Honeymoon Phase Officially Over

Sept. 13

As I sit here alone in my albeit much more nicely furnished (Joy and Frank gave me their extra towels, bowels, pillows, etc.) room, I have come upon a harsh reality- Honeymoon phase of my Bangalore experience is officially over.  After about 40 hours of nausea (with some vomiting and diarrhea strewn in), I am now almost fully recovered from my first Bangalorean stomach bug.  Not too bad—but definitely not pleasant when you are simultaneously trying to do work, say good-bye to new friends, and ward off 100+ nagging children who want to turn on the light on my watch or take my dangling earrings for themselves. Anyways, I’m glad its over.  But, I’m sad to say that my Sneha Care Home comrades, Joy, Frank, and Imrun, all departed yesterday.  It was an absolute joy (no pun intended!) listening to their various adventures, commiserating about X,Y, and Z Sneha experience, and passing the time with good Australian wine or hot chocolate!  I will miss them all dearly but wish them all the best of luck in their future endeavors.

As for me, things are picking up in a good and exciting way.  I had to reschedule my meeting with Supna, the St. John’s nutritionist, but we will be meeting next week to discuss revamping the current nutrition program at Sneha Care Home.  I also spent a good chunk of the last few days meeting with Sr. Jaisy, the sister in charge of the Kolar Outreach Program.  We developed intervention strategies for 47 children living with HIV/AIDS in the Kolar community.  We prioritized their needs (nutrition, health, education, government support, etc.) on a color scale (red- most urgent; green- minimal follow-up required) and Sr. Jaisy will be following up with everything we discussed.  We will also be conducting a medical and education Camp for two days at the end of October for children and their families living with HIV/AIDS in Kolar.  Usually the camps are held at Sneha Care Home so it will be interesting to see how this turns out keeping it within the community!  I have also been in contact with Dr. Chitra, the doctor at St. John's on sabbatical for the year, who would potentially like my help with infant feeding and malnutrition research at her Tally Village community clinic.  Fingers crossed something works out there because that would be fascinating work!

As for this weekend...

Frisbee was cancelled this morning due to the combination of striking bus drivers and pouring rains last night (I didn't even notice).  Unfortunately I was halfway to the fields (paid 100 Rs for an autorickshaw to Outer Ring road) when I found out it was cancelled.  As I said, honeymoon phase officially over...

BUT!  Games at Loyola grounds tomorrow will be excellent and we have Prasanna's concert at UB city tomorrow evening-- cannot wait!

Glowing Star Transition Program.  In pairs, one student was blind-folded and the other had to explain how to their partner how draw a picture using only English words.  Quite frustrating but a good activity!!

One of four cakes we got for the kids and staff for Joy, Frank, and Imrun's departure!  I don't think I will be eating that again any time soon...

Sunil with his shnazy new running shoes at Decathlon.  The older kids in atheletics/running got to pick out shoes and were quite excited.

Strutten' their stuff at Decathlon.