Got Milk?

This past event - Ambassadors for Children - was a 12 day event, which actually turned into a 14 day event with people arriving early and leaving late...and it drained me of a lot of my energy! I think with being sick, and it being the 2 month mark - everything had just seemed to lose its excitement and I was missing home more and more.
So the event started out - 50 people, lots of fun and energy! We had people from the UK, Scotland, USA, and India (3 different parts). So it was really fun to have Indian girls, to have people to help with the language barrier and get rickshaws...it was awesome. The event was great, we did the basic Indian culture/Pune introduction with them for a few days, and then started planning for the childrens camp we were running for 3 days. The kids came from Mobile Creches, an organization with hundreds of centres around Pune. The centres were a daycare for kids of construction workers around the city. Since the kids move around a lot, they try to keep spots open at the major development areas to accomodate the needs of the children. We all got a chance to visit one of the Mobile Creches near Sangam before the event to understand what the organization does and meet some of the kids.
So the participants really took over camp which left myself and the other PA's with a little bit more downtime as we weren't the coordinators and instead were just sort of finding resources and lending a hand. However I wasn't around for much of the kids camp to help out because on the second day they were here I got really really sick.
I had the afternoon off, and was taking it easy and when I woke up from siesta something was off, and I ended up being sick for hours and hours until the first aiders here decided it had gone too far and called the doctor to come see me. He recommended they take me to the hospital so I could get something to stop me from being sick, which was a good idea since by the time they tried to take me down the stairs and out the hallway to the car I had apparently turned a yellow/green colour. haha. So I went to the hospital and got the shot for my nausea. Turns out I got the shot from this cute male nurse who was there a few days earlier when I had taken a participant to the hospital for a check up. So there I am, yellowish green, completely dishevelled, and the cute guy recognises me! ugh. Just my luck. So after the shot, and the cute guy I was feeling a bit better and since the hospital had no beds available we went back to Sangam.
I expected to be tired, but better in the morning. Turns out I was completely off for 3 days afterwards because I just couldnt get back to normal. It was really bizarre - and now I'm gonna go check out a homeopath to see if I can build up my immune system or something because I don't ever want to be sick like that again!
So ya, if you're wondering why you havent heard from me...thats why!
So about halfway through my sickness after days of lying around in bed or watching tv I started SERIOUSLY craving things. Number one: a giant, ice cold, glass of skim milk! I couldnt believe it, but in 2 months thats the first time I had craved it. Then it was hot chocolate, Kraft Dinner, and gummies!
Ironically enough, karma must have come back around to me because that morning I got a call from one of the staff saying they had recieved a call from a guy from Toronto who knew my Dad and was coming to drop something off! So like an hour later two of my Dad's coworkers came to the centre with a package. I was still completely sick and not working - but I managed to fake healthy for a few moments to chat with them. They have a subcontracting business here in Pune so they were checking in on some of the business before heading out a few days later. So we chatted, they passed along the package, took a picture of me to make sure my Dad knew I was safe and alive and headed out. I don't think they had even reached the front steps before I started to well up with tears. It was the same feeling as when I am sick back home and talking to my Mom, I just lost all control. It was the best gift I have ever ever gotten! It had notes from my Dad, and two sisters, with a book, some movies I had requested, and candies that reminded me of being a little kid back home! It was incredible. Made me realise just how much I miss home, and how great it will be to come back in the fall.
So the rest of my sick days were spent watching the movies Karen sent me, reading a brilliant book called Shantaram (highly recommend it for anyone interested in Indian culture) and staring out my window fantasizing about air conditioning! haha.
I managed to get better yesterday, for the last day of the event...I seriously owe everyone I work with for picking up my slack for days, they were amazing!
We're just saying goodbye to the last of the group this afternoon, and then Christa and I are heading out to Splendour Country a resort somewhere nearby. We don't know much about it, but it's got an infinity pool, the last volunteers raved about it, and someone got married there...so we figure it must be nice! Hopefully I'll have some beautiful pictures to show when I get back :)