Fighting hard for my last week

As many you can tell, I haven't been blogging in a couple of days. Over the weekend I did go up to Darjeeling with Corina. I don't think I have enough time to blog about that... although I'll mention some things. We planned our whole trip around trying to make it to mass, and the last time I was up in Darjeeling I missed mass by a couple of hours... this time I knew my train would be there in time for me to make it to St. Andrew's at 9. I really wanted to go to Sikim but was afraid I wouldn't be able to find a church on sunday, so Corina and I played it safe... sadly to say, I've missed a couple sunday mass since I've been here in India. But this story is by far the memorable since I planned my whole weekend vacation around it. When we got to St. Andrews, it was absolutely beautiful; stained glass icons of the crucifix, ascension, St. Andrew, and the nativity scene. There was a beautiful marble altar up front and the architechture was very detailed and breath taking. I introduced myself to father and later when mass started ... minutes into mass I realized I wasn't at a catholic mass. I noticed something different as soon as the preist entered in from the front, and then when he started in prayer, we didn't start with the sign of the cross. But as soon as he invited someone from the pew to come up and lead us in a morning reflectional prayer... it was a dead give away. I was fairly disapointed because once again... I missed mass for some random reason, I tried... but no cigar. Corina and I got a laugh out of ourself for trying so hard but in the end ... yeah......well. Anyways, Darjeeling was beautiful like always. Very relaxing and breath-taking. We ended up taking the Toy train up to Darjeeling an 8 hour trainride after our 10 hr train ride from kolkata. The toy train up to Darjeeling is the most well known train ride in the world, known for the scenic view, and it surely was spectacular. We went to the zoo (world's highest altitude zoo), saw the sunrise at Tiger hill, visited the Buddhist monastery, and saw a couple other historical sites.... oh yeah and of course we bought some Darjeeling tea (the best).
While I was there (my very first meal sunday morning) I had a cheese Paratha. Sadly to say, it was my last meal for several days. I got sick in Darjeeling. I don't know what I was thinking, I never bought anything with real dairy in it in Kolkata... but my mind was elsewhere when I ordered it in Darjeeling. I was out for a couple day and fought to make it to see all the historical sites without vomitting. The jeep ride back was hell on earth.



Well, I made it back to Kolkata yesterday morning or something like so. After checking into a hotel I pushed myself to go to Daya to work. I only have a couple days left here... I wasn't going to lay around sick on my ass. So, I got to Daya Dan and my stomach was killing. I wasn't able to paint but I was able to entertain the kids a bit. Also the Sister that was in charge previously for 9 years at Daya Dan came back to visit, so it was very nice to meet her. She's now at Prem Dan.
After getting back from Daya Dan yesterday... I went straight to bed, and laid there till dinner. I was sick of being sick... I swear I'm sick every 3 weeks! So I forced myself to eat last night, since my stomach was feeling a little bit better. So of course what else would I have ordered? Prawn veggie sizzler with rice for 2 dollars from Jojo's across the street! Surprisingly my stomach held it in. I came back to my room, brushed up, and then rolled into bed. Minutes later, someone was knocking at our hotel room's door. The gatekeeper was at the door and told me I had a phone call! I answered down at the hotel counter and it was SARA calling from Vancouver! It was such a beautiful surprise; calling, checking up on me to see how I was feeling! I'm honestly so blessed! (Yuca, sarabear). Well, after the call I was stopped by some friends that were staying in the dormitory rooms and told me they had some pineapple beef jerky I must try... I told them I had some "jamacian me crazy" beef jerky from the states... so I went and grabbed my pack and we had a beef jerky party! Us crazy volunteers... deprived of red meat, we're pretty sad and pathetic. Well... that was yesterday.


TODAY...
Before vatican 2, August 22nd was the feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Missionaries of Charity dedicate their order to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so today is also the society's feast day.
I arrived at Mother house at 6 for mass and got to see all the novists sing to the sisters afterwards. I ended up chatting with sister Collette for a while and when I got downstairs for breakfast we had a special breakfast also! Bananan, bread with JAM, and some COFFEE! When I arrived at Daya Dan all the children were so beauitfully dressed up. In the prettiest dresses and studliest outfits. The girls had on makeup and the guys had their hair gel. All morning there was dancing and singing for the sisters. It was tons of fun and than the volunteers went downstairs for tea time and they also had boiled eggs, bananan, and sweet bread for us. After tea time I started painting... but half an hour into painting I was asked to go upstairs. The sisters had made a special lunch for the volunteers! They made us fried rice, chicken, papad, curry, and cheese (which I did not take). The meal was delicious and it was very generous of the sisters and masis to do so.
I continued at Daya Dan till 5 this afternoon and painted. Corina finish painting the ocean on the ship scene and I finished painting the seal, rhino, and crocodile today. We also had a local that has helped paint Daya dan in the past come help us paint and it finished painting the giraffe today. Overall it was a very sucessfull paint day but sadly for me, something had to happen... just as I was getting over my stomach problem my eye began to be irritated. I went to go washed it out a couple times ... every 10 minutes or so but it kept developing this clearish layer, that progressed into a thicker yellowish eye snot. By the time I finished painting at 5 my eye was well pinked and every time I blink I felt as if I had a pebble stuck in between my eyelid and it was scratching off my eye. I need to go get it check tomorrow... which I'm not sure what I'm going to do since it's a thursday (volunteers Day off) but I think I'll go paint at Daya Dan so I'll just ask Sr. Christalata or Sr. Johana Fa about my eye and see what they can do. But right now... it's pretty red. I'm sure I got pink eye and need some antibiotics for it. Which will suck if I come back and have red eyes for all my sisters wedding pictures along with loosing so much weight from being sick and looking like a Kalighat patient. But... hey, it's india. It's the price you got to pay for have the best time of your life! I honestly think the have all the odds working against right now during my last week here! From last Sunday in Darjeeling was my one week mark till I'm home and since then... everything has been working against me. Satan is truly trying to slow down my work and I know that there's so much to be done before I leave and so much I want to do!! I don't want anything to ruin my time here or my experience... and so all I got to say is "BRING IT!" I don't know if I'll blog again before I leave. My days are pretty packed and there's much that I need to and want to do and so maybe I'll blog about it when I get back to the states otherwise..... just ask me! Thanks you and I love you all!



PS... please continue your prayers! I need them.