Wednesday during lunch, Rachel and I ate quickly. We had a bit of exploring to do! We walked down the street to look around in a few of the little stores, hoping to find some nice souvenirs to bring home. After looking around for a bit, Rachel found some beautiful hand crafted wooden elephants while I settled on a few cards to send home as I mulled over actual gift purchases. Shortly after lunch I began to feel sick, thinking I was getting a migraine. Rachel and I left work early so I could lie down. After a lovely 3-hour siesta, I woke up hungry for dinner. However after a quick dinner, it was all I could do to make it back to bed. I was so tired even after my nap. I fell asleep quickly but had a lot of trouble sleeping that night. In the morning I found out why. I had a fever of 103.7°F! That explained why I was feeling so bad, but I was not thrilled to be sick this far away from home! After a quick email to tell Mr. Kiran that I would not be coming into work today and a distressed skype-chat with my mom, I took some medicine, gulped down some ice water, and jumped straight back into bed.
After Rachel made sure I had everything I would need, she said goodbye and headed off to work. The only problem was that as I heard her turn the key to lock the door, I realized that she had just locked me in! Even though I jumped up to bang on the door and catch her attention, she was long gone. With a phone with no minutes and Internet only accessible by sitting in the hall outside, I realized that I had no way of contacting anyone! I quickly talked myself into realizing that this wasn’t a problem, I mean, all I wanted to do was sleep anyway.
Then I got a few phone calls from the office telling me that a car would be coming by to take me to the doctor’s office. Ok, now this was a problem. What was I going to do? I could hear myself already, “Sorry, I can’t come to the doctor. I am locked in my room.” So after deciding against hoping for the cleaning lady to come by in time, I scrambled around the edges of the room, hoping to pick up the wireless signal. I was in luck! In the bathroom on top of the washing machine, I could pick up the Internet! So after informing Rachel of my plight, she hurried back to free me.
By the time the car arrived to take me to the doctor, my fever had gone down a bit, but I was still relieved to see it come. If I was getting some odd Indian disease, I at least wanted to know what it was! The woman who picked me up told me that it was her job to take sick or injured employees to see the doctor. Her warm smile and motherly nature made her perfect for the job. After a short drive, we arrived at a run down little place with a sign boasting Dr. Pai’s name. After removing our shoes before entering, the woman escorting me told me that we could go in to see Dr. Pai now. As we peeked around the corner, a white haired man sitting behind a desk motioned for us to continue into the disheveled office. He told me to sit in the chair beside him and started asking me questions. Without so much as taking my temperature, he decided that I had the flu. “Our rains got to you, didn’t they,” he teased. He shuffled around on his desk among the different pills sprawled about and picked out a few in a brown casing and a few in blue. Coming to a grand total of 100 Rs. ($2) for the visit, we walked back out of the office after thanking Dr. Pai. As we drove back I laughed as I thought about the experience of a doctor’s visit here compared with one at home. Rachel’s face when I arrived only 30 minutes after I’d left echoed my own surprise at how quickly the visit had gone.
I took the rest of that day and the next to sleep and rest, hoping that this would pass quickly. Thankfully, it did! I came in to work Saturday where it seemed like everyone in the building knew that I was sick. After several well wishes I finally made it to my desk. I met with Mr. Kiran, who also expressed his concern, and received the details for my next assignment. After completing my first cost sheet, Mr. Kiran and I decided that I should tackle one a little more complex. I again met with Mr. Nagesh who is in charge of costing. He showed me a booklet laying out plans for upscale apartments. I am to account for the costs associated with printing this book, including everything from the paper to the binding to the silver embossing on the front cover. I guess I better go get started!
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