Hidy Ho Folks!
Another busy week down. We spent the entire week in the city at the other JV house, a close walk to language school. We had group language for two hours, and then individual lessons for two more each day. Every day last week rained, and rained hard, so it was always an interesting walk every morning. I loved the rain though, and at the times where I wanted it to stop, I had to remind myself that I was deprived of it for 6 years while living in Los Angeles. After that thought, I would jump in the middle of a large puddle and start kicking water at all the people passing by as I yelled "Be happy, it's raining, yahoo!" Ok not really.
Language school was great. They covered a ton of ground, maybe too much. By the third day we were already conjugating in the past tense, which was a little fast for me. There was a day or two when I got a little down because it wasn't sticking, but I just had to keep telling myself that I'd been learning it for less than a week, and that with practice and patience I would some day kick the languages ass! The hardest part is understanding what is being said to you. The sounds they make are sooo different than anything I'm used to, and the slightest variance on pitch or intonation can mean two vastly different things. We worked hard though, and we have one more week of intensive language classes. We're staying up in Godavari though, so that should be nice.
Other than language classes, we had dinner at the Maryknoll sisters' house. Sr. Chris and Sr. Rosemary live there, and it was nice getting to know them. They also served us a meatloaf with beef, which was so good to taste. Not getting too much meat here, so that 
was a treat. On another night, a guy named Santosh came over for dinner. Ok, some background. Molly, a new JV, is from Nebraska and is really close friends with a priest from Iowa. This priest started the SCOLA network, based out of Iowa, which is a network that broadcasts country specific content to one channel. So for example, on channel 22 you could see SCOLA Brazil from 9-12, SCOLA Turkey from 12-2, and SCOLA Greece from 2-5. It was basically used for education, and you can watch the news, sports, soaps, and other country specific content. So SCOLA has been trying to start SCOLA Nepal, and they found a guy, Santosh, who is the perfect guy to do it. He's around 22, and owns his own bookstore, and also runs a magazine called Today's Youth. It's entirely run by students with the exception of him, and they cover topics related to Nepal and its youth. When Sir Edmund Hillary came out here for the Everest Jubilee, Today's Youth was the only (I'm pretty sure) magazine that Hillary accepted interviews with. Pretty cool. So he's been getting into documentary stuff, and is going through the process of getting SCOLA up and running. Molly expressed interest for me, and I did the same when he came over for dinner. He's awesome and passionate, and I can't wait to start working with him. He might come up to Godavari in a few weeks to shoot the Mala. What's the Mala you ask?
Well, technically a Mala is like Rosary Beads, but for the Hindu religion. There are 108 beads, and you repeat your mantra that many times. But in this context, it relates to a giant celebration/holiday that happens once every 12 years. A long time ago, a Hindu Sage (holy man) was washing in the Godavari River in India. His begging bowls were washed away by the water, and they were lost. About 12 years later, he had a dream, and Shiva told him to got to Godavari. It was there, or here rather, that he came to the stream and found his begging bowls. So they believed that the Godavari River had a 12 year cycle. So what does that mean for us now. Many thousands of people from as far as India coming to wash in the 5 taps, or the same water where the bowls were found. It's absolutely crazy here. Our village has been turned into a temporary city. Yesterday was an auspicious day (they use that word a ton here...I think it's so funny, cause we never use that), meaning it was special, and it was estimated that 25 thousand people came through, on one tiny road leading up to the village, (about 8 miles) and walked through to the taps. The giant terraced field outside our house is now lined with vendors selling everything from food to clothes and everything in between. Two weeks ago everyone came and started building these "Storefronts" made entirely out of bamboo; they're pretty cool. There is a giant tent set up on the middle of the field, which looks like an Emergency Test Signal on the TV. Inside people play droning, repetitious music ALL DAY long as the sing and chant into crappy microphones and out of even crappier speakers. It's interesting to say the least; eating breakfast inside the house to the whaling KRISHNA, AHHH OHHHHHH AHHHHH KRISHNAAAAA. Yesterday we walked to the taps, and it was mayhem. The lines that lead to the taps were so long that we decided not to wait, but I did sneak up the hill, behind the taps, and got some pretty good video of everyone bathing and wading in what appeared to be pretty dirty water. Then I got kicked out. This will go on for the next three weeks, but the days won't always be as crazy as yesterday.
