Malaria Scare

So this lovely bunch of pills is the only thing keeping me alive at the moment
ok....maybe not the only thing
But in the past few days I've kinda felt like it
I take 
10 in the morning
3 midday
and 
5 at night
and I HATE taking medicine 
my mother can attest to that

It all started monday night
I'm achy all over
my joints hurt 
I have a fever 
I have chills
my head hurts
and
my stomach hurts


Unfortunately, all these are symptoms of malaria.
So... they sent me to the hospital to see the doctor

After a few blood tests he concurred that I do not, in fact, have malaria
I'm just really sick.
Thanks, doc.


I woke up today feeling better- hence the reason I'm blogging
My goal today is:
1. To not throw up (I've successfully not thrown up for about 5 years...wouldn't want to break my record now)
2. At least get a little work done (since I've been comatose for the past two days)


Please don't worry though
I'm not on my deathbed
and hopefully I'll be back in business by tomorrow


With Love,
A

The Ugly Truth

So, here I am at Wimbledon.

I wish I could tell you that I talk to Roger Federer regularly...

And that I get discounts at the souvenir shop...

And that watching tennis on the courts is what I do everyday...

But I don't.

Truth is...

I spend most of my time getting food...

Ok, ok AND eating it... because I DO get free strawberries and creme. Yes!

(And yes I have developed a muffin top... but have you had British chocolate?)

I also spend alot of time running papers places, making copies...

AND answering the walkie talkie.

(Oh yeah, the walkie talkie... we don't need cell phones!

Well... except for when we go into town... so never mind...)

So although my runner jobs aren't glamorous I have met great people and have had fun.

Some quite lovely people actually... and its uber fabulous that all the runners get along.

But the best part... is Harry Potter.

No, he isn't here, I left him in NYC singing and dancing on Broadway.

What I DO mean is we all love it.

So we have all been sorted into houses... and we have our own little cup going on...

We get points for... well pretty much anything really...

Some of my FAVORITE points given (or taken) have been:

Slytherin 20 for being "Like the Michelin Man."

Gryffindor 40 for good NYC accents

Hufflepuff... well the funniest thing for them is getting a player suspended...

Ravenclaw... So the ugly truth came out...

And...

I got 4000 points for being SUPER ugly in 8th grade...

Who knew that pasty girl in 8th grade...

(Who actually was a little, well, too obsessed with Harry Potter.)

would help her Hogwarts house win?

Karma?

With Love,

E

Oh WAIT I bet you want to see the picture...

Guess you better stay a while huh?

Going to Goa

This weekend I traveled to Goa

It's costal state about 12 hours from Hyderabad

We took an overnight bus to get there.

It was a nice bus, but hard to get comfortable in

Also, the Bollywood movie they played for the first THREE hours of the trip was the most annoying, excruciatingly loud thing I've ever heard in my life.

Not much else happened on that bus ride.

We tried to sleep, and some Indian men called me hot.

It was an interesting ride...

We arrived in Goa and made it to our resort

There was 95% humidity the entire we were there

but it was such a tropical paradise we didn't even mind.

After breakfast we headed here:

The Arabian Sea!

We saw some hot Indian lifeguards 

(I'm being facetious I promise)

We walked the beach, laid out and swam in the pool

We couldn't swim in the ocean because of monsoon season

The tide is too high to swim for about three months 

We still felt the water though 

Later we went to the capital to see a movie

X-Men was pretty fun to see...and the Indians LOVED it

Lexie and me

The next day we went exploring

On the end of this peninsula there is a fort 

We assumed we could get there by walking along the beach 

We thought wrong.

Should've been a no brainer.

Forts are made to be impenetrable

Even 400 years later-

you can't just walk up to the thing.

So we took a safer path to find a taxi

Instead of a taxi we found two Indian guys on motorbikes

They gave us a ride to the top of the peninsula for free

They really got a kick out of how much we laughed on the way up

The fort was amazingly green

They wouldn't let us up into the lighthouse, but it was still really cool

And the view was AMAZING 

On the way back we hiked through some jungle and met some wild boars and lots of disgusting insects

To recover we spent the rest of the day by the pool

The next day we avoided motorcycles and just rented a taxi

Our driver took us to an amazing Hindu Temple

It was right along the banks of this river

Then he took us to a spice plantation in old Goa

They gave us a tour of the plantation

They grow all sorts of cool things here

These chillies are the the 4th hottest chili in the world

And they are only about 1/2 inch big!

