Hi everyone!!!

Well here I am again, home safe and sound in Toowoomba, but I thought that since I haven't written in so long, I would just write one final entry. The last two weeks in India were very difficult to get to an internet cafe, and when I did get to one, the computers were probably older then the first one that Mum bought us in 1997!

So I will go back in time, until about the 15th or so of December, when I wrote in my last entry. That weekend, we went to stay a night in Kanjirappally, which is about an hour away from Fr Thomas'. That night I stayed with a family that owned 4 bakeries, so the food was quite good, though the communication was very strained! With Fr Thomas away for the night, I was without my faithful translator, so what else to do but to sit and smile awkwardly at eachother? Oh, and pray for 1.5 hours in Malayalam. Here, I got to experience my first (and unfortunately not my last) squat toilet, and tried some putt, or rice cakes and honey for breakfast. I also saw a very impressive cake in the bake house, made purely of hard white icing stuff, a replica of the shrine outside on the street.

The next day, we visited Fr THomas' cousin, where I got to nurse an adorable little (I think it was a) girl. Babies are so sweet over there. We then hopped on the bus for a 2.5 hour trip into the High Ranges of South India, which was an extremely enjoyable trip. We went up so high, and the scenery was just beautiful. We hopped off at Kumily, where we did a little shopping, before deciding that we were hungry. So Fr Thomas and I went into a restaurant, where we had mutton (goat) curry and parotta bread - my new favourite. Though Naan bread still rates very highly! After filling ourselves up to the point where we were curled over walking out, we caught a bus back 4km or so to St Augustine's Hospital, with an attached convent. Here, Fr THomas has two cousins, one about 40, and the other in her 60's. She, unfortunately, is very sick with cancer, or malignancy, as it is called in India. While Fr Thomas visited her, another sister took me for a tour around the hospital. It was here that I saw the 650g premature baby. It was so tiny! It wasn't properly developed and they just had it under a heater, poor thing. I also talked to various other patients, and was shown their facilities. These facilities are supposedly some of the best, and I was ashamed. This hospital had just bought a ventilator, which was a very rare item in Indian hospitals! And Australians complain about 4 hour waits in emergency! In India, the people die on the doorstep if they can't afford to pay the 17Rs to be admitted for 1 day.

Anyway, we then went to prayer in the chapel, before heading on down to dinner. Just what we needed. We couldn't tell the nuns that we had eaten less than three hours earlier, so we just sat at the table, and tried not to look at eachother so we didn't start laughing. The maids had cooked some meals especially for us - the rest of the nuns weren't even allowed to eat them, and we were so full! I ate all that I could, before every sister just about commenting on what a small eater I am! If only they knew! After dinner, I had a blissful hot shower (the first since I'd been in Kerala), and hopped into a comfortable, warm bed. It was fantastic! Especially as the high ranges are so cold and I didn't pack anything warm.

THe following day, a sister showed us around the gardens of the hospital and convent. It was very lovely. We then went and visited the church, met another Fr THomas, and headed off to Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, at Thekkady, 4km from Kumily. At the sanctuary, we saw monkeys playing, and then went for a 2 hour boat ride, which was quite enjoybale, though we didn't see any wildlife, bar a bird or two.

After the sanctuary, we went and had some lunch, then went and visited a baby elephant, born the day before. It was so cute! We rode an elephant for half an hour too, which was a highlight of the holiday. We then did a little shopping, where I bought some tea and other things, and visited another church. SHopping with a nun definitely has its advantages - I got discounts at most stores, and they didn't even try to up the price on me!

I then got a very welcome call from Mum, before we headed back to the bus at about 6pm for our 4 hour trek home. What a day!

The following day, Tuesday, we went into Kottayam to do some shopping. I went with Kunju, Fr Thomas' sister in law, who lives in Saudi Arabia as a nurse. She bought me a churidar, which is traditional North Indian dress which has made its way down to South India. We had some delicious masala dosa for lunch before heading home.

On Wednesday, Preethi and Shyni, two of Fr THomas' neices, took me to Alleppey, a sweet little seaside village, which was badly affected by the tsunami. THings are fairly well back to normal there now, though it isn't hard to imagine the terror that everyone must have felt as it happened. That was also a long day, we got home late at night.

On Thursday, we 'took rest', (you do that a lot in India), before visiting Theresa, Fr THomas' sister, her husband, and her daughter and daughter's husband. Her daughter has had thyroid cancer, and has just returned home after a six month stay in hospital. She looks quite well now, though. I met Maria, who is Theresa's neighbour, she lives and studies in Bangalore, which is in the state Karnataka. She lives in a catholic hostel, and was telling me of the rules there. They must attend mass at 5.30am everyday, if they don't, they are punished by sitting with the nuns and saying the rosary five times! Imagine uni students over here! They'd just walk out if such strictness was imposed! They can't leave the hostel at all only to go to uni. Social lives, even shopping for necessities, is not allowed.

