My Surface Hippy Adventure

Recovering

Yesterday the internet was down, so I did not get the chance to post. It was a very uneventful day overall - no internet - the nurses kept saying they would get mohan to fix it, and we waited and tried to fix it ourselves, and waited...but no mohan. There was no reason to go anywhere outside of our room, so I read for most of the day. I did visit a lady, Joan, who is two doors down and had her surgery that morning. She is very nice and is from Berkley. My dinner last night was fantastic! By far the best meal I have ever eaten in a hospital. I've observed that the food varies depending on who asks us what we want -- they don't even ask me anymore, they just say .."do you want ...." and i say sure, and then i try it. Anyways.. on to dad's health, the reason you are all reading all of this blabber anyways. Yesterday he was in some pain during physical therapy, and had much pain when they put the iv in his right arm (but did not feel a thing when they moved it to his left - strange), but for the most part he was ok. He walked around the room a bit with the physical therapist.

Today was more eventful! I got up, we called mohan, and he has already fixed the internet connection! It went down for a bit, but for the vast majority of the day it worked! Then, a girl who I had briefly met after the function the day we arrived (which i have yet to update about), named Sonya came into the room and asked if I wanted to go downstairs to buy some chocolate. She has been here longer than us (her mom got the same surgery a few days back) and had already gone downstairs to the ground level of the hospital when she had a chocolate craving, so she knew where to go. After lunch, we went down, got chocolate, and then visited Joan. She strongly suggested that we get out of the hospital since we were mobile. I did not want to do this on my own, but now that there was two of us, it sounded like a good idea. Sonya was hesitant, but we talked to our parents and they thought it was a great idea, so we talked to mohan and he arranged a driver to come for us. We got ready and headed out. She was afraid of the traffic, and I should have been too - since it's so different - but after the rickshaw ride, a ride in an actual car was fine, and I was so ready to get out of the room already I would be estatic about anything. So we went to...Mill, a nice store where there was plenty of jewelry on the first floor, some very nice jewelery on the second, and other goods on the upper floors and throughout. I bought a few pairs of earrings.. there were so many to choose from!!! I had to put many that I picked out back.. haha. Then we went to Naidu Hall, a place that my friend Preethi told me that I had to go to in Chennai. Today when I was asking a nurse where to go if we went out, she mentioned it, and i was like.. its near by?!!?!? So we went there too - it was right near the other store, which is why we planned to go to both, the driver didn't have to take us anywhere else. I found a salwar - different from saris, that fit well (after trying on many huge ones.) It was pink and orange.. they give you a reciept for it but you dont take it or pay until you are ready to leave. So we went upstairs. There they had parts of the salwars sold separately instead of in sets, but you could mix and match the parts. So I tried one on which Sonya pointed out (she had one with a similar print custom made for her a few days back at another shop). It was a little big but smaller than most and it was a brownish shiny fabric with blue and gold print flowers on it... and it was a third the price of the one i was planning on buying downstairs. At this place I could have had one custom made for me, but since I probably would not be able to get back to pick it up, I decided to get one of the pre-made ones. In five minutes, a woman stitched up the sides a bit to make it a bit smaller, and I got it. I looked with Sonya for an outfit for a little boy and she also got a shirt for her neice (she's in her twenties). After this we walked out of the store and headed back to the vehicle.. only a one minute walk away.. and on the way i saw a girl who looked familiar sitting outside of the store. She turned, and I saw a distictive birthmark thta I recognized right away (it takes up half her face). It was one of the beggars we met on our first day at our stay at residency towers (when we first explored outside of the hotel). We kept walking while I was still confused, and a little boy came up to us begging for money -- the same one as the first beggar we met in india who we had given the red toy to.. he did the same thing and pointed to his stomach again. Then I realized they must travel around with eachother as a small group and that the girl was definitely the same. The boy did not give up even after we gave a few coins.. once in the car he leaned against the window begging and did not stop..even while we were moving.. until we went too fast. It's crazy that I've only really spent time outside twice, in different locations, and have run into, out of all the beggars in india, two of the same ones. I'm sure they know where to find tourists (not that there are many here).. but still.. our car was so close to the store, i was very surprised to recognize them! Anyways, we came back, I had dinner in the room with my dad (just rice) and then we all visited Joan .. including my dad! Yes, this is the part where I relate back to his health -- with his walker, he went from our room to the room two doors down and stood up talking with it for about 15 minutes! We showed her what we got and she was glad we had used the opportunity to go out. Then I visited Sonyas mom, because she wanted to see what I'd purchased as well. I showered and now me and dad are watching free movies on tv on the only channel we get subtitles with (our volume does not turn up load even though the other rooms do.. ). Dad is moving his leg without as much pain and can walk whenever he needs to (ex-to the bathroom). So in summary today 1) I left the hospital! 2)Dad's able to get around with the walker! 3)The internet is working! and 4) I talked to people. It was an exciting day :)

posted by Gary Klein @ 10:41 AM