Antibiotics and Rocks Shaped like Two Dogs Kissing
I was told I have to blog.
I don’t have much to say.
I am finally over a rather literally gut wrenching illness which handicapped me from the ending of Domkhar until just today.
Unfortunately, for the final three days of home stays, I was bedridden and unable to eat much, but that does not taint the experience I had there at all.
Going into the experience, I was really nervous, and terribly anxious, and at times wanting to run to an airport and fly home, but of course… who would want to cop out. So, as shy and uncomfortable and awkward as I was, I managed to sit at meal times with a family of five. On the first night, I was sitting against the wall, drinking copious amounts of butter tea, and shrinking quickly into a fit of panic and fear, unsure if I was going to be able to deal with this new experience I had been thrust into. My mother, who was busy making dinner, turned to me right at the peak of an intense wave of anxiety, bordering slightly on an acute panic attack, and her face grew very concerned. She must have noticed my problem, because she frowned, stepped closer to me, and asked “Toilet?”. Yes, most definitely, toilet. At that moment, we acquired a bond that continued to grow through the course of my stay at their home. Her name was Angmo, and I was actually really sad when it was time to go. One night, I taught her how to play Go Fish. Now, to all American folk, I know that Go Fish is probably the easiest of all card games to learn how to play. However, due to language barriers and differences in culture that result in having no idea how to play any card games in the first place, teaching someone to play this was really hard. After about 20 minutes of explaining and re-explaining, she finally understood, and proceeded to thoroughly kick my butt. She is an incredible woman and I will never forget her. She told me that when I get home in December I have to call her, so that she could make sure I made it home safely.
My father, I am not sure of his name, he was very quiet and serious, and hardly made eye contact with me. I thought he could not speak a word of English due to the fact that we never spoke, but after a long, hot day of harvesting “cow’s grass” (hay) side by side in complete silence, we both stood up and he looked me straight in the eyes and said, in perfect English, “Thank you”, and then smiled. Epic.
My grandmother did not speak a word of English, and loved to shout fluent, quick sentences to me in Ladakhi which I could not understand at all, but we developed a mutual understanding and bond over the baby which lived in the household. He was a year old, and me and the grandmother would laugh together every time he did something ridiculous, like threw something across the room that beforehand he was so desperate to have in his possession, etcetc.
The baby and I also had a very interesting relationship. When his mother or grandmother were around, he would cry and moan and desperately do everything he could for their attention, but once they got fed up in not knowing how to satisfy him and left the room, he would slowly turn his head to me and start laughing. Awesome.
And then there was Angmo’s sister. Her name was Stenzin, and she was 19, and soon going to be off to college to study art. She was very quiet and shy, like almost all Ladakhi girls, but we developed a sisterly bond. She is my age, but she is one of the most incredible 19 year olds I have ever met. She cooked most of the meals, she harvested most of the crops, she took care of the baby most of the time, she took care of other family’s babies, she washed most of the clothes, she did almost everything around the house AND went to school every day. Wow.
So, I don’t know what else to say. I grew to love the children at Domkhar High School, and I really enjoyed my time with them playing games and singing songs. They are very sweet kids, like all of the kids I have met thus far here in India. I have a new, relearned love and appreciation for children, which is cool.
But other than that, I am not sure how I feel. I feel good I’m sure of that, but not as explosive with emotion as I did in the beginning of the trip. However, we leave on trek tomorrow, and I know that that will most definitely ignite some very serious whatevers and whatnots inside me. But who knows. I sure don’t. All I know is that I am here, in India, at a school called SECMOL which I am really loving and don’t want to leave just yet, with a bunch of people I am really growing to love a lot.
So much love, I guess.
So, yea, I think of all of you back at home often. You are constantly in my conversations and thoughts and most definitely in my dreams, which have been crazy might I add. And I love you all so much, so so so much. And I will see you soon And feel free to use the comment option to blog about your lives, I really want to know how all of you are doing. And I want to hear from all of you. So, seriously, comment, don’t just read.
Ok, it’s lunch time, and they made chow mein. Which is fantastic.
Ok, So, Love ya.
Peace out,
Mirise.
Ps, I guess the second line of this post was a lie, I did have much to say.