Feeling Healthy

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So the past couple of days have not been so good. It seems like right after I wrote my last entry I became sick with stomach aches, bowl movements, a sore throat and a runny nose. I also felt extremely fatigued and weak, so I slept a lot. I missed 3 days of volunteer work, and basically slept all of these days and didn't do much else. I couldn't eat much either, and every time we went out to eat, I began to feel sick to my stomach and extremely hot, and usually had to leave Cami at the diner by herself while I went back to our room to lie down. All the friends we had made while we here here suddenly seemed less interesting, and all I wanted to do was be in my room and sleep. Every time I went out to eat, I made sure to drink at least 2 glasses of orange juice to try and get some vitamin C in my system since I didn't really get any of that in my current diet. I now feel better though, I actually want to talk to people again, and have been going to volunteer the past 2 days and felt fine. Yesterday wasn't anything too special, we actually slept in so late that we had to get ourselves to Kalighat by riding the subway there. We did the laundry as always, I massaged a few pairs of legs, and then served lunch and left. We did meet while we were there a kid named Trevor who was from Seattle and had been there for 2 weeks, although this was his second day at Kalighat. I talked with him a lot while we worked, and kept getting confronted by some workaholic Australian, telling us to get back to work. Trevor was 28 and had just got back from a 10 months bike trip around South America, which he really liked to talk about, so it must have been a good time. Yesterday was his last day here, and so we decided to go out to eat and get some authentic Indian food, and then go to a pub afterwards. Dinner was very fun, despite the fact that somehow some kid named Ethan managed to find his way to the table we were sitting at. Ethan was no doubt in my mind, gay, and seemed really stand-offish with Trevor and I, trying to start arguments with us every chance he got. He seemed really buddy buddy with Cami, and Cami of course thrives on attention, so she ate it up. I'm pretty sure he was trying to flirt with me and Ethan in this stupid way, and overall really annoyed me. After this we went to the pub and drank some beers until we were kicked out, luckily I was on the other side of the table from Ethan. I sat with Trevor and two French girls that we had met, and we talked throughout the night until we went back to our room and went to bed.

Today we woke up and rushed to get to the mother house, as the beer I had the night before made me really sleepy and actually made me feel a sort of hang-over. We made it, however, and arrived at kalighat shortly after to begin the laundry. Laundry was extremely crowded because there was a lot of volunteers today, and made the room extremely hot, I felt like I may have fainted. Afterwards though, we went out to spend time with the men, and about ten minutes into it I came across a man sitting on his bed, trying to take his pants off. I came over and tried to motion the question, "what are you doing," and he told me he wanted me to help him take his pants off. My first inclination was he just wanted a fresh pair of pants to start off the new day with, but once again, my idea was shot down by the sight of shit... So I took off the mans pants, wadded them up, and as I was going to find a new pair of pants I told the "new guy" from New Zealand to take him to the bathroom so the man could wash up. When I found a new pair of pants, I went to the bathroom to put them on the man, only to find no-one in the bathroom. I walked back to the bed where the man had shit, and there he was lying on the bed. It seems our little friend from New Zealand saw shit and took off almost immediately, completely disregarding what I told him. I then asked an older Irish man of seventy to help me, and he found a rag, wiped his ass, and then helped me put the new pants on the man. We then wiped off the bed, and from then on out, me and the elderly Irish man were friends! After talking with the Irish man for a little while, the Irish man asked me if I wanted to go get a cup of Chai with him, and so I said yes. We took our robes off, and left the building to go get some Chai, 30 minutes before we were supposed to have break. It turns out that this Irish man has been doing volunteer work for around 6 years. He comes to India once a year, for around a month, and does volunteer work. We talked till around 10:30 over 2 cups of Chai each, and when we returned, we proceeded with the rest of the group for the real break that started at 10:30-- Oh the leisurely life of an elderly man. After break, I actually did some worked and helped out by washing dishes and hanging rags on the roof. After that, we were finished and headed back to our hotel. We'll probably go to Oxford book store today (the one book store that actually reminds me of American book stores), and read for a couple of hours after we are finished here, as this seems to be a reoccurring trend. I'm currently reading the 5th Harry Potter, and just being here has really helped me to appreciate the power reading has in bringing you to another place. I may be in a smelly place overflowing with people, but for 2 hours a day I'm at Hogwart's fighting evil wizards.

Anyways, not too much has happened due to me being sick, so that is all I have for now, but I'm sure I'll come back at least one more time before I head to Viranassi.

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