Upon Arrival/ Blog form June 9

Well, I arrived in India on Saturday, June 5th. I was met at the airport by Lama Tenzin and Swami G - “double good karma” as Lama T said - two holy men to drive me to CED.
The orphanage is about a 6 hour drive from Delhi but it took us forever - my plane arrived at 10:45 and it took a little while to go through customs and then a little longer to get my bag. I didn’t really sleep very well on either of my plane rides and I was looking forward to staying the night in Delhi just to sleep but the plans had changed and we drove back that night. We stopped a couple of times for the drivers to sleep for an hour or two at a time - I have decided the people in India have the superpower of sleeping anywhere if they are tired. We pulled over at a couple of food stands - where the big truck drivers stop.
So Sunday I met the children and rested a little in the afternoon - I napped basically until dinner time. Monday I went with Lama Tenzin, his sister and her two boys to Rishikesh which is located on the Ganges. We walked across the two suspension bridges and walked around the markets. The riverside areas had many beautiful Hindu temples. We were there at night and it was very nice to hear the prayers and see the people putting their offerings of banana leaf boats filled with colorful flowers and incense into the Ganges. Later we drove to a different place where the river was very strong and there were all sorts of bathers. The boys took a dip but I wasn’t quite up for it. Being a red-headed foreigner attracts some attention so I thought the last thing I need to do was jump in the Ganges.(most of the attention is in the form of people wanting to take a picture but not asking to take a picture - pretending to take a picture of a friend and waiting until I am right in front and then snapping....I was very proud of my “oh, excuse me” manners as I dipped below each time saying - “sorry, don’t want to be in the way...HA! ”) The belief is that if you submerge yourself 3 times in the Ganges then all of your sins are cleansed. I settled for dipping my feet :)
The whole time we were in Rishikesh I had a horrible headache which I figured was really just the jet lag which is a whole new experience for me. We had dinner in Rishikesh and after we had been down to the bathing place on the Ganges we headed home. I almost made it back to the orphanage before I had to throw up - almost....
and so began the “Delhi belly” ( I will spare you the details but if you are truly curious I bet you could google it). I was up for most of the night and slept all day yesterday and I am only beginning to think that any food other than dry corn flakes might be okay. ( and all I can say is thank God for cornflakes). I did eat a piece of bread for breakfast which is major progress in my opinion. So, as far as not trying to take ALL that medicine I packed - well, we shall see how that goes. I’m on the Cipro now and hopefully that will help.
So, that’s where I am and what’s happening. Lama T is sharing a lot of information with me about the organization and the children. I will share that soon but I want to get it all straight in my head before I start sharing.
Please comment on my posts so I can have some contact with you all - I feel very disconnected right now and that would be very helpful!