Coming and Going...

Here I am again in Cyberlink Communications, our local internet cafe with an appropriate cheesy title. Regretfully, I have taken a brief hiatus from blogging, as I simply have not had the time or energy to come here and write about what is going on here and my feelings on the matter. There has been plenty to talk about, but with an inconvenient schedule and crappy internet connection, I have not been able to do some of my experiences justice. The good news is that I have mostly everything written in my journal...so whenever I get around to reading my journal over, I'll post a blog. Sounds promising, doesn't it?

Anyway, one of the biggest things I am realizing right now is how fast the end is coming. I knew it from the beginning, that my time here would fly by, but it was not until this past Friday that I realized I have only two weeks of my program left. I plan on traveling afterwards, so I have about a month left to go, but still, I am 2/3 of the way through. For the past two weeks, we had someone by the name of Mohit join us in our bungalow. Mohit is a cancer researcher from Canada, who decided to come here on his own and volunteer with the India Study Abroad Center for two weeks, who placed him with us to work with CFI. His hope was similar to mine, in that he wanted to see medical practices and public health care in a rural area of a developing country. I have to say, it was awesome having a male around for two weeks...not that I don't like the girls, but it was nice to talk to a guy for a change and have someone explain cricket to me. During his time here, I kind of revisited some of the things I did when I first got here, so he would have some company...we went with the mobile vans and visited the government/CFI hospital to see different surgeries, as well as visit a school called Suhit Jeevan Trust, which caters to students who are mentally handicapped and hearing impaired. All this was always accompanied by endless confusion and waiting for people to get their butts in gear.

During the second week Mohit was here, Kelly left for Mumbai. She left us. She left us. Kelly was offered another sort of option to finish her internship in Mumbai, spending time in an orphanage with kids who are victims of HIV/AIDS, or whose parents are victims of the same. While we were all sad to see her go, this was a great opportunity for her and having heard from her since, she is doing great. Now, it's just Jessica and I, which is a little bit lonely, but we are still having new experiences every day, sharing them with each other and becoming closer friends with our neighbours, who always have a cup of tea waiting for us if we want it :]

let 'er fly,

Reid