One is the loneliest number

There is only one gorilla in this entire sub-continent of a country. His name is Polo and he is 36 years old. He was a gift from the Dublin Zoo. The folks here are trying to find him a sweetheart, but none of the other zoos in the world want to part with their gorillas. He has been "alone" since 2000, the year his former gal pal, Sumathi, died.

From the article...

"He is not very happy. The few joys he enjoys are bathing and searching for food that his keeper hides in blocks of ice or in bamboo to keep him energized," Singh said.

For the prospective mate, Singh says Polo is good-natured and responds to commands in both the local Kannada language and English. (Polo is also 6 feet tall, dark-haired and bilingual.)

"He is in fine health, but lonely," Singh said. "After eight years, anyone would be."

Too bad there is no speed dating for gorillas. And guess where I read this? On the Houston Chronicle website!

Hair Fall

You remember how I told you that people said my hair would fall out here? Well, they were right. It has been frightening for me (and Jerry) to see all my hair on the bedroom floor, clogging up the bathroom drain and in my hairbrush. People also said that the hair fall would be very noticeable to me, but not to those around me, which has been the case.

The reason for the hair fall (the phrase used here) is the bad quality of water. There are lots of minerals and some arsenic in the water here. I have even heard of some expats using bottled water to shower/bathe. And it is not just expats who are affected. I see many commercials on TV for products to prevent hair fall all the time. And interestingly enough, I see product displays for these "solutions" in places like bookstores.

Last month I had an ayurvedic body massage, which is basically ayurvedic herbal oils massaged into your skin all over your body, including your scalp. Well, I noticed that my hair did not seem to fall out as much after that. Then, I learned that several of my co-workers massage oil into their scalps at least once a week and leave it in overnight. So, guess what? I am doing that now, too. And guess what? It is working! Here is a picture of the oil I am using. And Himalaya is pronounced "hi-MAH-lee-ah" here. The featured ingredients are bhringaraja, amalaki, methi, neem and bilva.

Zac Efron night at the Mak flat

It did not really start out that way and we not even fans of his, but we ended up watching two movies with him in them. So, here is the story of Zac Efron night and being cheered up by musicals.

One of my dear friends Lindsay was just cast in a production of High School Musical (HSM) in New Hampshire. We are so committed to seeing Lindsay in all her productions AND we love HSM, so we were trying to figure out a way we could go to New Hampshire during our furlough this winter to see her. However, we talked to her tonight and the show is in late November and we do not get to the US until Dec 18th. We did look on the web for things to do in the NH town and we could have also enjoyed brewery tours and Bingo games in addition to seeing Lin in the musical. (I guess we will have to settle for St. Arnold's Brewery and Family Bingo Hall in Houston.)

Anyhow, all the talk of HSM made me want to watch it, so watch it we did. We have the encore edition on DVD and watched the sing-along version. It is not the best of musicals, but it is so cute and entertaining. We even went to the concert tour in Houston at the Toyota Center! Sharpay is my favorite, followed by Ryan. And their rendition of It's Hard to Believe is my favorite song followed by Stick to the Status Quo. It was so fun watching a fun musical, that I thought of watching Hairspray afterwards. I love that movie. I remember going to the theater and from the first line of the opening song, my mouth turned into a big smile and I KNEW that I was going to enjoy the movie.

Well, I just finished watching Hairspray and felt so uplifted in my spirits. (Mimi - a big thanks for buying it for me!) The songs and dancing are great and the storyline is funny and inspiring. It made me feel like I could tackle the city of K. It reminded me of something I learned in a training on self-care. Of course, we all need to take care of ourselves, but this training was specifically for people in abnormally stressful situations and I think ours fits that scenario. One of the suggestions was to watch more comedies, to laugh more, because laughter reduces stress. Well, I think that fun musicals do that and even more for me. My heart literally felt lighter and more inspired by watching these two films, especially Hairspray because the plot and songs involve standing up and fighting for needed change.

So, thank you High School Musical and Hairspray!

Diarrhea

Yes, this is will be a little gross, so read at our your own peril.

I should be at church this morning, but instead I am at home and Jerry is at church. I had really bad diarrhea last night. I think it was because of a village trip we took and some food I ate, in particular a wedge of apple that I did think twice about, but decided to partake to be polite. (When we first got here, we did not eat fresh produce for 3-4 months.)

Well, I started thinking last night that this is not a good place to have diarrhea even though eating/drinking here gives me diarrhea quite often. I have it maybe 1-2 times a week. Anyhow, there are no places here to stop and run into the bathroom. In the US, there are fast food places galore that have at least decent bathrooms. Plus, even if you can find a bathroom here, it will probably be not very nice, especially if you have to poop.

So, my stomach this morning is feeling a little weird and it is a 10-20 minute drive to church AND the bathroom at church is literally right next to where people sit. In our church, we sit on the floor and people actually lean against the bathroom door for back support. And once you open the bathroom door, the squat toilet is right there. And I have enough trouble trying not to get pee on my feet or shoes... I have had only some success in that area so far!