I'm smelling a cinnamon tree here

And these are pineapple bushes

I've never seen the actual plant before

I learned that pineapple plants grow boy and girl pineapples.

We normally only eat the girl pineapples

because they are rounder and sweeter...

Go figure.

After the tour they fed us lunch

...and then it started pouring rain.

The monsoon season is amazing here

It starts pouring without warning and you are drenched within 10 seconds

After the rain we walked around a bit more

And THEN...drum roll please...

I RODE AN ELEPHANT!

This is Babu

and he is SO COOL

I was more than a little excited to ride him

Even with the grumpy little man in front of me

He loves bananas

Please forgive the English accent...it's so easy to slip into here

Definitely a highlight of being in India

After our spice plantation adventure we visited some amazing Catholic churches and cathedrals

Portugal ruled Goa for 450 years and you could see signs of Christianity everywhere

This church was a the top of a hill

With amazing views from the top 

The next three churches and cathedrals were in the same small area that also happens to be a world heritage site

We were exhausted when we finally got home

and decided to eat at the restaurant in our hotel

Lexie, Aleesha, and me

The next day we flew home

I was in such good company the entire weekend

and

India is truly a beautiful place

Now- back to work!

With love, 

A

Say What?

Here I am in England.

I have seen a few tennis matches...
Seen a few famous people (Ron WEASLEY)...

But more than anything I have learned new words and phrases from my lovely English friends...

We all are quite entertained by how each other speaks...

Here are a few of the ones I like the most...

"I got alot of time for that..." means "I like that."

"Jumper" means "Pullover sweater."

"Have you emptied the bin?" means "Have you emptied the trash?"

Take-Away and Dine-In vs. To stay or To Go

Crisps are POTATO CHIPS

Wimbledon Stadium is NOT the tennis courts (found this out the HARD way...)

"Cheers..." means... well I use it for thanks, or good day I think it maybe wrong...

"That seems a bit dodgy..." Means, well, kinda close to the meaning of sketch...

And my favorite word is cheeky... but Im still learning how to use it.

I'm also getting really good at saying "LitRally." (You know... Literally.)

And yes T's do have sounds and so do H's...

(Weird right? Hhhhhherb sounds funny to me...)

Here are the words I've taught:

What it means when someone elevators you...

"Oh my lands!" (An Elora saying...)

"I know right?"

And thats pretty much it...

I guess I'm not as cool...

Or I just spend most of my time trying to imitate everyone else...

Anyways...

Cheers!

With Love,

E

Kumar the Camel

It must seem like we do a lot of playing here in India

At least, that's what I post about a lot.

A board member from HELP International is here for a few weeks and we want to show her a good time

So, we've been doing a lot more nightly outings here lately.

To be honest though...our daily activities like meetings and writing manuels doesn't make for good picture taking anyway....

Next week we are going on another village visit so stay tuned for that.

Last night we made the journey to Dhola-ri-Dhani

An "ethnic Rajasthani village resort"

It was kind of like a mini ethnic amusement park with dinner and shows but no rides.

Be warned! There are some VERY awkward pictures of me on this post.

This is where they fed us dinner.

You sit on the mats and eat off the little table in front of you.

The waiters LOVED to keep putting stuff on our plates

Even when we said we were full...they would stick things IN OUR MOUTHS anyway

We also watched a very high class magic show

and a fun little dance show as well

Oddly enough...that woman dancer you are seeing is NOT in fact, a woman!

Apparently, it's a Rajasthani tradition for the females to be played by men.

Outside they had a fun little moat

We took a turn on this boat after they got off

Lindsey, Seth, and Mindy

We visited the "Zoo Park"

With lots of cool broken plastic animals and dinosours

We even rode a giraff 

and met a neanderthal in a "prehistoric cave"

See! I told you this was awkward...

The highlight of the night would definitely be riding Kumar the camel

For future reference....camels are in NO WAY easy to ride

They move from side to side so much it feels like you're falling off!

And ANOTHER awkward picture....I took SUPER happy to be on that camel

The grand finale of the night was the play.

It was in Telgu, but from what I understand there was a bad man trying to keep a girl from being with her true love.

In true Indian fashion, the main character couldn't make it through the entire play without breaking into song.

Keep in mind that girl is actually a guy.

Weird.

With love,

A

P.S. I'm headed to Goa for the weekend...it's a beach state on the west side of the country. See you in a few days!