Illness in India

(From February 12)

What is worse than being sick?

How about being sick in a foreign country? In which you can’t communicate with your host mother to tell her you’re throwing up? And, when your stomach hurts beyond belief, being offered Indian food to calm it down?

Yikes, right?

I’m just getting over my illness of stomach pain, fevers, aches, and chills, but it was not a pretty time, my friends. I could barely keep down crackers and grapes, and I couldn’t sleep more than twenty minutes without waking myself up from shivering or aching. It sucked.

More than the sickness itself, the homesickness bothered me most. Not having my mom to bring me a smoothie or rub my back or tell me that I was going to be okay brought me to tears. I felt so alone and isolated and helpless. It sucked.

I also couldn’t have gotten sick on a worse day. Yesterday, my entire class visited the regional commissioner who provides exit visas for those leaving India. We’d been told that he could be rather masochistic and pressingly interrogative, which is exactly the kind of person you want to deal with when you’re feeling nauseous and icky. Fortunately, I was allowed to rest in my faculty member’s home for a few hours before going to the office alone, after the rest of my classmates. I got my exit visa with little trouble, because once the officer heard I was nauseous, he got scared that I would throw up all over his office and signed off without asking any more questions.

When I woke up today, still feeling pretty sick, I was scared that I’d have to figure out how to find a doctor in freaking India and figure out insurance, etc. while dealing with a headache and stomach ache. LUCKILY, my childhood best friend’s grandparents are actually from India and are even visiting the country right now!! They called me to see how I was feeling and connected me with a family friend doctor who lives in Ahmedabad. She gave me advice on what to eat and what to do then spoke with my host mother in Gujarati so she knew what to give me. How serendipitous is that??!

Honestly, though, I’ve literally had the most boring two days, so there is like nothing to write about. I laid in bed all day today, reading books and writing papers. My roommate left for the weekend, so I am probably going to watch some Discovery Channel to satisfy my craving for the English language.

Oh, also, I haven’t had access to WiFi for two and a half days now, and I probably won’t have any for at least another two and a half days, so basically I feel like a frickin hermit, isolated from the rest of humanity. Keep me in your prayers.

Bye bye for now,

Aubrey