Day 33-34 - CULTURE SHOCK!

Saturday ended up being very relaxing. I didn't do too much during the day. That evening we were invited out to this man's beach house for a worship service. We got there late and I noticed everything was set up outside for the service. The man who invited us made us come to the front as his special guests, and shortly afterward introduced as his special guests.

Sunday I went on a tour of Mumbai. Unfortunately, my batteries on my camera ran dead, so no pics. We started out at the hanging gardens. There not any hanging anything, but the story behind the garden was quite interesting. A religious sect called Parsi, leave their dead on the other side of the wall of the garden to be eaten by vultures and decay. I think it is noteworthy to add that Freddie Mercury was Parsi. They don't believe in tampering with the five elements, so do not burn or bury their dead. The vultures apparently have come down with some type of virus that affected their population. The Parsi people now use solar panels to help speed up the decaying process.

We then went to a Jain temple, which is related to Hinduism. To be honest, it is hard to keep straight. Before we could go in we had to remove our shoes, and quite frankly, I wasn't interested in walking anywhere outside my hotel room barefoot. However, against my better judgement, took off my shoes to enter the temple. There was a service going on where everyone was sitting on the ground singing. Everything in the temple was ornate and made of marble or silver. I made the mistake of turning my back to one of the gods, and our tour guide quickly corrected me.

Next we went to the Ghandi museum. It was interesting to learn more about his life. I remember watching the movie with my mom as a child, but didn't really remember much of the story. It was mostly pictures of him and photocopies of letters that he had written.

Today, I went to the hotel doctor. I have been taking antiobiotics to clear up the crud that has taken over, but they have not been doing the trick. So I was prescribed several different medications to take. They sent me to a local medical center for a blood test and an X-ray. My left side has been giving me trouble and when I cough it feels as though something is out of place and popping around.

I had a driver from the hotel take me over there. Before I go on I feel as though I need to add this disclaimer. I guess I am used to the latest medical technology, and can't say that I have ever had any medical treatment in what might be considered a third world country. When I was in Ireland, things seemed to not necessarily be the most up to date, but at least they were clean. So, when I arrived it looked as if a bulldozer had already started to take the building down, but stopped before the job was done. It was filthy, dirty and everything was narrow and cramped. I thought surely they wouldn't send hotel guests to somewhere that was not safe to go. A sign in the narrow elevator said "Use the lift at your own risk." I went in for the blood test and was standing in a narrow hallway, barely big enough to walk through, shoulder to shoulder with everyone else. I started talking to myself saying, if it looks like the syringe and such are not sterile I'm outta here. The lab techs didn't wear gloves, but they took the syringe out of a sterile packaging. No one could really explain to me what I needed to do, mainly because of the language barrier. The needle was much larger than the ones they use in the states to take blood, so it really kind of hurt. I could feel the tears welling up as I was saying to myself, "Why are you doing this?". My better judgement was telling me to get the heck out of Dodge, but again I tried to reason that they wouldn't send me here if it wasn't legit. I prayed "Please God, don't let me contract anything!" I tried really REALLY hard not to start crying, but the flood gates opened. As a result by the time I got to the radiology office, I was a mess. I really was trying to keep it together, but I could not turn off the tears. Everyone was looking at me and I was trying to fill out paperwork that I didn't understand. Someone took me back to the X-ray room where I stood behind a shower curtain to change into the community smock, all the while sobbing. Once I was finished, one of the ladies at the desk asked me why I was crying. I couldn't really tell her because I didn't really understand it myself. I'm not one who breaks easily, but I cried all the way back to the hotel. I am sure it was a combination of being somewhere foreign, not being able to effectively communicate with anyone, being overwhelmed by how dodgy this place seemed, and little bit of me just wishing Mom could take care of all of it. (My mom is a nurse practitioner for those of you who don't know). Now it seems a little silly and I know things seem magnified here.

For now, I took a hot shower, and it all seems better now.