, a cup of milk, 1 tsp sugar, and tea from the green and yellow box to a saucepan and bringing to a boil. I must make this at home. My old host family treats me to tea the first time they notice me walking by- very surprised by this!

After distributing toothbrushes to the kids and getting irritated that they're picky about the colors, I treat massive amounts of skin infections. You just can't get away from them. The managers at the home have scheduled a dental camp and am very impressed with them being proactive. This consists of large, illustrative posters, teeth models for brushing demos, and thorough teeth cleanings for all 53 children... all set up in the middle of a large field under the 70-75deg sun. Unfortunately, it seems that most of the kids have also learned how to deflect the sun into my face with mirrors.

Because one of the children at the homes has been diagnosed and hospitalized with meningitis, I had been assigned to do a bit of research on the associated vaccines in order to evaluate if we should incorporate it into our program. After gathering the pertinent information, I present what I came up with back at the office. If we find that the vaccines are not ridiculously expensive, it seems as if we're going to go this route simply due to the high mortality rate associated with the disease. We'd be looking to get the effort underway in mid-February.

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Photos

Dental camp
Pawan may be cute, but he likes to shine the sunlight into my eyes