Not for the Weak Stomached

Today I slept all day. This is not because I voluntarily wanted to but because I’ve encountered my first—and hopefully last—illness while here in India. You always hear of horror stories about people encountering some rare or odd illness while overseas, but never entertain the thought of it happening to you. Well yesterday before dinner I began to feel a bit funny, as though my insides were doing summersaults and about to purge from my mouth at any moment. Thankfully, Pa-La was feeling ill too and refused to eat, so I just followed his lead and excused myself to bed early. All night I danced between either having the shakes where I needed two heavy wool blankets or being extremely hot and stripping down to my birthday suit. My body was extremely sensitive to touch and I had to lie down in order to keep the room from spinning. On top of all this when I would sit up I felt as though I was about to simultaneously vomit and have a strong case of diaherra. At this point I was cursing life, Dharamsala, and foreign food. I woke up this morning and felt the same. However, now it is 4:22pm and I can somewhat sit up without the world spinning. I also refused to eat lunch and Tenzin-Dolma appeared to be in shock…her face was priceless. Pa-La was so concerned about me that he walked 2 hours to the nearest hospital and bought me some questionable medicine that had high doses of caffeine in it. I took it without hesitation and now feel AMAZZING.

I also want to note about my experiences yesterday before the illness. Tenzin-Dolma’s two older daughters came home from school yesterday and they’ve added so much love to this house. I also had the opportunity to experience a traditional pilgrimage to a grain mill 2 kilometers away. Grain (also known as “supa”) is a staple in the Tibetan diet and requires a 12 hour process of picking, grinding, and cleaning. I volunteered to help but Tenzin-Dolma insisted that I stay at the house because, “Americans aren’t use to hard labor like this”. Just in spite of that comment I grabbed a make-shift backpack Pa-La had created out of rope, 10 kilos of supa, and ran up the mountain with a HUGE smile on my face. I think Tenzin-Dolma has a new found respect for me.

We were also chased by a hungry monkey. Solution? Throw rocks at its head.

Gina has been keeping me company while I’m lying in bed. We even played dress and she wore my BRICK RED lipstick :) Ahh…I just want to pack her in my suitcase when I leave.