Where am I? Still in monsoon city, Ponnekara, Kerala, India. I just looked at my passport in my metal cabinet and the cover had started getting mold on it!
How am I? I’m good. Working on a project that needs to be done by next week, writing a submission for the Nursing Department for a Healthcare Innovation Award. The committee is accepting submissions until the end of July for the award that will be handed out at a conference in New Delhi in October. I really think they deserve it. The Innovation was offering Continuing Education for the nurses. It is not required here in India but back in 2002-3 the Head of the Nursing Department was a U.S. trained nurse and she introduced the idea of classes for the nurses. Now the hospital has the same requirement as the US nurses of 30 credits of Continued Education every two years. All of the education is In-House since it’s not offered elsewhere, unless the nurse does formal education, not continued education.
So
What’s new? I have to leave India again by August 15th so I’m going to Sri Lanka this time. I found air for around $175 round trip leaving on August 12th and returning on August 21st.. The only thing is I’m not sure if I allowed enough time for the visa because I didn’t notice that there’s a holiday while I’m there, Indian Independence Day, August 15th. I’m going to check with Sri Lankan Airlines to see if I can change the date and how much it would cost me?
I found a Buddhist Ashram that looks like a nice place to stay in Kandy, Sri Lanka. I have already written to them to say I would like to stay there. I’m waiting to hear back from them.
I don’t think I can upload any photos, but I will try and if it works, fine, if not, as a typical New Yorker would say - forgetaboutit!
Yep, just tried it and it won't load. Sorry.
However, in place of photos I have been thinking of a few things I would like to share with you.
• July 22nd was a full moon and you are familiar with how we name the full moons- Harvest Moon, Blue Moon, etc. Here in India every moon also has a name. This last one is Teacher Moon or Guru Purnima. It is when The Teacher, or Guru, is honored. Now I know you heard of “Gurus” but here at the University all the Teachers are honored as Gurus. I attended their event and I was touched. All the heads of the different schools, The Medical College, the Nursing School, the Dental School, the School of Pharmacy, the Business School, etc. (in case I forgot to mention one) attended this morning gathering where a representative from each college garlanded (put a string of flowers like a Hawaiian Lei) around the neck of the Head of their school. Then they also honored Mothers because they consider Mothers are the First Teacher or Guru. So there were several Mothers invited on the stage and they were garlanded by their child, and then they did a Pada Puja to them, a ritual when you wash their feet. (Does it sound familiar to what Jesus did on Holy Thursday?) And the finale was all the students who attended this got to come up to their “principal” for lack of another name, and the Head of the school gave them an edible treat, what they call “Prasad”. Indians love sweets so it was a Ladu, a ball of a very sweet pastry. I wish Western students respected their teachers (and mothers) like this.
• That was the good, now here’s something I want to share that really shocked me. When I was in New Delhi I was at the train station. It is a huge train station with at least 16 train tracks but where I was standing there were as many as 6 in a row, 2 or 3 then the platform and another 2 or 3 and a platform. There are people, and dogs all over the place. I watched as this little child walked along the track (which in itself was attention getting to me, why was this child walking on the tracks of a Train Station?) and he found a piece of bread, like a tortilla (actually called a Chapatti) and he picked it up off the train tracks and folded it up and started eating it! Who knows where it came from, whether it was dirty or not but at least it was something he could eat and he got it before the dogs found it. If you need to be thankful for something, be grateful that you have food to eat.
• And with that in mind I have an electric kettle in my room. It’s “my kitchen”. I can make tea, coffee, instant soup, porridge, whatever. So I keep the ingredients needed for all these things in my room on a table. I am constantly battling the ants for supremacy of my room and keep all my foodstuffs in plastic containers. Two days ago I saw that the ants invaded my jar of sugar. These ants are the size of my comma , like that. In fact a grain of sugar is bigger than the ant. There aren’t a whole lot of them, and I thought how can I separate the ants from the sugar? I thought about throwing out the sugar and after I gave it some thought, I said The Hell with it and I’m using the sugar anyway. I figure the boiling water kills them and disinfects them as the same time. I don’t even see them in my coffee or tea, they seem to disappear. Now the funny part is I told the receptionist in my office today and she told me that in India, they think eating ants is good for your health. I can’t tell you WHY it’s good for your health, but that’s what she told me. So I’m doing something good for my health by using up the sugar. Are you laughing?
• Lastly I have been thinking about “Work” lately since it’s been a full year now that I am retired. I’ve been thinking about the people I used to work with and wondering how they are doing? I heard there were a lot of changes after I left and I really am happy I wasn’t a part of them but I wish all of you the best. If anyone wants to write me, I’d love to hear individually how you are all doing.
That’s all I got to tell you this time. Thanks for listening.
Love you,
Marie
