the end is near

I just completed 3 weeks of traveling. And am coming near to the end of my time in India. I feel ready to go home. I feel ready to start the next part of my life. That I'm here, right now, leaving aa place that's been my home for a year feels like a dream. One that's whirling around me, and I can't grasp the reality of it. And I almost don't want to grasp the reality, because I know when I get on the plane it'll be the jerking feeling that I get when the alarm wakes me each morning. But at the same time, being in India has worked on me in ways that I didn't expect. Its instilled in me a passion for work that needs done in my own country--for the needs both physically and spiritually that run rampant in our society. In a society where I know the language and the culture and I can relate to people in a way that I haven't been able to cross-culturally. Its given me a vision for America, and I'm really excited to start acting on that vision.

I'm just going to write about my first trip for now. We met a medical team from the US in north India. We spent five days running medical camps for villages that feed into the DEC schools. Most of the time I was helping with the physiotherapy section, teaching exercises, and taking histories for the patients before they went in to see the physical therapist. It was draining after awhile, but I loved getting to touch and connect with the patients that came in. A lot of the ones that came to us were older patients--mostly with arthritis. but you could see in their eyes the loneliness. It was wonderful to get to connect with them and relate to them. I loved it :) The American team was hardworking, and it was almost as if they were my preparation to re-entering American culture! I spent some time with the doctors also and got to see some pretty crazy stuff. One of the doctors was in her second year of residency and had never seen some of the illnesses that were coming though. It was hard, 'cause many of the patients needed long term care, and we were only equipped and able to meet short term needs.


I think I'll write about Kerala tomorrow--it's been a long few weeks and I'm ready to go get some sleep!