It's almost the start of another work week for us. Saturday turned out to be a busier day at the hospital than all last week, and for that, and that only, we're thankful that we didn't go to Nagpur. A man in status asthmaticus came in on Friday, got better with treatment, and then all the sudden stopped breathing Sat morning. Dr. Rashmi intubated him and ventilated him manually with an ambu bag. In the States, there would be a machine doing the breathing for him but here, a person has to stand there and squeeze the plastic bag continuously...for hours! The pt then started having seizures, which we treated with Dilantin, and then he started breathing short gasps on his own. He was transferred by ambulance to a bigger hospital in Amaravati. Another seriously ill patient came in on Friday; she was a patient with pancreatic cancer. She was deteriorating and the doctors didn't know if she'd make it so had to be with her the whole time. Then a ten year old tribal boy came in with severe grease burns on his face and body that he'd incurred the night before! I don't know the exact situation but I couldn't believe that the parents brought him in so late. Much to our relief, his corneas had been spared. Wow. What a weekend.
We're heading over to Dr. Asha and Dr. Steve's house for his 50th birthday party celebration. Laurel and I are taking over chocolate cheesecake (sort of). She did a good job of substituting things that we had for things we didn't have--like cream cheese and whipped cream, sort of..umm...essential. Laurel's quite the cook! And so is Manisha, the Anands' daughter. We're going over to their house multiple times a day in hopes of getting some treat or another that she's making at any time. It's amazing to me to see the stuff she makes, like choc cake, considering that any kind of "Western" ingredients, they have to obtain in Nagpur, which is four hrs away.
Yesterday we had a good time hanging out with Mitalee, the sweet and godly counselor for Kothara. We visited her room and she showed us the awesome rooftop that her building has. You can see around for miles, including the mountain that we were hoping to climb! It was a gorgeous view. We hope to still get a chance to go. She came over for dinner and we made quesadillas with chapatis (the flatbread we get everyday, every meal), processed cheese, chopped okra, tomatoes and onions. It wasn't authentic, but it was purty good for what we had on hand. I also fried up some okra, which was sooooo good. I had said to Dr. Shyam that fried okra is my favorite food in the whole wide world, so she obtained some for me (okra is called ladyfingers here, who knew?) Everyone here has tried so hard to make us feel at home.
Today, Laurel and I taught a new song in church after practicing it with the Dr. Sunil, Dr. Shyam and their son Nihal. We sang Dennis Jernigan's Wider than the Ocean. It's been quite a long time for me since I've played instruments during a worship service, and I have to say that I'm loving it. I've gotten quite rusty at the keyboard and it's hard to keep up with the talents of Nihal (who can play anything by ear!) but the practice is good for me. I imagine Laurel's tired of me practicing at all hours, though she says that she likes it! She's a sweetie. It's interesting that some of the well-known hymns they sing have different music to them; for example, the doxology hymn is to a tune of a different song. Totally throws me off when I'm singing and playing at the same time, yet I love experiencing different ways of praising God in different cultures. I was kinda hoping they incorporated dance into worship here since dance is so prominent in Indian culture. Maybe it'll catch on soon. Maybe I can get them started. Laurel's been treated to the sight of me dancing around her room to my ipod music. Without TV or internet (until yesterday), we have to find new ways for entertainment :) I'm entertained by Laurel's yoga moves, which I think are physically impossible for me! I guess we're immersing ourselves in Indian culture in our own ways--dancing for me, yoga for Laurel!
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Yeah, it's a shame that many churches don't seem to use their "praise and worship" music time in a way that seems more fitting with their culture (like dance or music styles). I think it has something to do with the methods used by early missionaries, but there often weren't attempts to make the new church an indigenous concept, but rather something mostly modeled after Western forms. It's a shame really, because otherwise we might be enjoying a much broader expression of the universal Church when we travel to other places. Well, as you said, you can always hope it'll catch on soon! As many of these developing nations also develop their national identity and pride, I think we will start to see more indigenous forms be created. (Though I think it's too late to not be at least a little, or even a lot, mixed with Western forms.)
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