Well, now that the malaria fun appears to have died down things are getting back to normal around here. I have been testing out ways to make my model for cervical cancer detection, which has been pretty fun. At first I tried using this stuff that I guess is essentially just mud. Unfortunately it proved not to be sticky enough, so all of the newspaper strips just fell right off of the chicken wire frame that I made. The librarian, Shahnaz, recommended that I use plaster-of-Paris, since the mice and rats won’t eat that either (which is the main reason I didn’t use the traditional flour-and-water paper-mache mix). Anyway, I tested it our to make sure that it would work, and it certainly is a lot studier than the mud that I was using before. On Sunday I spent a long time tearing up strips of cloth to use on the model, and experimenting with the plaster-of-Paris. Things to keep in mind in the future: it hardens in about a minute if you are not constantly stirring it. I lost a half of a bag of the powder because I let it sit too long while I rinsed off the sink… anyway, Chantra Kanta saw what I was doing, and showed me a much better method, that looks wayyyy smoother and takes about half of the time than what I was doing! Eventually I’ll get around to posting some photos of her showing me what to do☺
The post-malaria blues seem to have pretty much dissipated for me. I’m left, instead, with a kind of a dull ache of longing to get home again. I keep telling myself that the hard part of the internship is over; my parents will be here in one month (almost to the day), and I have plenty of work to do before they get here. See, I have somehow become the resident “artistic person” even though my drawing skills are pretty sub-par (or at least they are next to Dan’s), so Prabjit and I have been recruited to make posters for the upcoming anniversary of the gas disaster. I can’t say that I mind this at all, because it means that I have something practical and fun to do for the next three weeks. It also means that we got to go to the stationary store and buy a bunch of paints and markers and stuff, and we all know that I am addicted to buying stationary supplies, so this is good. I also have my model to finish, which takes some time as I have to wait between layers and body parts so that things can dry. Not to mention that I fully intend to get started on looking for a translator to do my photo project in the next week or so. I really want to get started on that before I leave in December with mom and dad, especially since when I get back in January, I really only have about six weeks left here in Bhopal before I can start traveling! Woo hoo! Oh yes, and of course Andrea will be here as of January eleventh or so, and Mel is returning in February, so I suspect that the rest of my time here is going to be pretty busy. Which is good, provided I don’t get malaria again. If I get malaria again I’m going to the fuck home.
Speaking of illnesses, Aio has still been pretty under the weather, and actually got a second malaria test on Monday because he was feeling so sick on Sunday night. The test came back negative, which is good. However, this begs the question of what exactly he is sick with… I feel really bad for him, since he has only been here about three weeks, and he has been sick for at least two of them now. Although, we did go to Jehan Numa Palace Hotel for dinner last night, and I think that did us all a world of good in terms of morale. Jehan Numa is the most expensive hotel in Bhopal (or at least as far a s I can tell), although the bottom end of rooms are less than $100 per night, just to put that into perspective for you. They have the only restaurant that serves Western food that actually tastes like Western food though, at their Italian restaurant. I actually (decadence of decadence!) have been twice this week, since Eurig, Derek and I decided to go and check the place out on Friday night. Derek, Prabjit, Aio and I went back last night, since it was Derek’s last night in Bhopal, and therefore his choice of whre dinner was to be.
I had spinach and cheese ravioli (and no, the cheese was not paneer thank god), on the first visit, and then peanut chicken satay, a pizza and lasagna that I split with Prabjit last night. We couldn’t resist but get a bottle of wine on both of our trips, particularly because so far as I know there is no other restaurant that serves wine in the city. Considering that this place is really about one of the priciest places that you can eat, it is still pretty damn cheap by Canadian standards. The bottle of wine (there are only two red on the list) was about $30, and the main courses are each about $5.00. This restaurant is actually quite a bit cheaper than the “mixed cuisine” (read: Indian food) restaurant that we ate at before. I wasn’t overly impressed with the Indian food that we got at the other restaurant before, so I would say that I win all the way around: Western food is cheaper! Yay!
I have been shying away from the food in the canteen lately, as I am getting thoroughly sick of rice, daal, subjie and roti two meals a day, every day. I know that it is about the healthiest food that I could be eating, but I’ve been craving a bit of variety lately, and I the canteen just can’t give it! I know that I can’t afford to eat Jehan Numa style for next three solid months, but I think that just knowing that the option is available once in a while is uplifting. I am heading to Delhi this evening with Derek and Prabjit, on a much-needed break from the clinic, and Bhopal in general. Derek is going to continue up to Shimla and McCleod-Ganj after Delhi, and then he will be heading back to Chicago… for which I am very sad. As I said last night on our second toast to Derek: “I wasn’t sure about you at first…but now I’m sure!”. I’ll really miss him here, and I just don’t think that things will be the same at the clinic without him. Anyway, our trip to Delhi will be a nice farewell. I am also planning on raiding the city for certain Western items that I haven’t been able to find in Bhopal – granola bars, mosquito repellent, several particular brands of crackers, red wine, and hopefully a decent haircut. Is it sad that I am more excited about visiting the McDonald’s in Delhi than the Indira Ghandi museum? Hmmmm…
Anyway, I don’t think that there is much else to report before the trip. I’ll be sure to write about Delhi once I get back, as I’m sure that this time I won’t get lost with an evil cab driver at eleven o’clock at night. And if I do I will be armed with Prabjit, Derek and a cell phone.
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