In which Alison arrives in India and steals a naming convention from Ruth

I'm sorry it took me so long to finally arrive at an intenet cafe, guys, but I want you all to know that I got here just fine, am alive, and (so far) am unstricken by any disease.

I spent 24 hours in airplanes and airports, which was only horrible for the middle 6 hours. The first flight was made up for by flying over London at night, which was one of the the most amazing views I've ever seen. The second flight was not as fun, especially since it ended in Bahrain airport during Ramadan and I was parched. I ended up chugging water in the ladies room and then wandering around surrounded by men in robes until I found my gate, where everyone was Indian and everyone was eating an drinking in a "WHAT fast?" sort of way, which was very encouraging.

I was the only woman alone on my flight to India, but there were also only about 40 people on our huge plane, which meant that I spread out on the four middle seats and slept for the whole flight. I only woke up when they brought the food around, and since I'd eaten about three breakfasts in 8 hours I said no. This caused an exchange between the flight attendents (sitting behind me) "Is anyone fasting, cause I have to feed them when the sun goes down" "Um...maybe? That one girl?" "The one who's sleeping?" "Yeah" "...I dont...think so?" They came over and asked me eventually, but it was pretty funny.

We flew over the ocean, so I didn't get to see India until I landed. Most of what I saw was beach, with some trees. As we got closer to the airport, I saw neightberhoods with corregated tin roofs, pushing almost up to the edge of the runway. Then we disembarked and I delt with my least favorite part of all international trips "What is your address in India"?

I think that this question should be disallowed, kind of like the airline security questions. If your traveling through the country, you're not going to be there more than one night anyway and the rest of us just lie. I honestly picked a hotel at random out of the guidebook. But not before I tried to explain the situation to the customs officer and drew a crowd of five, VERY nice, customs workers. They were probably just bored (I was the last person to go through), but it was a little intimidating. Not as intimidating as Israel, where the lady with the Uzi stared at me while I desperately tried to remember Emily's real name (and only came up with Rabbi Emily) but still offputting. I then got my luggage, changed some money, and had a moment of panic when I was convinced that no one had come for me (they had, I just had to turn the corner). They had a sign with my name on it any everything!

Austin, (the guy who met me), introduced himself, bought me some water, and we took off for a five hour drive to the office. I wasn't tired at all, and I loved being able to stick my head out the window and actually see. We drove through Trivandrum, past all those neigberhoods I had flown over. My plane arrived at 630, so it was dark and people were sitting at home or on the porches eating dinner. The busier streets were full of shoppers and bicyclists and drivers. They have the comlicated langage of honking here-it doesn't just mean I"m mad at you. They don't seem to have many traffic rules, so you can imagine what the drive was like. We stopped for dinner in a roadside place, where I again faced that old enemy, the Turk. The food was good, nothing that I've had before (rice flour pancakes with curry sauce) but it tasted really good at the time.

We got to the office around 2am, where I fell into bed. So I spent about half the night in a horrible dehydrated/jetlagged/sweaty haze, and then got up and turned on the lights and saw the fan. I love fans.

The next day we had breakfast (the last Western breakfast I expect to have in a while) and took the ride to the hospital. Another volunteer Lucy, who is working at an orphanage about 2 hours past the hospital, rode with us. She seemed awesome, and I'm glad that she's going to be so "close". Near and far are releative terms... I got the the hospital, and met the other volunteers. There are two of them, one from Canada (I really almost sqeeled the first time she said "surrey") and...Holland (Ultrecht, she said). Isn't that weird? They're both younger than me, just out of high school, but are really sweet and are delighted to take care of me. It's nice to have people who know the place. We went for lunch at the local restaurant where we have an account (I feel like Eloise!) then did a tour of the town and I met with the doctor in charge of the hospital. He's very nice, very busy, and I'm going to be shdowing his sister the OBGYN on Monday.

Well, I'll close here. I miss you all at lot!


I havn't really

Heading Out

Hello Everyone!

Following Hannah's lead, I have started this blog to avoid the mass e-mail writing. I'm hoping I'll be better able to keep up with this (and you all won't have to remember my address if you want to send me mail). I leave for India on the 27th, and though I am a little nervous, I still haven't really hit the panic stage yet. I'm sure that will change in the next 48 hours. All those in DC stay tuned!

I was hoping that people would be able to find this blog using a google seach, through that doesn't seem to be working. If anyone knows how to make that happen, I'd be happy to hear.

I would like to note that in addition to my 5th grade book report, Eve's thesis "Drunken Sailors and Fallen Women" is my fifth google hit. I love my friends.