Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

I had a very, very, very interesting dream last night. Worth recording for posterity, friends, and strangers. I dreamed this man, who we'll designate the Enemy, had an evil plan to take over the world and made all of his conquered people cook for him. I didn't want to cook for no man [said in southern accent] so I ran away and built a castle and dug a moat. Soon I had followers, and we were all in the kitchen (which was actually the only room in the castle) sauteeing onions, grilling chicken, burning butternut squash, and making huge vats of orange jello. I asked the ladies over the jello vats why we needed to make so much jello--I didn't have that  many followers. They said that they were just using my kitchen to prepare the food for the Enemy. I was very mad, and threw them out across the moat. And then I suspected anyone else who came to my castle--with good reason, because a family bringing potatoes and onions to make rolls (I think that they would have been delic...

Due to the rapid outpacing of technology of its past self, I recently got a new phone. And found that the recording app worked pretty well. So I recorded a bunch of things. Melissa tells me I could be an audio book reader. It is complete with random photos because I couldn't figure out how to post an audio file. So I made it a video file on youtube. And then I couldn't figure out how to find it. So I posted it from youtube. This is so complicated. I need to take a technology class.

Whenever I get pulled out of my normal bubble, I get new perspectives. Well, I got a TON of perspective on this trip. I saw so many blessings in everyday life. A major miracle: no migraines. I typically have to take something for migraines every week, sometimes multiple times. That's on top of the preventative medication I take every day. Due to a horrendous mistake by my pharmacy, I ran out of my prevention medicine, AND I could not depend on my abortive migraine meds because of risk of drug interaction with a new medication my doctor had put me on. So I found this out the week before my trip. Three days before I left the country, I asked my home teachers (men in my church assigned to watch over me) for a priesthood blessing, because I was VERY nervous. After the blessing, I found a way of (legally, I promise) getting enough preventative meds to get me through my trip. The night before my flight, I had an awful migraine that left me hunched over in pain and incredibly nauseated....

I had to wait to write this post til I had distributed most of the gifts. But finally, the day has come. I owe pretty much everything I got to the kindness of friends and the help of my tour guides (see  melissatravels.com ). You see, I had no idea what things were worth, especially in a foreign currency, and then I had no idea where I should go. And of course, since I look like a foreigner, I am more likely to be charged foreigner prices. So how awesome is it that I got to go to all sorts of places I had no idea existed, and then have people bargain for me? Pretty Awesome. The first market I went to is probably the most epic. Old Delhi. I didn't buy anything there, but boy, if I had wanted to, I would have had no limits. There were all kinds of shops, and it was PACKED with people. At first we were on a rickshaw, but then we had to get off and walk because there was no room. In the streets of Old Delhi For the rest of my tour in North India, it seemed that we'd go si...

I admit I was concerned about the food as I was preparing for this trip. I am not a spicy fan. India is known for spices. In fact, there was this thing called the spice trade in the first millenium BC... Anyway, the food was an adventure all in itself! Firstly, I got overwhelmed by the amount. My hosts, be they family of friends or waiters in restaurants/hotels, seemed to enjoy feeding me. For example: I get to my first rest stop, and aunt Nikita asks if I would like breakfast. "No, they fed me on the plane." "Oh, well here are some chocolates and nuts. Do you want milk? How about tea? Do you like fruit?" Or, in Goa: "You only ate two naans! Eat more!" To avoid overstuffing my stomach while simultaneously not offending anyone, I learned some tricks. I'd say I was chewing gum, or sucking on a cough drop (which would ruin the taste of their excellent cooking), or that I had just brushed my teeth, etc. Secondly, I had a lot to learn on what I was...

My last post for this particular Indian theme! Hurray! One of the first things I learned in my capacity as a tourist in Goa was that it has a completely different cultural history than the rest of India. That's because Goa was a province of Portugal for nearly five centuries. Hence, Catholic churches. Church of St Francis of Assisi Basilica of Bom Jesus Saint Francis Xavier Kept within the Basilica of Bom Jesus is the tomb of a saint I've never heard of. The inside story on the relics of Saint Francis Xavier is that during one of the public displays of his body, an older woman bit off his thumb to start her own reliquary. So now there is a protective something-or-other to preserve the rest of him. I also went to the archaeological museum in Goa, next to the Church of St Francis. I learned about stuff, I'm sure. There were lots of paintings of governors, some with crazy hair-dos. There were some moderately-preserved carvings from pre-Portuga...

To complete the golden triangle in India, I traveled to Jaipur, the capital of the Rajasthan state. The name Jaipur means victory city, but the city is more commonly known as the pink city. From what the tour guide told me, this name came because a prince of some country was scheduled to visit Jaipur, and the Jaipur ruler told everyone to paint the buildings pink to make a good impression. Over time and with additional coats, this seems more terra cotta to me, but still impressive. In the first hour of entering the city, I got to do two importantly classic Indian things: see a snake charmer, and ride an elephant. I was so happy! Ghulabkali the elephant On to the architecture. The Amer Fort, also known as Amber Fort, impressed me with its scenery, the planning of creature comforts (heating chambers for water for spas, for example), and the architecture itself. Afore-mentioned water heating chamber One of the other impressive things: apparently...

I interrupt the adventures in India to share a nursing post. I had a new tracheostomy patient. Since surgeons had placed a fresh hole to his windpipe, he had some difficulty voicing his communication, and he was also at risk for aspiration (things going to the lungs instead of the esophagus). So he hadn't eaten in several days. But this particular day, he had just received the news that a speech therapist would be evaluating his swallow to check where the food was going (lung or stomach). He was very excited. He caught me in the hall as he was walking with his family, and mouthed to me, "I'm going to eat dinner tonight." He was smiling so broadly. Practically beaming. I said something along the lines of "That is awesome!" And then he mouthed to me "It's better than sex." I could be missing some parts of what he said, because he actually wasn't saying them, but I'm pretty dang sure that was the gist of the message. It's hard to g...