Bananas and Toast

So, I've been pretty sick for a good 5 days now. It's a combination of stomach problems that don't allow me to eat anything besides toast and bananas and a fever, cold, and the voice of a cowboy dying of lung failure. If I stray from the diet, it's a bad bad day for Erika's stomach. I also laid in bed all day in misery until the current time: 4:50 p.m. I had some extremely trippy dreams all day long, but in the end, I don't think I have a fever anymore. And I haven't talked to anyone, but I have a feeling I no longer sound like such a cowboy.

Tomorrow will be friday and will mark my 21st day in India. This week has been interesting-I've only had one woman from my group show up each day for class. I truly get to see how much they know/do not know when the others (especially Arti) are not there and shouting out the answers.

The women often times don't realize I'm asking a question:

Betty and John (go) to the market last Saturday.

..."So, for example-is it They go? or They went?"

"Yes," has been a common response this week.

Frustrating. Hard to help them understand. Someone has taught these women complex vocabulary but has not explained punctuation, prepositions, or verb tenses.

I am seeing improvements. But every day I must also give up and move on to something else if our language barrier hits a wall- And this is the most frustrating part of my job.

The women threw a birthday party for Brittany on Tuesday, where we ate pakora and bhaksu cake. The women sang and danced and gave Brittany simple, but very beautiful presents. It was nice. The women wanted to throw this party for Brittany since they don't get to celebrate their own birthdays here-only men's.

This week, no matter how frustrating, still leads me to worthwhile conclusions. No matter who we are, where we are from, or the opportunities that we are given, we are all the same deep in our core. I see my women nervous about something whether it's their college entrance exams, their children's health, or the way the other women in the group accept them. Everyone wants to be loved-to share their love. We are always wanting something more in our lives, and we all have our immaturities that become apparent to others-This is just a part of being human. We are imperfect. We are always changing. We are always growing.

8 people left the CCS house this week. With the few of us that are left, the dynamics of the house have changed drastically. It's quiet, people are going off and doing what they want to do and not what everyone else is doing, and when I'm sick, I get to sleep until 4:50 p.m. without loud interruption.