And I got a little behind on blogging....

Oops!
Well I am really loving shadowing at the hospital although Indians are very blunt as a rule and when I asked Shibu to translate what a lady we work with was saying about me he informed me that she says I will be hard to marry off because I am tall and big. So that's...awkward. But I laughed anyhow!

Sunday I did not shadow because Shibu's grandfather is ill with cancer and he had to go see him so myself and two girls I met in Goa who are staying in the same hotel as me (I recommended it to them when in Goa not thinking that I would be living there also) went on a cruise in the backwaters of Kerala. It was so gorgeous! a big wooden boat just floating for 7 hours in the sun with the palm trees all around and we stopped to see how to make.... calcium hydroxide? maybe...something out of shells with a chemical process that made me think of my dear friend Matt Smola although I meant to remember the process and promptly forget even the name of the substance. We also saw how to make rope out of coconut fiber and ate a delicious Keralan lunch served on a banana leaf and eaten with your hand. Only your right hand is used to eat food and I am getting much better at the technique. It is kind of complicated and Shibu laughed at me for most of lunch while I tried to oush rice in with my thumb without touching my mouth with my fingers and usually spilling rice down my front. But now I look like a pro!

Then Monday was a boring day because of HARTHAL. Always all caps. I dunno why. It was an India-wide strike because of the increase in petrol prices and all but 2 restaurants were closed and most shops so we ( Laura, Beca, and I) wandered a bit, ate, and bought pastries to eat for dinner later. We also read a lot, watched TV, and let Beca, an illustration major, draw on us with henna. Which by the way looks awesome and proves that a girls night in is a concept that spans continents.

Today we awoke at 5:30 to get in a rickshaw at 6am. Ew right? Butttttt!
I got to touch an elephant!!!! We went to the Kononadu elephant training camp and walked to the river to watch and help bathe the elephants. So much less structured than here, I got to cuddle on the 7 year old named Asa as long as I wanted and was smitten by her ever moving trunk and her sweet eyes which were eye level with mine at her age. The little 4 year old, Alesha was also gorgeous and when I ran my hand down her trunk, the tip reached out and curled around my finger and I think my heart stopped beating. The two adults were absolutely massive and made me nervous, excited, and amazed all at the same time. They feel nothing like you would expect, both stiff and rubbery and the bristles on their heads and body feel like toothbrush bristles against your hands.

It was interesting to note how the younger two were treated as opposed to the older 2. The younger ones were constantly being talked at and smacked with sticks, and when I say smacked you must understand that the hardest I could hit would have barely phased the elephants, because they must not be allowed to get away with any misbehavior. If a young elephant wanders about and plucks at your hair it is cute, if it does it when as tall as a house, it may squash 6 people on the way. It was a bit like watchin a mother bathe a two year old. I imagined the conversations went like this although I could not understand the language of the Mahuts.
"Lift your leg I have to wash them"
elephant tries to sit
"no no your leg!'
"now behind your ears"
elephant rolls over
"oh come on seriously behave yourself and it's filthy back here what did you roll in?"

It was marvelous and I am so glad I went! Then we went on an elephant ride, very short but the feeling of sitting on an elephant bareback, even with 2 other people, and feeling the warmth of their skin radiating onto your legs and their muscles barely registering the extra weight, it is simply addictive. I cannot wait to schedule a trek into the wildlife preserve on elephant back, the forestry department elephants are trained at the training center we went to and now I know that whatever the price may be it's worth it for this kind of experience.

Then we went shopping and Beca and I bought a silk patchwork quilt which cost 4000 at the start and we argued down to 1050 for each. It's king sized and gorgeous and cost about $20. Hell yes! Even though the haggling does leave you quite exhausted I tell ya!

Oh and my laptop cord got fixed for free, all I had to pay for was the plug for 6 rupees (12 cents) and I gave the guy 10 rupees because he was so nice. Now I must go eat cuz I'm starving and the girls leave tomorrow :-( But I will make more friends soon I'm sure and I will be at the hospital again tomorrow woohoo!!!!