Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,
but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,
but for the heart to conquer it.

- Rabindranath Tagore

Inspirational Music

Monday, August 10, 2009

Well now, lets see what this summer has been like...

So, the last update I seem to have written was towards the end of my stay in Denver. Oh, how things change. I am now in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) India, but not without making a few stops has yours truly gotten from there to here.

Let's start with the end of Denver. I drove home to Norfolk but decided I was getting bored so I totalled my truck to make things a bit more interesting. I did, however, overlook my need for it as transport to Tennessee the next week so it was regrettable timing. Well, as I always say "Bash on Regardless." That last sentence was a lie, I only found that phrase this year in Hyderabad and find it intriguingly vague, yet wholly entertaining. So I flew to Tennessee instead of driving. This meant getting picked up by a very good buddy in Nashville and a visit to the Burn. This would be the burn unit in Vanderbilt. It was incredible to go back...to walk through the doors I had been taken out on a stretcher only months before to the applause of many incredible individuals on the nursing staff. I was able to see some of the nurses who I knew well and even eat supper with my friend Liz who is one of the most caring people I know and a very good nurse to me. Then I stayed with Danny (who, by the way, I met in the Burn as he was also electrocuted last fall) and visited Cleveland and saw a few friends before they went to Central America or something. I think they were doing some sort of missions trip, haha. They were going on a Medical Missions trip through the University. The I went to Bonnaroo with Danny and his crazy fun friends for almost a week. 80000 hippies is too many to be in one place. Then we (Danny, Doug, and myself (Doug would be one of Danny's friends who i would now call a friend)) road tripped back to Nebraska with them staying for a few days before they continued on to the west and the mountains. I then made a weekend trip to Wichita to visit my good friend Nate Purdum with Charlie and Jason. Then spent the next extended weekend in Seattle with my Aunt and Uncle. We also scooted up to Whistle, BC (thats in Kanada) for a day which was awesome. Then I was back in Norfolk for a week or so to enjoy the county fair and my friends and family. At one of these intervals at home I managed to buy another car, this time a car not a truck. Then I went to Sunshine Festival with my friends Joy and Lee. Got back Saturday and then Wednesday July 22 or so I flew to Mumbai. I had a wonderful experience there kicking it off with getting left at the airport at 2am and having to find the number for my host but eventually catching up the next day. I also met a few english bloke at the Cafe Leopold as well as spent a day at an AIDS clinic. Then to Hyderabad where I was again forgotten at the airport but just caught a cab to the base. Spent the week at our school getting to know my boys a bit more with the Nebraska team. I would like to note that I drove a scooter as well as a manual Jeep on Indian roads for several km. Yep, on the left side of the road and everything. Crazy fun, eh Anthony. Then we came to Kolkata the team left friday and I've been staying with a friend from Norfolk at some friends flat here (by friends I mean Melissa arranged to stay with them but we only just met them here in Kolkata). I visited Mother Theresa's resting place and the home of the Missionaries of Charity as well as worked at Prem Dan, one of the homes she established. I have also seen quite a bit more but do not have the time to elaborate. Next I travel home to Norfolk and then two days later move to Cleveland, TN for the fall semester at Lee University! It is also of note that I will be getting evaluated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for my shoulder and its adamant lack of nerves over the first weekend in September.

Well, there you have it, the rest of the story, well, for the last 2 months that is.