...it's here in the smallest bones

Hello again.

It has been just over a week now that I have been in the busy Kolkata and I have a few more stories to share.

I had my birthday here this week which was nice. We had green peas for dinner, and Beth gave me a beautiful book to write in. I starting reading some Rabindranath Tagore writing this week and it is so good. I read some really neat short stories of his and I found a book of some of his poetry. Its really great for me here, there seems to be used book stores on every street.

I spent this whole week working in Mother Theresa's home called Primdon, which is a hospice. Here people are not quite destitute, they still have a bit of time to live. Most of the people at the home are mentally ill or severely disfigured. Our days there usually start with laundry, then making beds. After that we give lots and lots of foot rubs, then we serve lunch.
I realized after working there for a couple days how much more it actually is to be there. I starting to look a little closer and see what happens beyond those basic tasks. What I learned is that all the women need to be moved in order to be fed, or have a massage, or go to bed. That is an ordeal, some of them are pushed in their wheelchairs, some of them just need a human crutch, and some of them do this really neat crab walk thing on the ground. One woman that I found who needed to be changed was so tiny and frail that one of the sisters told me to just throw her over my shoulder. Oh man. As I was carrying her to the toilet she was grumbling and moving a bit and I accidentally hit her pea sized head on the wall. She had a bit of a fit. But after getting her into a fresh nightie and giving her a mushy banana she was just fine.
The day after that I went over to feed someone there lunch and I ended up sitting with one woman who was in the corner. I think she was the most disfigured person that I have every seen. She was so peaceful though, and she enjoyed the meal.
I think I will be at this house for a couple of months, and then I may change to a different home for the final two.

This weekend the girls and I are moving into a lady named Gita's home. She lives in the village so it will be a bit of a commute for us to get in everyday. I think it will be lots of fun though, and everyone says that Gita's mom is the best cook in Kolkata.

I have a few pictures here.


This is a photo from the veranda of the flat. It can be so noisy out there, and it is wedding season right now so there are a ton of flashy parades.


This a picture at the Victoria park. We went there on Valentines day and it was hilarious. We went with a few English speaking Indian women and they were laughing the whole time about all the young couples kissing under the trees. (In India, guys and girls cant even stand in the same section of the train). Nic got his head into the picture.


And this would be myself with my other team mates Karissa and Sandi. We found a place where you can quickly snap a picture without getting into trouble. This is just after getting out of a crazy auto-rickshaw.

The secret for this week is to plan out trips to the toilet. I have developed a strategy because toilets are just holes that you squat in, and yes it is true, the left hand becomes the dirtiest part of your body. The trick though is to make friends with people who own restaurants or hotels that may just also have a sink, a few squares of tp, or a flushing squat.

whoa that was long.
thanks for reading.

love and love