Non-event blog entry
This is not an interesting blog entry. You can stop here if you'd like. There will be no pictures. The following is simply a list of non-events that have happened in the weeks since our last posting, starting with why one would write a blog about nothing in particular:
1. Alex is sick. We finally derived the formula ... we each get very sick every other month. We alternate. That means each month, one of us gets sick. This is the third day of illness for Alex, each day progressively better than the last. However, he was still achey and miserable today, so I gave him a sleeping pill to put him out of his misery (with his consent). He is now snoring loudly. It is my turn next month.
2. Given the circumstances, we are each other's only source of entertainment, so when one of us falls ill (and drugged into sleep by the other), the other one is left to seek social interaction on their own, and flounders about in a lost, heartwrenching kind of way. Kind of like a siamese twin after surgery to remove the other twin. Since watching tv, window shopping, going for a jog, calling someone, or any other normal diversionary activities are not options, in this situation I resort to the internet. I have read the New York Times online cover to cover and searched just about anything I'm vaguely interesting in on Wikipedia. I now know everything a layperson needs to know about Islam, Bridget Fonda's filmography, and I finally got around to getting to the bottom of the present political geography of the former Yugoslavia. As in, is "Bosnia and Herzegovina" one country or two? The next search will have to be "Turks and Caicos". By the way, did you know that the song "Spoonman" by Soundgarden was really about a spoon man, a Seattle guy who played street music with spoons? Didn't you always think it was about something deeper?
3. Did you know that Alex and I have to speak English in a thick Indian accent to get people to understand us?
4. We got broadband a few weeks ago. We had given up hope, and apparently you have to give up hope and stop trying to get something to happen here. Anyhow, we've been spending our evening listening to NPR and WNYC podcasts. It is particularly trippy when Geetha, our sari-clad maid is preparing a hacked up chicken while listening to someone calling into the Leonard Lopate show about whether or not NYC recycles plastic berry containers. (No, it doesn't).
5. Did you know that the best way to catch a mosquito is to wet your hands and grab it in the air with one hand, much like the Karate Kid catching a fly with chopsticks? If you clap two hands together, they will almost always detect the current and make a quick getaway.
6. Alex had to have a foreign object extracted from his ear by one of the ENT surgeons this week. He bought earplugs here a few months ago, and a piece of one broke off and stayed in his ear. I took it out with ear plugs. The next night, the same piece broke off of the other earplug. This time it was too deep -- our ENT neighbor inspected it and had him come into the clinic the next day.
7. Alex has started to teach English in a school across the street. It happened like this: We walk by the school almost every day. The children cheer and follow us when we walk by. It is a simple structure -- 4 walls and a roof, and the children sit on the floor. One day, he poked his head in to say hello. The teacher asked him to stay and teach a lesson. She then asked him to come the next day, and the next. Now he is their English teacher!
Shucks, let's post some random pictures. It's just too easy with broadband!
This is not an interesting blog entry. You can stop here if you'd like. There will be no pictures. The following is simply a list of non-events that have happened in the weeks since our last posting, starting with why one would write a blog about nothing in particular:
1. Alex is sick. We finally derived the formula ... we each get very sick every other month. We alternate. That means each month, one of us gets sick. This is the third day of illness for Alex, each day progressively better than the last. However, he was still achey and miserable today, so I gave him a sleeping pill to put him out of his misery (with his consent). He is now snoring loudly. It is my turn next month.
2. Given the circumstances, we are each other's only source of entertainment, so when one of us falls ill (and drugged into sleep by the other), the other one is left to seek social interaction on their own, and flounders about in a lost, heartwrenching kind of way. Kind of like a siamese twin after surgery to remove the other twin. Since watching tv, window shopping, going for a jog, calling someone, or any other normal diversionary activities are not options, in this situation I resort to the internet. I have read the New York Times online cover to cover and searched just about anything I'm vaguely interesting in on Wikipedia. I now know everything a layperson needs to know about Islam, Bridget Fonda's filmography, and I finally got around to getting to the bottom of the present political geography of the former Yugoslavia. As in, is "Bosnia and Herzegovina" one country or two? The next search will have to be "Turks and Caicos". By the way, did you know that the song "Spoonman" by Soundgarden was really about a spoon man, a Seattle guy who played street music with spoons? Didn't you always think it was about something deeper?
3. Did you know that Alex and I have to speak English in a thick Indian accent to get people to understand us?
4. We got broadband a few weeks ago. We had given up hope, and apparently you have to give up hope and stop trying to get something to happen here. Anyhow, we've been spending our evening listening to NPR and WNYC podcasts. It is particularly trippy when Geetha, our sari-clad maid is preparing a hacked up chicken while listening to someone calling into the Leonard Lopate show about whether or not NYC recycles plastic berry containers. (No, it doesn't).
5. Did you know that the best way to catch a mosquito is to wet your hands and grab it in the air with one hand, much like the Karate Kid catching a fly with chopsticks? If you clap two hands together, they will almost always detect the current and make a quick getaway.
6. Alex had to have a foreign object extracted from his ear by one of the ENT surgeons this week. He bought earplugs here a few months ago, and a piece of one broke off and stayed in his ear. I took it out with ear plugs. The next night, the same piece broke off of the other earplug. This time it was too deep -- our ENT neighbor inspected it and had him come into the clinic the next day.
7. Alex has started to teach English in a school across the street. It happened like this: We walk by the school almost every day. The children cheer and follow us when we walk by. It is a simple structure -- 4 walls and a roof, and the children sit on the floor. One day, he poked his head in to say hello. The teacher asked him to stay and teach a lesson. She then asked him to come the next day, and the next. Now he is their English teacher!
Shucks, let's post some random pictures. It's just too easy with broadband!
The first piece of earplug, the one that did not require an ENT specialist.
Taking the train on a day-trip to Chennai.
Alex's feet in the foreground, and woman enjoying the scenery.
Our milk man milking a cow -- these are owned by other villagers, who contract out their cows for milking and distribution.
A local. Quite an elegant headpiece!
Geetha, in the blude sari, invited us to her home for dinner. She offered Alex and jasmine flower.
Her home, at right, is very simple but has a fabulous view of surrounding hills. Although the walls are made of mud and the roof is thatch, she has a large flat-screen television next to her bed!
Alex loves to show Geetha video footage of her village. Occasionally, we digress. She shares our taste, as she absoluately loved a YouTube clip of a shrimp running on a treadmill to the Benny Hill theme. She particularly enjoyed the music -- further evidence that the Benny Hill theme is a universal language and can unite the world in peace and harmony.
Walking on hot coals in the local village. The "fire-walking" was to bring rain. Thankfully, we had some good rains this year, with no need for rationing water.
Charred toenails after walking on hot coals.
Alex helping to lay a brick wall. 
There are many stray dogs in the area. We found a puppy seemingly near death, so we brought it home for a bath and resuscitation. We could only keep it for a night, as it had visible worms in its turds, and was acting rabid.
posted by Alex and Jeeyung at 11:19 PM
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