On the Friday, I went into Kottayam with John and Kunju again. We picked up my blouse for the sari, and then I met Elsie and her daughter, Neethu, who took me to Kumarakom. Here, there is a bird sanctuary, which again was very pretty, though we didn't see any birds! We went punting in a boat, which was extremely relaxing and enjoyable. I stayed the night at their house, before catching a bus back to Fr Thomas' with Neethu the next day, for another rest day. That was the day that I wrote in a quick entry.

On the Sunday, it was Christmas Eve, so they let off lots of crackers. I had a cold on these days, which sucked a little, though I was ok. We went to midnight mass, which went for over 2 hours, and in the middle of it, everyone left the church and went for a walk around the block! I think the idea was to symbolise the procession when everybody was happy at the birth of Jesus Christ. But I'm not sure, because it's extremely difficult to get answers to questions in India!

On Christmas day, we slept in before a relatively non-eventful day. Various visitors dropped over, and as it was the evening before the jubilee, they cooked tapioka and biriyani, because that is the traditional thing to do the night before a large celebration.

On Tuesday, it was Fr THomas' jubilee. I had about 5 people dressing me in my sari! I felt like it was my wedding or something! Over 2000 people attended, the mass went for over 2 hours, and then there were speeches. I made my speech, without any major mistakes (like tripping and losing my sari), which was good! We then had lunch, which was.... wait for it.... curry and rice! Honestly, they have no variation! It was ok though, and I ate my first meal of rice purely with my right hand. I can do the bread no problem, but I usually avoided rice with my hands if I could, because it got so messy! In homes, I could ask for cutlery, but that wasn't possible with the caterers catering for so many! So, I tried not to think of all the places my hands have been as a nurse, and mixed it all up with my fingers! Oooooh!!!

THat evening, we had a steady parade of visitors, so I met lots of people. Most of their names have long left my memory!

On Wednesday, we went into Trivandrum, or Thiruvananthapuram, as it is called by the locals. This is the capital of Kerala, and was a 6 hour drive each way. When we got there, we visited the beach and a zoo, and had lunch. It was a pretty good day, though it wasn't anything different to what I had already seen.

On Thursday, I went into Kottayam again with Kunju and John and spent pretty well the whole day at the gold shop. I ended up buying two rings and a chain for Zachary and one anklet for myself. It took forever! They don't have customer service like we do! I also finished my shopping for gifts. Fr THomas had gone to Kanjirappally again, to attend more ordinations, as they were being held two a day for all of the week before and after Chrissie.

On Friday, we 'took rest', I was itching to do stuff as my time in India was dwindling, but the day passed not too slowly. When Fr Thomas got home Friday night, I showed him my gold, and then my anklet conveniently broke. THe next day, I was supposed to be going to Deepa's, so I was extremely upset about the chain.

On Saturday, I went back into Kottayam with Kunju and John to have my anklet replaced. Grrr!!! Kunju also found some gold she couldn't live without, so we spent another 4 hours in the gold shop! We saw a lady buying gold for her wedding. SHe probably had about a kilogram of it! THat was an experience.

We then went and had masala dosa again, which was great, before heading to Kunju's parent's house to say hi and watch part of Saddam Hussein's hanging on TV. THey then dropped me to Deepa's parents house. At 3pm on Saturday, there was a curfew in Kerala because of Saddam Hussein's hanging. We didn't leave the house because of violence on the streets. Everyone was so angry with the Americans, and they were concerned that I would be mistaken for American.

So I spent Saturday night and until about 5pm Sunday with Deepa and her son and her parents, which was fantastic. We didn't go out at all, but it was so good just chatting to her. Her and Yohan and I sat up playing UNO and other games until after 11, which was just fun. On Sunday morning, Deepa's mum went to church at 7am, for 2 hours. We were lucky enough to sleep in! Deepa's Dad and her and Yohan and I went to visit a church on the way back to Fr Thomas', where we prayed and talked. That was really special, and meant much more to me then another service not in my language. We talked more about the cultural differences, which was really interesting. Some of the things they do there! Honestly!

Back at Fr THomas', I said my goodbyes to Deepa - she is such an amazing person, before having duck curry, specially cooked for me by Kunju. Buying the duck with its head still on didn't do much for me though! THat evening, I tied up all of the loose ends, before heading to bed at 11.30pm.

