Catching Up...

Wow. Wow. I really suck at keeping this up. It's been over two weeks I believe since my last post and I apologize profusely. Things have been pretty crazy around here and in the midst of it I just didn't feel up to the challenge of blogging...apologies.

Let's start with the most pressing first- my current illness. Some of you may know bits and pieces of what is going on, but here is the full story. For the past week or so, I've been fighting off a pretty nasty cold. A few days ago I noticed that a lymph node on the right side of my neck was massively swollen (approximately the size of a solid rubber ball in my neck). Yesterday, Rajiv took Steven and I (Steven has also been fighting off a nasty cold) to the local hospital to see a doctor.

Reasons I love India: I saw three specialists yesterday for a grand total of...drumroll please) $2.50. Less than I spend on a Subway sandwich. Steven and I jointly began our adventures with the ENT specialist, who told Steven that he had a nasty virus and told me that I had essentially a nasty cold. She prescribed us 5 and 4 medications respectively. I then journeyed onto the eye doctor, who took one look at my bloodshot eyes and told me that I had conjunctivitis which CAN be pink eye. However, I refuse to accept the hypothesis that I have pink eye because I lack the most obvious symptoms (the eyes that crust over while sleeping and are incredibly itchy to bein with).

Our final stop was the dermatologist for a look at my nose which (thanks to the lack of true tissues here...something I will definitely appreciate once home!) has become crusty/almost scabby and definitely not healthy looking. After all of my visits, I had a grand total of 6 different medications prescribed to me which were available and purchased for a grand total of under $15. The lesson learned? Third world countries might make you sick but they sure know how to take care of you!

After coming home, I emailed the incredible Mother for her/our doctor's opinion of the situation (email complete with pictures, never fear!). She said, which I agree with and find much more plausible, that the whole situation actually looks a LOT more like strep, to which I am INCREDBILY prone, or a staff infection (on my nose), both of which can be treated. After speaking with the lovely Dr. Gary Miya and my regular doctor, Dr. Asha Deveroux, we confirmed that the medications I had been given would treat either of these options as well. So, I am hopefully on my way to feeling like myself again :) However, it's a long process and unfortunately, being sick makes you 100x more homesick.

Next up...my current travel plans. I don't want to go into too many details, but an opportunity arose for me (and anyone else if they so wished) to take some time and visit Southern India more extensively than previously planned. However, this meant that we would have to depart our program early (opting out of the Everest trek portion); after much deliberation because it was not a decision easily made, I decided that I would take this option. Alex and Claudia have decided to join me (although Claudia will actually be leaving on Nov. 26th because for her own reasons, she has decided to do the trek with a family friend and her trek begins Nov. 29th) and we are busy planning our trip! It is too soon to give extensive details of our itinerary as we are still roughing it out but as soon as I know, I will update you.

This was a very difficult decision to come to, especially given the kindness that Rajiv and Anu have shown us, but after extensive discussions with Mom and Dad, we decided that this was best for me. I want to truly make the most of my gap year and I think that this will help me. Additionally, for a multitude of reasons, Mom and Dad weren't comfortable with the trek situation/scenario per se and we all agreed that this was for the best J If this explanation does not satiate your desire to know more about what’s going on, shoot me an email and I’ll give you more details.

Since I last blogged, Laura has actually left our program for personal reasons. She has safetly returned to New York and is hopefully taking good care of herself :) We love and miss her!

Over the past week or so at Lepcha Cottage, we have been working with our 3's and 4's on a writing assignment; they were given a list of 15 'new' words and asked to choose 6/7 of them to incorporate into a story they wrote with a partner. It's been quite a learning experience all around I'd say; many of the kids were intimidated by the idea that they should be writing their 'own' story and instead essentially wrote well known fairy or folk tales again. Originally, Alex and I were against this and tried very hard to get them to write their own story or at least an adaptation of the story but eventually, we were forced to give in somewhat as we realized we were fighting a losing battle. The kids finished the majority of the stories yesterday, along with their beautifully designed covers, and they are fantastic! It was a great feeling to see the kids so excited about finishing their stories and about finishing something they'd really thrown themselves into. Pictures of the covers of the stories are to come and will likely be loaded to my Picasa if not Facebook. If you want to see the Picasa, click on the slideshow of pictures that should be next to my blog and it will take you directly to it.

On Wednesday, Claudia, Alex and I went to see the kids' school. While quite a few kids are from Lecha Cottage (especially the younger ones) most of them are just from under privileged families and they live in the Boys' or Girls' Hostel on campus. The school is really nice, with a lot of playgrounds and it seems like a good teaching staff. As they were short on teachers that day, they asked us to fill in a little bit. We spent the morning with our 3’s (most of them were from Lepcha Cottage) essentially just playing games. Then, the vice-principal took us to the Boys’ Hostel for lunch where yet again, Indian hospitality amazed me. They refused to let us eat in the dining hall or on the steps with the boys, and insisted on serving us a far nicer and more complex lunch than the students were eating. After this, we went to the 7^th and then 8^th grade classrooms (Class 6 and 7 here) and talked about ourselves. It was incredibly awkward to be honest and I’m not entirely sure it was productive for either party but it provided us with some good laughs: Claudia and I trying to sing “Colors of the Wind” with our voices cracking, our utter shock and disgust at how well known Justin Bieber is around the world, and desperate attempts to explain where North Carolina (or even California) is within the United States.

Anyways, I think this post is officially getting to be too long and packed with information. I hope you all have amazing days J Feel free to email me at sjlinssen@gmail.com if you ever want to!

ALSO: If you’ve ever wanted to know some more about Lepcha Cottage, or if you’re interested in sponsoring one of the kids (a grand total of $300/year), go to www.sikkimchildren.net.