May 13, 2016
I have been sick all week. Tuesday I took a turn for the
worse. By 4:30 p.m. I had a fever of 102, chills and the shakes. Unfortunately
I had not paid attention to the balance on my phone and couldn’t call Ron. I
tried texting but my hand was shaking so bad I could hardly do it; then of
course, I couldn’t send it due to my phone’s low balance. I tried emailing and
of course the internet wasn’t working. We have been here since April 1 (is
there a message in that?) and have yet to experience reliable internet either
at our hotel or home.
When Ron got home, we headed to the hospital. Shalby came
recommended and it is a private hospital. I’ll just say ‘we ain’t in Kansas anymore, Toto’.
Some attendants in the ER were wearing sandals; not exactly a good safety
measure. I was seen immediately and was well treated. They did some blood work,
calmed me down as my heart rate was elevated as was my blood pressure which is
always low. After we got the lab results the doc said he thought it was a viral
infection and he could prescribe some meds and I could go home or spend the
night. As you would expect I came home. I feel asleep way early after all that
excitement. I awoke at 1:30 and realized I had not taken my last dosage of eye
meds so got up, closed the bedroom door and went downstairs where I got light
headed and fainted on the kitchen floor. I came to soaked with sweat and
burning up. I called for Ron but no way could he hear me on the second floor
with AC on in the bedroom and the door closed. Then I got diarrhea and couldn’t
get off the floor due to swooning every time I tried.
I crawled in the dark into the bathroom on my back pushing
with my feet but couldn’t get on the toilet, afraid I would fall on the tile floor
in a faint. Ron woke up and came to find out where I was. Thank god! By then I
had taken off my clothes and made it over to the shower where there is a faucet
low enough for me to reach and washed myself off. What a shitty evening! Ron
gave me a diagnosis of food poisoning and I think he was right. This almost
exact thing happened 11 years ago in Thailand . Ron is some kind of Super
Hero in my book helping through such a mess twice. Wednesday we went through
the refrigerator and tossed all the leftovers. I love saving leftovers in order
to avoid cooking but we have decided they will get one day then we will toss
them. Things spoil much quicker here and I had no idea what the temperature is
in our refrig. We do not cook with any meat, so no worries about that.
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| Sankar doing the laundry, especially Tricia's "dirty clothes" which eventually had to be thrown away as the smell could not be removed |
Since then I have been feeling up and down; so today we had a house
call from our neighbors’ doc who changed my meds: Cipro, an antibiotic for the
gut, which we always take with us when we travel overseas, electrolytes and
probiotics which I also brought for the first time this trip. So we had two of
the three things needed and Sankar, who is just terrific, took off on his bike
to the pharmacy to get the electrolyte drinks. The emergency room visit, lab
work and prescriptions were $20 total and the house call was $7.50. Again the
standards are not US standards but still…. I lay around most of the day and by
late afternoon things starting to turn for the better. At one point after lunch
I was ready to go back to the hospital but the forces of the new meds and electrolytes
must have kicked in. Tonight we made dinner from the last of the food in the
refrigerator.
All week my wonderful and dear neighbor, Kamla, has sent
food over so neither of us have cooked. Last night was egg curry and we were
wild about it and she agreed to teach me how to make it. Before I came here I
had held a generalized view of Indians based on a plane conversation with an
Indian who did business in Sri Lanka and from our travels in six previous trips
to India. The woman on the plane made a comparison between Sri Lankans and
Indians saying how sweet and passive Sri Lankans were. She then commented ‘not
like us Indians’. In my travels I noted some degree of aggressiveness. On
reflection, I realized we only visited tourist areas like the cultural triangle
of Dehli, Agra and Jaipur, Mumbai, Chennai, etc. One of my concerns about
living here versus visiting here was how would it be to live in a more
aggressive culture. It turns out that our experience in Ahmedabad is the
opposite of what I expected. EVERY one we have met has gone out of their way to
help us. When leaving the hospital Tuesday night, Ron was trying to call a cab
but couldn’t understand the person on the line. A man walked up to me and asked
if he could help so I told him the problem. He went to Ron and got the deed
done and chatted us up until the cab arrived. Another time we were walking to the movie in
our neighborhood and a woman stopped and picked us up. She had seen us in the
society and she has lived there for 16 years. This kind of thing happens
constantly here. Our neighbor’s adult son has bent over backwards to help us
with getting internet service. When he found out this week we were still having
problems, he told the internet bill collector he refused to pay his bill until
they fixed OUR problem! And so it goes.
We had a conversation with an Indian woman who is a student at CEPT and
she said Mumbai changed her, made her a person she didn’t like and she will no
longer live there. So I must amend my previous perception of the cultural
personality of Indians: not aggressive unless perhaps they live in a dog eat
dog environment. I could say the same about any place on the face of the earth.