Ok, what else. Oh, I spent most of last week, after language classes, visiting doctors and X-Ray dudes and MRI peeps. My knee has been giving me a lot of trouble out here, with all the walking around and stuff. I've had this knee problem for years now, but every doctor in the states just told be to take advil and stretch it. Bastards. Before I left, I got orthotics, thinking that might solve the problem, but they don't do anything really. So every day I bounced around town, which helped me learn the city much better, and met with all these different people. 4 X-rays cost less than $5. Can you believe that? Nothing wrong with the bones, so I was referred to the MRI people to look at the tissue in my knees. The MRI was fun. I got dressed up in those little blue smocks and sat under a giant electric mixer looking thingy for 45 minutes as these droning, pulsating rhythmic sounds penetrated my skin to look for problems. The sounds were incredibly hypnotic, and actually put me to sleep. I could feel the rays vibrate my skin in that "I shouldn't be feeling these rays vibreate my skin" sort of way. When I got up on the bed, they strapped me down, and said not to move for the next 45 minutes. Of course right after that everything on me started itching.
The outcome was that I have a torn meniscus and a cyst on my right knee, and a possible torn meniscus on my left. Went back to the doctors today to meet with the surgery team so we could make a date, and they told me they were going to do arthoscopy to figure out exactly what the problem is (I guess MRI's provide highly accurate suggestions, but they can't really be sure until the actually go in there and dig around) and then, if need be, operate on it and get it all cleaned up. The right one, they said, based on the MRI and me talking about it, didn't seem like it was a problem, so they aren't going to do anything with that one. For those of you who are thinking right now: " What, surgery in a third world country, NOOOOOOO!!" Have no fear, another JV just had the same thing done to him about 6 months ago, and the surgeon is the same doctor that operates, and has been operating for a long time, on all of the Jesuits in town. He also graduated from the schools that we are teaching at (He's an old boy, as they call alums) and he did all of his training in the states. So this Tuesday I'll be going back in there to hopefully take care of this problem.
Ok, what else....Grant, the other male JV here in Nepal, who was going to be here for all of next year, just got sent home. Things didn't really work out at his job, so they decided that he should leave. Which means that after November, when Tim leaves, I'll be the only guy JV here. I'm alright with that though; all the guys I've written about so far, here in Godavari, are all really cool.
Last thing...ever since I arrived here, a little gecko comes down one of the walls right before I go to bed. It's like he's saying goodnight to me. The Nepali tradition, for a newborn, is to wait 11 days until a name sort of presents itself through the childs' actions. I decided to employ this technique, and about a week 
later I came up with a name. We named him Bijouli Bai. Bijouli means electricity, or flash...one night I was trying to take a picture of him, and I forgot to turn off the flash...the picture snapped and he was off running though the ceiling. I scared him. I was sorry. So eventually he came back down, and the girls and I thought that Bijouli would be a funny name. Bai means younger brother (many people here call other people simply older/younger brother/sister, or the appropriate name is tacked on to the end of someone's name). So, Bijouli (Bi-Jewel-EE) Bai (By) it is. I came back from the week in the city though, only to find out he had abandoned me, so forgive me if I'm a little choked up. During the week though, at the other house in the city, I was reading a book late at night (Into Thin Air, finished it loved it, I'm going climbing right now) and a gecko fell on my back from somewhere. That was right after I had finished killing a giant Cockroach with a reem of paper, so it kind of startled me. So it seems like I have some weird connection with geckos?
Peace people. Thanks for writing to me and updating me on your going ons.
Kvin