We were up at 5am on Monday, to begin the drive to the airport, via an ordination that Fr THomas wanted to attend. I went to the internet cafe during that time, which was good. At the airport, I booked in my luggage, which was 33kg. They didn't say anything, so neither did I! I first flew to Bangalore via Cochin, where I then spent 7 hours. THis is the stupidest airport I have ever been in! I left Arrivals with all of my luggage, then went to get into Departures, only to find the security guard told me to go away until 7pm. So I went to get back into Arrivals, but after leaving there, you can't go back in there either. Great! So I went and sat outside for a while. I then began to get sick, so I went and made my way back into arrivals so I could go to the loo, but there was no left luggage counter. So while I went to the toilet, I had to leave my luggage unattended outside. I then went back to Departures at 7pm, to find that the guard had changed his mind. I now wasn't allowed in til 10pm. So I went back out again, and had to sit in the gutter for a further 3 hours, as there wasn't even seats, and the only thing to buy to eat was cake. Exactly what I didn't feel like when I had vomiting and diarrhoea!

So I hung it out for another 3 hours in the gutter, before finally making my way into Departures and booking in my luggage. I then went and sat in the lounge, where they had yet another cake shop. So I didn't eat, but bought two books. One was on the state of India's health care. As if what I had seen wasn't bad enough, the figures are just shocking! 10% of Indian children die before their 5th birthday! And about 500 in every 10000 women die during childbirth!

I then finally boarded the plane, where I got a window seat with leg room. It was really good, though I was vomiting on the plane also, which wasn't the most enjoyable experience. Seeing the sunrise from the skies was just glorious though. It was like I was in heaven.

At Singapore, I met another boy who came up to me because he knew my face. He's Indian, and had been back to visit his family in India (and tried to find a wife also), and it turns out he was a lecturer at USQ. He spent most of the time piping onto me about his long list of qualifications and how he was looking for a wife. He also pointed out that the wife doesn't have to be Hindu. I think he was trying to hint at something, but I chose to be naive and not take any hints! He also didn't seem to see the ruby ring that I had bought and conveniently placed on my engagement finger! Oh well! He hasn't given up yet, I have received another message just now!

Anyway, after we caught the skytrain to the other terminal, I had to walk about 1.5km to my gate, stopping on the way to be sick in toilets. I finally arrived, and sat down for about 10 minutes, as I felt terrible and had no energy. Then I got up to go into the gate, and the man says 'To Bangkok?' Crap! They had changed the gate since I had collected my boarding pass, and I had about 2km to walk to the new gate! And less than 10 minutes before it shut! So I went for this funny walk, I must have looked stupid, because I couldn't stand up straight for the pain in my stomach. I wasn't gonna miss my flight home though! So I finally got to the right gate, only just, and they let me through with a few rude stares. I didn't complain though!

When I finally sat on the plane, it was just great! I had made it onto my final flight, I had about 40kg of luggage when the limit is 27 and I didn't pay a cent in fees, and I was just about home! The flight home wasn't too bad, and I found some toothbrushes in the draw, which really helped to freshen up the disgusting taste in my mouth.

I got off the plane without being terrorised, got through customs with pretty well no dramas, especially considering that I had about 40 wooden items plus food and sea shells, and met my beautiful Mum and Dad! How good it was to see them! We drove back to Toowoomba (I had to think twice to wear my seatbelt), and dropped in to see Nan and Zac, before heading off to my favourite bed in the whole world - mine!

So that just about sums up my trip. My highlights were the two times that I stayed with Deepa - they were just so good, visiting St Thomas Mount, the elephant ride and visiting the hospital. The foods that I loved over there and you can feed me everyday here are - pineapple juice freshly squeezed, masala dosa, parotta bread, naan bread, egg curry and chappatti bread. The foods that I never want to see for at least the next six months are rice, fried fish, rice, vege curry, bitter vege curry, rice, banana, rice and deep-fried banana. Oh, and did I mention rice?!!?

Do I want to go back to India? Definitely! I would like to go back and do a quick catch up with the people I met, spend more time with Deepa, and see the highlights of Northern India, specifically the Taj Mahal. It is such a culturally rich and diverse place, and it affects every sense!

THis is about the time where I should thank Fr Thomas. He has given me such an amazing opportunity to experience this place and meet some amazing people - and so I am so grateful for this - I would never have had this experience without him!

So it is here that I finish, I would recommend India to anyone who is up for a challenge - though don't go by yourself to start with if you can!

I hope you have all enjoyed reading about my time! Thanks!

Love Melody