Link to Jennifer's blog

Here's the link to my team-mate Jennifer's blog: http://wandering-turtle.blogspot.com

February 21 Back to being an American

Well, I'm over the jet lag, sleeping in until 0900, going on squad calls, teaching EMT, eating cheese fries (only once though!), and generally falling back into my old ways. Not sure if this is good or not. Feels comfortable but I am really missing India a lot! I have changed a few things though. I now have an auspicious symbol on my car. Those of you in Blairstown have probably seen it by now. It is a dried orange with cayenne peppers hanging on the front bumper to protect my car from harm when it goes outside of its normal area. Dunno if it works but hey, it's worth a try, right? Who cares what it looks like! I also have begun to incorporate more healthy foods into my diet. Every day I go to Walter's Produce and buy different fresh vegetables. I have been making tomato soup, vegetable-rice soup, and all kinds of stuff that is also better on my wallet than eating out. I have been doing a lot of walking with Shadow, which has him delighted, of course, and is helping keep of the weight I lost in India.
So I guess that although I'm back, I have been able to make a few changes in my life for the better. I just hope I can keep it up!

February 15 Jet lag, getting back on schedule

Well, I went to bed at about 7pm last night and made myself get up at 0800 this morning in an effort to get my body and brain back on American time. This is tougher than I thought it would be! It's only 5:30 pm and I've been ready to go to bed for several hours now. I plan to be in bed by 10 or 11 tonight because I have to get up by 0630 to go to work in the morning. I still feel like I am 10 1/2 hours off.

February 14, Hair

My hair fit right in…except it got a lot of attention as the longest hair most had every seen. It turns out that for years I have been wearing it in the traditional Indian style so I didn’t have to change anything. Nice. Some people said that when I was wearing a saree they almost couldn’t tell from the back that I wasn’t an Indian. Washing it wasn’t so bad either. Most of the time I had to bath Indian style with a bucket of water and a cup to pour it because the shower either didn’t exist or had no water pressure. But I managed.

February 14, Jet lag

I slept for 17 hours straight then stayed awake for the whole night. I guess this must be jet lag because my body is definitely still on Indian time. I am going to force myself to stay awake until tonight to try to get back on schedule.

February 13 Flight delays, home at last, snow

The flight out from Mumbai was delayed by an hour and we didn’t take off until about 0415 in the morning. Because of the delay, when we arrived at London after a 10-hour flight, we ran across the airport and missed our flight by three minutes. Three and a half hours later, we were able to get on a different plane to New York. I had someone’s knee in my back for half of the flight and couldn’t sleep. We landed at JFK after an 8-hour flight and tried to get our baggage. I got all of mine but one each of Jen’s and Elizabeth’s luggage got put on a later flight. Elizabeth’s husband, Adam, picked us up and took us and our luggage to their house where we were picked up by our rides. Thank you Scott and Debbie for coming to get me in the snow! It feels weird to be home. First of all, everyone drives on the wrong side of the road, and they follow the rules, and they don’t honk their horns. I unpacked some of my clothes for the laundry and talked with Wick for a bit then went to bed for 17 hours. It was snowing when we landed and Wick said it was ice and rain all day today but I slept so I don’t know.

February 11 School for the challenged, flights

Photos: London fog, Waiting in Mumbai airport

I am glad I packed my luggage last night. One huge thing less to do this morning. Just put everything in my host’s car then off to join Jennifer and Bernie and Bazil (DG) at a school for the mentally challenged. The Vasco Rotary Club is trying to raise funds to buy a school bus the allow children from the workers and families further away to send their children. Some of the children gave a nice dance performance and sang. They were a mix of dyslexic, autistic, CP, and others.
The four of us, minus Rajiv, proceeded to Goa Airport and flew an hour to Mumbai Domestic arriving late due to flight delays. There we were met by Koustub Gosavi, a member of the incoming to NJ GSE team. We parted ways with Bernie as he is headed for Delhi and Agra for a few days. Koustub entertained us for the afternoon and evening. We had a 12 hour layover until our flight to London. We mostly sat and just relaxed and talked. We were able to give him some pointers to help him prepare for his trip to the USA.
Now it’s midnight and we are sitting in the Chhatrapati Shivji International Airport in Mumbai waiting for our 0240 flight out.