Saturday, June 28, 2008

Feeling Better

June 28, 2008-(Saturday)- Palumpur, India

After surviving the night of cramps and chills, I got up to hear the rain pounding outside. I washed up as best as I could and Gee Too took me to the doctor. I have to say that I was not impressed with the office which was just a little bigger than a walk-in closet. I was a bit afraid that the man was not a “real” doctor at all, but I was wrong. As soon as I got back to the house I took the 3 medicines he gave me and laid down. Within a couple of hours I began to feel better. As I am writing this at about midnight, I am feeling MUCH better. At around 4pm I went into town to do a little shopping. Everyone here is so friendly. At one point I thought I was lost, but I didn’t feel afraid because everyone is so friendly. I bought a tea pot, tea cups and some material to make Rachael a Punjabi dress. Although she probably won’t wear it to school, I bought very soft cotton that she can use for pajamas.
I am gaining more and more respect for the idea of arranged marriage. Talking with Kavetta (CCS volunteer from Palumpur), and other Indian women, I am jealous. To know that older and wiser individuals, (not only 2, but 4= parents from both families), come together and match couples up based on family, educational background, goals, etc. seems to make much more sense than the system (if you can call it a system) in the west. The divorce rate here is very low, less than 8%. Here it doesn’t matter whether you are a beauty or not, only that you come from a good family and are educated. I wouldn’t mind marrying an Indian man, as long as he knew that I wasn’t going to wait on him hand and foot. Unfortunately, no Indian man would have me once they knew I was divorced. I miss Joel and Rachael, but other than that, I’m doing ok. I’ve only been gone 9 days, but it feels like a long time.

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