A better day

So still reporting from the U.S. in northern Illinois.

Started the morning with a quick interview with a Northwest Herald intern at Conscious Cup in Crystal Lake about service so far in the Peace Corps. Should be appearing tomorrow in the paper! Afterwards dad and I still had a lot of coffee left, so we sat around and talked for an hour. It was healing and at the end of our conversation, I felt a bit more optimistic. I asked randomly if he'd like to go to Evanston (a lengthy drive) just to check out one tiny store because it probably had the greatest likelihood of having Tibetan prayer flags - which I'm using to decorate my Ecuadorian room, despite the fact they should actually be hung outside. He jumped at it and said "Let's go!"

And our afternoon adventure began. We went home, hugged mom and went back out the door. First stop: His workplace, though it was mostly shutdown due to the holidays and lunchtime. Said a few hellos and continued on our way to Subway, getting a treat thanks to my family in Ohio!

Along the way we picked up just a few geocaches - those that were right along the road and quick to find - with a combined effort of his iPhone and my GPSr. 3 attempts; 3 finds.

Time was slipping so we skipped a bunch of other close caches and went right to the shop in Evanston. Despite its teeny size, it contained more books on Tibet, Buddhism and yoga than I ever thought existed. And what luck - they had strings of prayer flags.

Rush hour was fast approaching (present even during the holidays I guess) so we went almost straight home with a quick stop at REI to look at the clothes on sale and stare at climbing things to jog my mind and think if I needed anything. Nope. Pretty much set! Did find a small pair of my favorite pants of all time. It'll be nice to have pants that actually fit...

Right when we got home we rallied my mom and got ourselves over to Algonquin for some Indian food. Ohhh was I craving this stuff! The place was small, a bit crowded, and only had one guy cooking and one guy taking orders. Our order was... confusing. And didn't come quite as we'd planned. But it was tasty and I have a ton of leftovers. Though the price shocked me - for a small Indian place with ok food, I wouldn't have expected to pay almost half of what I get from Peace Corps each month to buy food and other necessities. I'm sure most Ecuadorians in my site would fall over backwards at such a price for just ONE meal.

Crazy.

Tomorrow: I fight the urge to run away from shopping. maybe.

Acts of kindness

Nothing much to report on the first half of the day, but eventually we geared up to get to the hospital for our daily visit with Nani. We stayed around just talking and visiting for a while until my uncle and his wife left. Mom and I should have noticed a few odd things Nani was doing and saying, but we chalked it up to the condition she was in.

I went downstairs to get tea and came back...when things really began to go haywire. She slipped into a short catnap, and when she woke up, was totally disoriented. She didn't understand where she was in the hospital, what happened, thought everyone was trying to kill her. She didn't even trust mom or me, and wanted my uncle back. Keep in mind that this is completely abnormal behavior for her, so it was a shock to mom and myself. The nurses moved her bed to a room closer to their station against her will, and I held her hand as she slowly got out of the episode. The strange thing is she knew the whole time what was going on and what was so wrong about it, but she couldn't stop herself.

My uncle & his wife came to relieve us and mom was naturally really upset, so once things were settled we had to go.

At home my parents sent me out on a late night errand to the 7-11 around the corner for diet coke (I HATE pop, and I encourage them to quit it but not tonight). The clerk is a sweet man who asked how I was. I automatically responded "Great!" with a big smile and instantly added "Well, I've had better days I guess." Asked if I wanted coffee... oh yes please. Grabbed a case of coke and a cup of coffee and, at the counter, the clerk said the coffee was on him tonight.

What was extra kind about this is I rarely ever need to go in this store. That little gesture was so touching to me and I really needed something like that.

So... just a reminder out there, you can really help someone out with random acts of kindness. Even something like free coffee. Ok, ESPECIALLY something like free coffee.

The second time I ever called 911

Hello from the hospital.

We keep saying this happens to pretty much every family.

Yesterday my mom and I went to my grandmother Nani's house to visit with her and her sister, but when we got there we found our aunt sitting in her car in the driveway. She explained Nani was busy or something and wouldn't let her in... it didn't make sense. We walked up to the door, mom dropped her bags and started trying to break down the door. Then I heard my Nani screaming inside - I heard "fell" from someone, and automatically called 911. Mom bounded around the house to the backdoor which was open, and made her way in with me on the phone dragging the neurotic dog. Just as I hung up with the dispatcher, I heard a fire truck siren around the corner. Nani and my aunt expressed doubts ("Who called the ambulance? ughh") and I wondered if this was overreaction... but after being an EMT an elderly person falling is enough to warrant medical attention.

They packaged her up and brought her to the hospital while we followed after a bit. Things were of course not so good in the hospital, and I'd never seen my grandmother so torn up. Never saw her cry until now. I held her hand and felt terrible. Really, what's going to happen? After xrays the orthopedist came in to announce she broke her hip and needed surgery the next day. It was an incredible feeling I can't even recall right now, but it was essentially equal to 'doom.'

Moved upstairs, doped up, and stayed until 8. She was probably going into surgery at the end of the day as an 'add on' patient.

This morning, we got a text from my uncle that was was going into surgery at 11. No way we could make it in time, so mom and I made our way to the hospital leisurely. Nani was just released from post op when we arrived, and was shaking in a cocoon of blankets. Things went just fine!

She's lucid now talking about her favorite movies. Feeling some pain around her hip. Looking much better though and beating up herself less for her fall. Here's hoping for a fine recovery. My grandmother's so brave.

SO for Peace Corps news...

I still haven't found anyone going to Ecuador. Where are you all? It wasn't a fluke being invited there, right? PC didn't mean Paraguay?

Two days after I got my invite kit, I sent in my personal passport, "official" passport application, and a couple passport photos. And after investigating more, it seems like Peace Corps will reimburse me for the cost of those photos. I wasn't really happy about giving up my personal passport, but then I also read PC will return that during staging.

And I put off one of the more difficult challenges - my aspiration statement. I browsed a bunch of statements online for inspiration and, just on the last requested day to have it done, I wrote it up and sent it in. I don't know why it was so hard... it was hard to be confident and vague at the same time, I guess, but it's possible.

So next step is sending in the media paperwork and waiting for updates on staging.