The weather this week is brutal: 112-114 all week and today
was 116. More of it expected on the weekend. Because I was so sick today, Sakar
stayed until 1:30 then got his wife and daughter to come over so I wouldn’t be
alone in case I got worse. They watched TV. Ron came home early since I was
having a hard time and they got up to leave. He invited them to stay and
continue to watch TV. Later Sankar joined them . I told him it was too hot
outside and they should just stay here and watch the tube. I think they were
happy on both accounts and stayed until late in the day.
May 14, 20016 - Frustration Level High
Part of going on an
adventure in a developing country is dealing with mountains of frustration.
There is so much to learn and adapt to. There truly is a world of difference
from everything to availability of services, to how services are accessed, to
food availability (never expect to see a supermarket like a Safeway or Fred
Meyer), to realizing you can’t be understood due to language barriers and even
when both parties speak English there is still lots of miscommunication and
frustration. Customer service is an unknown here. When Ron calls about a
problem with the internet they hang up on him or say ‘I‘ll call you back’ and
never do. Finding a hardware store, forget ACE Hdwe. If you don’t know Ron then
you don’t know what a project guy he is. He is currently trying to repair a
broken office chair that came with the house and find a missing gutter support
before the monsoons arrive. Why not have the landlord do it you may ask? Because
we were told when we looked at the house there was a home theater but the
projector needed repair. That was one over a month ago and it has yet to be
repaired along with other issues with the house. Sometimes it is easier to just
do it yourself…but of course it isn’t all that easy to find gutter parts when
you can’t find a hardware store. Do you sort of see how it goes when you step
into our adventure? Okay for those of you who wonder why do it then? Because we
ultimately love it. We love discovering different cultures, attitudes, ways of
approaching and doing things. It seems healthy to us. Yes it is difficult but
not all the time. The transition is always the hardest and this one is harder
than we remember Sri Lanka being easier. One major difference is Mr Kularathna.
He was a rickshaw driver I found when we were staying in the hotel when we
arrived in Sri Lanka
and I used him almost daily the entire time I was there: need a watch repair,
he took me there, need a hardware item, away we went. Oh how I long for Mr. K.
Some drivers here are illiterate or can’t read English, they don’t have cell
phones so you call them and many of them only know their neighborhood and will
not drive outside of that neighborhood.
Right now our FL (Frustration Level) is pretty darn high. It
truly feels like and I don’t think I am exaggerating, that every single issue
we have had to deal with has been a problem, taking numerous phone calls,
numerous missed appointments, weeks to accomplish what should be a simple task
and always multiple visits. Nothing has ever been done in one visit. It baffles
us. Our frustration has been exacerbated
by the extreme heat which confines us to being inside during the peak times and
to get anything done. Businesses, even mall stores, don’t open until 11:00 so
during the week, I can either make one quick trip to be home by noon when
Sankar leaves or go out after he leaves which is in the heat of the day. This
week I have been confined to my bedroom so we desperately need groceries.
I must say internet has become the bane of our existence
here. Ron was ready to scream bloody murder this morning as nothing was
working. We have yet to receive the proper equipment that was promised two days
ago and without it we have more problems that we can keep track of, like we can
receive but not send emails! When we try to call a cab using one of the local
apps they can’t find us. Finding a shoe repair place. When Ron asked where one
was his coworkers said ‘they are everywhere, just look on the street for a pile
of shoes’.
So today Ron headed out early in an auto rickshaw because he
couldn’t get a cab using the app and headed straight to the internet provider
to demand they come with the equipment with greater capacity and to order a
modem. Right now I use my cell phone for wifi when Ron is using the internet.
Then he will try to find a hardware store. I hope he has some success because I
worry about how frustrated he is at this point. I sent Sankar off on his bike
to get Ron’s shoes repair. He returned and the street cobbler (that is all
there is here) had nailed the sole to the shoe body where is had previously
been glued. I hope Ron doesn’t have a cow.
Ron has returned. He made tremendous progress: the new
equipment will be installed before 5:00 (IST) Indian Stretchable Time. We can
only hope that meant today! Couldn’t find the needed hardware parts but did
find a hardware store. He was able to use the same driver the entire trip which
is so helpful Sometimes they will not wait when you have multiple stops. The bill was $2.00 dollars and Ron
gave him a huge tip (another dollar). And he had time to go to the specialty grocery store to
replenish our needed staples: soy milk, canned black beans, tortillas, cheeses.
Hip hip hooray!!!!!! Best of all he came home much happier and calmer. The
modem will be delivered on Monday. Or so they say. There is renewed hope, let’s hope it’s not
false..
Ron and Sankar are outside working on a fix for the rain gutter.Kamla just sent over a lovely lunch of rice, three veg dishes and dessert.
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