For Christmas Shaun got bronchitis.
After struggling through a scary night with great breathing difficulty (note-to-self: do not get sick in small rural village outside of the hours of 10 – 4. There are no medical facilities.), we were the third in line at the doctor’s house the following morning. When we finally got to the front, instead of conducting an examination, the doctor whipped out his camera and started taking photos…a memento of the first foreigner who has been to his clinic. By the time we reached home, the entire village knew that Jennifer’s MR. was sick, so people came to the Jesuit house to wish him well.
This Christmas marked my eighth Catholic Mass. Of this eight; only once have I ever heard it in English – all the other times (apart from one German and one Latin Mass) have been in Konkani, the language spoken in Goa and Southern Maharashtra. Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve was no different. Apart from references to Jeysu Krist I had no clue what was going on. After Mass, however, I had a bit more of an idea: we all stood outside, scarves tied over our ears to keep warm, and played “Housie” – Ajra’s equivalent of Bingo: First Prize was a laying hen. Second was a bottle of beer and third was a bottle of Fanta.
Being one of the few foreigners who have been to the place; and due to the fact that I have, at some stage over the past three years, taught the majority of school-aged children in the village; I am very well known in Ajra. The kilometre walk into town can take anywhere from 10 minutes – 3 hours, depending on how many times you stop for tea. I am very used to crouching in single roomed houses, sipping sweet tea and nibbling home-cooked goodies or Parle-G biscuits…often, my communication with our host does not go beyond the pleasantries of How are you, or Your tea is very nice (the phrases my Marathi is limited to).
But we smile and giggle and laugh with each other; and drink tea, tea and more tea (Which would ultimately make me pee, pee, pee and a foreigner needing to go to the toilet in a rural village is a big event which requires numerous attendees).
Unlike other places in India, Religion is no bar: Shaun and I drank tea with Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike. Our record was eight cups of tea before 11am (which equals about 16 teaspoons of sugar…my teeth almost fell out).
We also spent a day in the library set up by Tara.Ed, cataloguing books and stocking the new additions we had brought with us (Donated by the lovely Joy!).
And so, the burning question you have all been waiting for: What was in our Christmas stocking?
A can of deodorant, a homemade, yellow wedding wall hanger and a month old kitten (but I had to give him back)
What else I could possibly want for Christmas!
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